The emergence of literati in Jin Dynasty is a stage of literary development. Under the pressure of the ruler's power, the literati dared not argue irrationally, relying on the Taoist thought of Laozi and Zhuangzi to comfort them, thus producing "metaphysical poetry". Metaphysical poetry is monotonous and negative, but its branch-landscape poetry is unique. At the same time, because the connotation is not suitable for politics and people's livelihood, many literati spend their energy and talent on lettering and pay attention to carving; The content tends to be complex; Languages tend to be parallel. These in-depth studies of characters led to the birth of phonology of characters in the Southern Dynasties.
After the Jin Dynasty destroyed the unification of Wu, the society was relatively stable and prosperous. Until the death of Emperor Sima Yan, the Eight Kings Rebellion lasted 16 years. Many literati died in war or lived in seclusion to avoid disaster, so the early years of the Western Jin Dynasty were an important period for the development of literature.
Zhang Hua and Fu Xuan are representatives of the upper-class literati in the Western Jin Dynasty.
Zhang Hua is a literary leader in the Western Jin Dynasty. He advocated attacking Wu and was the hero of the unification of the Western Jin Dynasty. Not only is he knowledgeable, but he is often rewarded and falls behind. It was he who recommended Lu Ji's Lu Yun Brothers, which had a wide influence.
Zhang Hua is one of the main authors of elegant music poems in the Western Jin Dynasty. His creation emphasizes skill and color, and uses duality. The disadvantage is that poetry is slightly thin, childlike, and rare. This is also a common feature of poetry in the Western Jin Dynasty, such as:
Fu Xuan's high achievement is Yuefu poetry. He is knowledgeable and proficient in business. Together with Zhang Hua, he wrote elegant music and elegant dance music for the court. In Yuefu Poetry Collection, 265,438+0 poems about temples in the Western Jin Dynasty were all written by Fu Xuan. Fu Xuan's Yuefu poems are new in two aspects, one is the adaptation and creation of Yuefu poems with story themes, and the other is the creation of a large number of Yuefu poems with female themes. For example, Yu's Painful Chapter is his masterpiece:
This poem vividly, delicately and objectively shows the tragic life of women, allegorizes the universality of the bad habit of men being superior to women in ancient society, and is unique in ancient poetry. Moreover, in his female works, the images of women are all positive and beautiful, and it is debatable whether to attach the meaning of monarch and minister to them intentionally.
Lu Ji is one of the most famous writers in the Western Jin Dynasty. He is also called "Erlu" with his brother Lu Yun. His grandfather is Lu Xun, Minister of Wu. In the tenth year of Taikang, Lu Ji brothers entered Luoyang and were appreciated by Zhang Hua. They successively served as Lang, Zhong Shulang and Min Shi in the Plain. In the second year of Taikang, Lu Yun and He died in the rebellion of the Eight Kings.
Lu Ji's literary talent is outstanding, and the Preface to Poetry calls him "the English of Taikang". In terms of poetry, Lu Ji created a group of "quasi-ancient poems" and "Nineteen Ancient Poems", but he made some innovations, such as:
The ancient poetry only describes the moonlight as "He", while Lu Ji describes it as "the afterglow is shining, but it is not full of hands" and makes it concrete (in "Moonlit Night on a Spring River", "You can't roll the jade door in the curtain and brush the back of your clothes on the anvil", which has the same effect). "Cool breeze around the music room, chilling and singing high willows" is a description of objective scenery, which is different from the simple lyrical Nineteen Ancient Poems.
Another example is "going to work in Luodao":
This poem is full of neat antitheses except the beginning and the end, with deeper duality and more delicate description and modification, which embodies the characteristics of Taikang's poetry.
During the period of Emperor Hui of Jin Dynasty, Krabi had exclusive power, and many scholars devoted themselves to it. Pan Yue and Shi Chong rushed forward to flatter Jia Mi and asked him to kneel. Their character was criticized, then framed for rebellion and punished.
Pan Yue's literary achievements mainly lie in his sad works. He wrote three mourning poems and an essay "Mourning Poems" for his dead wife, which was the first of its kind in later generations and was highly respected in the history of literature. Now, to quote the third poem "Mourning the Dead":
A famous writer in the Western Jin Dynasty, born in the lower class, is a representative of poor literature. In the early years of Taikang, my sister Juicy Zuo was chosen as the imperial concubine, and Zuo Si moved to Luoyang with her, hoping to make a career. But Juicy Zuo is not favored, Zuo Si has been demoted to junior, and her ambition cannot be put into practice. When the Eight Kings Rebellion broke out, she left Luoyang to avoid disaster and didn't know what to do.
Zuo Si's "Sandu Fu" made "Luoyang paper expensive", which is also the reason why he became famous. Ten years later, he took Wei Shuwu Sandu as the object, which greatly surpassed Sandu Fu and Erjing Fu. He was not only rich in rhetoric, but also knowledgeable.
But what really makes him occupy an important position in literature is his eight epic poems. Before that, Ban Gu also wrote Ode to an Epic, each dedicated to one person, but with different ideas. He combines history with nostalgia, and his eight poems are a whole, aiming at expressing the injustice of the lower intellectuals.
The first image of retiring from the world is the embodiment of Zuo Si's ideal, which aims to express his ambition of not paying attention to fame and fortune, but only seeking to realize his ambition.
The second one attacks the suppression of the lower-class literati by the family concept. The saplings on the mountain are only a few inches in diameter, but they have to cover the dense pine forest below, which is vivid and hits the nail on the head.
In the whole set of poems, Zuo Si criticized the concept of family status with Jing Ke, Zhu Xi and Zhu Xi, and expressed his dissatisfaction with the society at that time by chanting history.
Zuo Si's epic poems clearly expressed the theme of "a poor man's misfortune" in the form of a group of poems for the first time. At the same time, the creative combination of chanting history and lyricism has become a common writing method for later epics.
Zuo Si's other poems, such as Invitation Poem and Charming Poem, are also unique.
The literary world in the Eastern Jin Dynasty was seriously influenced by metaphysics, which directly led to the prevalence of metaphysical poetry.
Metaphysical poetry is a work influenced by metaphysics, which uses poetry to explain Laozi and Zhuangzi's Taoist thoughts. Its language is boring, its thought is negative and single, it lacks vividness, it is divorced from reality, and its evaluation in past dynasties is not high. Here, I briefly extract:
Metaphysical poetry has not achieved much, but it still plays a certain role in the history of literature. First of all, metaphysical poets admire nature and often appreciate the mystery of Tao between mountains and rivers, so there are many sentences describing mountains and rivers in the poems, which have a direct role in promoting the formation of later landscape poems.
Secondly, the pursuit of "meaning" in Taoist thought. Metaphysical aesthetics such as "not saying enough" and "forgetting words with pride" have promoted the aesthetic pursuit of "meaning". Literati often take the initiative to understand the meaning of works when they appreciate them, which has made certain contributions to the development of aesthetics in later generations.
Finally, metaphysical poetry pays attention to reasoning. Although reasoning itself is boring, it is a new attempt, which opens up the field of expression of ancient poetry and provides experience for later writing reasoning poems.
Jian 'an style actually includes the simplicity of Yuefu and the beauty of literati, while the literati in the Western Jin Dynasty paid more attention to the pursuit of beauty. The killing of literati by civil strife in Wei, Jin and Western Jin Dynasties led to the prosperity of metaphysics and the silence of literature. Since Lu Ji, no one could lead the literary world until Tao Yuanming appeared.
Tao Yuanming, with a distinct personality, calls himself Mr. May 6th, and is called "Mr. Jingjie" by the world. His great-grandfather was Tao Kan, a famous minister in the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the gate valve system reached its peak. Even Tao Kan, who has made great contributions, was sneered at by people at that time as a "running dog". By the time Tao Yuanming arrived, he was completely unpopular.
Tao Yuanming should be engaged in farming for a long time. Although he didn't have much ambition, he had already seen through the dark politics at that time and fully understood the reality that his talents and ambitions could not be displayed, but he had deep pastoral feelings.
Tao Yuanming had to leave his post because of poverty and illness, and he didn't want to bow to this high-ranking villain, so he left his post and returned. After returning to other places, he experienced a house fire, and even poverty, illness and begging never wavered. The court wanted to be A Lang, but he refused to admit that he was sick; Tan Daoji advised him to be an official, but he also refused. Even refused to accept the beam meat given by Tan, which was unyielding.
Tao Yuanming's artistic realm lies in his thought of letting nature take drinking as an example;
The gate system and the slaughter of literati led to the prevalence of metaphysics in society and the retreat of Confucianism. Compared with the boring metaphysical poems, the learned Tao Yuanming knows the true connotation of metaphysics. At that time, the landscape poems still stayed at the level of viewing natural scenery, and the feelings and scenery did not blend. But Tao Yuanming put himself in the countryside, and man and nature were integrated. The true meaning of tranquility and peace cannot be expressed in words, nor does it need to be expressed. This is the state of selflessness, the harmony between man and nature.
Tao Yuanming is good at both poetry and prose, but poetry is the highest achievement, and pastoral poetry is second to none in poetry.
Compared with the empty Zen pursued by metaphysics, Tao Yuanming wrote all aspects of the countryside into his poems. His poems are vivid and his life is poetic. It's just that there are characters in his poems, so he can't surpass them.
In addition to pastoral feelings, Tao Yuanming's poems also reflect many hardships of life, such as "Fire in June in Wushen" and "Begging for Food";
Farming life not only reflects the individual, but also reflects the social reality at that time. Tao Yuanming knows the hardships of farming life, but he still sticks to his beliefs, which is really admirable.
In addition to the above-mentioned works describing Tao Yuanming's experience, Tao Yuanming also wrote many poems expressing his feelings, such as drinking, archaizing, miscellaneous poems, singing about poverty, singing about Jing Ke, and reading Shan Hai Jing.
Tao Yuanming also has other works praising affection, friendship and even love, such as Returning to the Garden, Answering Pang to Join the Army, Responsibility and Leisure Fu.
Leisure Fu is about the love between men and women. It tells the story of an infatuated man's longing for his sweetheart and his "ten wishes". Such love songs can be described as emotional and unrestrained, which shows his sincerity.