Poems by Ban Gu, Zhang Heng and Qin Jia
One of the reasons for the relative coldness of poetry in the early Han Dynasty was the conservative style of poetry and the lack of innovation. At that time, literati wrote poems mainly following the four-character poem style since the Book of Songs or imitating the Chu Ci style.
Novel and complete five-character poems first appeared in Han folk songs. Under the influence of folk songs, five-character poems created by literati began to appear.
The earliest and complete five-character poem of the existing literati in the Eastern Han Dynasty is Ban Gu's Poem on History. This poem is very simple to write. The story of Ti Ying, the filial daughter of the Western Han Dynasty, saving her father is only a biography, lacking in literary talent and vividness. However, because it is a groundbreaking work, it has become the main body of "ode to history" poetry.
Ban Gu's Bamboo Fan Poetry is a complete seven-character poem, but it was originally written at the end of Fu, so the work is not independent. This poem describes the production process, shape and function of bamboo fans, and its style is simple.
Zhang Heng's "Simultaneous Song" is a beautiful and delicate five-character poem, which means that there are many dialogues, wonderful words and sentences, and lofty aspirations.
His Four Sorrow Poems is a seven-character poem. The whole poem consists of four chapters and seven sentences. There is a word "Xi" in the middle of the first sentence of each chapter. So it is not a complete seven-character poem. Poetry writing wants to report the gift of beauty but can't get it, so it adopts the form of complex sentences. It is generally believed that this poem has political sustenance. In the history of poetry, the seven-character song is the first sound.
Zhang Heng also has a complete seven-character poem, which is not independent because it is attached to the company. Poetry and prose express the anguish that life is limited and the world is intractable.
Ban Gu's poems with five or seven words are mainly narrative, while Zhang Heng's poems with five or seven words are longer than lyric. Since Zhang Heng, the five-character and seven-character poems of Eastern Han literati have formed the basic trend of lyricism.
Qin Jia's three female poems are the symbol of the maturity of the five-character lyric poems of scholars in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Poetry expresses love with sincere feelings. Qin Jia and his wife, because "they were all alone when they were young", shared the same experience, which made them cherish it even more after marriage. Faced with parting, it is difficult to send away the pain and frustration. The language is simple and true, very touching.
Five-character Poems by Li Yan, Zhao Yi and Cai Yong
Li Yan and others lived in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. Compared with the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, their poetic style changed greatly, from gentleness to accusation and shouting, and they criticized the reality fiercely.
Li Yan's poem Reading Stories is full of grievances. Zhao Yi's Poem of Illness is attached to the poem "Stabbing the World with Illness", which shows complete despair and strong feelings for the Eastern Han Dynasty. Cai Yong's "Kingfisher Poetry" is a portrayal of the mentality of scholars in troubled times. Fable poetic style.
These three poems were all written in the period of Emperor Ling, and they have the characteristics of literature in troubled times. The sense of hardship and the critical consciousness of Li and Zhao are particularly prominent.
Nineteen ancient poems
Nineteen Ancient Poems, produced in the Huan and Ling Dynasties in the Eastern Han Dynasty, is a five-character lyric poem of a group of unknown literati. It was first seen in Xiao Tong's Selected Works. Most of the content is about wandering women, writing about parting and career frustration, with sentimental emotions, and the style and charm are basically the same.
There were quite a few such poems at that time. Later, Zhong Rong's poems reached 59.
Ancient poetry represents the highest achievement of literati's five-character poetry in Han Dynasty, which lays the foundation for the development of new style of five-character poetry.
Creative background. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, social unrest and political decline. Rulers exist in name only under the system of selecting scholars by Confucianism. In order to find a way out, a large number of scholars left their homes and traveled around the world without results. Therefore, the sense of official career frustration became an important content of literati poetry in this period. Scholars who are far away from the countryside will naturally have many concerns. Compared with the homesickness of the wanderer, there are still some sadness of homesickness. Therefore, wandering and thinking about women has become an important theme of ancient poetry.
Because the authors are frustrated literati and often have a unique understanding of the true meaning of life, many poems reveal a lot of philosophy of life.
Artistic achievements. Good at lyric. The style is simple and profound, and the language is simple and natural, but profound. Use comparative skills. Liu Xie: The Crown of Five Words (Wen Xin). Zhong Rong: "A word is worth a thousand dollars" (poem).