In the history of Chinese literature, Tao Yuanming was the first to create a large number of poems based on pastoral scenery and pastoral life. His pastoral poems created a new genre of Chinese classical poetry and were highly praised by poets of all ages. Tao Yuanming's pastoral poems are actually based on pastoral materials. They look pastoral, but their actual significance has long gone beyond the pastoral field and extended to the broad social and political background. Only in this sense can we truly understand the sense of the times in Tao Yuanming's pastoral poems. to understand the essence of people's nature and explore its ideological content and artistic characteristics.
1 The ideological content of Tao Yuanming’s pastoral poems
In an era when metaphysics was prevalent and aestheticism dominated the entire literary world, he stood out in the poetry world with his poems with brand-new ideological content, showing great innovative spirit.
1.1 High ideals and aspirations
1.2 Reflection of the content of working life
1.3 Description of pastoral poverty
1.4 Reflection of social life , to express one's own social thoughts
2 The artistic characteristics of Tao Yuanming's pastoral poetry
Naturally, the poeticization of daily life is not only Tao Yuanming's life purpose, but also the overall artistic characteristics of his pastoral poetry.
2.1 The integration of emotions, scenes, events and principles
2.2 Warning can be seen in the ordinary, and beauty can be seen in the simplicity
Talking about pastoral poetry cannot be separated from Tao Yuanming. Tao Yuanming would naturally think of his famous saying of "picking chrysanthemums under the eastern fence and leisurely seeing the southern mountains". In the history of Chinese literature, Tao Yuanming was the first to create a large number of poems based on pastoral scenery and pastoral life. His pastoral poems created a new genre of Chinese classical poetry and were highly praised by poets of all ages. If we only look at the literal meaning of his pastoral poems, the poet's otherworldly detachment and forgetfulness of things and myself really have a fairy-like infinite charm. However, the reality is far from that. This is because the era in which Tao Yuanming lived was the darkest and most corrupt period in ancient my country: regime changes occurred frequently, the lives of wealthy people were corrupt, the common people had no food to eat, and they had difficulty covering their bodies. The ruling class There is a strict hierarchy between the people at the bottom and the people at the bottom, and there is a huge difference between them. Under such circumstances, after Tao Yuanming served as a minor official for several years, he finally preferred to return to his hometown and live in seclusion because he did not want to deal with corrupt bureaucrats. The poetry world at that time was also full of works that talked about Zen enlightenment and imitated mountains and rivers. In terms of form, they deliberately pursued romantic words and laid out brocades. However, Tao Yuanming was able to stand out in the poetry world with poems with brand-new content and form. He showed great innovative spirit and finally reached a height unreachable by his contemporaries. As the saying goes, anger breeds poets, which shows that only those who are truly touched and felt can speak meaningfully. Because of this, although Tao Yuanming's pastoral poems are based on pastoral materials and appear to be pastoral, their actual meaning has long gone beyond the pastoral field and extends beyond the pastoral field. into the broad social and political background. Only in this sense can we not just linger on the expression of its words and forms, but truly penetrate into the essence of the sense of the times and people's nature in Tao Yuanming's pastoral poems. Get to know and explore its ideological content and artistic features.
1 The ideological content of Tao Yuanming’s pastoral poems
Tao Yuanming is an important poet who founded the sect in the history of Chinese literature. He lived in an era when the trend of formalism was prevalent. The poetry world was full of works that talked about metaphysics and Zen, and modeled mountains and rivers. In form, they deliberately pursued romantic language and floating words, and laid out brocades. However, Tao Yuanming had a pastoral farming life experience that ordinary literati had never had, and had many contacts with working people. It can be said that life gave him great love, which enabled him to be able to work in an era when metaphysics was prevalent and aestheticism dominated the entire literary world. His poems with brand-new ideological content stand out in the poetry world, showing great innovative spirit.
Specifically, the ideological content of Tao Yuanming’s pastoral poems can be roughly summarized as follows:
1.1 High ideals and aspirations
In an extremely dark society, Tao Yuanming But he persisted in his lofty ideals and aspirations. Tao Yuanming's ambition and character finally made him completely break away from the ruling class and upper class society and return to the countryside. He wrote a lot of pastoral poems. His pastoral poems are full of hatred for the dirty society and love for the pure countryside. For example, the first poem of "Returning to the Garden and Living in the Fields":
There is no popular rhyme, and one's nature is to love hills and mountains. I accidentally fell into the dust net and passed away for thirty years. The birds in the pond are nostalgic for the old forest, and the fish in the pond are thinking about the old abyss. Open up the wilderness in the south, stay humble and return to the garden. The square house covers more than ten acres and has eight or nine thatched houses. The elms and willows shade the back eaves, and the peach and plum trees in front of the hall. The distant village is warm, and the smoke in the ruins is still there. Dogs bark in the deep alleys, cocks crow in the mulberry trees. The courtyard is free of dust and clutter, and the empty room has plenty of leisure. After being in a cage for a long time, you can return to nature.
The poet denounced the upper class society as a "dust net", regarded joining it as being a "fettered bird" or a "fish in a pond", and described retreating to the countryside as breaking out of a "cage" ", returning to "nature" shows his contempt for the ugly society. The poet focused on describing the pure and beautiful pastoral scenery in detail, and the author's sincere love was revealed between the lines. Here, the simple and peaceful rural life forms a sharp contrast with the hypocrisy, fraud and strife of the upper class, which has a particularly attractive power.
When the poet has not yet left his official career, he always feels like being "temporarily restrained by others" and cannot calm down. He "looks at the clouds and feels ashamed of the tall birds, and when facing the water feels ashamed of the fish swimming". But when he stayed away from the dirty reality and returned to the countryside, he felt that he had found his home.
For example, the fifth poem of "Drinking":
The house is in a human environment, without the noise of cars and horses. I ask you, how can you do this? Your mind is far away and you are biased. Picking chrysanthemums under the eastern fence, you can leisurely see the Nanshan Mountain; the mountain air is getting better day by day, and the birds are flying back and forth. There is a true meaning in this, but I have forgotten to explain it.
The poet avoided the noise of the carriages and horses of dignitaries, and gained a free and peaceful state of mind in a leisurely life.
Although the poet's pastoral life is far away from the ruling class, it is closer to the lower class literati and farmers. There are like-minded friends here talking and appreciating articles: "Neighbors' songs come from time to time, and resistance talks are in the past; wonderful articles are appreciated by all, and doubts are analyzed."; there is a simple farmer who talks about Sangma: "When the time comes to return to the ruins, in the song "We meet each other in the grass, and come and go; there is no talk when we meet, but the roads are full of mulberry and hemp trees"; there are neighbors' greetings and banquets: "I pour my new cooked wine, and a chicken invites people close to me"; there is also family happiness: "relatives" When we live together, our descendants still protect each other."