The Four Heroes of the Early Tang Dynasty
The Four Heroes of the Early Tang Dynasty refer to Wang Bo, Luo Binwang, Yang Jiong, and Lu Zhaolin.
They are all very talented in the middle and late Tang Dynasty. The four poets and prose writers were famous early in life, and they won the reputation of "Four Elites" in their youth.
In the history of Tang poetry, they were pioneers who had the courage to reform the colorful poetry style of Qi and Liang Dynasties. Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty liked palace style poetry, and most of the poems he wrote were romantic works, with obvious traces of Qi Liang palace style poetry. Minister Shangguan Yi also inherited the legacy of Chen Sui. His works became very popular, and scholar-bureaucrats rushed to imitate them, and they were known as "Shangguanyi".
When the formalist poetry style of Qi and Liang Dynasties still dominated the poetry world, the "Four Heroes" stepped forward. Wang Bo was the first to oppose this unhealthy trend in the poetry world of the early Tang Dynasty, and then the other three They all responded and joined in the creative activities against the "Shangguan style".
They tried to break through the legacy of Qi and Liang Dynasties and the cage of "Shangguan style", moved poetry from the narrow palace to the vast market, from the narrow pavilions to the vast mountains and frontiers, and opened up the poetry The theme enriched the content of poetry, gave poetry new vitality, improved the ideological significance of poetry at that time, showed a new style of poetry, and promoted the development of poetry in the early Tang Dynasty on a healthy road. Generally speaking, the contribution made by the Four Masters to the development of Tang poetry is mainly reflected in the following two aspects:
Firstly, it is reflected in the subject matter and content of their works, including epic poems and poems about objects, as well as landscape poems. Poems, such as Wang Bo's "Tengwang Pavilion"; or to express the emotion of farewell upon arrival, such as Wang Bo's "Send Off Du Shaofu to Shuchuan", which is a famous poem that has been recited through the ages; and King Luo Bin's "Send Off in Yishui". There are songs about recruiting men to serve as garrison in remote areas, descriptions about recruiting husbands who miss their wives, and some expressing sympathy for unfortunate women. The four people are all high in talent but low in status, which makes them closer to social reality, so they often use poetry to expose certain social phenomena.
The four heroes used their own creative practice to change the unhealthy poetic style left by Qi Liang Dynasty, and achieved certain results.
Secondly, the four heroes of the early Tang Dynasty laid the foundation for five-character verse and matured the seven-character ancient poetry. The five-character rhythm had appeared before the "Four Heroes". The poet Wang Ji in the early Tang Dynasty (Wang Bo was Wang Ji's grand-nephew) had made some efforts, but there were not many works. By the time of the "Four Masters", the form of Wulu was fully developed and gradually fixed in their works. The "Four Masters" laid a good foundation for their later rhythmic poetry in Shen Quan period and Song Zhiwen with their large quantity and high quality poems.
Five-character ancient poetry became very popular after the Three Kingdoms period, but seven-character ancient poetry did not flourish until the Tang Dynasty. The Four Masters (Yang Jiong Wu’s Seven-character Poems) pushed the seven-character ancient poetry to maturity with a large number of masterpieces. stage. Therefore, the achievements of the four heroes of the early Tang Dynasty in developing the form of poetry deserve full recognition. Among the four, each has his own emphasis. Wang and Yang are good at Wulu, while Lu and Luo are good at Qigu. They played a role in the history of literature, carrying forward the past and opening up the future. The great realist poet Du Fu admired the "Four Heroes" very much.
Wang Bo (650--676) whose courtesy name was Zian. A native of Longmen, Jiangzhou (now Hejin, Shanxi). The grandson of Shuo Confucian Wang Tong in the late Sui Dynasty. At the age of 14, he passed the examination and was awarded Chaosanlang. King Li Xian of Pei heard about his name and called him to write for the palace. He was expelled from the palace by Emperor Gaozong because of his play "Call to the King of King Chicken". When he joined the army in Guozhou, he committed a capital crime because he was good at killing official slaves. After being pardoned, he crossed the sea to visit his relatives, but drowned and died of fright. He was very talented when he was young, and together with Yang Jiong, Lu Zhaolin, and Luo Binwang, he was known as the "Four Heroes of the Early Tang Dynasty". Poetry can break through the constraints of imperial poetry in the literary world at that time, and the style is relatively fresh and clear. The famous poem "Farewell to Du Shaofu on his appointment to Shuzhou" has swept away the deep farewell style of the predecessors and has always been recited by people. He is also good at parallel prose, and his representative work "Preface to Prince Teng's Pavilion" has become a household name in the Tang Dynasty. There are also many academic works. Except for "Preface to the Eighty-one Difficult Sutras of the Yellow Emperor" and "Praise to the Secret of the Platform", which were included in "Wenyuan Yinghua", they are all lost.
Yang Jiong (650--693?) was born in Huayin (now Huayin, Shaanxi Province). He was a child prodigy at the age of 10 and was taught as a school scholar at the age of 27. At the time of Empress Wu, she was the Yingchuan Order of Wuzhou and was known as Yang Yingchuan in the world. He is good at five rhymes in poetry, and his poems describing life in the frontier are particularly outstanding, such as "Battle in the South of the City" and "On the Military March", all of which are majestic and vigorous in style. Other themes are not entirely free from the gorgeous writing style. The prose contains many verses, prefaces, tables, annals, etc., 50 of which are extant now. In his "Preface to the Collection of Wang Bo", he gave a high evaluation to Wang Bo's theory and practice of reforming the obscene customs at that time. Among the "Four Heroes", he has the smallest number of poems and slightly smaller achievements.
Lu Zhaolin (about 636--695 years later) was given the courtesy name Youyouzi. A native of Fanyang, Youzhou (now Zhuozhou, Hebei). He was first appointed as the Dian of Prince Deng's Mansion, and later moved to the new captaincy. However, he resigned due to the wind. Living in Taibai Mountain, he was poisoned by pills and his hands and feet were disabled. He moved to the foot of Cishan Mountain in Yangzhai County, where he bought a garden and built a tomb. Finally, due to political frustration and torture, he threw himself into the Yingshui River and died. He was unsuccessful in his life and only served as a minor official for several terms. In order to explain his experiences, he wrote "Five Sad Essays". There is a poem name, and his poems are preferably in the style of seven-character songs. The works are rich in diction, broad in content, clear in artistic conception, and won by rhyme. The representative work "The Ancient Meaning of Chang'an" reveals the extravagant life and internal struggles of the upper class society, and is an outstanding achievement among the long songs of the early Tang Dynasty.
King Luo Bin (about 626--684) was born in Yiwu, Wuzhou (now Yiwu, Zhejiang). At first, he was a subordinate of Li Yuanqing, the king of escape, and he was also appointed as the chief administrator of Wugong and Chang'an counties.
After entering the imperial court as censor, he was convicted and imprisoned for writing many letters discussing world affairs, and was demoted to Linhai County Prime Minister. Known as Luo Linhai in the world. Following Xu Jingye, he raised an army against Wu Zetian in Yangzhou, but was defeated and ended up unknown. King Luo Bin was famous for his talent, and together with Wang Bo, Yang Jiong, and Lu Zhaolin, he was known as the "Four Heroes of the Early Tang Dynasty". He is good at seven-character singing. The famous work "Emperor Capital Chapter" is similar in content to Lu Zhaolin's "The Ancient Meaning of Chang'an", but it is longer and more elaborate. It was called the swan song at the time. He is also good at five-character poetry. The five-rhythm "Singing the Cicada in Prison" uses cicadas to describe itself, and is a well-known poem. He is also good at writing parallel prose. When he followed Xu Jingye to join the army, he wrote the famous "A Prosecution to the World on behalf of Li Jingye" (i.e., "A Prosecution to Empress Wu"). The slogan adopts the technique of suppressing and raising, which is very combative and appealing. It is said that Wu Zetian also greatly appreciated this article after reading it.