What are the characteristics of Song poetry?

Regarding the characteristics of Song poetry, it is generally believed that the most important thing is argumentative and prosaic culture. The reason why Song poetry is unique and forms its own style under the influence of Tang poetry is deeply rooted in the times. During the Northern Song Dynasty, from the Qingli New Deal to Wang Anshi's political reform, the political reform and the factional struggle that followed it have always been the main concerns of intellectuals. At the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, the main battle and the main peace divided the ruling and opposition scholars into two completely different factions. The vast majority of poets have the dual identities of bureaucrats and intellectuals. "Talking about current affairs and striving for talent" is the common feature of this group of poets. Secondly, Confucianism in the Song Dynasty changed the old habits of Tang people who stuck to the previous generation and doubted the classics and confused the ancient times, and became an atmosphere. Scholars who have been bureaucratized have been added as scholars. The so-called argumentative people are mainly caused by these two special backgrounds.

There is another feature in the discussion of Song poetry: interest in rationality. The so-called rational interest refers to the philosophy of life embodied in poetic images. The cultural root of the formation of interest in reason in Song poetry is not mainly Neo-Confucianism, but the Zen machine of Buddhism.

In addition, there are two unprecedented characteristics in the two Song poetry circles, one is the emergence and formation of poetry factions, and the other is the emergence and popularity of "Poetry Talk" as a way of poetry criticism. There are many schools in the Song Dynasty, which are related to the stimulation of Buddhist sects and complicated political party struggles. For example, at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, Lv Benzhong (1084 ~ 1 145) wrote the "Sect Map of Jiangxi Poetry Society", and Huang Tingjian listed 25 people as follows, so there were the so-called three schools of Jiangxi poetry, just like the "Fa Si" of Zen Buddhism. All the people on the list are self-motivated and have the same smell. As for the difference of literary views, it leads to the poet's portal views and strict barriers, which has an inherent causal relationship with "poetry talk"

Since Yan Yu's Poems on Canglang in the Southern Song Dynasty, there have been serious differences in the evaluation of Song poetry until the formation of two schools of "respecting Tang" and "worshiping Song" in the history of literature. Generally speaking, Tang poetry focuses on emotion, while Song poetry focuses on rationality. From an artistic point of view, many works of Song poetry lack vividness, musical beauty and appeal, which is its shortcoming. From the perspective of cultural history, Song poetry found a new way under the condition of complete rhythm and ingenious images in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, which provided an example of contemporary significance for the development of modern poetry and was the success of Song poetry.