The Seven Sons of Jian'an
The collective name of seven writers during the Jian'an period (196-220). The first person to propose the theory of "Seven Sons" was Cao Pi. He said in "Classical Essays": "Today's literati include Kong Rong of Lu State, Chen Lin of Guangling and Kong Zhang, Wang Can of Shanyang and Zhongxuan, and Xu of Beihai. □Weichang, Chenliu, Ruan, Yuanyu, Runan Ying, Delian, Dongping Liu
Zhen Gong are the seven sons who left nothing behind in their studies, and made nothing false in their speeches.
Riding thousands of miles, galloping together with their feet lifted up." These seven people generally represent the outstanding writers in the Jian'an period except Cao's father and son, so "the seven sons. ” said
and was generally recognized by later generations.
The life of the "Seventh Son" can basically be divided into two periods: before and after. In the early period, they were in the social war and chaos of the late Han Dynasty. Although their social status and life experiences were different, they generally could not escape the fate of being in trouble. In the later period, they all attached themselves to Cao Cao successively. Kong Rong held high-level official positions such as Shaofu and Wang Can held the post of Shizhong. The rest were also close ministers of Cao Cao and his son. However,
Kong Rong later clashed with Cao Cao and was killed. Since the seven people joined Cao Cao at different times, there is no unified boundary for each person's early and late stages.
Kong Rong was in the first year of Jian'an (196), Xu□ and Ruan□ were in the early days of Jian'an, and Chen Lin was in Jian'an
In the fifth year of Jian'an, Wang Can was in Jian'an for thirteen years, and Liu Zhen and Ying were thirteen years after Jian'an.
Corresponding to their life paths, the creations of the "Seven Sons" can generally be divided into two stages: before and after. Most of his early works reflected the reality of social turmoil and expressed concern for the country and the people. The main works include Wang Can's "Seven Sorrowful Poems" and "Ode to Climbing the Tower", Chen Lin's "Drinking Horses in the Great Wall Grottoes", Ruan □'s "Driving Out of Beiguo Gate",
p>Liu Zhen's "Gift to Congdi", etc., all have practical significance and a certain depth of thought;
However, some works are too low and sentimental, such as Ruan □'s "Seven Sorrow Poems", Liu
Zhen's "Untitled" "Heaven and Earth will never end" and so on. Most of their later works reflected their support for the Cao family's regime and their ambition to establish their own achievements. Most of their contents were banquets, gifts, etc.; but some of them were about the Cao family's father and son. The praise has the tone of being a guest and a minister, showing a vulgar attitude. However, both before and after, "Qizi"'s creations are dominated by positive and healthy content.
The creations of the "Seven Sons" each have their own personality and unique style. Kong Rong
Kong Rong was good at essays and essays, and his works were of sublime style. Wang Can's poems, poems and prose are also known as "Jianshan", and his works are highly lyrical. Liu Zhen is good at poetry, and his works have high momentum and desolate style. Chen Lin and Ruan □, who were famous as Zhangbiao secretaries at that time,
both also had certain achievements in poetry. The difference in their styles is that Chen Lin is more vigorous and powerful than
Ruan □ Relatively natural and smooth. Xu □ is capable of both poetry and poetry, with delicate writing and soothing body energy. Ying □ can also write poems and rhymes, and his works are harmonious and rich in literary talent. The creative style of "Seven Sons" also has some unique characteristics, which is the style of Jian'an literature of the times. The specific content of this style of the times
and the reasons for its formation are what Liu Xie said in "Wen Xin Diao Long· Chronology": "Looking at the literature of the time, elegance He is very generous, good and has accumulated chaos in the world, and is full of social resentment.
He has deep ambitions and long writing, so he is concise and full of energy."
"Seven Sons" are in the history of Chinese literature. Has a very important status. Together with the "Three Cao", they formed the main force of Jian'an writers. They have made contributions to the development of poetry, fu and prose.
In terms of poetry, the "Seven Sons" mainly wrote five-character poems. Five-character poetry is a new poetry style that did not flourish until the late Eastern Han Dynasty. The emergence of "ancient poetry" in the era of Huan and Ling marked the initial maturity of five-character poetry. The excellent five-character works of "Seven Sons" are written with full of emotion and variety, which make the five-character poems more artistically exquisite. For example, Xu □'s "Thoughts in the Chamber" is more delicate and profound than "Green
Grass by the Green River" or "Bamboo Growing Solitary" with the same theme. However, Chen Lin's "Drink
A Journey to the Great Wall Cave" and Ruan □'s "A Journey Out of Beiguo Gate" were all written before the war
in the late Han Dynasty, and they were written at different times. They must be later than "ancient poetry", and their importance in the history of the development of five-character poetry deserves even more attention.
In terms of Ci and Fu, the "Seven Sons" wrote a large number of Xiao Fu. Based on the achievements of Zhang Heng, Cai Yong and others, they further enriched Xiao Fu< /p>
Rong made a contribution.
There are three points worth noting about the small Fu of "Seven Sons": ①The scope of the material is more expanded, and the commonality and everydayness of the subject matter further dilutes the aristocratic nature of the past big Fu; ② The function of reflecting social reality has become stronger, and works that directly describe political events have increased; ③ the lyrical color has become stronger
. Regarding the Fu of the "Seven Sons", Cao Pi gave a very high evaluation in "Classical Theory·Thesis", and Liu Xie also expressed it in "Wen Xin Diao Long·An Interpretation of Fu"
Expressed the same opinion, and particularly believed that Wang Can and Xu □ were the "Fu chiefs" of the Cao Wei Dynasty
They were said to be comparable to Song Yu, Sima Xiangru, Zuo Si, and Pan
Yue et al.
In terms of prose, Kong Rong's chapter lists, Chen Lin and Ruan □'s secretaries, Xu
□ and Wang Can's essays were all unique at the time. Their biggest advantage is that what Cao Pi said is that "the writing is dominated by Qi" ("Dian Lun·Wen"), which embodies the author's unique temperament. The famous prose works of "Seven Sons" include Kong Rong's "Recommendation
Ni Hengshu", "Discussing the Prosperous Xiaozhang Shu with Cao Gong", Chen Lin's "Moving to Yuzhou",
"For Cao Hong" "A Letter to the Prince of Wei", Ruan □'s "A Letter to Sun Quan for Cao Gong", Wang Can's "Wubenlun", "Jingzhou Literary Records Official Records", etc. "Seven Sons" prose
There is a tendency of gradual parallelization in form, especially Kong Rong and Chen Lin.
Some of their works use parallels and allusions, which has become a link that cannot be ignored in the process of prose parallelism from the late Han Dynasty to
the Western Jin Dynasty.
The original collections of the works of the "Seven Sons" have been lost, and only Xu □'s political ethics exists today
The theoretical monograph "Zhonglun". In the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Pu compiled "Collections of Kong Shaofu", "Collections of Wang Shi
Zhongji", "Collections of Chen Jishi", "Collections of Ruan Yuanyu", "Collections of Liu Gong",
"Collection of Ying Delian and Xiulian" is included in "Collection of One Hundred and Three Families of Han, Wei and Six Dynasties". In the Qing Dynasty, Yang Fengchen compiled "Jian'an Seven Sons Collection".