Su Shi (Northern Song Dynasty writer)
Su Shi (January 8, 1037 - August 24, 1101), also named Zizhan, also named Hezhong, also known as Tieguan Taoist , Dongpo layman, known as Su Dongpo and Su Xian[1-3]
Han nationality, a native of Meishan, Meizhou (now part of Meishan City, Sichuan Province), his ancestral home is Luancheng, Hebei Province, and a famous writer, calligrapher and painter in the Northern Song Dynasty.
In the second year of Jiayou's reign (1057), Su Shi became a Jinshi. During the reign of Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty, he served in Fengxiang, Hangzhou, Mizhou, Xuzhou, Huzhou and other places. In the third year of Yuanfeng (1080), he was framed for the "Wutai Poetry Case" and was demoted to Huangzhou as deputy envoy of Tuanlian. After Zhezong of the Song Dynasty came to the throne, he served as a bachelor of Hanlin, a bachelor of imperial examination, and a minister of the Ministry of Rites. He also went to Hangzhou, Yingzhou, Yangzhou, Dingzhou and other places. In his later years, he was demoted to Huizhou and Danzhou because of the new party's rule. Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty was pardoned and returned to the north, but died of illness in Changzhou on the way. During the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty, he was posthumously given the title of Grand Master, with the posthumous title "Wenzhong". [4]
Su Shi is the representative of the highest achievements in literature in the Song Dynasty, and has achieved high achievements in poetry, lyrics, prose, calligraphy, and painting. His poems have broad themes, are fresh and bold, are good at using exaggerated metaphors, and have a unique style. Together with Huang Tingjian, they are called "Su Huang"; His writings are grand and bold, and he is known as "Ou Su" together with Ouyang Xiu, and is one of the "Eight Great Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties". Su Shi was also good at calligraphy and was one of the "Four Masters of the Song Dynasty"; he was good at painting, especially good at ink bamboo, strange rocks, dead wood, etc. There are "Dongpo Seven Collections", "Dongpo Yi Zhuan", "Dongpo Yuefu" and so on.
/p>
(January 8, 1037) was born in Meishan, Meizhou,[6]
After Su Weiwei, minister of the early Tang Dynasty. Su Shi's grandfather was Su Xu, whose cousin was Zhongxian, and his grandmother was Shi. Su Shi's father, Su Xun, is the "Su Laoquan" mentioned in the "Three Character Classic" who "started to work hard at twenty-seven." Although Su Xun started working late, he worked hard. [7]
Su Shi's name "Shi" originally meant the handrail in front of the car, which means it is unknown but indispensable for helping people in danger and rescuing people. [8]
Su Shi was open-minded and straightforward, and was deeply influenced by Taoism. Good friends, [9]
Good food, [10]
Create many fine food products, [11]
Good tea, [12]
p>
Yiya enjoys traveling in the mountains and forests. [13]
Going to Beijing to take the exam
In the first year of Jiayou (1056), Su Shi left Sichuan for the first time and went to Beijing to take part in the imperial examination. Su Xun took the 21-year-old Su Shi and the 19-year-old Su Zhe from the remote Xishu area eastward along the Yangtze River to Beijing to take the exam in the second year of Jiayou (1057). The chief examiner at that time was Ouyang Xiu, a leader in the literary world, and the junior examiner was Mei Yaochen, a veteran in poetry. These two people were determined to innovate poetry, and Su Shi's fresh and free style of writing suddenly shocked them. The title of the policy paper was "On the Perfection of Honesty in Punishments and Rewards". Su Shi's "On the Perfection of Honesty in Punishments and Rewards" was appreciated by the examiner Ouyang Xiu. However, because Ouyang Xiu mistakenly believed that it was written by his disciple Zeng Gong, in order to avoid suspicion, he had to write it for the second time. two. Su Shi wrote in the article: "Gaotao was a scholar who would kill people. Gao Tao said to kill three people, Yao said to forgive three people." Dukes Ou and Mei admired his article, but they didn't know the source of these sentences. Su Shi thanked him and asked him about it. Su Shi replied: "Why do you need to know the source?" After hearing this, Ouyang Xiu couldn't help but admire Su Shi's boldness and innovation. He also foresaw Su Shi's future: "This person can be said to be good at reading. If you make good use of books, your articles will be unique in the world." [14]
Famous in the Capital
Under Ouyang Xiu's repeated praise, Su Shi became famous for a while. Whenever he has a new work, it will be spread throughout the capital immediately. When the father and son became famous in the capital and were about to show off their talents, the sad news suddenly came that Su Shi and Su Che's mother had died of illness. The two brothers returned to their hometown with their father for the funeral. In October of the fourth year of Jiayou's reign, he returned to Beijing after the mourning period. In the sixth year of Jiayou's reign (1061), Su Shi took the high school examination, which is commonly known as the "Three Years of Beijing Examination", and entered the third class, becoming the "No. 1 in a century" , was awarded Dali to judge affairs and sign letters as a judge of Fengxiang Mansion. [15]
Four years later, he was sentenced to Wenguyuan. In the second year of Zhiping, Su Xun died of illness. Brothers Su Shi and Su Che returned home with their coffins and observed mourning for three years. Three years later, Su Shi returned to the court, and Wang Anshi's reform, which shocked both the government and the public, began. Many of Su Shi's mentors, including Ouyang Xiu, his mentor who admired him at the beginning, were forced to leave Beijing because they opposed the new law and had political disagreements with the new prime minister Wang Anshi. The old rain in the government and the field has withered, and what Su Shi sees in his eyes is no longer the "peaceful world" he saw when he was twenty. [16]
Invite himself out of Beijing
In the fourth year of Xining (1071), Su Shi wrote a letter discussing the shortcomings of the new law. Wang Anshi was very angry and asked Xie Jing, the censor, to tell Su Shi's faults in front of the emperor. Su Shi then requested to serve in Beijing: from the fourth to seventh years of Xining (1074), he was sent to Hangzhou as a general magistrate. In the autumn of the seventh year of Xining, he was transferred to Mizhou (Zhucheng, Shandong) as a magistrate. ) from April to March of the second year of Yuanfeng (1079), he served as magistrate of Xuzhou. In April of the second year of Yuanfeng, he was transferred to Huzhou as magistrate. Innovation eliminates disadvantages and facilitates the people according to the law, which has considerable political achievements.
Wutai Poetry Case
Portrait of Su Shi
In the second year of Yuanfeng (1079), Su Shi was forty-three years old and was transferred to the post of magistrate of Huzhou.
After taking office, he immediately wrote a "Huzhou Express of Thanks" to the emperor. This was a routine matter, but Su Shi was a poet and his writing was often emotional. Even in official articles, he could not forget to add a personal touch, saying that he was "stupid and untimely". , it is difficult to follow the newcomers" and "the old man does not cause trouble or can shepherd the small people", these words were criticized by the New Party, saying that he was "fooling the government and being arrogant", saying that he "carried resentment and anger", "criticized "Cheng Yu", "harboring evil intentions", satirizing the government, being reckless and rude, and being disloyal to the emperor. Such a serious crime can be said to be worthy of death. They picked out sentences from a large number of Su Shi's poems that they thought contained sarcastic meanings. For a time, there was a voice against Su Shi in the court. On July 28 of this year, only three months after Su Shi took office, he was arrested by officials from Yushitai and deported to the capital. Dozens of people were implicated. This is the famous "Wutai Poetry Case" in the Northern Song Dynasty (Wutai, that is, Yushitai, is called Wutai because of the cypress trees planted on it, where crows live all year round). [17]
The huge blow of the Wutai Poetry Case became a turning point in his life. The new parties must put Su Shi to death. Rescue activities were also carried out by both the government and the public. Not only did many elders who had the same political views as Su Shi write letters one after another, but even some knowledgeable people from the reform camp also advised Shenzong not to kill Su Shi. Wang Anshi retired to Jinling at that time, and he also wrote a letter saying: "Is it necessary to kill talented people when there is a holy world?" With everyone's efforts, the poetry case was "solved with one word" by Wang Anshi, and Su Shi was given a lighter sentence and demoted to Huangzhou. (Today's Huanggang, Hubei Province) Deputy envoy of Tuanlian, resettled in the prefecture and monitored by local officials. Su Shi spent 103 days in prison and was on the verge of being beheaded several times. Fortunately, during the Northern Song Dynasty, the national policy of not killing scholar-bureaucrats was established during the reign of Taizu Zhao Kuangyin, so Su Shi was able to escape the disaster. [18]
Demoted to Huangzhou
After being released from prison, Su Shi was demoted to Huangzhou (today’s Huanggang City, Hubei Province) deputy envoy for regiment training (equivalent to the deputy envoy of the modern civilian Self-Defense Forces) team leader). This position was quite humble and had no real power. At this time, Su Shi had become disheartened after this battle. After taking office, Su Shi felt depressed. He visited Chibi Mountain outside Huangzhou City many times and wrote "Red Cliff Ode" , "Hou Chibi Ode" and "Nian Nujiao·Chibi Nostalgia" and other timeless masterpieces are used to express his thoughts and feelings when he was exiled. In his spare time, Yu Gong led his family to reclaim a piece of sloping land in the east of the city and farm to help supplement their livelihood. It was at this time that he came up with the nickname "Dongpo Jushi".
Resurgence
In 1084 (the seventh year of Yuanfeng), Su Shi left Huangzhou and went to Ruzhou to take office. Due to the long journey and exhaustion from the journey, Su Shi's infant died unfortunately. The road to Ruzhou was far away, and the travel expenses had been exhausted. Coupled with the pain of losing his son, Su Shi wrote to the court, requesting not to go to Ruzhou for the time being, but to live in Changzhou first, which was later approved. When he was about to return south to Changzhou, Shenzong died. The area of ??Changzhou is intertwined with water networks and has beautiful scenery. Living in Changzhou, he had no worries about hunger and cold, and could enjoy the beautiful scenery. Moreover, he was far away from the political disputes in the capital, and could get along with his family and many friends day and night. So Su Dongpo finally chose Changzhou as his final place. [19]
In 1085, Zhezong of the Song Dynasty came to the throne. Empress Dowager Gao took charge of the government in the name of Zhezong's young age. Sima Guang was re-appointed as prime minister, and the new party headed by Wang Anshi was suppressed. Su Shi returned to the imperial court and became the official of Zhidengzhou (Penglai). Four months later, the doctor of the Ministry of Rites was summoned back to the court. In the first half of the morning, he was promoted to Jusheren. Three months later, he was promoted to Zhongshusheren. Soon after, he was promoted to Hanlin bachelor to know the imperial edict and the tribute of the Ministry of Rites. [20]
When Su Shi saw that the emerging forces were desperately suppressing the figures of Wang Anshi's group and abolishing the new laws, he believed that they were just the same as the so-called "royal party" and once again made suggestions to the emperor. He criticized the corruption that had been exposed after the old party came to power. As a result, he aroused strong opposition from conservative forces, and was framed by false accusations. At this point, Su Shi could neither be tolerated by the new party nor forgiven by the old party, so he once again asked for external support.
High-definition pictures of Su Dongpo Memorial Hall in Hangzhou (19 photos)
Building Su Causeway
In the fourth year of Yuanyou (1089), Su Shi was appointed as the bachelor of Longtuge Know Hangzhou. Since the West Lake has not been dredged for a long time, more than half of it has been blocked by silt
Su Shi's portrait
. "The flat lake in Guangtai has been overgrown for a long time, and the people are still withered after years of prosperity." It is full of weeds, seriously affecting agricultural production. The second year after he came to Hangzhou, Su Shi led a crowd to dredge the West Lake, mobilized more than 200,000 migrant workers, fired Fengtian, restored the old view, and built three pagodas (today's Three Pools Reflecting the Moon) in the deepest part of the lake as a symbol. He gathered the excavated silt and built a long embankment across the West Lake. The embankment was connected by six bridges for the convenience of pedestrians. Later generations named it "Sugong Embankment", or "Su Embankment" for short. In the early morning of spring, Sudi is surrounded by willows, shimmering shadows, and birds singing. It is one of the famous ten sceneries of the West Lake, "Spring Dawn on Sudi".
“Su embankments are built everywhere on the east slope.” Su Shi built three long embankments in his life. When Su Shi was demoted to Yingzhou (now Fuyang, Anhui), Yingzhou West Lake was also dredged and embankments built. In the first year of Shaosheng (1094), Su Shi was demoted to deputy envoy of the Yuanning Army and settled in Huizhou (now Huiyang, Guangdong). Su Shi, who was nearly 60 years old, traveled all the way day and night to the demolition office and was warmly welcomed by the people of Lingnan. Su Shi took out the gold rewarded by the emperor and donated it to dredge the West Lake and build a long embankment. For this reason, "the elders gathered together, and they had no time to carry pots and pots. They drank for three days and killed all the chickens in the west of the village." People celebrated endlessly. Today, this Sudi is at the entrance of Huizhou West Lake, like a green belt, crossing the center of the lake, dividing the lake into two, with Pinghu on the right and Fenghu on the left.
[17]
High-definition photos of the Three Ponds Reflecting the Moon on Su Causeway (56 photos)
Living in Danzhou
Su Shi lived very comfortably in Hangzhou. Bai Juyi in the Tang Dynasty. But in the sixth year of Yuanyou (1091), he was recalled to the court. However, due to political differences soon after, he was transferred to Yingzhou as the magistrate in August of the sixth year of Yuanyou, Yangzhou in February of the seventh year of Yuanyou (1092), and Dingzhou in September of the eighth year of Yuanyou (1093). Empress Dowager Gao died in the eighth year of Yuanyou, Zhezong came to power, and the New Party came to power again. In June of the first year of Shaosheng (1094), he was appointed deputy envoy of Ningyuan Army and was demoted to Huiyang (today's Huizhou City, Guangdong) again.
Su Dongpo visited Chengtian Temple at night
In the fourth year of Shaosheng (1097), the 62-year-old Su Shi was sent by a lone boat to the desolate place Danzhou on Hainan Island (now Hainan) Dan County). It is said that in the Song Dynasty, banishment to Hainan was a punishment only slightly lighter than the crime of execution. He regards Danzhou as his second hometown, "I am a Dan'er family, parasitic in Western Shuzhou." He set up a school here and introduced the style of study, so many people traveled thousands of miles to Danzhou to learn from Su Shi. In the more than 100 years of the Song Dynasty, no one in Hainan had ever passed the Jinshi examination. But not long after Su Shi returned to the north, Jiang Tangzuo here paid tribute from his hometown. For this reason, Su Shi wrote a poem: "The sea has never cut off the earth's veins, and Zhuya is unprecedented." People have always regarded Su Shi as the pioneer and sower of Danzhou culture, and they have deep respect for him. Dongpo Village, Dongpo Well, Dongpo Field, Dongpo Road, Dongpo Bridge, Dongpo Hat, etc. that have been passed down to this day in Danzhou express people's feelings of remembrance, and even the language has a "Dongpo dialect" . [17]
Final ending
After Huizong ascended the throne, Su Shi was transferred to Lianzhou for resettlement, Shuzhou Tuanlian deputy envoy, and Yongzhou resettlement. An amnesty was granted in April of the third year of Yuanfu (1100), and he was reinstated as Chaofeng Lang. On his way back north, he died in Changzhou (now Jiangsu) on July 28, the first year of Jingguo's founding (August 24, 1101). He was buried in Jiacheng County, Ruzhou (now Jiaxian County, Henan Province) at the age of sixty-five. Su Shi left a will and was buried in Shangruili, Juntai Township, Jiacheng County, Ruzhou. The following year, his son Su Guo followed his instructions and transported his father's coffin to Jiacheng County for burial. [21]
After Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty came to the throne, he posthumously awarded Su Shi the title of Grand Master and the posthumous title of "Wenzhong". [22]
Main Achievements
Editing
Literary Achievements
Ciography
Su Shi’s creation of Ci In terms of the development of a literary style itself, Su Ci's historical contribution exceeds that of Su Wen and Su Shi. Following Liu Yong, Su Shi carried out a comprehensive reform of the style of Ci, finally breaking through the traditional pattern of Ci being "Yanke", improving the literary status of Ci, and transforming Ci from an accessory to music into an independent lyric poem. Style, fundamentally changed the development direction of Ci history.
Su Shi's transformation of Ci is based on his concept of Ci poetry integrating poetry and Ci and his creative idea of ??"unique".
Since the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, Ci has been regarded as a "little way". Although Liu Yong dedicated his life to writing Ci and promoted the development of Ci style, he failed to improve the literary status of Ci. This task needs to be completed by Su Shi. Su Shi first theoretically dispelled the concept that poetry is superior and Ci is inferior. He believed that poetry and poetry have the same origin and belong to one body, and words are "the descendants of poetry." Although poetry and words have differences in external form, their artistic essence and expressive functions should be consistent. Therefore, he often compares poetry with poetry. Since he elevates poetry to the same status as poetry from a stylistic perspective, this provides a theoretical basis for poetry to move closer to the poetic style and achieve mutual communication and penetration between poetry and poetry.
Portrait of Su Shi
In order to make the aesthetic taste of poetry truly keep pace with poetry, Su Shi also put forward the creative idea that poetry must "be of the same family". The theory of "we are one family" here is put forward in view of the "flavor" that is different from Liu Yong's poetry. Its connotations include: pursuing a magnificent style and broad artistic conception, the quality of poetry should be consistent with the character of the lyrics, and the lyrics should be consistent with the character of the person. It should be like writing poetry to express one's true temperament and unique life feelings. Because only in this way can "the writing be like the person he is" ("Reply to Zhang Wenqian County Prime Minister"), and be unique in the creation of lyrics. Su Shi always attached great importance to the integrity of his articles, but opposed following others' footsteps in literature. Therefore, he was dissatisfied with Qin Guan's lack of "character" for "learning from Liu Qi's lyrics".
Expanding the expressive function of words and opening up the context of words are the main directions of Su Shi's reform of word style. He expanded the traditional feminine tender words to masculine heroic words, and expanded the traditional love words to express temperament, so that the words can fully express the author's temperament, embrace and temperament like poetry. Personality personality. Su Shi allowed people with lofty ideals, full of enterprising spirit, lofty ideals, passion and vitality to enter the world of poetry, changing the original soft sentiment of poetry, and ushering in the Xin School of poetry in the Southern Song Dynasty.
Like Su’s poems, Su’s poems often express thoughts about life. This kind of rational thinking about the destiny of life enhances the philosophical meaning of the words. Although Su Shi deeply felt that life was like a dream, he did not deny life because of this. Instead, he strived for self-detachment and always maintained a tenacious and optimistic belief and a detached and adaptable attitude towards life.
Su's poems relatively completely show the author's mental journey from positivity to contradiction and depression, his constant pursuit of transcendence and self-adaptation, and his wildly romantic, sentimental and thoughtful personality. Following Liu Yong and Ouyang Xiu, Su Shi further moved the lyrical characters in his lyrics from separation to unity.
Su Ci not only expands to the inner world, but also to the external world. The life scenes expressed in the literati's poems of the late Tang and Five Dynasties were very narrow, mainly limited to closed paintings, buildings, embroidered houses, pavilions and courtyards. After entering the Song Dynasty, Liu Yong began to extend the realm of his poetry to urban marketplaces and natural spaces such as Qianliguan River and Weicun Mountain Station, while Zhang Xian moved closer to the daily official life environment. Su Shi not only vigorously described the author's daily communication, leisurely reading, farming, hunting, sightseeing and other life scenes in his poems, but also further showed the magnificent scenery of nature.
Su Shi used his own creative practice to show that there is nothing that cannot be written about words, and there is no intention that cannot be included. Ci, like poetry, has the function of fully expressing social life and real life. Because Su Shi expanded the expressive function of words, enriched the emotional connotation of words, and expanded the time and space scenes of words, thereby improving the artistic taste of words, introducing words into the palace of literature in a dignified way, and raising words from a "little way" to a kind of relationship with others. Poetry has the same status as the lyrical genre.
The technique of "using poetry as lyrics" is Su Shi's main weapon in changing his style of writing. The so-called "poetry as words" means transplanting the expression techniques of poetry into words. The more successful expressions in Su's poems include the use of title sequence and the use of allusions.
Portrait of Su Shi
With the word title and word order, it is not only convenient to explain the time, place and origin of the word's creation, but also to enrich and deepen the aesthetic connotation of the word. Su Shi also began to use a large number of allusions in his poems. The use of allusions in words is not only an alternative and condensed narrative method, but also a tortuous and profound lyrical method. Su Ci made extensive use of prefaces and allusions to enrich and develop the expression techniques of Ci, which had a significant impact on the development of subsequent Ci.
Essentially speaking, Su Shi's "poetry as lyrics" is to break through the restrictions and constraints of music on the style of lyrics, and transform lyrics from an accessory to music into an independent lyric poetry style. Su Shi wrote lyrics mainly for people to read, not for people to sing, so he paid attention to the freedom of expressing emotions and aspirations, although he also abided by the musical rules of the words and was not restricted by the rhythm. Because of this, Su Shi was able to express himself as he wished when composing lyrics, even if he occasionally did not conform to the rhythm standards. It is precisely for this reason that Su Ci, like Su poetry, shows rich passion, rich imagination and freely changing and colorful language styles. Although the style of most of Su Shi's 362 extant poems is still relatively close to the traditional graceful and gentle style, a considerable number of works already reflect a new style that is unrestrained and heroic, upright and upright, like the wind of the sky and the rain of the sea. For example, the famous work "Shui Tiao Ge Tou" (When Will the Bright Moon Come)
Su Shi was a key figure in the transformation of the style of poetry in the Song and Song Dynasties. Volume 2 of Wang Zhuo's "Biji Manzhi" says: "Mr. Dongpo is not a person who is obsessed with music. He occasionally writes songs and points out the way up, which will bring new eyes and ears to the world. Only then will the author know how to revive himself." Strengthen the literary nature of the words and weaken the importance of the words. The dependence of music is what Su Shi pointed out to later generations of poets as "the way up." Later Nandu poets and Xinpai poets further developed and developed along this road. [23]
Poems
Su Shi’s views on society and thoughts on life are unabashedly expressed in his literary works, among which poetry is the most vivid and heartfelt. Among more than 2,700 Su poems, the themes of intervening in social reality and thinking about life are very prominent. Su Shi had an attitude of being "out of touch with the times" towards various unreasonable phenomena in social reality, and always regarded criticizing reality as an important theme of poetry. What's even more valuable is that Su Shi's criticism of society was not limited to the New Deal, nor was it limited to the present. He criticized the long-standing bad policies and bad habits in feudal society, reflecting a deeper critical consciousness.
Su Shi had many ups and downs in officialdom throughout his life, traveling around the country and having extremely rich life experience. He is good at summarizing experiences from life encounters and seeing patterns from objective things. In his eyes, extremely ordinary life content and natural scenery contain profound truths, such as the two poems "Inscribed on the Western Forest Wall" and "He Zi Nostalgia from Mianchi". In these poems, natural phenomena have been elevated to philosophy, and the feelings of life have been transformed into rational reflections. What is particularly commendable is that the philosophy in the poem is expressed naturally through vivid and distinctive artistic images, rather than through logical deduction or argumentative analysis. Such poems are both beautiful and interesting, and are truly rational and interesting poems. "I don't know the true face of Mount Lu" and "Hongzhao in the snow and mud" became popular as idioms as soon as they came out, which shows that Su Shi's rational and interesting poems are universally loved. There are many similar works in Su's poems, such as "Sizhou Sangha Pagoda", "Drinking Lake on the First Sunny and Later Rain", "Ci Lake Blocking the Wind", etc. Su Shi was extremely spiritual and discerning, so he could find new ideas everywhere.
Su Shi's profound thinking about life made him have a calm and broad-minded attitude towards the ups and downs of honor and disgrace, which is fully reflected in Su Shi's poems. Su Shi's poems in adversity certainly contain pain, anger, and depression, but more of Su Shi's poems express his disdain for suffering and his transcendence of pain.
Su Shi was a man of great erudition and talent, and his mastery of the artistic techniques of poetry had reached a level of proficiency. He treated artistic standards with a spirit of innovation and innovation, and whatever he wished, he could achieve success at his fingertips. Moreover, the expressive ability of Su Shi's poems is amazing. There are almost no themes in Su Shi's works that cannot be included in poems.
The late Northern Song Dynasty, represented by the "Yuanyou" poetry circle, was the heyday of Song poetry. The creations of Wang Anshi, Su Shi, Huang Tingjian, Chen Shidao and others pushed the art of Song poetry to its peak. In terms of outstanding and distinct style and personality, Wang, Huang and Chen's poems may be more eye-catching than Su Shi's poems. However, in terms of creative achievements, Su Shi is undoubtedly the number one poet in the Northern Song Dynasty.
Su's poetry is outstanding in the dimensions of broad subject matter, variety of forms, and profound emotional connotation. More importantly, Su Shi has strong artistic compatibility. He does not push a certain style to the status of a single one in theory or creation. In this way, although Su Shi made a huge contribution in the process of creating a new look of Song poetry, he basically avoided the two main shortcomings of the new style of Song poetry and its boringness. Therefore, Su Shi surpassed the poets of his contemporaries in terms of overall achievements and became the most popular poet of the Song Dynasty among future generations of readers. [23]
Article
Su Shi’s literary thought places equal emphasis on literature and Tao. He praised Han Yu and Ouyang Xiu's contributions to ancient prose, both of which focused on both literary and Taoist aspects. However, Su Shi's view of literature and Taoism was very unique in the Northern Song Dynasty. First of all, Su Shi believes that the art of articles has independent value, such as "fine gold and beautiful jade". Articles are not just tools for conveying the truth, but their own expressive function is an advanced form of human spiritual activity. Secondly, Su Shi's mind "Tao" is not limited to Confucianism, but generally refers to the laws of things. Therefore, Su Shi advocated that articles should be as natural as the objective world and full of gestures. He advocated the diversity and vividness of artistic styles and opposed the uniformity of writing styles. He believed that this would cause the literary world to be as desolate as "everything looks like yellow grass and white reeds".
It was under the guidance of this unique literary thought that Su Shi's prose showed a colorful artistic style. Su Shi drew artistic nourishment extensively from the works of previous generations, the most important of which were the majestic momentum of Mencius and the Warring States politicians, the rich associations of Zhuangzi, and the natural and unbridled writing style. Su Shi indeed has extremely high expressive power in his writings. There are almost no objective things or inner thoughts that cannot be expressed. Su Wen's style changes freely according to the objects of expression, and is as natural and smooth as flowing water. Han Yu's ancient prose relies on eloquence, layout, momentum and other means to achieve momentum. Su Wen achieves the same goal by expressing his thoughts freely and freely, but his language is simple and natural. This is one of the characteristics of Song Wen that is different from Tang Wen.
Dongpo Pictures
Su Shi was good at writing argumentative essays. The historical essays he wrote in his early years had a strong political style. I don't know how to make friends with ministers in order to gain trust in the court. "Fan Zeng Lun" proposes that Fan Zeng should kill Xiang Yu as the Righteous Emperor. However, there are also many unique opinions, such as "Liu Hou Lun" says that the old man Huanshang was a hidden gentleman in the Qin Dynasty and humiliated Zhang. Liang is to cultivate his perseverance; "Ping Wang Lun" criticizes King Ping of Zhou for his poor strategy of avoiding the invaders and moving the capital. The insights are novel, profound and inspiring. These historical treatises are good at random and surprising in writing, showing a high degree of argumentation. Techniques became the model essays used by scholars at that time to take the imperial examinations, so they were widely circulated. Su Shi's early political essays also had similar style characteristics. However, as his experience deepened, the political essays gradually weakened, such as those written by Yuan You later. Some of his memorials are well-targeted in content, and their words are clear and calm, close to the writing style of Jia Yi and Lu Zhi.
Although the historical and political commentaries show Su Shi's extraordinary talent, the miscellaneous remarks, letters, prefaces and postscripts are not as good as those of Su Shi. Argumentative essays can better reflect Su Shi's literary achievements. These articles are also good at surprising innovations, but their forms are more lively and their arguments are more vivid. They are often mixed with narratives and arguments, and they use artistic appeal to strengthen logical persuasion. It is more powerful than historical treatises and political treatises.
Su Shi’s narrative travel writings are a perfect combination of narrative, lyrical and argumentative functions.
Since Su Shi's composition is based on the principle of "words and expressions", he should do what he does and stop when he should, and there are very few unnecessary words and sentences. This is most prominent in his notes and sketches, such as "Recording Chengtian Night Tour", the full text. There are only more than eighty words, but the artistic conception is transcendent and the charm is timeless. It is a masterpiece among the sketches of the Song Dynasty.
Su Shi's Ci Fu and Si Liu also achieved high achievements. His poems and poems inherited the tradition of Ouyang Xiu, but incorporated more of the sparse and scattered atmosphere of ancient Chinese prose, and absorbed the lyrical meaning of poetry. As a result, he was better than his predecessors and created "Red Cliff Fu" and "Later Red Cliff Fu". Such a famous article. "Red Cliff Fu" follows the traditional pattern of question and answer between the subject and the guest, suppressing the guest and extending the subject. It expresses his own philosophy of life and also describes the beautiful scenery of the Yangtze River on a moonlit night. The whole text uses both parallel and prose, with both scenes and scenes, making it a beautiful prose poem.
Su Shi also embodied the flowing style even in No. 46 Middle School. The imperial poems he drafted when he was serving in the Hanlin Academy were rich and powerful, rarely seen in Taige texts. The confession he wrote after he was demoted is even more heartfelt and touching. It is a rare work of temperament among the four or six bodies.
Su Shi's prose was as famous as Ouyang Xiu and Wang Anshi in the Song Dynasty, but from a literary perspective alone, Su Wen was undoubtedly the most accomplished among the writers of the Song Dynasty. [23]
Artistic Achievements
Calligraphy
Su Shi is good at writing running script and regular script. Together with Huang Tingjian, Mi Fu and Cai Xiang, he is known as the "Four Masters of the Song Dynasty" . He studied the masters of Jin, Tang, and Five Dynasties, and then integrated the creative styles of famous masters such as Wang Sengqian, Xu Hao, Li Yong, Yan Zhenqing, and Yang Ningshi to form his own style. He once claimed: "I have no creativity in writing" and "I come up with new ideas and do not follow the ancients". Huang Ting insisted that he: "In his early years, he was very skilled in using pen, but he was not as natural as his elder brother." This shows that Su Shi experienced many ups and downs in his life, which caused ups and downs in his calligraphy style.
His extant works include "Chibi Ode", "Huangzhou Cold Food Poems" and "Jidao Wen in Honor of Huangzhou". [25]
Painting
Su Shi is good at painting ink bamboo, and pays attention to spiritual similarity in painting. He advocates that there is emotion outside the painting, and the painting must have sustenance. He opposes similarity and the constraints of procedures, and advocates "poetry". The paintings are uniform, natural and fresh", and clearly put forward the concept of "literati painting", which laid a certain theoretical foundation for the future development of "literati painting". His works include "Scroll of Ancient Trees and Strange Rocks", "Scroll of Bamboo and Stone in Xiaoxiang", etc.