Unlike Mei, Su Shunqin, Ouyang Xiu and others who admired and imitated Han Yu, Wang Anshi's poems were less influenced by Han Yu, but he greatly admired Du Fu and widely absorbed the specialties of poems in the middle and late Tang Dynasty. He once compiled the Poems of Old Du Fu, and wrote in The Portrait of Du Fu: "I think Shaoling's poems are vitality, and they can live in nine places, so I can't look forward to it." Du Fu was paid more and more attention in Song Dynasty, and Song poetry gradually moved closer to Du Fu, which can be said to be based on Wang Anshi. In addition, he also compiled "Selected Poems of Hundred Schools in Tang Dynasty", in which most of the works were neglected by small and medium-sized poets. Obviously, he has the consciousness of extensive absorption. On this basis, his poems formed a refined and mellow language, beautiful and implicit style.
Wang Anshi's poems pay great attention to the tempering of language and are good at using the words and images of predecessors without leaving traces. Legend has it that the word "green" in the sentence "Spring breeze is green in Jiang Nanan" in "Dengguazhou" was changed for more than ten times before it was determined. In fact, the adjective "green" is used as a verb. Not only has Li Bai written the phrase "the east wind is green and grass grows in Yingzhou" ("the waiter Yichun Garden ……"), but Wang Anshi's phrase is the most intimate and vivid, which can show the gratifying scenery in the south of the Yangtze River, so it is well known to people. Another example is the poem "The rain flowers are half red and the smoke trees depend on each other" in Late Spring, which was inspired by Du Fu's couplet "Look at the red and wet places, flowers are more important than the city of Jinguan" ("Delighting in Rain on a Spring Night"), but I don't think it was copied by predecessors. There are also "Mr. Yin's Wall in Shuhu Lake" and "One water protects the field and two mountains give green". Later generations think that it is based on the materials in the history books, which is very appreciated, but he does use it skillfully and seems to be effortless. On the other hand, Wang Anshi, with his extensive book knowledge, often uses predecessors' vocabulary conveniently, but he doesn't always fiddle with knowledge. He often captures vivid pictures through careful observation and expresses his inner emotions and feelings in plain language. For example, "Beishan lost its green and went straight to the pond." If you sit for a long time, you will find grass slowly. "("Beishan "), the last two sentences are neat, but they read naturally. "Counting" and "looking for it slowly" not only contrast the leisure of Xiaosan, but also implicitly contain all kinds of boring leisure worries. Generally speaking, Wang Anshi does not use individual allusions and words that have been carefully pondered and scrutinized, but integrates this exquisite language with the natural flow of the whole poetic context. As Ye Mengde said in Shi Lin Shi Hua, it seems to be "comfortable and leisurely", but the meaning of "every word, if weighed, is profound. "
Wang Anshi's poems often have the beautiful charm of Xie Lingyun and poems in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, which Huang Tingjian called "taste both refined and popular, and taste both refined and refined" (quoted from Tiaoxi Fishing and Hidden Conghua). For example, New Year's Eve:
The moon reflects the forest pond, and the wind sneers. Look down at the green net and stand in the fragrance. Take the young to find the new, and take the poor to set free the wild. After a long time, cherish the streamer at the end of the year.
The scenery in the poem is quiet and elegant, showing the beauty beyond the secular, and the poet's heart lingers here. Reading such poems, we will think of Xie Lingyun's landscape poems, but Wang Anshi is not as detached as his nobles; Think of Dali Ten Talented Scholars or Jia Dao's landscape poems, Wang Anshi did not suffer from them. In fact, Wang Anshi's poems are somewhat lonely and lofty, but he doesn't want to strengthen expression and maintain a balance of mentality, so in language, such poems are also relatively harmonious.
Another feature of Wang Anshi's poetry has been involved here, that is, the implication of expression. To better illustrate, let's give another example:
And Gao Qiu, who is lonely? Standing in Donggang, I scratched my head, and Leng Yun was dying. ("Send Cai Tianqi")
In Du Fu's poems in his later years, he often put his self-image alone in the cold autumn scenery (such as climbing the mountain) to express his sadness. Wang Anshi's poems are somewhat similar to it, including the ups and downs of temperament. However, Wang Anshi played down some things, such as replacing himself with "who" in his poems, avoiding spreading emotions in a broad background, and at the same time avoiding explaining or implying the specific connotation of emotions, thus leaving people with a sad and desolate feeling. There are many reasons for this poetic situation. On the one hand, Wang Anshi has a stubborn personality and has experienced storms all his life. When he is frustrated, his inner grievances will always be revealed. On the other hand, not only is his life experience very complicated and difficult to explain clearly, but in the cultural atmosphere of the Song Dynasty, as a big man with an important political position, his personal feelings in his poems are too strong and will be considered as a childish exaggeration, so he still expresses them in a relatively restrained and implicit way. Another example is "Nanpu": "Nanpu goes with the flowers, and the road back to the ship is lost. There is no place for fragrance, and the sunset paints the west of the bridge. " It is also a sense of loss that I don't know why. But in any case, among the poets in the Song Dynasty, Wang Anshi's poetic sentiment has been relatively strong, not flat. Through the beautiful and implicit artistic conception, we can still feel the poet's inner pain.
Wang Anshi established the integration of Song poetry with his extensive knowledge, skillful language skills and natural and implicit style. Later, the Jiangxi poetry school headed by Huang Tingjian was greatly influenced by him. Their bias of taking learning as poetry is also related to Wang Anshi.