The First Seven Sons
A literary school in the Hongzhi and Zhengde years of the Ming Dynasty (1488-1521). The members include Li Mengyang, He Jingming, Xu Zhenqing, Bian Gong, Kang Hai, Wang Jiusi and Wang Tingxiang, represented by Li Mengyang and He Jingming. First seen in "History of Ming Dynasty: Biography of Li Mengyang". In order to distinguish Li Panlong, Wang Shizhen and other seven sons who appeared later during the Jiajing and Longqing years, they are known as the "First Seven Sons". The seven sons were all Jinshi, and they were dissatisfied with the corrupt government and mediocre morale. They strongly opposed the popular Taige-style poems and the "slow, verbose, monotonous" eight-legged style of writing at that time. His literary ideas were summarized by later generations as vigorously advocating that "literature must be based on the Qin and Han Dynasties, and poetry must be based on the prosperous Tang Dynasty", aiming to point out a new path for poetry creation and save the flagging poetry style. They all have a strong historical mission of transforming the writing style, but they have embarked on an old path of retrospection as innovation. After the Qian Qizi emerged in the literary world, their ideas of restoration quickly became popular all over the world and became the mainstream of literary thought, setting off a literary restoration movement. This has certain progressive significance in the literary history of the Ming Dynasty. However, some of their specific literary opinions are different, and their creations have their own characteristics. Li Mengyang insists on "deliberately imitating the ancient style" when it comes to retro imitation, imitating sentences and words to resemble his predecessors; his poems are full of courage and pursue a majestic and bold style. He Jingming's thinking is more flexible, and he advocates "understanding the expressions" and "not imitating the traces" of ancient works in order to achieve the purpose of "reaching the shore and leaving the raft"; poetry emphasizes talent and sentiment, and prefers freshness. Xu Zhenqing's poetry theory has many incisive and unique features. After following Li and He, his poetry style changed significantly. Kang Hai and Wang Jiusi's main achievements were in Sanqu and Zaju, and their poems were mostly straightforward. The short poems by Bian Gong and Wang Tingxiang are fresh and bright, but their overall achievements are inferior. The literary ideas and creative practices of the first seven scholars have practical significance. However, due to the over-emphasis on retrospection, literary creativity appears insufficient, and some even become "the shadows of the ancients at the top, and the mouths of the modern times below", which has given the literary world Bringing new abuses
Later Seven Sons
A literary genre during the Jiajing and Longqing years of the Ming Dynasty (1522-1566). Members include Li Panlong, Wang Shizhen, Xie Zhen, Zong Chen, Liang Youyu, Xu Zhongxing and Wu Guolun. Represented by Li Panlong and Wang Shizhen. The name first appeared in "History of Ming Dynasty·Wenyuan·Biography of Li Panlong". Because he came after the first seven sons, he was called the last seven sons; he was also called the "Seventh Sons of Jiajing". The latter seven sons inherited the literary ideas of the first seven sons, and also emphasized that "literature must be from the Qin and Han Dynasties, and poetry must be prosperous", taking the Han, Wei and the prosperous Tang Dynasty as models. "After a word was written in Han Dynasty, not a single word was written before Han Dynasty", which is more absolute than the previous seven. They were retro and imitated the past, focused on style, talked about laws, flaunted each other, established their own branches, and became more powerful, thereby pushing the retro tendency of Ming Dynasty literature to a climax. The latter seven sons have been active in the literary world longer than the first seven sons. At first, they formed a poetry club, with Xie Zhen as the first leader, and later Li Panlong as the leader. After Li's death, Wang Shizhen dominated the literary world for more than 20 years. Li Panlong has the most stubborn views on retrospection, but he is also very talented in creation and sometimes produces magnificent works. Xie Zhen's literary views are more open-minded, and she attaches great importance to "super-enlightenment" and "interest" in poetry. She is good at poetry and is the most full of personality. In his later years, Wang Shizhen gave up on the retro style, and decided to write directly from the soul, without any need for embellishment. His poems were full of talent and could reach a plain realm. Liang Youyu had fewer imitations, and his poems had a southern sentiment. Xie Zhen, besides Xie Zhen, was the most independent. Zongchen was good at prose, and his "Book of Reporting to Liu Yizhang" became famous for a while. Xu Zhongxing is refreshing and vigorous, while Wu Guolun is sincere and simple. Generally speaking, the creations of Hou Qizi did not deviate from the imitation of their predecessors, but they also achieved certain achievements. Some people later showed a certain tendency to value originality and spirituality.