Taking Wutai Poetry Case as the boundary, Su Shi's poetry works have both inheritance and obvious differences in creation. Behind the "going home" complex throughout, we can see that the poet's brush strokes gradually turned to the helplessness of middle age and the broadmindedness of old age-getting older, maturing and becoming dull.
First of all, in terms of subject matter, the previous works mainly reflect Su Shi's "specific political worries", while the later works mainly focus on "broad life worries".
Su Dongpo, in his own words, his attitude towards life has always been hatred of evil. When it comes to evil, he means "spit it out like a fly in Taiwan Province." In Hangzhou, in a poem for Wenzhong Kong, he showed contempt for the powerful officialdom: "I'm an elk, but I'm afraid I'm not superior." Not only that, he groaned for the prisoners in the prison and swallowed for the elderly who had no clothes or food. When he wrote rural pastoral poetry, the title was "Wu Zhong Tian Tan": "Sweating shirtless, the price is as low as chaff. Selling cattle to pay taxes and demolishing houses is not as superficial as going hungry next year "; He also wrote about farmers' food when he sang "Spring is everywhere in the mountains". The bamboo shoots eaten by farmers are not salty, just because "there is no salt in March", pointing to the monopoly of the court; He wrote that the recruited people dug canals to pick up salt boats, and his brushwork was sharper: "People are like ducks and pigs, throwing mud and splashing water"; He accused the court of being poor and weak, and he longed for "the king of Yao and Shun" and one day "bow like a full moon, look at the northwest and shoot Sirius". He asked, "When will Feng Tang be sent to the clouds?" He is frivolous: "Who is afraid? A misty rain is a lifetime! "
However, "the world is a big dream. Life is cool in autumn. " Dongpo's flowing works triggered Wutai poetry case. After the dream, Huangzhou's relegated life made him "ironic and cruel, sharp in writing style, nervous and angry, all of which have disappeared and replaced by a brilliant warmth, kindness, tolerance and harmony." Very sweet and mature, very thorough and deep. " When playing chess, he realized: "If you play, you will win or lose, and if you play, there will be nothing." . Between the secluded forests and mountains, he was suddenly enlightened: "Qian Shan plays the flute at night, and the road is dark and beautiful. I wonder if people are changing the world, and wine has no home. " He is no longer obsessed with "struggling with the ambition of the time" but "Zhou Zhen died from then on, and Jiang Hai sent the rest of his life." Therefore, when Su Shi roamed Chibi, he was faced with "the breeze on the river and the bright moon in the mountains" and lamented that "everything between heaven and earth has its own master, and it is understood by the world." He floated to independence and just wanted to be a lonely flood: "I refuse to live if I collect all the cold branches, and the lonely sandbar is cold."
Secondly, culturally, Confucianism was advocated in the early stage and Taoism in the later stage.
In the early stage, I was eager to achieve success on the road of being an official. Even if he has the heart to "go home", he will "return to heaven and earth like a boat" and "return home after success" He has a sense of social responsibility advocated by Confucianism, and he is deeply concerned about the sufferings of the people: "Autumn crops are not full of eyes, and wheat seeds are scarce. I am always ashamed of the people of this country, and I have a thorn in my skin. Life is 5,000 volumes, and there is no word to save hunger "; He is eager to show his greatness on the battlefield. "Why not frost his temples slightly?" When will Feng Tang be sent to the clouds? "Especially in Xuzhou, Michigan, his spirit of joining the WTO has always been very strong. In his political essays, Su Shi repeatedly expounded the thought of "Heaven is healthy and gentlemen strive for self-improvement" in the Book of Changes, hoping that "the son of heaven will make great efforts to strengthen himself one day" and actively reform and shout for reform.
Later, especially after being demoted twice, he advocated Taoist culture more and returned to Buddhism in an attempt to get rid of religion. He realized that he and the court dignitaries were "not a family". The so-called "fame and fortune" that people are pursuing is already "frosty and disheartened" to him, so he can only bury himself in hard work and has no lofty ambition of "looking at the northwest and shooting at wolves". "The poor ape jumped into the forest, and the horse was exhausted." For Su Dongpo, who experienced the ups and downs of his official career, he uttered the truest sigh from the bottom of his heart, "Worrying about a southeast snow, how clear is life?" Inspired by Buddhism's "normal mind is the Tao", he lived a real peasant life in Huangzhou, Huizhou and Danzhou, and enjoyed it. When the Queen Mother allowed him to live near Taihu Lake, he was overjoyed: "I sent the west wind in my dream for ten years, and this trip is really for Tian She Weng." Finally, he can travel by boat. He is "wandering in vain." After a long drought, Su Dongpo was as happy and satisfied as the farmer. He wrote a poem: "it rains three feet, naturally unintentional and unpredictable." I'll forget it and go to bed. I will lie down and listen to the people on the wall. Rotten scholars have worked hard for a hundred years, and farming is not pitied by the public. It will be regarded as a thousand steps across the northwest mountain spring. Everyone knows that I have no money. "
Thirdly, in style, the previous works are magnificent and unrestrained, like a flood bursting its banks and spilling thousands of miles; Later works are ethereal and meaningful, simple and light as deep willows, and the flowers in Pak Lei are far away.
As far as ci is concerned, there are not many works that really belong to the bold style. According to Mr. Zhu Jinghua's statistics, similar works accounted for about one-tenth of all Su Mian's ci works, and most of them were concentrated in Xuzhou, Mizhou, which was the mainstream of creation at that time: "There are thousands of words in writing and ten thousand volumes in your chest, which makes you Yao and Shun. What's so hard about this? " Why don't you hide in my place and watch at leisure when you are using reason? He was healthy, but he died young, and he was sharp-edged before the war; A song "Hunting in Jiangchengzi Mizhou" can never be sung leisurely with "seventeen or eighteen women with red fangs", but must be sung with "Dongzhou strong men standing up their palms, playing flute and drums as a festival, which is quite spectacular." Although these works are not dominant in quantity, they truly reflect Su Shi's positive attitude towards being an official at that time.
Some later works have both the style of local people's feelings and the charm of hospitality. For example, it is almost all-encompassing, colorful and lyrical, remembering the scenery, nostalgic feelings, giving gifts away, pastoral scenery and talking about Zen. This part accounts for about nine times out of ten of Su Shi's whole poems. Although there is also a big sigh that "the world is like a dream, a bottle is still on the moon", it is more of a small regret that "the flower wine stand has come and gone, and a little bit of bitterness has blossomed". He fled his official career and began to wait and see nature: "The forest is broken, the mangosteen is hidden, and the cicada is singing in the pond." He found it more and more difficult to bear the pain in his heart with words: "It is difficult to whisper the deep meaning in front of people"; He integrated nature and human beings: "spring scenery is divided into three parts, dust is divided into two parts, and running water is divided into one part." In detail, it seems that it is not Huayang, but just a little tear. " In the meantime, it smelled of Zhuangzi and turned into a butterfly. I got carried away. At this point, he expelled all dissatisfaction with reality and politics, hysterical rants, and criticisms that criticized the shortcomings of the times. Its subject matter is more and more extensive, and its style is more and more plain and far-reaching.
The following interview discusses the reasons why Su Shi's poems have changed so greatly in the early and late periods.
Mr. Muzhai's exposition on this issue has been very incisive, and now he quotes directly: "Poetry cases have a profound influence on the poet's thought and creation. Some people say that the poetry case is a turning point in Su Shi's life: Su Shi has changed from "striving for success" and "being a gentleman" to an artistic life of "talking from creation". Writing poems before the case is mainly to deeply reflect on an official's life; Later, his painful mind found a home in nature and a new realm of life. He also said that during the Huangzhou period, "the object of Su Dongpo's spiritual sustenance temporarily shifted from fame and fortune to Dongpo and to nature. This is a kind of alienation from the ruling group and has its positive significance. "The poem case is like a nightmare for Su Shi. After the dream, Huangzhou's relegation made Su Wan get rid of the specific political sorrow, re-recognize the society and re-evaluate the meaning of life. "
Now, from Mr. Wang's point of view, let's make a small expansion on this issue.
First of all, the change of living environment is the objective reason for the change of Su Shi's works. After Wutai Poetry Case, Su Dongpo went into exile in Huangzhou, far away from officialdom. In Huangzhou, he wrote in a letter to his good friend Zhang Chun: "It is very simple to live in a monk's house, drink clothes and vegetables, and have dinner with the monk. For fear of it. Poverty is too great and unreasonable, but it is impossible to be rich or poor. I'm afraid there will be hunger and cold in the years to come. However, as the saying goes, we will deal with it ourselves. Can Ann worry in advance? When I first met the satrap. Since the imperial capital can't go out, there is no need to study, but the Buddhist scriptures send the sun away and don't go near the ink stone. " We can see that Su Shi lives in exile in Huangzhou, Huizhou and Danzhou, but his exile is different from others. He "lives in a monk's house", "eats with a monk" and "only sends the sun away with Buddhist scriptures". This shows that he gradually became a Buddhist in his daily life.
Secondly, advocate Buddhism and Taoism. The Wutai Poetry Case is Su Shi's deep suspicion of Confucian official thought. When his official career is frustrated, he naturally tends to think of Buddhism and Taoism. He wrote in An Guo Ji: "I'm going to Huangshe in February. The museum is humble, with scanty food and clothing, closed doors and the call of the soul. Second best, find another way. On the contrary, it has never been a gesture, nor is it the middle way. This is not the only reason why it was offended. If you think new, you may lose another; If you borrow the analogy and ask for it, you will regret it. So I sighed: Tao is not enough to resist qi, and sex is not enough to get used to it. If you don't hoe its roots, you will know its end. Although you have changed it now, you will change it again. Return to the sincere Buddha and ask for washing. Go south of the city. It's called ankokuji. There are Maolin Xiuzhu and Beichi Xieting. Sitting still and burning incense for a day or two is a profound introspection. Then I forget things, my body and mind are empty, and I beg for sin, but I can't get it. A pure heart. Dyed since autumn; There is nothing inside and outside. Private entertainment ... ""return to the true Buddha and monk, ask for a wash ","forget things, empty body and mind " This shows that his heart has begun to alienate Confucianism and gradually tend to Buddhism and Taoism.
Third, the integration of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. On the surface, Su Shi abandoned Confucianism and followed Taoism, but in fact, the concept of Confucianism has penetrated into his heart, and Su Shi unified the emergence of Buddhism and Taoism with the traditional Confucian thoughts of the Song Dynasty, such as "if you are rich, you will help the world, if you are poor, you will be immune to yourself" and "cultivate your morality, keep your family in order, and govern the country." Therefore, his works are all-inclusive, recalling the past and feeling the present. When Su Shi was in Huangzhou, he traveled around the world: "I have nothing to wait for, and I have already invested in this world. Think about it is self-defeating, dust and dust are different. Look at biological interests, blow each other and wait for gnats "; When he was in Huizhou, he was aloof and indifferent: "Winning is happy, and losing is also happy." In Danzhou, you are at ease, at ease, and in danger: "Spring cattle spring branches, infinite spring breeze comes to the sea." When I went to work in spring, I dyed it pink like meat. Spring is coming, and the spring breeze wakes you up. Unlike the end of the world, poplars are rolled up like snowflakes. "
Su Shi's life was unfortunate and eventful. Official ups and downs, two exile. Wutai Poetry Case is the low tide of Su Shi's career, but it is an important turning point in his literary creation career. This dissatisfaction with his official career and bumpy reality made him walk out of the market court and put his spiritual world more in Buddhism, thus achieving Dongpo-style "free and easy, ethereal and detached" in a greater sense.