To be precise, Yu Xin is a famous poet. He and Xu Ling created "Xu Yu Style", a poetry form. Xu Yu Style
A guide to the poetry styles of Xu Xing, Xu Ling and his son, and Yu Jianwu and Yu Xin's father and son during the Northern Dynasties. Xu Xing and Yu Jianwu were both poets in the late Liang Dynasty in the Southern Dynasties. They were highly regarded by Emperor Xiao Gang of Jianwen and were famous for writing erotic poems. Xu Ling and Yu Xin were officials in the Liang Dynasty in their early years, and their poetic style was inherited from their fathers, which was more elegant and elegant, and often used allusions. Xu Ling later became an official and continued to write erotic poems. Yu Xin was left in the Northern Zhou Dynasty because he was on an envoy. His poetry style changed in the later period, appearing desolate and vigorous, which was beyond the reach of Xu Ling. However, his emphasis on rhetoric and the use of many allusions were still similar to Xu's. Yuan Zhen of the Tang Dynasty wrote an epitaph for Du Fu, and once summarized the characteristics of "Xu Yu" as "flowing beauty", which is speaking of poetry. As far as parallel prose is concerned, it specifically refers to Xu Ling and Yu Xin. Compared with their predecessors such as Shen Yue and Ren Fang, they paid more attention to the use of allusions and wrote more elegantly. However, due to excessive rigidity in allusions, sometimes individual sentences were not fluent, which affected the smoothness of the article.
Yu Xin (513-581), whose courtesy name was Zishan, was a native of Xinye, Nanyang (now part of Henan). He followed his father, Yu Jianwu, in Xiao Gang's court since he was a child. Later, he and Xu Ling served as Xiao Gang's bachelor of the East Palace and became a representative writer of palace style literature; their literary style is also called "Xu Yu style". When Hou Jing rebelled, Yu Xin fled to Jiangling to assist Emperor Yuan of Liang. Later, he was ordered to send an envoy to the Western Wei Dynasty. During this period, Liang was destroyed by the Western Wei Dynasty. The monarchs and ministers of the Northern Dynasty had always admired southern literature, and Yu Xin had a long-standing reputation, so he was both forced and respected to stay in the north, where he held the rank of General of Chariots and Cavalry, and Kaifu Yitong. In the Northern Zhou Dynasty, the Empress Wei moved to the north. He was appointed as the General of Hushi, Kaifu Yitong and the Third Division, and was granted the title of Marquis. At that time, the Chen Dynasty had good relations with the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and people living in exile were allowed to return to their homeland. Only Yu Xin and Wang Bao were not allowed to return to the south. Therefore, on the one hand, Yu Xin was in a distinguished position, respected as a literary master, received courtesy from the emperor, and became common friends with kings. On the other hand, he deeply missed his homeland, felt ashamed that he served in an enemy country, and resented that he was not allowed to have freedom. He was so old that he died in the first year of Emperor Wen's reign in the Sui Dynasty. There is "Yuzishan Collection".
Roughly speaking, Yu Xin's literary creation can be divided into two periods, starting from his mission to the Western Wei Dynasty when he was 42 years old. In the early period of Liang Dynasty, most of his works were palace style, light and elegant, full of eloquent beauty. After being detained in the Northern Dynasties, his poems and poems expressed a lot of his nostalgia for his hometown and his sentiments about his life experience, and his style also changed to vigorous and desolate. That's why Du Fu said: "Yu Xin's articles are more mature as time goes by, and Ling Yunjian's writing style is vertical and horizontal." ("The Six Quatrains of Play")
Most of Yu Xin's works during the Liang Dynasty were destroyed by the war, and few of them remain, and they are basically the same. The above are all harmonious works. Among them, "Fenghe Panjiang", "Fenghe Mountain and Pool", etc. mostly describe the scenery. In the latter poem, "The lotus wind frightens the bathing birds, and the shadows of the bridge gather fish. The sunset is full of mountain air, and the clouds return with rain." The observation and description are very detailed, and are very similar to Xiao Gang's poems. The six-character poem "Dancing Mei Niang" with a palace style was probably also written in the Southern Dynasty:
When I come to the house, I look in the mirror and look at myself with a smile. The eyebrows are thick and straight, and the forehead is light yellow and thin. I just suspect that the fallen flowers have gone away, and the spring breeze will not return. Young people can only have fun, but drinking alcohol will leave a residue!
The poem describes the pity of a beauty-loving girl for her youth. Although it contains sad emotions, it is still lively and energetic.
Seven of Yu Xin's early poems include "Spring Fu", "Du Zhu Fu" and "Prodigal Son Fu", some of which are incomplete. These poems all belong to the category of palace-style literature, and their content is nothing more than a woman's beauty or lovesickness. They are short in length, colorful in language, and pay attention to the beauty of syllables. Among them, "Spring Fu" is the most concrete expression. This article describes the beauty of spring and the scene of women's spring outing. The color is extremely gorgeous. The beginning and end of the fu often use seven-character verses, which have a strong musical effect. For example, the last paragraph:
For three days, the water meandered towards Hejin, and in the evening there were many gods by the river. There are people drinking cups under the trees, and people crossing the water at the head of the sand. The sleeves of the shirt are thin and narrow, and the scarf is tied with beads. The sun is setting on the top of Baizhang Mountain. Don't go home until you've been drunk for three days. The water shadow in the pool is as beautiful as the mirror, and the fragrance of the clothes in the house is not as good as the flowers.
Like "Dancing Girl", it also sings about nostalgia for the short happy time in life. This tendency of combining poetry and poetry and making poetry and poetry indistinguishable was also inherited by later generations. For example, Wang Bo and Luo Binwang in the early Tang Dynasty and Liu Xiyi later had similar works. Generally speaking, Yu Xin's early poems have made considerable achievements in language skills, but they reflect too narrow a aspect of life and lack grand passion.
Although Yu Xin's later creations are considered "mature", he did not abandon the style of his early years. The poems he sang with the dignitaries of the Northern Dynasties were still graceful and luxurious, and contained many erotic elements. There are also twenty-five poems "Inscribed on Painting Screens", which are also known for their exquisiteness. Poems on paintings were extremely rare before this time, so this group of poems is noteworthy in the development of themes. The characteristic of poetry is that it is good at using the techniques of landscape poetry to combine the content of the picture with imagination, so that it does not break away from the picture and is full of natural interest. This inspired later generations to often add poems to paintings to expand the connotation of appreciation.
However, in Yu Xin's later creations, what received the most attention were his works expressing his feelings and remembering his motherland, which were very different from the previous style. Yu Xin's character is neither decisive nor good at self-liberation. The sorrow of country's subjugation, the sorrow of traveling, and moral self-blame are always entangled in his heart, but he can't find any way out. He often just feels helpless. The solution is strong masturbation solution, but the result is getting deeper and deeper. The so-called "emotional disputes lead to complicated meetings, and thoughts are mixed for no reason" (Chen Zuoming's "Selected Ancient Poems of Caishutang"), which makes the emotions in the poem seem extremely heavy.
The twenty-seven poems in "Simultaneous Ode to Huai" are representatives of this type of poetry.
Zu Dou is not accustomed to it, and there is no plan for the curtain. Not to mention that Ban Ding is far away, he should be a Hou thousands of miles away. The guests of Yan thought of Liao River, and the people of Qin looked at Longtou. The advocate was forcibly hired, but the proton value remained. Self-pity consumes all your talent and wisdom, and only ruins your years and years. (Part 3 of "Pseudo-Yong Huai")
Yu Xin was just a talented writer, but he was placed in the wrong position by fate, and he had to bear the pain caused by this "misplacement". This is the connotation of this poem.
The falling autumn is full of energy, desolate and full of resentment, weeping withered bamboos in the lake, and destroying Qiliang City with weeping. The day of death is met with an angry battle, and the sun is frowning and worrying about the soldiers. The straight rainbow looks towards the Yingbao, and the long stars fall into the camp at night. The songs of Chu are full of hate, and the south wind has many sounds of death. A glass of wine in front of me. Who cares about posthumous names? (No. 11 of "An Odyssey")
This song mourns the demise of Liang. It is extremely painful and helpless. We can only attribute everything to "God's will."
Thinking about Wanhuhou, Suddenly sad in the middle of the night. The sound of the piano filled the room, and books filled the bedside. Although I dreamed of butterflies, it was definitely not Zhuang Zhou. The waning moon is like the first moon, and the new autumn is like the old autumn. Under the dew weeping, the fireflies float and break into the stream of fire. Lotte knows his fate, when can he stop worrying? (No. 18 of "The Imitation of Ode to Love")
This poem laments that although he is talented and learned, it is of no use to the country. He wants to imitate Zhuangzi's broad-mindedness, but cannot do it, so he is endlessly worried. The two sentences "waning moon" and "new autumn" describe the boredom and despair day after day. It seems simple, but in fact it is extraordinary. The couplet "Dew Crying" describes the scenery and expresses emotion, which is also exquisite and exquisite.
Most of the twenty-seven poems in "Fantasy Odyssey" are works with true and deep feelings, concise and expressive language. The rhetorical techniques of Southern Dynasties literature, especially the rhyme, allusions, parallel couplets and other methods, were widely used here and were further improved. There are many five-character quatrains in Yu Xin's later poems, which are obviously higher than those of his contemporaries in terms of quantity and attainment.
The road to Yuguan is far away, and the messengers in Jinling are sparse. I shed a thousand lines of tears alone and opened a book for you thousands of miles away. ("Send to Wang Lin")
Thousands of miles of Yangguan Road, but no one returned. Only the geese by the river fly southward in autumn. ("Farewell to Zhou Shangshu")
The stone shadows lie across the water, and the mountain clouds half surround the peaks. Thinking of the mountain shop in the distance, I know that the spring wine is strong. ("Shan Zhai")
The quatrain style that the literati of the Southern Dynasties adapted from folk songs was mainly developed to be more refined and subtle. As for the desolate mood and broad and profound artistic conception in the first two poems listed above, few people have achieved it before. The third song is also beautiful and interesting. It can be said that Yu Xin's contribution to the development of Wujue cannot be ignored.
Yu Xin’s later Fu also changed a lot. The most famous work is "Ai Jiangnan Fu". The poem is well-organized before the poem. It is a parallel prose that can stand on its own as a chapter. It explains the reasons for writing the poem and summarizes the main idea of ??the poem. The language is exquisite and the mood is desolate. It is a masterpiece in itself.
The sun sets and the journey is far away, what will happen in this world! When the general leaves, the big tree falls; when the strong man does not return, the cold wind blows. Jingbi looks like a pillar, and is deceived by being connected to the city; carrying books on the horizontal steps, holding beads on a plate is uncertain. Gentleman Zhong Yi was imprisoned in Nanguan; Xingren Ji Sun was left to guard the Xihe Pavilion. Shen Baoxu was stunned and his head was broken into pieces; Cai Weigong's tears were exhausted and he was poured with blood. The moving willows from the Diaoyutai are not something you can see at Jade Pass; the cranes chirping in Huating Pavilion are not something you can hear from the river bridge!
This section expresses his grief and indignation at being detained in the Western Wei Dynasty. The first two sentences turn a life's experience into a long sigh, which is extremely sad. The following repeated allusions are used to compare one's own experiences and moods with a series of historical character stories, which plays a profound role in the lyrical effect.
The text of "Preface to Ai Jiangnan Ode" is mainly composed of four or six sentences, which is a format gradually formed in parallel prose. After entering the Tang Dynasty, it became a stereotype, so later generations also called this parallel prose "four or six prose". The advantage of this style of writing is that it has a strong sense of rhythm, but if it is not well written, it can easily appear dull. Yu Xin's writing is good at scheduling changes, flexible sentence patterns, and good use of function words to connect the relationships between sentences, showing a strong structural ability. For example, "Sun Ce divided the world into three parts and divided all his talents into one brigade; Xiang Ji used the disciples from Jiangdong, with only eight thousand people. Then he divided the mountains and rivers and slaughtered the world. How can there be millions of righteous soldiers who can roll up their armor and cut down the catkins in one day? Like grass and trees!" Use prose sentences in the middle of the couplets, freely and horizontally.
The main text of "Ai Jiangnan Fu" uses his own experience as a clue to narrate the rise and fall of the Liang Dynasty, which is of an epic nature. The composition is grand, with numerous threads, and deep emotions. It combines narrative, discussion, and lyricism, which is a rare example in ancient poetry. The author has a deep affection for the Liang Dynasty, but he is also very harsh in his criticism of the political chaos of the Liang Dynasty and the selfishness of Emperor Yuan of Liang and the clan kings. After Xu Jiangling was captured, the suffering of the people was particularly tragic and touching:
The water is poisonous in Qinjing, and the mountains are high in Zhaoxing. Ten to five miles apart, there are long pavilions and short pavilions. Hunger follows the stinging swallow, darkness follows the flowing firefly. The water in Qin is black, and the mud is green when closed. At that time, the ice pan collapsed, and the wind flew and the lightning dispersed. Thousands of miles away, Zi and Mian are in chaos. The snow is as dark as sand, and the ice is as horizontal as the shore. When I went to Luoyang, I met Wang Can who had left home. Everyone weeps when they hear Longshui, and sighs towards Guanshan. Kuang Fujun is in Jiaohe, and his concubine is in Qingbo. The stone looks at the husband and is far away, and the mountain looks at the son and there are many.
A large number of allusions are used in the text and preface of "Ai Jiangnan Fu". Being good at using old classics is Yu Xin's recognized specialty. This not only shows his erudition and ingenuity. Each short sentence containing allusions provides rich historical associations, thus forming a very thick article style. But this also makes the article difficult to understand, and it is inevitably blunt. This means that there are pros and cons, and we cannot talk about them one by one.
"Ode to the Small Garden", "Ode to the Dead Tree", "Ode to the Sadness", "Ode to the Bamboo Stick", etc. are the lyrical poems written by Yu Xin in his later period. Among them, "Ode to Dead Trees" uses symbolic techniques to describe various trees that cannot maintain their natural life due to man-made reasons, especially the disasters caused by being favored. It focuses on expressing the sorrow of aristocratic literati in turbulent times who are unable to protect themselves. There are It has quite a philosophical meaning and is very touching. However, there are a lot of allusions included in the symbolic writing, which makes it particularly difficult to understand. "Xiaoyuan Fu" focuses on describing scenery to express the embrace of seclusion. Therefore, the text is relatively clear and clear, and it is the most outstanding among the chapters. Scenery lines such as "The dew falls among the tung trees and the wind blows under the willows", "There are many birds with leisure time, and flowers follow the four seasons", "One to two inches of fish, three poles and two poles of bamboo" are all exquisite and natural writing styles, showing that The author's talent.
Yu Xin can be said to be the master of literature in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. With his intelligent qualifications, he accumulated high literary literacy in Liang Dynasty, the heyday of literature in the Southern Dynasties. He came to the north again, enriched the content of his creations with his painful life experiences, and accepted some elements of northern culture to some extent. Thus forming its own unique look. His parallel prose and parallel verse can be ranked alongside Bao Zhao, representing the highest achievements of parallel prose and parallel verse in the Northern and Southern Dynasties; his poetry initially integrated the poetry styles of the north and the south and had an important influence on Tang poetry. The inscription of Zhang Pu's "Collection of One Hundred Three Masters of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties·Yu Zishan Collection" of the Ming Dynasty said:
Historians commented that Yu's poems are "beautiful", and Du Gongbu also called them "fresh" and "mature". These six characters are difficult for poets to combine, so Zishan prepared them. Yutai Qionglou is not easy to reach. ...Linghu wrote history and slandered him as "promiscuous", "lightly dangerous", and "a sinner of poetry". The articles written by people from the Tang Dynasty, most recent to Xu and Yu, are poor in form and form, and are examples, but they dare to insult and insult, and they are almost ready to use taboos, so they are looking for an ax first?
"Linghu writes history" refers to the derogatory remarks about Yu Xin in Tang Linghu Defen's "Book of Zhou". Some literati in the Tang Dynasty made unreasonable criticisms of the entire literature of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. The reasons are complex and will not be discussed here. Here Zhang Pu does not regard "beautiful beauty" as a literary sin, but also points out that "the most recent works by people in the Tang Dynasty are Xu and Yu", which is indeed insightful.