Tao Yuanming (365? ~ 427), also known as Qian, with bright characters, was born in Chaisang, Xunyang (near Jiujiang, Jiangxi).
Tao Yuanming lived in a very complicated political environment at the turn of Jin and Song Dynasties. His great-grandfather Tao Kan was a fu master in the Jin Dynasty. My grandfather was a satrap, and my father probably had a lower official position. He died in Tao Yuanming's childhood. In a society that attaches importance to the door, the status of Taoists is different from that of gentry such as Wang and Xie, but it is also different from humble. Tao Kan, who was born in poverty, was ridiculed as a "villain" and regarded as a person with usurper ambition. It is conceivable that the political situation of his descendants is quite embarrassing.
Tao Yuanming spent his boyhood in the countryside of Chaisang. "There are no improper customs, and their sexual love is autumn mountains" (the first part of Guiyuan) and "Young people are poor, and they are good at swimming six classics" (the sixteenth part of drinking) are the portrayal of life at that time. He often says that because his family is poor, he has to be an official to make a living. This is true, but it cannot be ruled out that ordinary scholars have the motivation to make contributions. "I am eager to escape from all over the world, and I love Philip Burkart" (the fifth part of the miscellaneous poem) revealed the news. At the age of 29, Tao Yuanming served as a wine offering ceremony in Jiangzhou and resigned soon. Later, Jiangzhou was called the master book, but he did not take office.
In 398 AD, in the second year of Emperor Long 'an of Jin 'an, Tao Yuanming went to Jiangling and entered Jingzhou and Jiangzhou to secretariat Huan Xuan. At that time, Huan Xuan held the military and political power in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and he was ambitious to usurp gold. Tao Yuanming had the idea of seclusion again. The book Xin Chou returned to Jiangling for a night outing after a vacation in July, written in the fifth year of Longan (40 1), said: "Poetry and calligraphy are well painted, and the garden has no secular feelings. How to go as far as Xijing! " This winter, because Meng's mother died, I went back to Yang to offer my condolences. Great changes have taken place in the political situation since then. In the first year of Yuanxing (402), Huan Xuan entered Beijing in the name of a minister, making Sima Yuan Xian. In the second year of Yuan Xing (403), Huan Xuan usurped the throne and changed his country name to Chu. In the third year of Yuan Xing (404), Emperor Wu of Song set out to crusade against Huan Xuan, entered Jiankang and became the general of Zhenjun. He mastered the state power and brought a glimmer of hope to the rulers. So Tao Yuanming joined the army and became a general of the town army, Emperor Wu of Song. On the way to his post, he wrote "Initiating the Town Army to Join the Army with Qu Zuo". His mood is ambivalent. On the one hand, he feels that the time has come, and he wants to do something: "I will meet you when the time has come." On the other hand, I am attached to rural life: "Change with change and finally return to work." At this time, Liu concentrated on crusade against Huan Xuan and its remnants, and Tao Yuanming was afraid that it would be difficult to make a difference under the curtain of Emperor Wu of Song. In the second year of the first year of Andi (405), he joined the army as general Jianwei and served as Jiangzhou secretariat Liu. In August this year, he requested the removal of Pengze county magistrate. After more than 80 days in office, he resigned and retired on 1 1 month. The direct reason for resigning from the county magistrate this time is recorded in Song Shuzhuan: "The county sent Du You to the county, and the county official Bai said,' I should be bound to see him.' Qian sighed and said,' I can't bend over to the villagers for five buckets of rice! I was relieved of my post today. When he resigned, he put forward a deeper reason: "Go home, come to Xi, please leave me to travel, the world is against me, I can't ask for it any more!" "Tao Yuanming thoroughly realized that secularism was contrary to his nature of advocating nature, and he could not change his nature to adapt to secularism. Coupled with his disappointment with the political situation, he resolutely resigned and lived in seclusion.
2. Literary creation and representative poetry:
Tao Yuanming was the most outstanding poet in the Han, Wei, Southern and Northern Dynasties. Tao poems 125, mostly five-character poems. From the content, it can be divided into three categories: drinking poems, chanting poems and pastoral poems.
(1), drinking poem Tao Yuanming is the first poet who wrote a lot of drinking poems in the history of China literature. The 20 songs he "drank" were all "intoxicating" or accused of inverting right and wrong, discrediting the same upper class; Or expose the decadent darkness of the world; Or reflect the sinister occupation; Or express the joy of the poet after he quit the officialdom; Or express the poet's grievances in difficulties. Judging from the interest and style of the poem, it may not be a work of the same period. In the second year of Yuanxi in the Eastern Jin Dynasty (420), Emperor Wu of Song abolished Gong Jin as the king of Lingling, killed him the following year, and established the Liu and Song Dynasties. Narrating wine records the process of usurping power in a subtle and tortuous way by metaphor. He expressed infinite sorrow for the downfall of Emperor Jin Gong and the Jin Dynasty. At this time, Tao Yuanming had lived in seclusion for many years and was used to troubled times and usurping power. But this poem still reveals his unforgettable human spirit.
(2) Poems chanting for the bosom are represented by 12 miscellaneous poems and 13 reading Shan Hai Jing. 12' s miscellaneous poems mostly show their political depression after retirement, and express their noble personality of not drifting with the tide. It can be seen that the poet's heart is infinitely deep and broad. 13 in Reading the Classic of Mountains and Seas expresses the same content by reciting the wonders in the Classic of Mountains and Seas. For example, the poem 10, by praising Jing Wei and Xing Tian's "fierce ambition is always there", expresses and shows that their ambition to help the world will never die.
(3) Pastoral Poems Tao Yuanming has the largest number of pastoral poems and the highest achievements. This kind of poetry fully shows the poet's lofty interest in disdaining fame and fortune and his noble integrity in keeping his ambition; It fully shows the poet's extreme hatred and complete break with the dark officialdom; It fully shows the poet's love for simple pastoral life, his understanding of labor and his friendly feelings for working people. It fully shows the poet's pursuit and yearning for the ideal world. As a scholar-bureaucrat, such thoughts, feelings and contents are unprecedented in the history of literature, especially in a society with strict gate system and concept. Some of Tao Yuanming's pastoral poems also reflect his predicament in his later years, which can help us indirectly understand the miserable life of the peasant class at that time. Tao Yuanming's Peach Blossom Garden was written in the early Song Dynasty. It depicts a utopian ideal society. It shows the poet's complete denial of the existing social system and infinite admiration for the ideal world. It marks that Tao Yuanming's thought has reached a new height. Tao Yuanming is the pioneer of pastoral poetry. With its simple and natural language and lofty artistic conception, it opened up a new world for China's poetry circle and directly influenced the pastoral poetry school in Tang Dynasty.
Tao Yuanming's existing articles include 3 poems, 5 rhymes and 4 essays, totaling 12. The leisure fu in Ci Fu is written by imitating Zhang Heng's fixed love fu and Cai Yong's static love fu. The content is to write a dream about love, which is meaningless. "Feeling Men Meet Fu" is an imitation of Dong Zhongshu's "Feeling Men Meet Fu" and Sima Qian's "Sad Men Meet Fu", and its content is to express the resentment under the door valve system. Gui Xi Ci is a political declaration that Tao Yuanming publicly broke with the upper class when he resigned and retired. The article uses a lot of space to write about his infinite joy of leaving the officialdom, imagine his infinite joy after retiring to the countryside, and show the author's yearning and love for nature and seclusion. The article skillfully integrates narrative, discussion and lyricism to create a vivid, natural and fascinating artistic realm; The language is natural and simple, washing away the strong local flavor. The rhymes include Painting Praise on the Fan, Reading History, Nine Chapters, Sacrifice to Sister, Sacrifice to Brother and Sacrifice to Yourself. Prose includes "Biography of Meng Fujun, General of the Western Expedition to Jin Dynasty", also known as "Biography of Meng Jia", which is a biography written for Meng Jia, the ancestor of foreign nationalities; In addition, there are Biography of Mr. Wu Liu, Peach Blossom Garden and Dissipation with Yan Zi. Generally speaking, Wen Tao's numbers and achievements are not as good as Shi Tao's. Tao Yuanming's works are sincere, simple and natural, sometimes revealing escapism. The thought of Lotte know life made Lao Zi and Zhuangzi known as "pastoral poets".
3. Tao Yuanming's hermit thought:
Being an official and living in seclusion are two life paths designed by ancient literati in China. The former is to help the world by doing just things, while the latter is honest and upright. Taoism advocates "inaction and seclusion", while Confucius, the founder of Confucianism, advocates "seclusion without Tao". Tao Yuanming's seclusion is different from this. As Sister Liu said, Tao Yuanming was a purifier in Wei and Jin Dynasties. "In his thoughts, there is the essence of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, and his bad habits are eliminated. He has the self-discipline, earnest and responsible spirit of Confucianism, and is not trapped by that kind of hypocritical etiquette and broken classics; He worships the tranquil and carefree state of Laozi and Zhuangzi, instead of associating with those decadent and absurd luxury celebrities; He has an empty view and kindness of Buddhism, and his face is not contaminated with vulgar superstition. " This ideological realm of Tao Yuanming makes his recluse behavior have profound connotation. In Tao Yuanming's time, there were many hermits, which Tao Yuanming hated. "Although the former hermit's motivation is to escape from the individual, it is somewhat rebellious and expresses a protest against the dissatisfied people. People naturally admire his integrity. But when it comes to hiding, this resistance has been completely eliminated, but there is still personal arrogance, and it is naturally inconvenient to care about world events. "
Tao Yuanming hopes that his concealment is valuable. Tao Yuanming became a hermit after several manifestations. He constructed an image of "Taoist seclusion" for himself: "When the body is weak, the family is poor, old and hungry for a longer time. Wheat has nothing to envy, who dares to be fat! Just like a nine-meal meal, when summer is tired of cold clothes. The years are passing away, how hard and sad. People who have always been good at porridge are deeply impressed. Why are you stingy? I have no time for myself. It is said that although I am at the end of my rope, I would rather starve myself than suffer from the food I get. The so-called "I will still be poor". "Tao hides for Tao." In the words of modern philosophy, Tao Yuanming's "Tao" is the natural ontology of pantheism. The application of this "Tao" in people is an adaptability, and its application in society is a "truth". ②
It is precisely because of this "Tao" that Tao Yuanming can keep close to nature when he is eloquent, and it is also because of his close relationship with nature that he has created poems full of seclusion and interest, which makes his poems have a simple and natural style. It can be seen that Tao Yuanming's thought of seclusion directly influenced his poetry creation.
At the same time, Tao Yuanming's seclusion should not only get rid of the great attraction of fame and fortune, but also overcome many extreme hardships in life. It can be seen that seclusion promoted his thoughts, made his mind and personality more mature and charming, and Tao Yuanming became a model, an unattainable coordinate, and set up a personality style for future generations.
Tao Yuanming's poems yearning for nature and loving life in secluded countryside are intertwined with his pursuit of peace and tranquility when he is concentrating on self-raising. Although his aesthetics is not as well known as his poems, it is also unique. This simple beauty can influence other artistic fields, such as China's painting and calligraphy.
According to the above discussion, it can be seen that Tao Yuanming had the idea of seclusion, so he retired to the countryside. He used words to imagine his thoughts in nature and sublimated them into spiritual strength. Words full of thoughts and spirits have aesthetic value. We can divide Tao Yuanming's hermit thought into three levels, namely, literary level, spiritual level and aesthetic level.