As a romantic poet, Li Bai is great and the most typical. He said that his poem was "Xing Han put pen to paper to shake the five mountains, and the poem became a small Aoling Cangzhou". Du Fu praised his poems and said, "Putting pen to paper scares the wind and rain, and a poem makes you cry." This magical artistic charm is indeed the most striking feature of his poems. Li Bai is not a poet who "never leaves his clan". On the contrary, he seems to care about everything. He has experienced and shown a lot of life. Although he can't satisfy his life forever, his passionate feelings and strong personality have left an indelible mark on poems expressing various lives, leaving a strong subjective color of self-expression everywhere. Therefore, as far as the content of his poems is concerned, he has a distinct realistic spirit, and he often uses romanticism to express realistic themes. Qiupu's Seventeen Songs is a masterpiece of his realistic spirit.
In the early years of Tang Tianbao, the poet Li Bai came to Chang 'an. In the next three years of life, his desire to display his ambition was shattered and gradually replaced by the feeling of talent and ambition. "Old Tang Book" records that Li Bai "was drunk in the temple and led Gao Lishi to take off his boots, so he didn't agree. He wandered around the rivers and lakes and drank all day."
In fact, Li Bai left Chang 'an under the exclusion of powerful people in the DPRK. After staying in Chang 'an for three years, he began his second wandering life for about twelve years.
The poet wrote 17 Qiupu songs during his roaming. Li Bai's political experience in his later years was unfortunate, and his life path became more and more bumpy. He wandered and sang for a long time in Qiupu, a place with many strange landscapes, to express his feelings. And put their political dissatisfaction, frustration, sadness, grief and indignation between mountains and rivers. This is a period when poets are increasingly awakened, have a deeper understanding of reality and have a new development in their creation.
Seventeen Songs of Qiupu reflects a wider social life and has a certain depth, mainly in the following aspects:
(A) love nature, love life, compared with the poet's early works, more persistent and enthusiastic.
The poet's love for nature is unified with his love for the motherland, life and freedom. The mountains and rivers described by the poet are so colorful, magnificent and full of vitality. He is simply an ingenious Dan Qing hand, presenting the beauty of nature and life to us.
The poet praised Qingxi, where the mountains and rivers are both beautiful in Zhejiang and Dongting Lake in Hunan. "Mountains and rivers are like counties, and the wind is like Changsha." The poet also paid attention to the viewpoint that "the sky is falling and water is parasitic" with a vivid pen. Shuicheling ("Qiupu Qu" No.8) "The water is urgent, and the flowers are fragrant." Wanluo Mountain (Song of Autumn Pu, No.11) "In the mirror of pedestrians, in the screen of birds." Yujingtan, "Jiang Zu is a stone, and the sky sweeps the screen." Jiang Zushi (Qiupu's ninth song).
Another example is Song of Autumn Pu (12):
Water is like a ruler, and it is flat here.
Resistance can take advantage of the bright moon to see flowers in the restaurant.
Qingxi is inserted at the foot of Qishan, and there is Pingtian Lake next to it. At that time, mountains and rivers were connected, so you could climb mountains and go sightseeing by boat. Li Bai once took a boat from Pingtian Lake on a moonlit night to see the mountain scenery, drinking and writing poems. The beautiful autumn lake is as clear and bright as silk in the moonlight and as open and calm as the sky. The boat is on the water, as if it were on the moon. The coastal mountain flowers are full of poetry. Faced with the natural beauty of "like a foot of water", the poet pinned his love on himself. Another example is the ninth "Qiupu Song":
Jiang Zu is a stone and the sky sweeps the screen.
Poetry remains forever, and green words are full of moss.
In just four sentences, the poet presented the majestic posture of Jiang Zushi to us. Between the lines, the poet's love for nature and yearning for a better life are pinned. At the same time, he also urged Li Bai to constantly pursue the true meaning of life and let his mind roam in the vast universe to obtain spiritual comfort. Because of this, the nature in his works often flows with the inside story of life.
(2) Enthusiastic praise of the working people is more popular than the poet's early works.
Through long-term observation and contact with society, the poet became more and more aware of the darkness and decay of the ruling group in the Tang Dynasty. In addition, he suffered political setbacks and his life went from bad to worse, which enabled him to contact the lower class and get close to the ordinary working people at that time. In Li Bai's collection of poems, most of the poems directly describing the working people were written in his later years, and Seventeen Poems of Qiu Pu is the representative of these works.
In the poem, the poet enthusiastically praised the life, love and beautiful sentiment of woodcutter, boatman, fisherman and smelter, which fully showed the poet's love for ordinary working people.
For example, the thirteenth song of Autumn Pu:
The green water is clear and the moon is clear, and the bright moon egrets fly.
Lang listened to the girl picking ling and returned with a nocturne.
This is a beautiful and touching love carol. Clear water and bright moon. Girls in the village pick diamonds in the moonlight. The young people sang with them and walked home in the bright moonlight. A pure and beautiful picture of life is vividly displayed before us. This is in sharp contrast with the decadent life of the ruling class "frivolous children" that the poet hates, such as "drunken at dusk, white horses galloping proudly" (the eighth time in Ancient Style) and "cockfighting in the golden palace, leaning towards Yao and Tai" (the forty-sixth time in Ancient Style). Therefore, this poem not only praises the life and love of the working people, but more importantly, among the working people, the poet also discovered a world that is absolutely different from the life of the ruling class-a healthy and bright world.
Another example is "Song of Qiu Pu" (No.14):
The fire was shining in the sky, and the red star in the purple smoke was in chaos.
On the night of the moon, copper smelters sang, and their songs resounded through the cold valley.
This is an ode to a smelter. In the smelter of Qiupu Copper Mine, the poet saw a magnificent scene-the scene of smelting copper in the smelter at night. The poet, full of lofty sentiments and bright colors, vividly described the scene of smelting workers fighting all night on extremely crude construction sites and enthusiastically praised the fine sentiments of smelting workers.
Another example is the sixteenth song of Autumn Pu:
In autumn, tourists from Putian will fish in the water.
His wife Zhang married Ying Zhushen.
Husband fishing, wife catching birds, busy, working day and night with colleagues. This is how noble it is compared with the parasitic life of the ruling class, which is full of food all day long.
Because of the long-term vagrancy, poets are closer to the lower classes, have a certain familiarity and understanding of their lives, and gradually approach them emotionally, so they can better describe their lives and spiritual outlook in their poems.
In the poet's works, the image of ordinary workers is so beautiful: the girls and boys who pick ling at night and the copper smelting workers who sing in Hanchuan are so optimistic. These three quatrains seem to be beautiful and touching lyric songs, holding our heartstrings tightly. It can be said that Li Bai could never have written such a good poem without going deep into the lower classes and getting close to the working people personally. Although the poet was not proud in politics, he was ambitious and depressed, but he never sank. On the contrary, I have a deeper understanding of the dark reality at that time. Paying attention to the extreme life of ordinary workers is the true expression of Li Bai's thoughts and emotional trends during this period.
(3) Dissatisfaction with social reality, frustration and sorrow over talent failure are more subtle and profound than previous works.
Li Bai doesn't want to go along with the dark forces, but he can't find a bright and correct way. Full of heart to save the world, but heroes are useless. His political career almost coincided with that of Li Longji. On the one hand, Li Bai accepted the bad social atmosphere at that time, such as seeking immortals and giving gifts, on the other hand, he tried to get rid of the shackles of this social atmosphere. This kind of contradiction and conflict can be seen in the poem, as well as the social background that leads to the poet's frustration and depression.
For example, Song of Autumn Pu is one of the following:
Autumn is like autumn, and depression makes people worry.
You can't cross the river, so go to the east building.
Looking to the west of Chang 'an, you can see the river flowing below.
Send a message to this river and you will remember it.
Send a drop of tears from afar to reach Yangzhou for me.
Xi Lu Zhi was quoted as saying in The Year of Li Taibai Poetry Department: "I am a guest in Jinling and I can't forget Yangzhou, but my original intention is really Chang 'an." He also said, "There are clouds looking at Chang 'an, and Yangzhou cloud makers cover what Chang 'an has passed. "This is really the finishing touch, and it tells the theme of his poem.
When the poet first arrived in Chang 'an, his initial dream was to establish the great cause of "saving the world" and "repairing the world". Unexpectedly, what Emperor Xuanzong appreciated for him was not the "overlord's strategy" of "lobbying Wancheng", but the uneasy life of Li Bai, a "pengpeng native", which had to disappoint him.
In fact, Li Bai lived in Chang 'an for three years, but he was just a royal scholar who decorated the Tang Dynasty. However, he is unwilling to play the role of whitewash and flattery. Therefore, the word "worry" in the poem is not only a lament that those in power can not be reused, but also a strong dissatisfaction with the real society. He has deep feelings for this place. Before that, he witnessed the arrogance of dignitaries such as "Smelling the rainbow, worrying pedestrians" (No.24 of Ancient Style), and witnessed that "the splendor is hidden in the daytime, and the clouds have no end" (No.39 of Ancient Style), "Pearl jade buys songs and laughs, and dross nurtures talents." ("Ancient Style" Part 15), the sage has no way to enter the body and destroy it. All these aroused the poet's strong indignation.
However, Li Bai did not understand the essence of social corruption and decline that he personally experienced and criticized. Therefore, I didn't realize the new consciousness contained in my own creation. In this poem, his mood can only be depression and sadness. "Don't worry about crossing, go to the east building. Looking west at Chang 'an, I see the river flowing. "The poet stood on the high-rise mountain and missed his three-year life in Chang 'an. However, the reality is ruthless, and he is just a lost river in the East. He is disheartened and pessimistic when he thinks about it. Then, the poet said, "Send a message to this river and you will remember it." Desire, but also fantasy that they can be reused by the emperor. But even the poet himself thinks this possibility is extremely small, and he can only sigh alone. In the last two sentences, "Sprinkle a tear from a distance and arrive in Yangzhou for me", the poet still hopes to display his great ambition. This "distant cry" shows how sincere he is. Here, the poet's feelings are reconciled, which truly reflects the contradictions and conflicts in the poet's inner world and the unsatisfied feelings of his talents, indicating that the poet has a more thorough observation of real life and a deeper understanding of the Tang Dynasty.
But for the feudal literati like Li Bai, the old traditional concept is like "drawing a sword and breaking water", which can't be broken if you want to. Therefore, they lack the courage to fight in reality and can only fall into the depression of "raising a glass to lock their worries".
If we compare the poet's poems before and after he went south in 753 AD, we can find that there are significant differences. After the poet came to Qiupu, his impassioned works were few and far between, and more were mournful and plaintive singing in a low voice. Sightseeing works also pay more attention to the description of landscape appearance, rather than more emotional expression. Therefore, in "Song of Autumn Pu", it is better to send "sorrow" to the mountains and rivers than to send feelings to the mountains and rivers. For example, "Autumn is like autumn, depression makes people worry", "Autumn is like an ape at night, and Huangshan is like a bald head", which can be described as "worry" and thinking. Let's look at the second song of Song of Qiu Pu:
Qiupu apes are sad at night, and Huangshan Mountain is as white as a bald head.
Qingxi is not a long river, but a heartbroken stream.
You can't go if you want to.
When to return to Japan, rain and tears are lonely.
Here, the poet's wandering mood is so confusing and elusive. What he expressed was not a simple "I can't do my job" (Huainan was sick to express my feelings), but a complex feeling of social dissatisfaction.
Li Bai felt that there was no way out politically because he didn't want to associate with that lucky boy. At the same time, it also means his disappointment with the court dignitaries and Tang Xuanzong himself. The word "sorrow" in this poem makes people feel that the poet is so bleak and indifferent to his future. On the surface, Qingxi doesn't seem to have much sadness. In fact, it is a calm attempt after an accident and anger to the extreme, revealing a sense of helplessness. The last four sentences in the poem show that he is unwilling to retire and is determined to wander the world. At this time, the poet felt that he was absolutely incompatible with the dark forces. "When I go back to Japan, I will cry in the rain alone." At this time, the poet's rebellious voice fell from high notes to inescapable depression. The interweaving of melancholy and grief and indignation finally boils down to a word "sadness". This is determined by the insoluble contradiction in the poet's mind, and it is also the shadow cast by the society that disappointed the poet.
The political lyric poems in Seventeen Songs of Qiu Pu, in addition to the above-mentioned chapters that directly express feelings, also include some poems that are obscure, tortuous, grandiose and mixed with association and reality.
For example, the first 15 "Song of Autumn Pu", which has been highly appreciated:
White hair three thousands of feet, sorrow like a beard.
I don't know where to get autumn frost in the mirror.
It shows the poet's sadness and frustration that he is afraid of the passage of time and his ideal cannot be realized. He hopes to keep the past fleeting time, because the passage of time means the failure of his ideal. The poet used exaggeration to express his complex feelings of disappointment and sadness. Sorrow reveals injustice, and emotion implies sadness. This is Li Bai's generous elegy after political frustration.
Similarly, there is a fourth:
The temples are in the autumn pool, and the apes sound white.
Once the whisper fades, the length becomes silk.
The poet's depressed mood can be described as thrilling and tortuous. With the visual language of "ape voice" and "white hair", can't we get a glimpse of Li Bai's sad mood?
19 edition of Antique also shows the realistic spirit in Li Bai's poetry creation.
The fairy shines like a star on the lotus peak in Huashan Mountain. Holding a white hibiscus flower in both hands, curled up into a ball. Dressed in colorful clothes, elegant clouds floated high into the sky. I boarded the rainbow platform and bowed to Wei Shuqing. Anxiously follow them and take Hongyan to Zixuan. Inadvertently, the Luoyang Plain was full of soldiers in the Anshi Rebellion. The bones are bloody, and the traitors turn their backs on the court.
In the beautiful fantasy of ascension, I suddenly saw Luoyang being ravaged and destroyed by An Lushan. We can't help but think of the ending of Li Sao: "I became an emperor and was suddenly shocked by my hometown." The plummeting of feelings and the disillusionment of romantic fantasies profoundly show the poet's extremely painful patriotism. In the dreamland, the poet fully shows the opposition between reality and ideal, or can't forget the heart of suffering reality. Entrust rich real life feelings in fantasy, and show clear struggle consciousness and enthusiasm in vague illusion images.
To sum up, it can be seen that Li Bai's poetry and song creation also has a distinct realistic spirit.