However, when we evaluate historical figures, if we jump out of the cycle of loyalty and treachery; When evaluating literary works, if there are fewer political attachments; If we look at Qu Yuan and his works calmly and objectively, we will find that Qu Yuan's poems are magnificent, but there are also unsatisfactory failures. Qu Yuan's personality is noble, but not all his tragedies are caused by others. Qu Yuan, as a human being, has a chronic disease.
Apart from biographies and Qu Yuan's own works, we can't find anything more convincing to study Qu Yuan. It is puzzling that Sima Qian, who has always been famous for his rigorous textual research and fair writing, is also ambiguous about Qu Yuan in Biography.
It is generally believed that Qu Yuan lived from 340 BC to 277 BC. His main political career was in the era of Chu Huaiwang, and he was once regarded as a leftist by King Huai. After being slandered, he alienated the King of Qi and defected to the State of Qi. When Wang Huai and Meng Hui were under house arrest in Qin State, Qu Yuan still had a certain political status. Only after Chu Huaiwang's national subjugation, Gongzi Lan became a hermit and took charge of the power of Chu, did Qu Yuan's situation go from bad to worse. Finally, he was banished to Jiangnan, depressed and haggard, and died in Miluo.
Qu Yuan lived in a historical turning point from superpower to decline. At that time, the declining State of Qi, relying on the status of the closest relative of the Zhou Dynasty, and the newly powerful State of Qin attacked Chu on both sides. In the face of such an unfavorable situation, it is an honor to relive our ancestors' dream of winning China. Therefore, how to protect the national interests is an urgent problem faced by all politicians in Chu.
At that time, it was feasible for Chu to unite with one country against another. On the issue of reunifying Chyi Chin, Qu Yuan had a disagreement with another important official, Shangguan. In today's words, Qu Yuan is a pro-Qi faction, and Doctor Shangguan is a pro-Qin faction.
For example, from a political point of view, I think it is obviously unwise for Qu Yuan to cling to an outdated State of Qi and ignore the newly rising State of Qin.
Some people may say that if Chu and Qi join hands to fight against Qin successfully, then the advanced Qi and Chu culture, which represents the marine economy, will become the mainstream culture of China, and China will enter capitalism several centuries ahead of schedule. Doesn't Qu Yuan represent the development direction of advanced culture?
We can't study history beyond the inherent development law of history.
History has proved that the prosperity of a country depends on a strong centralized and autocratic system in the cold weapon era with underdeveloped productive forces. Therefore, the rise of Qin has its historical inevitability. This is independent of personal will. Obviously, Qu Yuan didn't see this historical inevitability, so he didn't grasp the opportunity that history gave him. He rejected the state of Qin and regarded it as a tiger and a wolf. As a senior official who is deeply loved by Chu Huaiwang, can greatly influence national politics and is in charge of national ideological and cultural construction, Qu Yuan's approach is obviously narrow and destructive. This is bound to be strongly opposed by dissidents.
We can't define Qu Yuan as a great patriot just because he was expelled from his native land, because he died for his country and threw himself into the river, and because he was treated unfairly. In that case, it is easy to remind people of his political opponents. Are they unpatriotic people? Take Chu Huaiwang, who alienated Qu Yuan, as an example. He was deceived to the state of Qin, and faced the threat of the enemy, and saved the country righteously at the expense of himself. Is he unpatriotic? So I think that sympathy for historical figures and how to evaluate his position in history are two different things; The evaluation of political merits and demerits of historical figures and his literary achievements are two different things.
Of course, we no longer give Qu Yuan the title of "patriotic poet", not to deny his patriotic feelings, let alone his literary value as a poet.
Qu Yuan is a poet and an outstanding poet in the history of China literature. He loves the mountains and rivers of his motherland, flowers and trees, and everything from ghosts to storms and lightning is the carrier of his love.
To be sure, before Qu Yuan, Chu had a relatively complete song and dance creation system. This is the inevitable requirement of its economic development level and the development of its witchcraft culture.
According to records, Qu Yuan is good at rhetoric. The word "quitter" is also a long song. The development and appearance of the figure of speech "ying" is closely related to the song and dance scenes in the sacrifice. "Biography" said that Qu Yuan "entered the country to discuss state affairs with the monarch in order to give orders; If you go out, you will meet the guests and deal with the princes. " In other words, he was a senior official in charge of culture, propaganda and diplomacy at that time. Then, in terms of internal and external manners and customs, he is naturally proficient in music and rhetoric.
Judging from Chu Ci, Qu Yuan's poetry creation career can be roughly divided into two stages. That is, in the early stage, romantic poetry mainly praised love, and in the later stage, it gradually became realistic and mixed with schizophrenia.
The essence of Qu Yuan's poems is his early poems. Among them, Ode to an Orange, Hebo and Shan Gui are all rare works of art. In these poems, Qu Yuan often borrows characters from myths and legends to express his love. For example, Shan Gui said, "Thunder fills the rain, apes sing at night, and the wind is rustling. I miss my son." Describe a lonely woman's misery.
Since the Spring and Autumn Period, China literature has been developing and evolving along the two schools of calligraphy and Song Dynasty. If Confucius' deletion and revision of The Book of Songs laid the foundation for the development of China's poetry, then Qu's principle was to sacrifice song and dance, which created an excellent example of China's romantic lyric poetry and narrative poetry. In his poems, there are both magnificent imagination and magnificent and tragic historical pictures. Although this is rarely reflected in Qu Yuan's poems. For example, The Merchant of the Country is not only an exaggeration of gorgeous rhetoric, but also contains humanistic care and epic elements. "With a long sword and a A Qin bow, if you leave your heart, you will not be punished." "Physical death, gods, souls." This thrilling poem is not just talent! That is the poet's loyalty to patriotism and love for the people!
I think, from the literary point of view, Ode to an Orange in Nine Songs and Nine Chapters is the most commendable part of Qu Yuan's poetry, the peak of his poetry creation and China's poetry.
However, due to unfair treatment and turbulent life in his later years, Qu Yuan's poems gradually deviated from the original optimistic and romantic track. Qu Yuan's later poems are full of bitterness, sadness and narcissism, sometimes reaching unbearable nervousness. This is not only far from the elegance of his early poems, but also greatly reduces the aesthetic value of the poems themselves.
It is sad and sympathetic that the poet is alienated from Chu Huaiwang and has been unhappy for a long time. It is not easy for a person suffering from mental depression to finish such great works as Tian Wen and Li Sao one after another, not to mention that some paragraphs are the essence of Qu Yuan's poems. "The dynasty began in Tianjin, and the evening exceeded the West Pole. The wings of the Phoenix Emperor carried flags and soared high. Suddenly, I walked in the quicksand, obeyed Chishui, persuaded Xiaolong to be Liang Jinxi, and summoned Xidi to get involved. How difficult is it to get to Xiu Yuan? Let all the cars wait for you. Turn left when the road is bad and point to the West Sea for a while. The rest of the chariots rode thousands, and Chyi Yu rode eight dragons in parallel, holding the cloud flag as a snake. " Whenever I read this, I can't help feeling excited. Qu Yuan in pain never lost his true qualities as a poet. He finally conquered intolerance and selfishness with broad love, and his kindness and tolerance saved himself. Poetry made him fly to heaven!
However, when future generations evaluate Qu Yuan, they often have admiration for him. I don't think it's necessary to take a totally lose attitude towards all his works. For example, Tian Wen, some people say that it is a challenge to the feudal monarchy. I don't think so. Let's not talk about whether Qu Yuan has such advanced consciousness for the time being. Let's ask: If Qu Yuan doesn't have the embodiment of being loyal to the monarch, what is the significance of his patriotism? Why is his noble personality attached to beauty?
The best explanation is that when Qu Yuan wrote Tian Wen, his spirit was in a state of collapse. His series of questions are actually the release of the poet's inner anguish. Tian Wen has its historical value, but as far as the literary level of poetic art itself is concerned, Tian Wen is undoubtedly the most failed of all Qu Yuan's poems.
Chu culture has a strong tradition of witchcraft culture. Today, we can't study the primitive form of Chu witch culture.
Chu-Shu culture in China and Liangzhu culture in Zhejiang have deep roots. In my opinion, the totem traces left by Chu culture have many similarities with the alpine culture, Malay culture and Polynesian culture in Taiwan Province Province. Maybe they are all from Liangzhu culture (I will discuss this in another article). In today's alpine and Malay culture, one of the most important features is the feminine beauty of song and dance.
Influenced by cultural traditions, there is a strong male love complex in Qu Yuan's poems. For example, he often uses Lan Zhi and other things to symbolize beauty in his poems. For example, he often reveals his resentment against Wang Huai in his poems. This can't help but remind people why he was alienated by Chu Huaiwang, why he was demoted, and finally what kind of mentality he threw himself into the river.
Sima Qian recorded that Qu Yuan had withered before he threw himself into the river. It can be seen that he is under great mental pressure. Because of political frustration?
There is a passage in Li Sao that says, "I resent the mighty practice, but I don't care about my husband's heart." Many women are jealous of Yu's beauty and eyebrows. They say Yu is good at prostitution. " If we admit that Li Sao is an autobiographical lyric poem, then this sentence is worth pondering. At present, most of the explanations are that the beauty here is an innuendo. But my question is, why does Qu Yuan like to compare others to women? Is it contempt? Why does he also call himself a moth eyebrow? And defile yourself as a prostitute? If he really has a disorderly life and lust for women, why doesn't he have a family?
My hypothesis is: Qu Yuan is gay, or he is a eunuch. It is this that makes Sima Qian, who is in the same boat, have to use the spring and autumn brushwork lightly when making a biography.
Perhaps he was spoiled since childhood, and "jealous of the fence, taking it for granted" made Qu Yuan confuse his gender cognition. After being reused by Chu Huaiwang, he lived a luxurious life in the palace (at that time, the economy and culture of Chu were very developed. ) let him have no chance to correct this disordered consciousness. So much so that he often reveals his love and desire for the same sex in his poems. In this way, he will inevitably be rejected by some "gentlemen" Chu Huaiwang, who was proud of him, had to alienate him in order to win over other ministers, but he could not be abolished, which is understandable. After Chu Huaiwang's death, Zilan came to power. Not only because once a gentleman was a courtier's convention, but also because "birds of prey are not crowded. Since past lives, of course, no one can be happy, and husbands are different."
If we look at homosexuality objectively, it makes sense. Qu Yuan is also a human being, and he may also suffer from mental illness beloved by modern people, especially entertainers. He is more unfortunate than modern people. In his time, he had to pay a higher price for his illness, even his life. When people who appreciate him are forced to change their original intention by political pressure, they regret it, when their sisters don't understand the application, and when Wang Huai's successor is ungrateful, "Yu Yilan can rely on me, and I am honest, tolerant, beautiful and obedient, and worthy of the public." What road can Qu Yuan take?
The original intention of Li Sao is to be Sao. Sao is a kind of inner anxiety, a mixed emotion of pain, hardship, regret and despair. Li Sao truly records Qu Yuan's life and death choices between evil and righteousness, heaven and region in this emotional torture.
Li Sao is chaotic, great and immortal at the same time. It is the poet's last desperate attempt, which completely shows that human nature has overcome intolerance and resentment, turned to narcissism and introspection, and finally gave up hatred and moved towards tolerance. It is an epiphany in the process of nirvana from man to God.
For example, Li Sao is like Van Gogh's Sunflower and Cournot's Ode to Our Lady. They are the works that the author cries, and they are the rare spiritual wealth of mankind.
Mao Zedong spoke highly of Qu Yuan: This is an immortal image.