Li Yu's position in the history of literature can be completely summed up by what Wang Guowei said in "The Thorn on Earth": "When the word arrived in Li Houzhu, the vision began to broaden and the emotion began to deepen, so it became a musician's word and a literati's word."
First of all. Li Yu's ci expanded the scope of the subject matter of ci. When the Southern Tang Ci developed into Li Yu Ci, the difference between it and Huajian Ci was very obvious. Although the authors of Hua Jian Ji are all literati, its scope is limited by romantic powder, and its function is limited to drinking and singing, or "a musician's words." To be lyrical, nineteen is chanting prostitutes' feelings, painting gold powder, and being poor in heart. However, Li Yu's lyric expression directly changed the way of expressing feelings unintentionally or tortuous through a woman's unfortunate experience since the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, which made Li Yu's ci get rid of the traditional style of singing to flowers for a long time. His later ci poems described his own life experience and true feelings, as well as the generosity of many countries, which broke through the original barriers of ci poems, expanded the realm of ci poems, surpassed the literary harmony in content and style, and showed new direction and strength. Ci is introduced into the normal way of praising life. Only in this way can Ci and poetry reach the same goal by different routes. Only by becoming a new poetic style, which enables poets to express their feelings and wishes in many ways, can there be future masters of Su and Xin, which also has an important influence on the artistic techniques of later bold poets.
Secondly, Li Yu enriched the artistic means and writing skills of lyrics, and the brushwork and emotional appeal in his lyrics also had a far-reaching impact on later poets. No matter Yan, Qin Guan and Li Qingzhao in Song Dynasty or Nalan in Qing Dynasty, we can see the shadow of Li Yu's ci. According to Wang Shizhen's Listening to the Tone Sequence, there are graceful and restrained schools in Ci: (Li) Jing and Yu Weizu, who flourished in Shuyu and Huaihai.
Of course, these artistic achievements of Li Yu's ci are not only determined by his unusual personal experience and his efforts in ci creation. At the same time, since the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, some poets have continuously explored and accumulated rich creative experience in art, which makes it possible for him to continue to improve on this basis. At the same time, Wei Zhuang in western Sichuan is unique among the Huajian School, while Feng Yansi and Li Jing in the Southern Tang Dynasty directly led him to this aspect.
In a word, Li Yu made great contributions to changing the style of ci and improving the literary status of ci, and played an excellent role in connecting the past with the future for the prosperity of song ci.
Such as Yu Meiren:
When is the spring flower and autumn moon? How much do you know about the past? The small building blew eastward again last night. The old country can't bear to look back on the mid-Ming Dynasty. Carved jade should still exist. Just Zhu Yan' ai. Ask how much sadness you can have. Like a river flowing eastward.
This word is nostalgia for the motherland. Recall the past, write the present scene and the recalled scene. Spring flowers and autumn moon are beautiful things, but the author hopes they will "disappear" as soon as possible. The "east wind" in the small building brought the news of spring, but it caused the author to sigh, because they all caused the melancholy of the poet's personality change, and he changed from a head of state to a prisoner. Very real and profound.
These words are the pain in his heart after his death. In these works, there are feelings of compassion, but they also show high artistic skill.