Tao Yuanming's poetry is unique in the poetic world with its novel style and immortal artistic charm. It seems simple, natural and unremarkable, but after careful reading, it is found that the artistic conception is far-reaching, which is worth studying in many aspects, especially in the artistic characteristics of pastoral poetry. Tao Yuanming's pastoral poems give people a fresh and natural feeling of clear water producing hibiscus. As far as artistic features are concerned, it can be divided into three points:
1. Simple, fresh and natural, full of charm. Hu Yinglin once said: Tao Yuanming "started the study of eternal dullness" ("Poetry")
)。 This artistic feature is undoubtedly inseparable from its simple pastoral scenery and ordinary daily life. These are all reflected in his poems. For example, in "Returning to the Garden and Living in the Sky", he wrote, "There are no miscellaneous words when we meet, but the road to Sang Ma is long, the day to Sang Ma is long, and the day to our country is wide". Poems such as "The morning star cures waste and filth, and the moon brings lotus home" are plain and natural, but they are long-lasting and vivid, giving people a strong three-dimensional sense. Because Tao Yuanming intends to pursue a quiet state of mind, he is often in a state of detachment in his pastoral life, which has become another important aspect of the simple and natural nature of his poems. "As far as the form of expression is concerned, under the control of advocating simple aesthetics, Tao Yuanming also found the form that suits him best, that is, pursuing the nature and true colors of artistic expression. Therefore, most of his expressions are sketchy. He carved with a pen, trying to truly express the objective natural scenery, life scenes and subjective experiences and feelings. This delicate brushwork often makes people feel the existence of words, but directly touches the scene and artistic conception in the poem. "
Second, the artistic conception is rich, full of interest, and there are pictures in the poem. This is the most important artistic means in China's classical poems, and the artistic conception of Tao Yuanming's poems is unique. "First, the artistic characteristics of Tao poetry are based on freehand brushwork and based on the premise of a high degree of unity of form and spirit. Poets often break through the limitations of the external image of the scenery, do not care about the imitation of the shape, but write the shape with the spirit, focusing on reflecting the poet's temperament and charm. At one time, the scenery chosen in poetry was sometimes not the real scenery, but just a means for poets to express their feelings. For example, the "high bird" and "swimming fish" in "Looking at the clouds and being ashamed to swim in the water" (the classic of the town army joining the army) are all readily available things, not real scenery. Even the real scenery in the poet's eyes, once absorbed into the pen, is also integrated with the writer's strong subjective color, making it a "natural" (Marxist language). Secondly, the integration of scenery, emotion and reason will give readers a rich and profound aesthetic feeling, not only Jing Yue characters, but also emotional characters and policemen. For example, the fifth song of Drinking, after gently dyeing the scenery of Nanshan, said: "There is a real meaning in it, and I forgot what I wanted to say." Here, the poet naturally connects his appreciation of natural scenery with his "true meaning" of life, that is, "meaning and environment", so he not only shows us the philosophical realm, but also achieves the harmonious unity of scenery, emotion and reason. Third, the artistic conception of Tao poetry is full of interest. Hu Yinglin said that Tao's poems were "written for fun" (Poetry). Wen Qing Runeng also said: "Tao poetry is full of real interest" (Tao poetry review). Therefore, true interest is an important aesthetic feature of the artistic conception of Tao poetry.
Secondly, the artistic conception of Tao's poems is produced by empathy for the scenery. For example, in "Returning to the Garden", the poem "I love the hills for 30 years" and "The house is clean and messy, and the empty room is idle, and it has returned to nature for a long time" reflects Tao Yuanming's love for nature, his pursuit of freedom and his cultivation of the countryside. "This poem wrote that he was not suitable for Shu Ren, refused to pursue fame and fortune, and loved Shan Ye. Therefore, once he quit his job and retired to the countryside, his mood was peaceful and comfortable. In his works, the pastoral scenery is warm and harmonious, and there is an atmosphere of getting rid of bondage and living freely. In fact, Tao Yuanming's family is not rich, and he has to take part in some field work himself. However, in his works, he created an idyllic image.
3. Poetry is impassioned, fresh and vigorous in style, bold and powerful. Desalination is the keynote of his artistic style. From Tao Yuanming's poems, such as Imitating the Ancient, Jing Ke Fu and Drinking, we can see that Tao Yuanming's poems are soft and firm, with needles hidden in the cotton and magnificent in the dilution. Zhu also commented on his poems and said, "I thought he was proud, but in fact he was bold." (Zhuzi school). In his works, the poet was filled with indignation, pointed the edge of criticism at the ruler, expressed strong resistance and dissatisfaction, and expressed strong concern for the country and the people, which made us hear the poet's heart beating violently in his poems.
To sum up, we can draw a conclusion that the artistic characteristics of Tao Yuanming's pastoral poems are simple and natural, simple and fresh, and profound in context. Therefore, Zhong Rong said that he was "simple in style, sincere in meaning and elegant in language", and Zhu also said that his poems were "plain and natural". But this seems to only see one side of the problem, although it is the main side, but if we further analyze it, we will find that poets often melt their subjective feelings into common scenes and form a rich artistic conception, which (Su, quoted from Cold Zhai Night Talk).
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