As mentioned in the title, why did Li Shangyin write poems without stint? This is closely related to the poet's family background, era, political ambition and personal experience.
0 1? The deterioration of the political situation in Tang Wenzong period and the blow that Li Shangyin suffered in 836-838 AD made him start writing poems. Li Shangyin's family was originally an imperial clan of the Tang Dynasty. According to his self-report in "Please Write a Letter from Sister Zhong", his family once had a family history of "Chengde, Xingxie and Writing History". But later, the family came down, and my grandfather and father only worked as lower-level officials such as county commandant and county magistrate. Therefore, the poet said that he belongs to "the last stream of the hairpin group, and the autumn sails are cheap."
/kloc-at the age of 0/0, his father died, and he was in a dilemma of "nowhere to return to the four seas, and his nine relatives were helpless". From the age of 0/7 to the age of 25, he was attached to the shogunate of Chu and Cui Rong. This poor life and social status of ordinary people makes the poet have the spirit of "Lingyun" and strive to make progress and make contributions.
Wenzong Dynasty is the poet's youth, and it is also a period when he actively pursues fame and strives to realize his political ambitions. However, at this time, the twilight of the Tang Dynasty has arrived. In 82 1 year, after the restoration of the three towns in Hebei, the vassal towns became more domineering. The central court of the Tang Dynasty either "didn't ask about the age" or "didn't have to obey", but instead increased the official position and even married the princess for the sake of the superficial relationship between vassal and vassal. Even if there are occasional conquests and the decadent military discipline in the Tang army is corrupted, the generals will falsely report their exploits in order to invite rich rewards.
As the poet revealed in "Learning from the Teacher", "The written pledge to fulfill a military order never criticizes Ma Su, while Shu Jie is just a great Sun Xin". The war in the buffer region brought serious disasters to the people. Not only Cangzhou, where the war took place, was "full of bones, the city was empty and there were no three or four households", but even Jianghuai, the economic base that was mainly relied on in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, was "wasteful".
At the same time, eunuchs are more bossy. Especially after the "nectar change" in the ninth year of Taihe, eunuchs took the opportunity to slaughter a large number of courtiers, resulting in a terrible situation of "arresting the secret and subduing the uncle, and even subjugating the country". The more unfavorable the situation, the more cruelly the rulers oppress the working people. As the poet wrote:
"The country is heavier and the people are more complicated."
Under the cruel exploitation and oppression, the rural economy suffered serious bankruptcy. In the winter of 837, the poet returned to Chang 'an from Xingyuan and witnessed the situation in the capital area on the way. What he said in "Hundred Rhymes in the Western Suburbs" is:
"Takada, shimoda. Agricultural tools were abandoned by the roadside, and hungry cows died in empty docks. Even after crossing the village, ten rooms are gone. The survivors are embarrassed and have no clothes to welcome guests. "
Although the Tang Dynasty mansion was about to collapse 838 years ago, young poets were still full of political enthusiasm to return to heaven and earth and try to save the Tang Dynasty from the crisis. He fantasized that "Zhenguan Shengshi" appeared in the late Tang Dynasty, when the sages were honest and honest, and there was no war harassment.
He wrote poems with historical themes that directly exposed the disadvantages of the times, such as Learning from the East, Two Feelings, Heavy Feelings, Shouan Gongzhu Coming Out of the Cage, and Zuobaiyun in the Western Suburb. During this period, although he failed in the imperial examination twice, he still hoped to get close to the emperor through the road of official career, so as to uproot the bane of the decline of the Tang Dynasty: "You cut your heart in front of you, kowtow and bleed, and slander Chen Zi."
Judging from the current situation, the poet witnessed Pu Zhen's arrogance, the autocratic power of eunuchs increased day by day, and the upright people were demoted one after another, especially the tragic scene of eunuchs framing a large number of courtiers after the "Mana Incident", and realized that it was very difficult to save the crisis in the Tang Dynasty.
As a result, while angrily criticizing the shortcomings, he was worried about the current situation and lamented that "eternal change of heart is not much bigger than hurting spring". He has understood that in the case of "separation of nine sorrows", his claim to save the crisis cannot be stated, so he has to "cry in vain".
From the personal experience, the experience of talent failure makes the poet feel depressed and depressed when complaining. Therefore, after the age of 23, he once "learned fairy jade". At this time, I wrote "East Return" and sent a message by learning fairy:
"I don't know if I have my own immortal talent, but I want to spend ten years in my dreams. The autumn wind moved to dusk in Huang Yun, and I returned to the old division of Song Xun. " .
Just as the poet's heart was interwoven with the above-mentioned complex contradictions of anger and sadness about the current situation, striving for merit and frustration and disappointment in the examination room, although he won the Jinshi in 837, he was dismissed as "ungrateful" by the Cattle Party in the second year because of his marriage and was removed from the list.
In 839, the poet was released as the secretary of the provincial school in response to the official examination, and was soon rejected by the Niu Party and transferred to Hongnongwei. At this time, the dark and cold reality and repeated setbacks have dealt a heavy blow to young and politically enthusiastic poets.
In the stable tower, he angrily rebuked the partisans who rejected him and said, "I don't know how rotten rats taste, but I guess the young ones haven't stopped." In "Peony in Rain", he sang sadly, "The waves are not as good as flowers in spring, and it is more worrying early." In The Sense, he further realized that no matter how hard he tried, he could only be "strong and afraid" in the twilight of the Tang Dynasty and in the party struggle, and he lamented with great disappointment that "there are two lives in ancient times."
At this time, compared with before, the original spirit of daring to fight against the dark and decadent forces declined, and the number of works directly attacking current politics decreased; More is the pity and sadness for the fate of the Tang Dynasty, as well as the anguish and confusion caused by the lack of talent. However, the poet "Yin Hao's contemporary scheming" has not disappeared.
Therefore, he lashed out at the exposure of decadent forces, and expressed his frustration in the form of mourning the past and reciting history, and began the initial stage of his epic creation.
During this period, in 838, the poet wrote "Three Pictures in the City", using He Xun as a metaphor to attack the slander of the Niu Party on its married king. With the story of Tao Yuanming, Zizhi, written in 839, expressed his arrogant and aloof struggle spirit of not colluding with the decadent and dark forces, and Yong Shi, written in 840, lamented Tang Wenzong's efforts in treating diseases, exposed the decadent tendency of "snakes from Shushan are difficult to pull out when they are transported to Qinghai" in the late Tang Dynasty, and expressed the poet's feelings of worrying about the country and the people.
Although the number of poems sung by poets in this period was small, it played a beginning and foundation role in the content and tone of poems sung by later generations.
Wu Zongchao's political improvement and the poet's situation made poetry creation enter a stage of decline. He appointed Li Deyu as the prime minister, and made some achievements in reforming the disadvantages. In the spring of 843, Shi Xiong, who was born in the wild and made great contributions, killed Hu Shanda and broke the Uighur, and the northern frontier gained temporary peace.
For eunuch authoritarian, since also a little restraint. In 844, he attacked Liuzhen, a buffer town, and settled the five states of Ze and Lu. Wu Zongchao's political reform changed Li Shangyin's disappointment with Tang Dynasty. Therefore, this aroused his political enthusiasm.
In addition, in 843, he became a secretary again, showing his political ambitions with confidence and fantasy. Later, the poet retired to his home because of his mother's funeral, deeply feeling "no prosperity" He was eager to make contributions to the country, which showed his high political enthusiasm at that time.
Because of this, the poet directly exposed the bane of the country's decline and denounced it, and his creation of expressing his political views entered a climax stage. At this time, I wrote "Cry for Liu", "Go to the county road to send Li Langzhong to attack" and "Dengdengshan Post Office", all of which were deeply indignant and enjoyable.
Obviously, at this time, whether subjective or objective, there is no need to write poems about the past in twists and turns. Judging from the confirmed chronological poems, from 84 1 to 844, the poet did not even write an epic.
However, Wu Zongchao had many disadvantages, especially Wu Zongchao was fond of hunting and was more keen on seeking immortality in his later period. As an upright poet, Li Shangyin's political ambition is to save the crisis and realize the prosperity of the country and people. However, Wu Zong's later works contradict the poet's political aspirations. For the emperor at that time, he was not good at direct attack, so he used the way of chanting history to express irony.
Therefore, from the winter of 845 to 846, every epic of Li Shangyin was related to satirizing the emperor's quest for immortality. Such as Han Gong Ci, Han Gong Ci, Mausoleum Ci, Yaochi Ci, Guo Jingling Ci, Hua Yue Xiati Xiwangmu Temple Ci, etc.
03? Xuanzong's more decadent and dark politics and the poet's misfortunes made the creation of epic poetry enter a new stage. In the Xuanzong dynasty, the eunuchs' autocratic power and the provinces' separatist regimes became more arrogant, and the Niu Party gained the upper hand, brutally attacking the Li Party and causing political chaos. Xuansong also "opposed the policy of making peace", which further deepened the curse of the decline of the Tang Dynasty.
In addition, Xuanzong also opposed Wuzong's measures to reverse the heavy money and despise the people, and restored the long-standing disadvantages of heavy money and despise the people since the implementation of the "two tax laws" in the middle Tang Dynasty, which made farmers suffer more. Under the cruel exploitation and oppression, peasant uprisings in Jishan and other places in Hunan Province have occurred continuously. All these shattered Li Shangyin's hopes and ideals during the five Huichang reigns, and made him immersed in the sadness of "going to the end with the golden knife".
At this time, as far as personal experience is concerned, Li Shangyin, who did not join the Party Bureau, was rejected by the ruling party figures. He soon left the secretary province, and for most of the time in Xuanzong Dynasty, poets worked as assistants for others. Although he was recommended as an official of salt and iron, his life was bumpy and unhappy. In addition, in 85 1 year, Wang, a versatile and affectionate wife, died in loneliness and sadness. He said in "Fan Nanyi Collection":
"In the past five years, I lost my family and lived in peace."
At this time, under the internal and external pressure, the poet's mood has been fully expressed in this poem. He was dissatisfied with Li Shimin, lamenting the sad tunnel:
"Yan Yan all the way across the forest, Gao Qiu Long song. There is a danger of crossing the river on the road between people, and the mountains beyond the sky are only deep in the jade base. The sun shines on the flowers, and the clouds leave the city. "
However, the great pressure did not make Li Shangyin forget the times. For example, in the poem "Du Gongbu stayed in Shu", "The snow ridge has not died, and Songzhou is still in front of the temple", which shows close concern for state affairs; The misfortune of the family did not corrupt the poet. "Heaven pities the grass, and the sun shines on earth" shows that the poet is full of courage and is still eager to use the world and display his ambition. For the dirty political environment, the poet takes "Gao Song outshines others" as a metaphor, showing the qualities of aloof, straightforward and not going with the flow.
It is precisely because the poet is in the contradiction of witnessing the imminent demise of the Tang Dynasty, unable to bear its demise, and trying to rectify the country's ills, but repeatedly rejected. In the poet's view, it is no longer necessary and impossible to point out Chen's shortcomings bluntly. However, the poet is unwilling to escape from reality. Therefore, summing up the lessons of national subjugation in history and expressing them in the form of epic poems became the main means for Li Shangyin to engage in political struggle in his later period.
Therefore, the quantity, quality, breadth and depth of epics in this period exceeded those in the past, forming the climax stage of his epic creation. The most representative poems in this period are Meng Ze, Han Zu Temple, Sui Palace, Southern Dynasties, Preparation for Exam, Song Yu and so on.
To sum up, it can be clearly seen that Li Shangyin's ode to history is the product of the specific historical conditions in the late Tang Dynasty, the product of the poet's special experience and the expression of the poet's complex ideological contradictions.