Original text and appreciation of "Ancient Style (Part 1)·Li Bai"

Li Bai

If I haven’t done anything elegant for a long time, who will be the one to show my decline?

Wang Fengwei has creeping grass, and the Warring States period has many thorns and hazelnuts.

The dragon and the tiger feasted on each other, and fought to capture the Qin Dynasty.

How can the righteous voice be vague and complain about the poet.

The horse stirs up the waves, and the flow is boundless.

Although everything has changed, the charter has also fallen.

Since Jian'an, the beauty has been rare.

The Holy Age restores the ancient times, and the hanging clothes value the purity.

The talents of the group belong to Xiu Ming, and they take advantage of their luck to leap forward.

Binghuan is the best in literature and quality, and Luo Qiumin is the star in the world.

I am determined to delete the description and reflect it for thousands of years.

If Xisheng is established, his last writing will be in Huolin.

This poem ranks first among the fifty-nine chapters in Li Bai's "Ancient Style" and is a work on poetry and ambition.

The first two sentences are the starting point for the poet's comments and thinking: "If I haven't written elegantly for a long time, who will show me my decline?" "Preface to Poetry" says: "Elegance is righteousness. It tells the rise and fall of the king's government. Also. ""Daya" in "The Book of Songs" refers to the political poetry of the Western Zhou Dynasty, which here represents the orthodox poetic style of elegance, integrity and harmony. "The Analects of Confucius·Shuer": "Confucius said: 'I am declining! It has been a long time since I dreamed of seeing the Duke of Zhou!" Here, "I am declining" refers to Confucius's self-reflection on aging. Looking back at the history of the development of poetry, the poet couldn't help but sigh deeply: With the decline of the Western Zhou Dynasty, no one has written poems that reflect social politics like "Daya" for a long time. However, Confucius always edited and passed on them to make them spiritual. After Confucius gets old, who will carry forward this traditional way of poetry? Li Bai is not the only one who regards "The Book of Songs" as the highest model of poetry and Confucius as the defender and promoter of orthodox poetry. This understanding can be said to be the attitude shared by ordinary poets at that time. Of course, its focus is not on the form of the Book of Songs, but on its strong practical significance and aesthetic effect. This poem is based on this basic point of view to comment on the history of poetry development and to express one's own feelings.

Li Bai

Next, the poet commented on the changes and development of poetry in four stages based on the political characteristics of the times.

The first stage is from the Spring and Autumn Period to the Warring States Period: "The king's style is full of creeping grass, and the Warring States Period is full of thorns and hazelnuts. The dragon and the tiger eat each other, and the soldiers fight to catch the Qin Dynasty." King Ping moved eastward, and the Zhou Dynasty declined. The "Wang Feng" in "The Book of Songs·Guo Feng" is a folk song in the capital city of Luoyi, the capital of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. The first song of it, "Shu Li", expresses the worries of the Zhou Dynasty officials when they saw the destruction of the ancestral temple and palace. Later generations often used it as "Wang Feng". The representative of "Wang Feng" is the so-called "Wang Feng mourns and thinks, and Zhou Dao is unorganized" (Jin Dynasty Metabolism Zhan Shi). However, after the Spring and Autumn Period, this poetic style with a strong sense of concern for the country and a sense of reality seemed to be abandoned in the grass. The poetry garden of the Warring States Period was full of thorns, overgrown with weeds, and desolate. The feudal princes fought and annexed each other, and there were wars and wars everywhere, until Qin used force to unify China. In such a turbulent era, how can we care about the revival of poetry?

The second stage is from the Warring States Period to the Han Dynasty: "How can the righteous voice be dim, the lamentations of the poets. The flying horses stir up the decadent waves, and the wanderings are boundless." ""Zhengsheng" refers to the elegant, upright and harmonious sounds such as "Daya" and "Wangfeng". "Sao people" refers to Chu Ci writers represented by Qu Yuan. "Historical Records: Biography of Qu Yuan": "Qu Ping's work "Li Sao" was born out of self-pity." The voice of sadness but not sadness, resentment but not anger, gentleness and honesty, and the voice of neutrality and elegance have become so distant and faint, and the voice of "Li Sao" has arisen in its place. In the late Warring States period, Qu Yuan and others lamented state affairs and resented traitors and other works such as "Li Sao". After Qu Yuan, Chu Ci also gradually declined. Therefore, Sima Xiangru, Yang Xiong and others in the Han Dynasty worked hard to reverse the decline and developed "Fu" as a "stream of ancient poetry" (Ban Gu's "Preface to Fu in Liangdu"), and Make it unbridled and prosperous for a while. Here, although the poet regards Chu Ci and Han Fu as "changes" and "flows" compared to the formal tone of the Book of Songs, he still uses an affirmative tone.

The third stage is after the Wei and Jin Dynasties: "Although there have been many changes in ruins and prosperity, the charter has also been reduced. Since Jian'an, the beauty is not precious." "Charter" is a legal system, here refers to the laws of ancient poetry. The poet believes that although the ups and downs in the development of poetry vary with the times, in general, the laws of ancient poetry have declined. During the Jian'an era (the reign of Emperor Xian of the Eastern Han Dynasty), the poems written by Sancao, Qizi and Cai Yan were generous and tragic, could reflect social reality, and also had the "Jian'an style".

After Jian'an, the style of poetry became flashy and gaudy, and was not worth cherishing. Li Bai always advocated a fresh and natural style, and opposed the luxurious and beautiful poetry style. However, the so-called "not precious" is just relative to the poetry of the previous generation, and he does not really think that the poetry of the Six Dynasties is worthless. In fact, Li Bai had great respect for the poets Yu Xin, Xie Lingyun, Xie Tiao and others of the Six Dynasties. He especially praised Xie Tiao. He once said, "Whoever reads the poem "Bei Tower" will cherish Xie Gong in the wind.

The fourth stage is the early prosperous Tang Dynasty: "The Holy Dynasty returns to the ancient times, and the clothes are noble and pure. The talents belong to the Xiu Ming Dynasty, and they take advantage of the luck to leap up and down the scales. The culture and quality are shining brightly, and the stars are like Qiumin." "Hanging down clothes" originally refers to governing by doing nothing. "Book of Changes": "Yellow Emperor, Yao and Shun hung down their clothes and ruled the world." This means political clarity and social stability. The poet praised that he lived in the era of sage and Ming Dynasty, which restored the simplicity of ancient times. The society was stable and nature was respected. Many talented people coincided with the prosperous Qingming Dynasty. They took advantage of the good fortune and gave full play to their talents, just like "flying with flying feathers, soaring dragons and leaping scales" (Wang Biaozhi's "Poetry on Climbing the Stone Mountain in Kuaiji"). The form and content of the poems are outstanding, competing to emit dazzling brilliance. Many works are like stars in the autumn night sky. The poet is full of enthusiasm and praises the prosperity of the contemporary poetry garden and attributes it to the political clarity. His joy and pride are beyond words. The so-called "restoration of ancient times" also needs to be viewed flexibly. It does not really restore the appearance of ancient poetry, but abandons the beautiful and gorgeous poetic style, carries forward the tradition of poetry reflecting reality, and is more beautiful and exciting, advocating "innocence" and "literary quality". "Xiang Binghuan", so it is called "Fuyuan Ancient", which is actually an innovative style and a new development of ancient poetry tradition.

After reviewing and analyzing the changes and development of poetry in the past dynasties, the poet stated his ambitions and ambitions with a high sense of responsibility and strong self-confidence: "I am determined to delete the description and reflect the future. Xisheng Ru It was established that the last work was written by Huolin. "Confucius prefaced the "Book" by deleting the "Poem" and writing the "Spring and Autumn Annals". It was not until the 14th year of Ai Gong (481 BC) that he went to hunt for Huolin in the west and stopped writing after writing down this article. Leave a glorious legacy in the history of Chinese culture. Confucius wrote "Spring and Autumn" and ended with "Huolin" because he felt that the benevolent beast came out of troubled times and died two years later. The poet used this allusion, obviously not to lament the decline of the world, but to express a belief that he must create a shocking work that attracts everyone's attention, just like Confucius, who only put down the pen when he wrote "Huolin". Here, the poet's ambition to "help the common people" and "secure the country" ("Dai Shoushan's Reply to Meng Shaofu's Transfer of Documents") and his self-confidence that "I am born with talents that will be useful" ("The Road is Difficult") are vividly displayed on the page.

Chang Liyun: "Qi Liang, Chen and Sui Dynasties, many works are noisy." Taibai Zeyun: "Since Jian'an, the beauty is not precious." This is always a heroic saying. "Not enough precious" refers to the period after Jian'an. "Farewell to Xie Tiaolou" says: "Penglai article Jian'an bone." This sentence can prove it. (Shen Deqian's "Tang Poems")

Qinglian's lifelong skill is that in the first of the fifty-nine poems "Ancient Style", she starts to say: "If you don't write "Daya", there will be poets, but there are many poems" Grievance is no longer the right thing to say; when it comes to Yang and Ma Yi, after Jian'an, it is even more beautiful and not worthy of law; when the literary movement of the Tang Dynasty began to rise, it is just the right time, so I will delete it and follow Huolin. This is the focus of his vision, which has long been unprecedented and will never come after him. He directly wants to follow "Feng" and "Ya" thousands of years later. Gai is confident that his talents are high and his direction is right, which can lead to the decline of eight generations, and he is responsible for it, not just to deceive others with his big words. (Volume 1 of "Oubei Poetry" by Zhao Yi)

Wang Shizhen said: "In the ancient five-character poems of the Tang Dynasty, Li Bai and Wei Yingwu are transcendent and retro." According to the Five Ancients of Zuosi, he was as tall as the Three Tang Dynasties, but he still held the green lotus, the color and taste were not lacking, and his form and spirit were so graceful that it seemed difficult to compare them... Li Bai's chest was tall and broad, and he cast Han, Wei, and the Six Dynasties in one go. He has formed a family of his own. Since Jian'an, he has been adhering to the sentiments of "Three Hundred". He is also the so-called "aim to delete the story" and "wisp the glory for thousands of years". (Volume 1 of Pan Dexing's "Poetry of Yang Yizhai and Li Du")