Li Mengyang's Du Fu complex

Author: Hao Runhua (Professor, School of Liberal Arts, Northwest University)

After the Tang Dynasty, there were a number of literati with great ancient feelings, such as Li Bai to Sima Xiangru, Su Shi to Tao Yuanming, and so on. Examining the poetry of the Ming Dynasty, it is not difficult to find that most poets like to follow Du Fu, and Li Mengyang is particularly prominent, he not only admires Shaoling, but also has a strong Du Fu complex.

Between Hongzhi and Zhengde, Li Mengyang advocated retro and actively advocated learning from Sheng Tang poetry, especially respecting Du Fu. In terms of creation, he actively advocated drawing nourishment from Du's poems. In addition, Du Shi had also been selected and approved, and Zhou Caiquan's "Records of Du Ji" volume 9 recorded Li Mengyang's "Du Shi", and said that Lu Xuan, a Qingjia Daoist, personally saw this book, and Yun "this batch may still exist in heaven, and it is not known." Behind Mengyang, Li Kaixian wrote a biography for him, saying: "Composing poems simulates Du Zimei, and Shou Suanfu is the same." "It can be seen that the depth of his Du Fu complex is. Li Mengyang's Du Fu complex is not unrelated to his childhood experience and unique personality.

Mengyang was born in Anhua, Qingyang (present-day Qingcheng, Gansu), not far from the Mongol Tatars, and the military situation has always been grim, and the Ming Shi Xianzong Benji records that during the Chenghua years, "Polo Kuo and Zhen Jiasilan repeatedly entered Anbian Camp and Huamachi, and committed crimes against Guyuan, Ningxia, Pingliang, Lingong, Huanqing, and south to Tongwei." According to Mengyang's poem, shortly after his birth, his family carried him around and fled, "it was the time when the family was difficult, and the emperor hugged him and hid." Growing up, a turbulent life like this was almost the norm. When he was ten years old, his father Li Zheng was appointed as a professor of Fengqiu Wenwen and Wang, and he left the border area to live in Kaifeng. Even when he served in the hubu in the later period of Hongzhi, he could still feel the border war, and his poem "Last night according to the sky to pass the cannon fire, cross the river and be stationed in Wudanyu" ("Yulin City"), which is a true writing of the situation at that time. Such a harsh experience inevitably brought certain pain to Mengyang's psychology.

"Wenxin Carved Dragon Body" Yun: "Naturally there is Yong Jun, Qi has rigidity and softness, learning has shallow depth, Habit has Ya Zheng, and the emotional nature is shoveled, and the pottery is condensed." "The personality of the writer determines the goals and objects of his initial practice. Mengyang was born in the northwest, and after his birth, he was repeatedly persecuted and squeezed by foreign relatives, eunuchs and bureaucrats, and was imprisoned five times in his life, but he had a personality of Gengsuke, was not afraid of the powerful, had the arrogance and integrity of a scholar, coupled with his dissatisfaction with the mediocre poetic style of the "Tai Ge body" at that time and his desire to be retro, so his temperament was extremely easy to approach Du Fu, who was worried about the country and the people, and then presented a strong Du Fu complex from the inside out. Especially in the creation, Mengyang spared no effort to imitate Du Shi, advocated the study of Du Shi's Ge Legalistic Style, and repeatedly expressed his worries and jishizhi in his works, Ming Yao Ximeng said in his "Re-engraving the Order of the Dream Collection": "Xianji Wen follows the Qin and Han Dynasties, and the poetry is Shaoling." His study of Du poems is manifested in the following points:

First of all, he wrote many works on the same topic as Du Fu.

According to the author's investigation, there are 22 songs, such as "Years of Yanxing", "Remembrance of the Past", "Kezhi" and so on. There are 9 poems whose titles are slightly different from Du's poems, such as "White Horse", "White Horse", "Eight Songs of Autumn Xing", and "Eight Songs of Autumn Huai". These works of the same title, the content and theme are also very similar. For example, the "Eight Songs of Autumn Huai", written when Jiajing was idle in Kaifeng, is a formal imitation of the "Eight Songs of Autumn Xing", which has the characteristics of du poems in blending scenes, magnificent weather, connecting end to end, and communicating with space, and also reflects the poet's strong feelings of home and country, such as "women are not worried about the outside world, and the soldiers and horses are anxious to prepare for Liaodong", while worrying about the situation in the northeast, it implies a satire on the imperial court. Although the overall artistic effect is not as good as "Autumn Xing", there are also wonderful features in it, such as "Tianqing Obstacle Plugging Harvest grass, sunset creek mountains scattered horses", writing about hometown scenery; "Wen Dao Jian Er died in many battles, twilight clouds and Qiang flutes are full of clouds", writing about frontier wars, showing superb poetic attainments, reflecting deep emotions and thoughts.

The subject matter is also effective for Fadhu poets, such as chants, inscriptions, etc. In particular, the inscription painting works, Hu Yinglin commented: "The inscription paintings are from Du Zhu, and Tang has no successors. Wang Jiefu's "Drawing a Tiger Diagram"... All are impressive. And the bone force change is far from Dolby. However, Li Xianji, Wu Wei, Lin Liang and other six poems, imitating the exquisite, and Hao Tang is horizontal, almost wanting to go hand in hand with Du, and Zhen Jiesi is also. (Poetry of the Inner Chapter, vol. 3) Learning from Du and being able to distinguish oneself shows his achievements.

The 66 volumes of the Wanli 30th Edition of the Empty Collection are the most complete surviving collections of Li Mengyang's poems, and its volume 15 contains five ancient poems of "Quasi-Du Style", which are divided into 33 poems in seven categories, such as "Great Gift" and "Biansai". Combined with the situation of "effecting pottery" and "effecting Li white body", these poems are used as game texts, but they can also be glimpsed as leopards, indicating one side of its zundu. There are also nanko 'hiroshi koshi... Yun'er" is a model of Du Fu's "Seven Songs of the Same Valley", which is a typical pseudo-Du body. Another example is the "Five Hundred Words of Anger and Anger written in the Pursuit of the Death of the Ugly Chinese New Year's Eve", written in the eighteenth year of Hongzhi (1505), Yang Shen commented: "The prologue has the power to carry the pen, although the syntax is different from the choice, and with the Shaoling up and down, the work must be passed on." (Selected Poems of Li Kongtong) According to the small preface of his "Shu Indignant" poem "Hongzhi Yi Ugly Year in April was when he was impeached by the Marquis of Shouning", and the three poems of "Elegy of the Emperor Daxing" written in May (written for Emperor Ming Xiaozong), this poem was written specifically for the feeling of indignation and misfortune and sorrow, and the style was somber and tragic.

Secondly, Mengyang poetry is extremely good at using Du poetry sentences.

For example, "Playing the sword and asking for personal gain, how is it like Li Jinwu" ("Send Cai Shuai To Prepare True State"), using "drunk to commit the night, terrible Li Jinwu" ("AccompanyIng Li Jinwu to drink under flowers"). Another example is that "Dan Tangerine Yellow Citrus World Treasures" ("Citrus To"), from "Dan Tangerine Yellow Sweet Here and Here" ("Cold Rain Towards the Garden Tree"),"Eryi Gaoxia Emperor Yu jian, three poles southwest Jade Seal Lai" ("Lingwutai"), Benzhi "Eryi Qing turbidity is still high, three Volts Yan steaming must be there or not" ("Again do this Fengwei Wang"). After the Song Dynasty, the phenomenon of poetic use of Du shi was very common, and Mengyang was particularly prominent. Mengyang wrote more than 2,000 poems in his lifetime, of which nearly a quarter of them were used in Du sentences.

Mengyang learned Du in formal skills and was deeply impressed by the magic of Du Shizhang. "Biography of Ming Shi Li Mengyang": "Wang Weizhen of Huazhou thought that since Du Fu, the Seven Laws had been used well by the method of setbacks and inverted insertions, but Li Mengyang was alone. "What is the inverted insertion method?" Shen Deqian's "Speaking Poetry and Sayings" rolled up in the clouds: "Shaoling has an inverted insertion method, such as in the "Commentary on sending a heavy cousin to the nephew Wang Zhen", Shangyun 'the world is chaotic' Yunyun, the second cloud 'least year' Yunyun, at first do not say someone, but down to make up for the clouds: 'When the King of Qin was present, he was really shocked. 'This method also ... There are also sudden methods, such as "Drunken Song Line" suddenly connecting 'Spring Light And Tranquility Qin Dongting', "Jian Xuezhou Drunken Song" suddenly connecting 'QiXuezhou Drunken Song' suddenly connecting 'Breathy Sunset West Wind Coming', the upper writing will be unfinished, suddenly into the writing scene, exciting and desolate, the look is king. It's all old and unique. For example, Mengyang's poem "Special gift to Lin Gong", "The Southern Expedition has been driven north for many years, and Liyun has been late in the day", first writing lin Junjiu through the battlefield and the wonders of the border pass, creating momentum for it, and then Yun "new Yue clothing for snow pheasants, more smelling that the fly will seize the Heavenly Mountain", naturally writing out the prestige of the characters. This is the inverted insertion method. As for the sudden connection method, such as the poem "Feng Ji Sheng Bian Shang", the first link "Feng Ji Sheng Bian Shang" (逢上遇到白頭, Qin Zhong but remembers the time to travel when he was young", writing about the love between the two people, quite a sense of prosperity and decline in the present and the past; the love language is not exhausted, and the jaw link "Fireworks Pavilion Spring Wind Day, Splendid Mountains and Rivers Hundred and Two States", and the scene is abruptly connected, the love is really new, the poetry is open, the poetic arrangement is quite the purpose of the layout of the Du poetry.

Third, Mengyang agrees with the significance of Du Shi's "poetic history", and his poems have a true reflection on the politics of the time.

For example, "Miscellaneous Poems", "Tu Bing Xing", "Xuan Ming Palace Trip", etc., satirize the eunuchs interfering in politics, the tu soldiers disturbing the people, the emperor fainting and other social phenomena. In the sixth to seventh years of Zhengde, the mountain people in various parts of Jiangxi launched a popular uprising, and Mengyang was then serving as the deputy envoy of Jiangxi Tixue, personally experienced it, felt great pain, and worked hard to write "Tu Bing Xing" to expose and criticize the harm of Tu Bing to the people. Volume 34 of the Ming Poetry Synthesis quotes Sun Zhiwei: "This poem should be passed on side with Du Ling's poem "Northern Expedition". Mengyang's inheritance of Du Shi's tradition makes his poetry have a strong critical spirit and practical significance, and also makes his works have the stylistic characteristics of Du Shi. Shen Deqian's "Ming Poetry Collection" said: "The north is the most skilled, desolate and depressed, and the gods are like Lao Du." ”

Mengyang Xuedu was successful and was praised by the Ming and Qing dynasty literati, especially its Seven Laws, which is considered to be the most divine-like Du shi, Wang Shizhen called it "majestic and magnificent, deeper than Du Ling" ("Yiyuan Yan"),Shen Deqian called it "the opening and closing of the seven words near the body, unrestrained, quasi-Shaoling, almost specific." Therefore, we should look at a generation of heroes" ("Ming Poems"). It can be seen that its value and impact. At that time, there were also many critics of Mengyang, and Qian Qianyi thought that he was blindly moldy and rarely innovated. Qian Commented on his poem "Meritorious Temple": "This poem is written in imitation of Lao Du's poems of "Yuhua", "Jiucheng", and "Qiaoling", and only steals its words and ears. (Collected Poems of the Dynasties) This statement is slightly biased. Mengyang once said: "With my feelings, I tell the present, the size of the ancient law, and the recklessness of his words." He actively advocated that literature should express a distinct personality and a sense of truth, indicating that he did not advocate rigid imitation of the ancients. Therefore, although his study of Du is too strong, while absorbing the essence of Du Shi, he can also become his own style and carry forward the excellent tradition of poetry.

Wang Shizhen once summed up the Ming dynasty's study of Du: "The State Dynasty Learned Du's Family, Huarong Sun Yide Du Meat, DongJun Xie Hazel Du Mao... Only Mengyang is specific and subtle. (Yiyuan Shuyan, vol. VI) "Specific and subtle" comes from the Mencius Chapters and Sentences, which is the vocabulary of the Confucian character appraisal of the virtuous. Wang believes that the Ming Dynasty learned more about du, and only Mengyang was "specific and subtle". Therefore, people commented that "Du Ling, who mr. Gai deeply loved and meditated, so he got his divine reasoning and his face followed, but it was not intentionally simulated such as the song life swallowing and stripping the saying" (Feng Mengzhen," "Re-engraving Mr. Kong Tong's Collection Sequence"). When it is the language of Ken Qi. The Ming and Qing dynasties had a high overall evaluation of Mengyang's poetry creation, and even the Siku Guanchen, who did not like Ming poetry, had to say: "To be fair, its poetry is rich and strong, and it is enough to envelop it for a while." (Synopsis of the Four Libraries)

As the leader of the former seven sons, Li Mengyang's great achievements in poetry are undoubtedly closely related to his Du Fu complex, and it is precisely because of this that Li Mengyang can play an important role in leading poetry back to emotional traditions.

Guangming Daily (2021.05.17. 13th edition)

Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily