Unlike novelists and essayists, poets tend to become famous earlier. The reason is actually very simple, other literary works need the accumulation of years and the author's own experience to grow, and poetry relies more on talent and inspiration. Therefore, young and famous poets abound. However, in the Qing Dynasty, there was a famous poet Shen Deqian, but he experienced too many ups and downs, and it was not until he was seventy years old that he became famous all over the world.
Shen De's potential status among Qing Dynasty poets is very high, especially his "Ancient Poetry Source", "Tang Poetry Bejue", "Ming Poetry Bidi", "Qing Poetry Bidi" and a series of other works, which have a great influence. However, this poetic giant began to take the township examination at the age of 22, and did not pass the examination until the age of 66. In these forty years, he fell for the seventeenth time, only to see failure, not to see the son who failed.
In fact, the famous literati who could not pass the entrance examination in ancient times abounded, perhaps it was not suitable for the eight strands of literature, it was no big deal, and it was completely possible to win the world with poetry. However, in the twelfth year of Yongzheng's erudite Hongzi examination, he was reprimanded by the imperial court. Yongzheng thought that his articles were too exaggerated and did not have the spirit of hard work, and even forbade his poetry to circulate.
This inadvertently sentenced Shen Deqian to death in literature, and did not give him a way to live at all. He also complained to himself in "The Day of the Death of His Mother in the Apartment", "I really feel that time is like a passerby, but I can't even hear about it for forty years!" "In fact, where forty years old is unknown, until he is in his sixties, he is still unknown.
Generally speaking, ancient people have a short life span, and even modern people can recognize their lives at such an age. But who can tell the ups and downs of life? In the third year of Qianlong, he finally won the township examination, and in the next year, he actually passed the jinshi examination in one fell swoop. At this time, Shen Deqian is already 67 years old, and the age of retirement of others, he has just officially joined the work.
The next development, however, makes people even more stunned. His first post after entering the army was the Hanlin editor of Qipin, which was originally a regular appointment. However, in just half a year, he successively served as Zuo Chunfang Zuo Zhongyun, Hanlin Yuan Attendant, Zuo Shuzi, until the Sipin Waiter Lecturer. This is not surprising, a few years later, he was awarded the ceremonial attendant from Erpin. Although the starting point was pulled down a lot, Shen Deqian stubbornly laughed to the end.
In Shen Deqian's family, there have been no officials in five generations. What kind of luck did he take and make him go all the way? It turned out that the 70-year-old pedant was unexpectedly appreciated when he was serving Qianlong to study. At that time, Qianlong was only thirty years old, and when he saw Shen Deqian with silver hair, he couldn't bear it, and decided to let him accompany him for a walk and tour Hanlin hand in hand.
This road must not be too long, but it determines Shen Deqian's life. He followed Qianlong, answered questions and answered questions, and exported chapters and witty remarks. Especially in the creation of poetry, Shen Deqian is even more surprising, and there is no corruption at all of the ordinary jinshi. This made Qianlong feel like a treasure, and he was afraid that he was still secretly laughing at his father Yongzheng for not knowing the goods. Since then, Qianlong has either called Shen Deqian "Old Hongru" or "Old Famous Scholar of Jiangnan", with a very humble attitude.
Just by taking this walk, it only deepened Qianlong's impression of Shen Deqian. Shen Deqian's soaring Yellow Tengda is not unrelated to his work. Qianlong loved to write poetry, which was not only well known to later generations, but also famous at that time. Shen Deqian was responsible for editing the poetry of Tianzi for the Qianlong school magazine "Imperial Poetry Collection". Most of Qianlong's poetry cannot be taken out, and after Shen Deqian's revision, it is still impossible to get his hands on it today, but Qianlong is very satisfied, and this is enough.
For this old poet, Qianlong was so pampered that he even wrote a poem to give it to him: "I love virtue and virtue, and the pure wind is gufu." This was enough meat and hemp, but the imperial scholar Qian Chenqun next to him did not dare to raise objections, but instead should agree with "Emperor Loves Shen Qiande, I envy and return to foolishness." ”
Unfortunately, Shen Deqian was too old, and at the age of 77, he proposed to Qianlong to return to his hometown. Qianlong was very sorry, but he did a very sensational thing, that is, to write a preface to Shen Deqian's poetry collection "Gui Yu Poetry Notes". Not only that, Qianlong also gave Shen Deqian dozens of poems. The poems are still mediocre, but shen deqian is compared to Li Bai and Du Fu. At this moment, Shen Deqian's status and reputation were already unbreakable.
The key is that Shen Deqian still lived a long time, and when he was ninety years old, Qianlong crowned him as the Crown Prince's Wife. Every time he went down to Jiangnan, Shen Deqian was summoned to pick up and escort him. Until his death at the age of 97, Qianlong also gave the prince Taishi and personally wrote an elegy.
However, what I never expected was that Qianlong and Shen Deqian had such a good relationship, and there was actually a great reversal of the plot. In his later years, Shen Deqian compiled the "Collection of Qing Poetry", which was called the "Collection of Poetry of the National Dynasty" at that time, and actually listed Qian Qianyi as the first of the poets. Qianlong was very unhappy, he said that Qian Qianyi was a subordinate of the Ming Dynasty, disloyal and filial piety, no matter how well poetry was written, how could he rank first if his character was not good, and was Shen Deqian old and confused?
The book also caused two troubles, one was to write the name of Wang Yinxi of Shen County, Qianlong commented that Yinxi was the emperor's uncle, and he was embarrassed to call him by his name, but Shen Deqian had no rules. Second, Yongzheng once named the literati Qian Mingshi, but Shen Deqian also printed his poems.
Regarding this book, Qianlong was very dissatisfied, but considering that the monarchs and subjects had known each other for twenty years, they only thought that Shen Deqian was "old and desolate" and did not investigate deeply. The real accident was the Xu Shukuo case, which was a literal prison initiated by Qianlong. Xu Shukui himself was dead, and there was no other way but to dig up the grave and whip the corpse. However, Xu Shukui's sons and grandsons were all killed, and Shen Deqian actually set up a biography for Xu Shukui, and said that he "can be legal in all articles of character."
At this moment, Qianlong could no longer bear it. He took back all his favors, stripped Shen Deqian of his official title, removed him from the Xianliang Ancestral Hall, and even bulldozed his graveyard. Qianlong also specifically wrote in the "Former Rites Department Shangshu Title Former Attendant Shen Deqian":
Yesterday's autumn Xu case, the submarine is a biography. Forgetting the country and sheltering the rebels is not a detailed crime. With is the pursuit of the grace, cut from the public... Guy is ridiculous because of the fashion, and it is inevitable to make a small profit. If you have a heart, I know that it may not be...
Companion is like a companion tiger, Mo ru is also!