The "Departure from Sorrow" in the Chu Ci is one of the earliest "epics" in the history of Chinese poetry. Together with the "National Wind" in the Book of Poetry, it was called "Wind Andu" by later generations. In the history of classical Chinese literature, it has an unshakable supreme position.
Moreover, the narrative of "Leaving the Troubles" also has extraordinary imagination and epoch-making pioneering significance. Therefore, since its inception, it has been regarded as a divine product by later generations of literati, and it has also competed to imitate it, becoming the source of Chinese lexicon.
At the same time, the patriotic spirit embodied in "Leaving the Troubles" and the unremitting pursuit and efforts to ideals are also the source of the spiritual strength of Chinese literati.
First, what exactly is written in "Leaving the Troubles"?
Ancient literati liked to read "Leaving Sorrow" at night when their careers were frustrated and their ideals were frustrated, borrowing the spiritual power in the poems to motivate themselves and forge ahead in the darkness.
The literati of the Song Dynasty read "Leaving sorrow" to an unprecedented degree of "obsession". For example, Lu You once wrote a poem that said: "Recite two thousand and five thousand, and do not know the cold of the moon and the night." Contemporary Li Longgao said to himself: "I have read it a thousand times in my life." ”
However, because the time of creation of "Leaving the Troubles" was too early, posterity did not know much about the content of this poem. Don't say that today's ordinary students don't understand "Leaving the Troubles", even in ancient times, not everyone read it.
For example, Gu Chengtian of the Qing Dynasty criticized Qu Yuan in turn because he could not read "Leaving Sorrows", saying that he actually wrote this long poem for the purpose of "seeking a daughter" and was suspected of "insulting the holy match". So, what's going on here?
Originally, Qu Yuan wrote in the middle part of "Leaving the Troubles": The protagonist of the story, "Lingjun (a fictional character based on Qu Yuan)", because of his insistence on the good character of beauty, was ostracized by the adulterers in the palace and fell out of favor with the king".
After all the efforts, the "Lingjun" was still unable to win the trust of the king's "spiritual cultivation". So in order to pursue the truth, he rode the carriage pulled by four white dragons to the heavens to find the "beauty".
However, when he arrived in heaven, he found that it was the same as the human world, and there was no "beauty" in his ideal. Then, "Lingjun" heard that there was a "beauty" in Luoshui named Mi Fei, so he immediately drove the four dragon car to visit.
However, when "Lingjun" courted "Concubine Mi", the other party acted as if it were about to leave. In the evening, she secretly ran to meet Hou Yi again. Qu Yuan fictionalizes a mythological story here, in which the characters involve the ancient Xianwang Houyi.
Through some conventional myths and folklore, we can understand that Houyi's wife is actually Chang'e, so Princess Mi is obviously Houyi's lover here.
In addition, it is also mentioned in the "Departure from Sorrow" that "Lingjun" later wanted to pursue Jian Di, the second concubine of the shang dynasty's ancestor Emperor Zhao, and also wanted to rush ahead of Shao Kang and marry the two daughters of the Yu clan.
Therefore, Gu Chengtian said: Qu Yuan wanted to achieve the purpose of playing with and insulting the king's spouse by writing "Leaving the Troubles". However, Gu Chengtian did not seem to understand the meaning of "beauty" in "Leaving trouble".
There are many "unlearned" generations in modern times who have made the same mistake. If he is not careful, he will understand Qu Yuan's "long road and long repair, I will seek up and down", which means that he went to heaven and earth to find "beautiful women".
Therefore, if you want to know what is good about "Leaving trouble", you must understand what this long poem is about. However, due to the length and time, it is not possible for us to translate the whole text of "Departure" here.
Therefore, I can only briefly introduce to you what this "epic" known as "ancient Wenzu" probably talks about. This long poem, with a total of more than 2,400 words, has a very delicate expression of emotion and detailed description in the middle.
The content of this poem involves many aspects such as geography, history, customs and mythology, and is of great research value. Details aside, the poem can probably be divided into three parts.
The first part is mainly about how the relationship between Qu Yuan's fictional protagonist "Lingjun" and the monarch's "spiritual cultivation" was broken. The opening chapter begins with an introduction to the origin of "Lingjun", who is a descendant of Emperor Gaoyang and a descendant of the royal family.
It should be pointed out that Qu Yuan is the prototype of "Lingjun"; but Qu Yuan's introduction of "Lingjun" here is not to brag for himself, but to show that "Lingjun" came to this world with a mission.
Qu Yuan wrote this for a reason, because this way of writing laid the groundwork for "Lingjun" to "die nine times and still have no regrets" no matter what setbacks he encountered later.
In the next part, the protagonist "Lingjun" once allied with the king "Spiritual Cultivation" in order to realize the ideal of "beautiful government". Later, however, the "spiritual cultivation" became suspicious of the "spiritual average" because of the slander of the adulterer.
Then, there is a conversation between "Lingjun" and his sister. The writing style is very unique, similar to a "novel". The family, represented by his sister, does not understand why he insists on virtue, refuses to lower the standard of human behavior, and goes with the flow.
So the story enters the second part, mainly about the "Lingjun" facing the betrayal of allies, the slander of the world, and the incomprehension of relatives, and tears.
But he could not stop his quest for truth. Because he knew that if this country continued like this, it would inevitably repeat the mistakes of the Xia Dynasty and the Shang Dynasty.
The human world could not stay any longer, so "Lingjun" decided to go to the celestial realm to find the "Sage". The original text in the poem reads: "The Emperor is selfless and selfless, and the people are wrong; the Sage of Fuwei is obedient to Mao, who is not good and can be obeyed." ”
Next, "Lingjun" also said that although the god of death was about to come, I thought back to my original intention and did not regret it, he wanted to complete the "mission" that heaven had descended on him. However, it is impossible to achieve it by his own strength alone.
So "Lingjun" worriedly rode the four dragon carriages, left his hometown, and went to the heavens to look for the "sage". In fact, the "sage" here is the "beauty" in the following text, and it also refers to the wise monarch.
So, why can "Lingjun" ride the four dragon carriages to heaven? As mentioned earlier, because he is not a "mortal", he is a descendant of Emperor Gaoyang, and he is a man who was born with the mission of God.
However, when the "Lingjun" arrived at the Heavenly Court, he was stopped outside by the "Gatekeeper". Only then did he realize that the heavens were already as muddy as the earth.
Then there was this small episode of "Lingjun" going to find "Concubine Mi", which is a metaphor for some human rulers, left and right, half-hearted, and behind their backs, they are doing unseemly things.
Later, "Lingjun" found out about another "beauty" Jane, so he asked the dove bird to match himself, and as a result, this matchmaker said bad things about the other party, which made him miss an opportunity. In the end, Jian Di was also married away by Emperor Zhao.
So "Lingjun" wanted to marry Yu's two daughters, but finally found that the "matchmaker" was too clumsy to convey his affection. In fact, this is to say that he wants to meet the Lord and cannot get it. Either he couldn't find it, or he found it, and no one recommended him.
At this time, the story enters the third part, mainly about the "Lingjun" returning to visit the monarch "Spiritual Cultivation" and finding that he is still asleep. How is this good? He couldn't wait any longer for him to wake up. Because his life is coming to an end.
Then "Lingjun" finally, under the persuasion of Wu Xian, drove the carriage and left his hometown. He walked all the way and looked back all the way. The servants around him began to grieve, and the horses began to remember their homeland and refused to move forward.
The last few sentences are "Lingjun", which is also the author Qu Yuan's own inner monologue. He said, "Forget it, no one in the court knows me." If you want to promote "beautiful government" and have no peers, I will still follow Peng Xian.
The Chu Ci Zhang sentence says that Peng Xian was a doctor of the Shang Dynasty, and because he could not advise the Jin monarch, he committed suicide by throwing himself into the river. Therefore, at the end, Qu Yuan wanted to find Peng Xian, in fact, he borrowed the mouth of "Lingjun" and implied that he was going to commit suicide by throwing himself into the river.
Second, what is the good thing about "Leaving the Troubles"?
Introducing the main content of this long poem, let's talk about what is good about it. If you're willing to take a moment to read it in its entirety, you'll find that its style is very special.
"Leaving sorrow" is both a poem and a myth, and at the same time it seems to carry a little "novel" prototype. Qu Yuan created a new style of writing through "Leaving the Riot", which later generations called "riot body".
This style is very different from the Book of Poetry, because the content of the latter is mainly to reflect real life. The world of "Departure" is a mythical world. The protagonist in this world is both Qu Yuan and non-Qu Yuan.
The protagonist in "Departure" is an abstract "character" who represents a certain type of person. He can be "Du Fu", "Lu You", "Xin Abandoned Disease", "Wen Tianxiang" and all other patriotic poets.
Later generations are studying "Leaving sorrow", not only learning his amazing artistic imagination and excellent emotional expression ability, but also learning his patriotic spirit and unyielding character for the truth.
In short, the first greatness of "Departure" lies in its creativity and pioneering nature in the form of poetic art. Because of the existence of "Leaving sorrow", the poets of later generations in China have been called "rioters" by the world.
At the same time, because "Leaving the Riot" and "National Style" are equally famous, it is also called "Wind Riot". Later, when we evaluate the epoch-making great man, we usually say that he is "leading the way".
The second greatness of "Departure" lies in its ideas that are enough to compete with the sun and the moon and shine for eternity. Qu Yuan's "Vanilla Beauty" narrative directly influenced and inspired countless patriotic poets, including "Shisheng" Du Fu, Lu You, Xin Zhiyi, and so on.
"Leaving the Troubles" subtly influenced Chinese scholars, so that when they were frustrated in life and frustrated in their careers, they repeatedly strengthened their innate sense of responsibility and mission in their hearts, and encouraged them to fight for their ideals.
Therefore, the literati of ancient China would call "Leaving the Troubles" as "the ancestor of the ancient texts". At the same time, this is also the reason why "Leaving the Troubles" has been praised by later generations of literati for more than two thousand years.
epilogue
It is no exaggeration to say that since the advent of "Departure" more than 2,000 years ago, its radiant patriotic ideas and the great tragic appeal contained in the poems have been imitated by people, but they have never been surpassed.