Literary and artistic biography
Literature and art, that is, literature. Literary and artistic biography, that is, the joint biography of writers and artists, is also known as the biography of Wenyuan. From the "Book of the Later Han Dynasty" to the first "Biography of Wenyuan", the official history of later generations has been repeatedly attacked. The main achievement of Tang Dynasty literature was Tang poetry, and the Tang Dynasty was the most glorious period of classical poetry on the mainland, and the poetry stars were brilliant.
The New Tang Dynasty Book is divided into three parts, including the upper, middle and lower chapters, which record nearly 80 well-known figures in the literary world, and this book selects Du Fu, Wang Bo, Li Bai, Wang Wei, Meng Haoran, Wang Changling, and Li Shangyin as representatives.
Du Fu, the "poet saint" with the common people in mind
Du Fu (712-770), known as Zimei, self-named Shaoling Yelao, was originally from Xiangyang County, Xiangzhou (now Xiangyang City, Hubei Province), and was born in Gong County, Henan Province (now Gongyi City, Henan Province). The great realist poet in the history of the mainland is revered as the "poet saint", and is called "Li Du" together with Li Bai.
Du Fu was born in a family of eunuchs, received traditional Confucian ethics education since childhood, was smart and studious, and was able to compose poetry at the age of seven. At that time, famous celebrities in society, such as Li Yong, Wang Han and other predecessors, all rushed to deign to visit him after seeing his work.
Du Fu's youth coincided with the prosperous era of the Kaiyuan Dynasty, social stability, and strong national strength. Since the age of 20, Du Fu has traveled to the great rivers and mountains of the motherland, increased his experience, cultivated his sentiments, and successively met like-minded poets such as Li Bai and Gao Shi, and sang harmony with each other. The poems of this period also reveal the chic heroism of "being at the top of the mountain and seeing the mountains at a glance".
During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, the edict ordered talented people from all over the world to take the examination in Chang'an, the capital city, and the thirty-six-year-old Du Fu also participated in the examination. In order to realize his political ideals, Du Fu ran around the door of the powerful, but he was never successful.
In 754, Xuanzong held three grand ceremonies to worship Taiqing Palace, Taimiao and Heaven and Earth, and Du Fu specially dedicated a "Three Great Gifts", which was deeply appreciated by Xuanzong and asked him to wait for distribution. As a result, the person who presided over the exam was still Li Linfu, and Du Fu did not get any official position in the end. A year later, Du Fu finally waited for a low-level petty official. At this time, he had been living in Chang'an for ten years.
After getting the official position, Du Fu immediately went home to save his relatives, and as soon as he entered the house, he encountered the bad news that his youngest son starved to death, and he also left the famous sentence of "Zhumen wine and meat stink, and there are frozen bones on the road".
In that year, the "Anshi Rebellion" broke out, and Du Fu heard that Tang Xuanzong's son Tang Suzong had succeeded to the throne in Lingwu (now Lingwu City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region), and defected to Suzong alone, but was captured by the rebels on the way.
At that time, Du Fu's official position was humble, but he cared about the changes in the situation and never forgot to worry about the country and the people. He saw that the mountains and rivers were still there, but they were already in ruins, and the people were struggling to make a living, and he sighed at the tragedy of "the country is broken by the mountains and rivers", and wrote to provide advice for the extermination of the rebels, hoping to save the people from fire and water.
Two years later, Du Fu found an opportunity to escape and rushed to Fengxiang Mansion (now Baoji City, Shaanxi Province) to defect to Suzong, and was appointed as the right picker in charge of advice, so he was known as "Du Shiji".
Du Fu's friend Fang Xuan served as the prime minister, but was demoted because he was implicated in the matter of the guest, Du Fu pleaded for mercy, Suzong was furious, and demoted him to Huazhou (now Weinan City, Shaanxi Province). During this period, Du Fu witnessed the fiasco of the imperial army and the people under the war suffered endless disasters, but still endured humiliation and burdens to join the army to quell the rebellion, and was full of emotion, creating an immortal epic - "Three Officials" and "Three Farewells".
In 759, Du Fu was heartbroken by the decaying officialdom and resolutely gave up his official position in Huazhou, and was transferred to the capital of Dacheng (present-day Chengdu, Sichuan Province) several times. With the help of his friend Yan Wu and others, Du Fu built a thatched cottage to live in, known as "Du Fu's Thatched Cottage".
Although he is no longer adrift, life is still difficult. Even though he was poor, Du Fu still cared about the people in the world, and his residence was leaky everywhere, but he wrote the bold words of "There are thousands of mansions in Ande, and the poor people in the world are happy".
After Yan Wu's death, Du Fu once again embarked on a wandering journey. A year later, Du Fu was able to settle in Kuizhou (present-day Fengjie County, Chongqing) on the Yangtze River, when Du Fu was already 55 years old, and his creative work had entered its peak. According to statistics, in less than two years, he composed more than 430 poems in total, accounting for 30% of the existing works. Among them, there is such an eternal swan song as "boundless falling trees and Xiao Xiaoxiao, endless Yangtze River rolling".
In 768, Du Fu was homesick and decided to buy a boat to go east along the Yangtze River, passing through Hubei Province and drifting to Yueyang, Hunan, despite the war. He climbed the long-awaited Yueyang Tower, looked at the vast Dongting Lake in the distance, and wrote the vast and majestic masterpiece "Ascending Yueyang Tower".
Subsequently, because of the difficulties of life, the war continued, Du Fu not only could not return to the north, but could only continue to go south, wandering in Hunan Province for two years, and finally died alone on a small boat on the Xiangjiang River at the age of 59.
Du Fu lived in the historical period of the Tang Dynasty, and his life was like the fate of the country. His poems in different periods, planted in the fertile soil of the Tang Dynasty, have become the epitome of the real society, profoundly reflected the great social changes at that time, and sang the great sad songs of the times, so they were called "poetry history" by later generations.
The talented "genius" Wang Bo
Wang Bo (649-676), whose name is Zi'an, was a native of Longmen County, Jiangzhou (now Hejin City, Shanxi Province). Tang Dynasty writer, one of the "Four Masters of the Early Tang Dynasty".
Wang Bo's grandfather was Wang Tong, a famous thinker of the Sui Dynasty. Wang Bo was smart and studious since he was a child, and was deeply influenced by a good family background, and at the age of six he was able to write articles with rich rhetoric and smooth writing, and was known as a prodigy. At the age of sixteen, he won the ranking in the imperial examination.
When Tang Gaozong, began to build the Qianyuan Palace in Luoyang City, Wang Bo took the opportunity to present a "Ode to the Qianyuan Palace", the whole text is gorgeous, the pen is wonderful, Gaozong was amazed after reading, and praised: "Genius, genius, I am a genius of the Tang Dynasty!" As a result, Wang Bo's literary name was greatly revitalized, and he was elected as the head of the "Four Masterpieces of the Early Tang Dynasty".
Gaozong's son, Pei Wang Li Xian, admired Wang Bo's talent very much and let him serve in his own mansion. Once, when Li Xian and his younger brother King Li Xian were entertained by cockfighting, Wang Bo wrote a brilliant essay "The Chicken Essay of King Ying" for fun. Who knows, this article reached Gaozong, who thought that Wang Bo not only did not persuade him, but also wrote an article to exaggerate, so he angrily denounced him as a "crooked talent" and drove him out of King Pei's mansion. After a long time, Wang Bo was hired to join the army in Qiuzhou (present-day western Henan Province), but was hated by his colleagues for his arrogance, and eventually implicated his father in being demoted to Jiaozhi County (present-day northern Vietnam) as a county commander.
Wang Bo is obsessed with writing, and every time he starts writing, he doesn't need to think seriously, usually after grinding a pool of ink, he refuses to put down the pen, but gets drunk and sleeps. When he woke up, he began to create freely, each time in one go. His way of writing is known as "belly drafting".
At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, pun writing was prevalent. Wang Bo's prose is neat and neat, with a broad artistic conception, and is deeply influenced by his grandfather, advocating Confucianism, and his works are full of open-mindedness and profound heritage.
One year, when Wang Bo went to visit his father in Jiaozhi, he passed through Hongzhou (now Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province) to coincide with the Double Ninth Festival, and the governor of Hongzhou held a banquet at the Tengwang Pavilion to entertain the guests. The governor had his son-in-law write an article to make a splash at the banquet. Wang Bo didn't know it, and began to write at the false invitation of his master.
The governor left the table angrily, but he wanted to know what Wang Bo had written, so he asked him to pass it on to him one by one. The first sentence reported "Nanchang Ancient County, Hongdu Xinfu", the governor said: "It's just a cliché." He also reported that "the stars are divided, and the ground is connected to Henglu", and the governor was silent. He also reported that "Luoxia and the lonely bird fly together, and the autumn water grows together in the sky", and the governor was surprised and said: "Genius! "Ask Wang Bo to write the whole article, and the guests and hosts will disperse happily.
This article is still widely recited to this day "Preface to the Pavilion of King Teng", and Luo Bin Wang's "Seeking Wu's Writings" is called "Pun Wen Shuangbi".
After that, Wang Bo went to visit his father in Jiaozhi, and unfortunately fell into the water and died when he returned to cross the sea, dying young. Although his life is as short as a shock, it is as gorgeous as a summer flower.
This article is excerpted from "Twenty-four Histories Read Now, Language and History Are Progressing" - the ninth volume of "New Tang Dynasty Book", which is officially authorized to be released, welcome to continue to pay attention.