Wang Meng and Liu Wei are four great pastoral poets in the Tang Dynasty. Their poems have different styles and describe the beauty of nature.

In the glorious history of China's poetry, pastoral poetry is always fresh and elegant in a small and beautiful way, like early Tao Yuanming and Xie Lingyun. Although Tao Yuanming is good at writing landscapes, his poems are full of Confucian love for the fields and his children Ye Fu, while Xie Lingyun only writes landscapes, but at the end of each poem, he always remembers to write a philosophy.

In the Tang Dynasty, pastoral poetry became more mature. We often say that Wang Wei and Meng Haoran are the representatives of pastoral poems in Tang Dynasty, but they are not. Wang Meng is a representative poet of pastoral poetry in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. In the middle and late Tang Dynasty, Wei and Liu Zongyuan took over the baton and continued to carry forward the pastoral poetry.

These four great poets all belong to the pastoral school. What are the similarities and differences between them?

Wang Wei

Su Dongpo once praised Wang Wei and said: "Poetry is like verve, with pictures in it; It is no exaggeration to say that Wang Wei's poems are picturesque. Whether a landscape painting is good or not depends on whether the painter can master and express the nature, characteristics and details of the scenery. Similarly, whether a landscape poem is good or not depends on whether the poet can describe the nature, characteristics and details of the scenery in a limited number of poems.

Birdsong stream

People are idle, osmanthus flowers fall, and the night is quiet and empty.

When the moon comes out, the birds are startled, and the sound enters the spring stream.

For example, this poem "Birding Creek" begins with flowers falling. Generally speaking, in poetry, falling flowers reminds people of the disappearance of spring, and then of the death of life. For example, Li Houzhu said that "flowers in the forest are in a hurry", which represents a kind of sadness.

However, this poem by Wang Wei is different. "People are idle and sweet-scented osmanthus falls" does not give people a trace of sadness, but makes people feel leisurely and quiet, because people are idle-his heart is calm. When he was leisurely and quiet, a spring breeze blew, several birds sang and osmanthus petals fell. This is not sorrow, but the years are quiet.

Then the night is quiet and the mountains are empty. Why is the mountain empty? Because it is late at night, there are no pedestrians in the mountains. The moonlight naturally shines on the mountain. The moonlight was originally quiet, but because the night was too quiet and the mountains were in space, the originally quiet moonlight had a sense of movement, which woke up the sleeping birds and their songs echoed in the spring mountains at night.

In such a combination of static and dynamic, we can easily feel the leisure and quietness in Wang Wei's poems, as well as the subtle changes of nature in his works, which makes people feel a kind of Zen.

This is the characteristic of Wang Wei. He entered the poem with Zen and won with emotion, and everything became beautiful and sad in an instant.

meng haoran

Meng Haoran is a natural hermit. As a teenager, he lived as a hermit in Lumen Mountain. On the one hand, it is his personality, on the other hand, it is also related to the present situation. First, Wu Zetian proclaimed himself emperor, then Wei Hou played politics, and the parties in the Korean Bureau disputed. The Analects of Confucius said: "The country has no way, it is rich and expensive, and it is shameful." Meng Haoran didn't go to be an official for personal gain. This is his nobility.

Later, Xuanzong succeeded to the throne, the dynasty was clear, and countries came to the DPRK one after another, which was called a prosperous time. The Analects of Confucius said, "A country has good morals, but it is shameful to be poor." The emperor is wise and the country is rich and strong. It is when talents are needed that you should be an official; Another reason is that his family is poor and old, not only poor, but also his mother is old. Meng Haoran really can't live without asking for an official position. The third reason is that Meng Haoran has reached middle age. If he doesn't do something, what is the meaning of his life?

Therefore, when reading Meng Haoran's poems, we must understand his creation time and background, which can be divided into three stages in content:

The first stage: early seclusion, such as returning to Lumen Mountain at night;

In the evening, the bell of the temple echoed in the valley, and a noisy voice sounded at Yulu Ferry.

People walked along the shore to Jiangcun village, and I also returned to Lumen by boat.

The moonlight at the deer gate made the mountain tree appear, and I suddenly came to the seclusion of exile.

Lonely mountain road and quiet forest road, only hermits come and go gracefully here.

The bells in the temple, the pier at the ferry, the rowing boats and the spare boats are all such pure and beautiful scenery. In this landscape, Meng Haoran really enjoys the pleasure of a hermit.

The second stage: seeking an official position in middle age. The most famous one is a letter from Dongting Lake to Prime Minister Zhang:

The autumn water rises and almost blends with the shore, mixing water and sky with the sky.

Ozawa's water vapor transpiration on the cloud soil is white, and the waves seem to shake the whole Yueyang.

I'm going to cross the water to find a boat and paddle. It's a shame to return home in the sacred age.

Sitting around watching other people's hard river fishing can only envy the fish caught in the fish.

The first four sentences are "Looking at Dongting Lake from afar". As an idyllic poet, this is Meng Haoran's unique skill. Needless to say, the last four sentences are "to Prime Minister Zhang". Now that the country is rich and strong, I am still "alive". Isn't it shameful for this enlightened era? Therefore, Meng Haoran's desire to be an official is revealed.

The third stage: the confusion after the failure of seeking an official position in his later years, such as this song "On Climbing the Wild Mountain with Friends";

When things change, time is often the time to form ancient and modern times.

Now we can climb the mountain to visit the historical sites preserved all over the country.

Weir water shows the river surface, and Yunmengze is cold and mysterious.

Yang's monument still exists, and we cried and read it.

Spring went to Qiu Lai, summer went to winter, and the past went to the present. Life is the same. Children grow up, adults get old, and old people die. A few poems that come and go in a hurry are about vicissitudes of life and great changes. The ancient sages have passed away, but the monument erected by later generations is still there. What about Meng Haoran? I can only cry when I think that I have accomplished nothing.

This is Meng Haoran. At different stages of life, he has different feelings and styles. He was moved and lonely.

wei yingwu

Wei is a talented poet. He was born into a noble family. When he was a teenager, he was a serious man. He himself said, "if you don't serve the emperor, hooligans rely on kindness and privacy." In the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was more popular than Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, so Emperor Wu here refers to Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty. The meaning is clear, that is, someone on it does whatever he wants, and he doesn't know a word. He gambles during the day and whores at night. As a result, the emperor died, which was very tragic. At this time, I suddenly woke up and began to learn to write poetry: "It's too late to learn, learn to write poetry with a pen."

In this way, a man became a famous poet in the Tang Dynasty. Who can argue with him?

Because Wei studied late and never received a systematic education since childhood, he also made many attempts in poetry. He can write various genres of classical poetry, modern poetry, Yuefu poetry and ballads. Ironically, in many of his poems, he focuses on reflecting people's sufferings and showing social reality-those who suffer are those who have been bullied by him.

He wrote "Song of Xia Bing" to reflect the hardships of ice pickers. He wrote: "When people are bored, they suffer, and the deep wells in the twelfth lunar month sweat like rain." What are these ice pickers doing? "It has not been sold for nine days, and it will be opened for the first time, and it will be given to distinguished people"; There is also a poem "Picking Jade", which describes the hardships of jade pickers: "Only daughter returns grain, and the South China mourns".

These poems had a profound influence on later poets such as Bai Juyi and Li He. Bai Juyi wrote many poems reflecting the sufferings of the people, and once praised Wei Zhuang for "singing in Suzhou this year, which is quite ironic beyond talent". Li Hezuo's "Song of the Old Lady Picking Jade" wrote: "The old lady is worried about hunger and cold, and Biliu is not innocent", which is obviously influenced by Wei Caiyu's trip.

Wei can write all kinds of poems, but in Su Shi's eyes, five-character poems are the best. Su Shi said, "Lotte has three thousand poems, but only loves Langwei's five-character poems." Although Bai Juyi's poems are long and short and numerous, I only love Wei's five-character poems.

But in today's readers' minds, Wei's most famous poem is this seven-character poem:

In Chuzhou, Xixi.

Alone, grass grows by the stream, and orioles sing on the trees.

The spring tide brought the rain late and urgent, and there was no boat on the wild crossing.

This poem is really amazing! The beauty of nature!

Youcao, mountain stream, oriole, deep trees, spring tide and late rain, among these scenery, there is a boat crossing Shan Ye Ferry, and no one pays attention. He didn't write anything, but "pieced together" these natural scenery, and wrote such a quiet and noble masterpiece with the initial feeling in the aesthetic process.

liu zongyuan

Liu Zongyuan is lonely.

Liu Zongyuan is good at writing landscapes and images, and most intuitively writes beautiful images of landscapes and pastoral areas. At this point, he was influenced by Xie Lingyun. Yuan Haowen commented on Liu Zongyuan's poems and said, "Thank you for reflecting ancient and modern times. Who originated like Liuzhou?" However, under this surface, there is a kind of loneliness. Yuan Haowen went on to say, "Zhu Xian's lingering voice is there, but it was a lonely heart that year."

Zhu Xian plays the piano when he plays. During the period of Boya, he could understand his inner feelings through the piano, the so-called bosom friend, while Xie Lingyun and Liu Zongyuan just lacked bosom friends, and no one could understand him, so they were lonely hearts.

Liu Zongyuan is painful.

Liu Zongyuan was born in the Liu family in Hedong, and was also called "Hedong Three Surnames" with Xue and Pei in Hedong. His mother, john young Lushi, was also a big family in the Tang Dynasty. She was an official in her ancestral days, but in Liu Zongyuan's generation, her family was somewhat backward, so the burden of revitalizing the family fell on Liu Zongyuan's shoulders at that time. Even when Han Yu wrote his epitaph, he wrote: "Everyone says: Liu. Liu Zihou's epitaph.

So Liu Zongyuan really worked hard to make a career.

However, the Yongzheng political reform with Wang He, Liu Zongyuan and Liu Yuxi as the backbone failed. Wang was killed and eight others were demoted to eight Sima. The so-called Sima is an official below the secretariat. Without real power, Liu Zongyuan's ideas cannot be expressed.

Later, he was recalled, thinking that he could display his ambition again, but in a few days he was demoted to Liuzhou, a farther place.

Liu Zongyuan is struggling.

From the first time he was demoted, Liu Zongyuan began to find a way out for himself. There are many ways to get rid of it. Some people drown their sorrows in wine, some live in seclusion, and some send their feelings to the mountains and rivers. There are also many people who choose to send their feelings to mountains and rivers, such as Su Shi, who can beat horses with bamboo poles and send sandals to the river and sea for the rest of his life. However, Su Shi's feelings for mountains and rivers are truly detached and broad-minded. He can even establish his own philosophy in the mountains and rivers and become a hopeless optimist.

Liu Zongyuan can't do it. He deliberately wrote his own free and easy, and wrote the scenery to the extreme. But in the end, he always struggles between his family's expectations and his own ambitions. This is not self-deception, because Liu Zongyuan himself knows that no matter how beautiful the scenery is for him, it is temporary, so in a letter to a friend, he wrote:

"When I get to the secluded tree, I will laugh for a while, but I am already unhappy." -"With Li Han Lin Jianshu"

He loves mountains and rivers, and when he meets good mountains, waters, trees and stones, he will also smile from his heart. But this kind of happiness is short-lived, and it will soon be shrouded in gloom, and I can't laugh anymore. The happiness and comfort he got in the mountains and rivers were temporary.

Probably only a figure like Liu Zongyuan can write Qian Qian's absolute loneliness-Jiang Xue.

There are no birds flying over those mountains, and there are no traces of people in those paths.

A boat on the river, a fisherman wearing his webworm moth; Fishing alone is not afraid of snow and ice.

Qian Shan has thousands of trails, people and birds are extinct, heavy snow is falling, and the weather is freezing. A fisherman was fishing alone in the cold river. There are loneliness, pain, struggle and unwillingness. He wants to be unyielding, but there is nothing he can do.

Fortunately, when Liu Zongyuan was demoted to Liuzhou, Liuzhou was still uncivilized and almost in a "primitive" state. As the secretariat of Liuzhou, Liu Zongyuan brought education and civilization to the local people. Later, in order to commemorate him, the people of Liuzhou built an ancestral temple for his statue, and the world also called him "Liu Liuzhou".

In a sense, didn't Liu Zongyuan's achievement in Liuzhou realize his ambition?

Wang Meng is four representative poets of the Tang Dynasty's pastoral poetry school. They all expressed their love for landscape, but because of their different fates and personalities, they showed completely different landscape styles. Wang Wei meditated in the landscape, Meng Haoran was moved by loneliness in the landscape, Wei dominated the world in the center of the landscape, and Liu Zongyuan sought liberation in the landscape.

In the landscape poems, there is no romantic flying of Li Bai and no profundity of Du Fu, but they show the most beautiful landscape pastoral for future generations with their own life feelings, and freeze every amazing thing in nature in beautiful poems.

Statement:

The pictures in the article are all from the internet, and they have been deleted.