The Significance of Shuyu Ci

[Song] Li Qingzhao

Nangezi

The milky way turns in the sky, and the curtain on earth hangs. Liangsheng's pillow is full of tears. He can unbutton his clothes and talk all night.

The emerald lotus is small, and the golden lotus root leaves are thin. Old weather, old clothes Only feelings, don't like my hometown!

Shuyu Ci is a collection of Ci published by Li Qingzhao in Song Dynasty. On a quiet autumn night, the poet looked up at the sky and bowed his head and cried. She asked herself: the weather is the same as before, and the clothes are the same as before, but why are the feelings today not comparable? This tells us that, in a sense, the emotional content expressed in Li Qingzhao's ci is all kinds of life feelings caused by her different life situations. Judging from this word, it is not difficult to perceive the poet's very sad and lonely female feelings as long as people roughly appreciate his lonely atmosphere and the wandering scene of the heroine in Autumn Night. However, Li Qingzhao made it very clear in the first word above: "Only feelings, not like home." So, isn't her feelings before Nandu sad and lonely? Our view is "no". As a woman in feudal times, especially as a talented and sentimental poetess in a boudoir, Li Qingzhao was "designated" as a lonely feeling that accompanied her all her life. Or, in other words, just as Bai Juyi described Yang Yuhuan's beauty as "but it can't be hidden with a gift", Li Qingzhao's (and other talented women in feudal times) sense of sadness and loneliness was "born" and "hard to give up", but the degree would increase or decrease due to the change of circumstances. The reason can be roughly explored from the following three aspects:

First of all, women were basically excluded from the broad social life in feudal times, and even their daily social circle was very limited, so their "career" was limited to taking care of their husbands, educating their children and managing housework. Of course, Li Qingzhao's situation is quite special. According to her preface to Jinshi, after she first entered her husband's family, she went shopping with Zhao Mingcheng, a former student, at Suoguo Temple. Later, when she lived in rural Qingzhou with her husband, she worked together in Guitang to collate and annotate ancient books and inspect and appreciate cultural relics, and completed a large-scale academic monograph such as Jinshilu. But fundamentally speaking, she can only appear in limited social occasions as "the daughter of Li" or "the wife of Zhao Mingcheng", and cannot have an independent personal identity. Therefore, her life circle is bound to be narrow, and her talents and emotions are bound to be suppressed. Let's try to read her words: "How deep is the courtyard? Clouds, windows, fog pavilions, "(Linjiang Xianzi); "The small building is cold and the curtains are low at night" (Dolly); "The idle window in the small courtyard is deep in spring, and the heavy curtain is not heavy" ("Huanxisha"); "People are quiet and the moon is soft, and the green curtain hangs down" ("Confession"), you can wonder how narrow her living space and activity place are. However, such a thoughtful and talented person is confined to such a small world with deep courtyards and heavy curtains all day, which will inevitably lead to a strong desire to fly out of the "besieged city". But sadly, this hope can only be realized by dreaming. Look at his poem "The Pride of Fisherman": "When the sky meets clouds and smoke, the Milky Way wants to turn to Qian Fan dance. It's as if the dream soul belongs to the emperor, smelling the sky, and politely asking me where to go? What I reported is that the road is long, and there are amazing sentences in learning poetry. 90,000 Li Fengpeng is a positive move. When the wind stops, the ship will blow away the three mountains. " In her dream, she drove the Wan Lifeng, soaring in the vast sky, and headed for Penglai Fairy Mountain. However, when I woke up, I could only be "the Taoist priest languished at the bottom of the spring window, bored and depressed" (Lou Yuchun). Therefore, how can she not feel depressed and lonely? It should be noted that people are not vegetation, and one of their essential attributes is "sociality"; Once the right to participate in social life is deprived or restricted (at most, it can only be discussed in poetry and prose), just like a fish leaving a pond and being locked in a wooden basin, people will inevitably feel lonely and lonely, and even women can't avoid it. This is the first reason why Li Qingzhao formed her sad and lonely feelings. From this, we think that she often plays a gambling game of "flattery" in the boudoir (that is, backgammon), and wrote two articles about it: Fu on flattery and Preface on flattery. In her article, she once compared this game of wits to a battle between two armies; It is also compared to the skill of knowing the cow's solution, treating people with luck, and even the skill of governing the country by Yao Shun. This reflects Li Qingzhao's life ambition and wisdom in a tortuous way. If she were a man, she might be able to make a difference in the political arena; But now I can only waste my time and talent in this game similar to playing poker and mahjong today. This also shows her inner loneliness and boredom from the opposite side.

Secondly, as a talented woman, Li Qingzhao is fortunate to have a very happy marriage and family life. Her husband Zhao Mingcheng hit it off with her. As early as the early days of marriage, they went shopping in the market together. "The city is famous for its fruit, and the exhibition is relatively chewy, calling itself a Ge person." Later, in the "Home Returning Hall", the husband and wife sang along with the land to sort out books and cultural relics, drank tea in their spare time and even held a "quiz" to test their memory. In this regard, Li Qingzhao was satisfied, saying that she was "willing to be homesick forever" (Preface to the Story of the Stone). So on the surface, it seems that she shouldn't feel that kind of sadness and loneliness. But this is not entirely the case. One is that Zhao Mingcheng is an official's son, and then his official career keeps rising and falling. He has his own career to do. What literati need to do, such as reading, studying, making friends, and going into politics, can't be like Liu Yong's writing, "like leaning against the incense and sleeping in the sun" ("Slow volume? ), with the people in the boudoir all day. Therefore, parting and lovesickness between lovers are also common. For example, the following song "A Piece of Plum" is said to have been specially written by Li Qingzhao on a brocade handkerchief for him when he traveled in Zhao Mingcheng shortly after his wedding (according to Yi Shizhen's "Tianshu Library"), and the word reads: "The lotus root is fragrant, and the jade stays for a long time. Gently untie Luo Shang and go to Lan alone. Who sent the brocade book? The word goose returns, and the moon is full of the west building. Bloom is full of flowers and flowing water. One kind of lovesickness, two places of leisure. There is no way to eliminate this situation. You can only frown and take it to heart. " This describes her lonely and sad feelings caused by lovesickness. Secondly, women in feudal times, especially the wives and concubines of official families, often faced the crisis of marriage or love. Take the Song Dynasty as an example, it is very common for a scholar-bureaucrat to have three wives and four concubines (even groups of wives and concubines). It's not too shameful that they are begging for flowers and whoring outside. Therefore, it is natural that a wife who stays at home will breed a feeling of self-pity and loneliness out of fear that her husband will like the new and hate the old and move on. Of course, there is no marriage dispute or emotional crisis between Zhao Mingcheng and Li Qingzhao, because there is no exact historical data, so we can't judge rashly. However, according to some scholars' speculation, there is an allusion in Li's ci "Far away, locking cigarettes" (Liu Chen and Ruan were secretly recruited into Tiantai Mountain to collect herbs and had sex with immortals), and the preface to the Story of the Stone describes the allusion of "selling shoes with incense" when Zhao Mingcheng died (when Cao Cao died, he ordered the spices to be distributed to all concubines, so maids could learn to make shoes). Although we may not agree with this view, it can at least help us understand Li Qingzhao's possible worries in marriage and love. Besides, people are always old. How many women have a sense of crisis in this respect since ancient times! Let's try to read her words: "At first, I tried to sew a shirt with gold thread, and the pillow was oblique, which damaged both the hairpin and the phoenix." I don't have good dreams when I'm alone, but I still cut snuff at night. "(The Recent Flowers), the boudoir who tried on spring clothes for the first time, stayed up late. What were you thinking? The last sentence gives a hint. Li Shangyin said in a poem: "* * Why cut the candle at the west window and talk about the evening rain?" ("A note to a friend in the north on a rainy night") said that the couple were reunited and snuff was cut. Now, however, Li Qingzhao is "holding deep sorrow alone" and cutting snuff alone, probably complaining about her husband's absence and expressing her grief (if this word was written before Du Nan, it can be understood this way). Therefore, even if she is lucky enough to get a good husband, even if she lives in a relatively calm and beautiful environment, Li Qingzhao, as a woman, can't escape the psychological shadow of "abandoning autumn fans"-although she is suspected of "taking it for granted", it is not too outrageous. This unique psychological shadow of women has naturally become another layer of ideological connotation in her sad and lonely feelings.

Thirdly, I also want to talk about the femininity of Li Qingzhao's ci. It is said that when Zhao Mingcheng was young, a poem appeared in his dream. After waking up, I only remember three words: "The word and the company are out of safety, pull up the grass." His father explained, "When a word and a partner are combined, it is a word, while the word" woman "is a woman, and the word" husband "is the word" Cao Zhifu Ba ". Don't you call yourself' the husband of a poetess'? " This story is mostly attached by later generations, but it also shows that people have long recognized that Li Qingzhao is a real "ci girl". The basic conditions of a poet are: first, he must have the talent and ability to write words, and second, he must have a sentimental psychological temperament-Xin Qiji's sentence "Expressing sorrow for adding new words" just tells the truth that a poet must be able to "express sorrow". As an outstanding poetess, Li Qingzhao fully meets these two conditions. Needless to say, his talent and skill in writing lyrics are recognized by people. As for her sentimental psychological temperament, we should pay special attention to her female gender. Generally speaking, compared with men, women are relatively weak in physical characteristics and psychological temperament. Generally speaking, the ancients classified men and women as "yang" (masculine) and "yin" (feminine) respectively, which included this meaning in addition to the prejudice of son preference. Therefore, the sentimentality of female authors is usually more prominent than that of ordinary male authors. Moreover, women's living space is very narrow and their life content is quite monotonous, which further encourages their sentimentality. The reasons are as follows: First, just as blind people "compensate" for developing their hearing because they can't see the outside world, women who are bound in boudoir of small courtyard often show extra attention and sensitivity to the changes of surrounding natural scenery because they can't participate in a wide range of social life (this is called "sensitivity"); Secondly, because their development to the outside world is blocked, they pay more and more attention to their own destiny, their living conditions and their emotional world, and often have a self-pity and self-pity mentality (this is "melancholy"). In this way, natural spring has gone to Qiu Lai and blossomed. Even a rain in Mao Mao and a breeze may make them feel sad and sad about their spring. Their beauty is easy to get old and their lovesickness is far away. Because of this, even in the ordinary living environment, the sentimental psychological temperament often leads to the sadness and loneliness of female poets. If you don't believe me, please read the following words of Li Qingzhao, such as: "Lonely boudoir, tender heart full of sorrow. Cherish spring and make it rain. " ("Eye-catching Lips") "Ruinaoxiang dreams, breaks the cold golden bun, and wakes up to the candlelight in time and space." ("Huanxisha") "The idle windows in the small courtyard are deep in spring, and the heavy curtains are not heavy. It is impossible to talk about the seven laws by leaning against the building." ("Huanxisha") "The spring is chilly, the jade stove is lingering, and the dream is back to the mountain pillow to hide flowers." ("Huanxisha") "The bar sings jade and respects the sky, and the blue cylinder is dark. The dream of the soul is unbearable and even more screaming? . "("Good Things Are Near ") ... A few drops of rain, a wisp of smoke from a jade stove, and a sudden cry? The sound, even the spring scenery outside the small window and the breeze that can't open the heavy curtains can arouse her sadness and bitterness, which shows that her sentimental psychological temperament is indeed the internal factor that forms her sadness and loneliness.

So, in a word, even in the first half of her life before she went south, Li Qingzhao's emotional world was already full of sad and lonely feelings. Its most striking performance can be exemplified by the word "thin". As we all know, there are two famous sentences in Li Qingzhao's ci. One is "whether you know it or not, it should be green and fat and red and thin" in Ru Meng Ling. Second, in "Drunken Flowers", "The curtain rolls west wind, and people are thinner than yellow flowers". The word "thin" in these two places not only shows her profound skill in refining words and cutting sentences, but also shows her lonely feelings. Although the first one wrote about the leaves and flowers of Begonia after the storm, the word "thin" expressed the feeling of cherishing flowers. Isn't it that she and flowers are in the same boat? The last one is directly about yourself: autumn wind is thinner than yellow flowers! The word "thin" not only describes the haggard and emaciated appearance, but also gives people the association that "people are sick (heart disease), God knows whether it is", which can be called a vivid portrayal of their sad and lonely female feelings. Therefore, if future generations want to paint a portrait of Li Qingzhao, then this sentence "people are thinner than yellow flowers" will definitely be the best "blueprint" for them to think about their looks.

At this point, the reason why Li Qingzhao felt sad and lonely before crossing the south seems to have been basically explained. The reason why we have to spend a lot of time talking about this issue is actually a deeper intention. That is, Li Qingzhao's feelings are actually the same feelings of other female poets, so "dissecting" Li Qingzhao can help us understand the emotional world of female poets in Song Dynasty. As for Li Qingzhao herself, since she was deeply pregnant with this loneliness in a fairly rich environment, her emotional pain was even more painful after her death and her husband's death. Below, we will make some supplements on the common feelings of female poets in the Song Dynasty:

Besides Li Qingzhao, there were two famous poetesss in Song Dynasty: Mrs. Wei and Zhu. Showing their mentality can deepen the perceptual understanding of the general feelings of female poets in Song Dynasty.