1. Why did Tang poetry become Song poetry?
Everyone is interested in the literary form of Ci, but perhaps we should be concerned about why Tang poetry became Song poetry. We will find that because the achievements of Tang poetry are too high, it has passed through the achievements of the early Tang Dynasty, and after the achievements of Li Bai, Du Fu, Li Shangyin, Du Mu and Tang poetry have reached such a high level, in fact, everyone will find that ordinary people and folks can't understand it slowly because it is already unattainable. Whenever the artistic conception of an art form is getting higher and higher, it actually means that it is far away from the people. But the people themselves can't live without entertainment, so they will write some messy songs to sing. At this time, the literati will look down on them and say, look at those songs, it's decadent. As a result, the two go further and further. However, once these two things get closer, a new art form will be produced. This is what we are talking about now.
Don't get me wrong, thinking that no one wrote poems in the Song Dynasty, there are actually so many poems, even more than words. But none of their poems are as successful and interesting as words. In fact, Su Dongpo wrote many poems, but you will find that the most important thing for him is words, because words are relatively free. Its whole phonetic form has changed. When we read "When is the spring flower and the autumn moon, how much is known about the past", we will find that the seventh and fifth poems of Tang poetry are changing, and even the fourth one has appeared, and the ninth one has also appeared. The ups and downs of its phonology have produced many new rhythms and pushed the expression to a new realm.
Speaking of ci, we should first mention five pronouns, because five pronouns are a key bridge between Tang poetry and Song poetry, and the key figure of this key bridge is Li Houzhu. In fact, Li Houzhu's works are not many, but few works have had such a great influence on the history of literature. Sometimes it can be seen that in literary creativity, a person will have so much power to spin dry and turn Kun.
Li Houzhu is a loser of war and a winner of culture. Because his poems conquered Bianjing, the whole Bianjing literati began to write lyrics. We can see that in the Northern Song Dynasty, Ci became the main body of literature, and poetry was no longer the main body. Everyone is still writing poetry, but poetry is no longer the most important literary form. We can see how influential Li Houzhu is. He made the songs that originally belonged to her husband and pawn suddenly become a tool for literati to express their feelings about life. Those musicians never thought that their works would become so artistic. If Ci, as a literary form, comes into being and matures today, we should pay attention to two aspects: first, folk creation. Ci was not originally created by literati, but by folk songs. It comes from the people, from the folk culture that everyone feels a little vulgar. Later, literati began to write their feelings in this form, which became the literary achievement produced by the cooperation between folk creation and literati creation. The second is Li Houzhu, who successfully linked folk creation with literati creation.
Second, the "rich three generations" of Li Houzhu have been controversial in history.
After the collapse of the Tang dynasty, it entered a split situation of five dynasties and ten countries. At this stage, the two dynasties were relatively stable and prosperous. One is the Southern Tang Dynasty, with Nanjing as its capital, which continued the yearning and worship for the Tang Dynasty. They always thought that they continued the orthodoxy of the Tang Dynasty and were called Southern Tang Dynasty. Li Yu was the last king and was called Li Houzhu. Another dynasty was West Shu, with its capital in Sichuan, which also produced very gorgeous artistic and literary creations.
In the history of China literature, there has been a great controversy about Li Houzhu's position. He is the king of national subjugation and bears the original sin. Of course, an emperor should be blamed for the death of his country. On the other hand, we will find that he created the most wonderful works in the literary world and had a great influence on later generations. Wang Guowei spoke highly of Li Houzhu in Tales on Earth, saying that he turned a musician's words into a scholar-bureaucrat's. If there was no such person in the history of China literature, there would be no later word "scholar-bureaucrat". What is the word of scholar-bureaucrat? What are the words of the master? Musicians are people who compose pop music and play music professionally. Their music form is very popular among the people, and their status in society has never been high. People have always entertained the words of musicians. The words of the scholar-officials were later written by Su Dongpo and Ouyang Xiu. These people are scholar-officials and social and cultural leaders. They think that writing can become the upper literary form. For example, today, there is a man who filled in his own words in the form of folk karaoke, reformed popular songs and improved their artistic conception. Li Houzhu was the first person to carry out this literary reform.
Li Houzhu has two interesting contradictions. The first half of his life is completely different from the second half. He is simply two completely different people. What was his first half life like? His grandfather is an emperor and his father is an emperor. When he became emperor, he was a little impatient. Li Houzhu is the third generation of wealth. My grandfather's generation wants to explore the Central Plains in the north. In my father's generation, I didn't think much. By my grandchildren, I didn't even think about it, so I played. Jiangnan is very rich, and the palace is full of beer and skittles every day. Reading his biography, you will find that he flirts all day. Flirting is the biggest focus in Li Houzhu's life. I think everyone has heard the story of him and Zhou. They are a pair of beautiful sisters, his queen and concubine. He wrote a few words that he ran from Da Zhou's room to Xiao Zhou's side, "walking in golden shoes", letting his feet walk silently and climbing in through the window. He is a very strange person, playing some pornographic games. He was born in a rich family, grew up in a magnificent court, never went out at all, and didn't know the sufferings of the people outside. He is a completely immoral emperor who cares about his eating, drinking and having fun every day. But he likes literature, so he writes lyrics and sings erotic songs. I think his eroticism is completely different from that of Li Shangyin. Li Shangyin is sentimental, but he is not. For example, Li Houzhu's famous "Jade House Spring" has no sentimental elements.
In Li Houzhu's early works, we can't see sentimentality, and he never thought that sentimentality would come to him one day. The third generation of wealth is also the luckiest person. Grandfather farmland, father, grandson? Spending money, of course, is profligacy. The so-called rich but not three generations, that's probably what it means. This phenomenon often appeared in all dynasties that were partial to the south of the Yangtze River to the third generation. Luxury, abundance, and a little erosion of life come out.