Qu Yuan's hometown is now Zigui County, Hubei Province, where there are many historical relics and legends about Qu Yuan. Zigui, near the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, is a famous place with beautiful scenery. Qu Yuan lived here since he was a child, and the fantastic scenery and beautiful myths had a certain influence on his rich imagination. At the same time, since the Spring and Autumn Period, Chu has formed a unique local culture in the long-term independent development process, which has its own characteristics in religion, art, customs and habits. If we call the Central Plains culture in northern China the official culture of historians, then we can call Chu culture the witch official culture. Historian culture attaches importance to personnel and emphasizes truth; Witch official culture believes in ghosts and gods and is full of imagination. Its outstanding performance is: myth flourishing, belief in witches and ghosts, and heavy sacrifice. Myth and witchcraft both reflect the world in the form of fantasy and surrealism, which has a great influence on the strong romanticism in Qu Yuan's creation. The prevalence of witchcraft promoted the development of music and dance, and provided a solid foundation for Qu Yuan's comprehensive use of various art forms for his creation.
By the time of Chu Huaiwang, the politics of Chu was gradually corrupted. It was at this time that Qu Yuan stepped onto the political stage of Chu State. Qu Yuan is knowledgeable, knowledgeable, familiar with the political situation and good at diplomatic rhetoric. So when he was in his twenties, he was a Chu leftist. "After entering the DPRK, he discussed state affairs with the king, gave orders, met guests and dealt with princes", which won Chu Huaiwang's trust. Doctor Shangguan, who was in the same column, was jealous of his talent and slandered Chu Huaiwang, saying that when Qu Yuan drafted laws for the King of Chu, he always boasted of his own contributions and said, "No one can do it except me." Chu Huaiwang listened to rumors, alienated Qu Yuan from now on, and cancelled his leftist post.
Qu Yuan was very depressed after being demoted, so he wrote Li Sao with deep thoughts. Li Sao is the most important work in Qu Yuan's life. In this autobiographical poem, Qu Yuan reviewed his life experience: the poet loved the motherland in his early years, devoted himself to self-study, took the world as his own responsibility, and assisted the King of Chu in his political reform. He witnessed the ruling old aristocratic forces bullying the weak and fearing the hard, controlling the king of Chu, corroding the political platform, and hated their crimes of collusion between officials and businessmen, dissolute enjoyment, betrayal of national interests, and leading the country to a dead end, thus showing deep anxiety and fear about the current situation and national fate: "Only the husband is happy, and the way out is difficult." I am afraid of the rest of my life and the failure of the emperor. "He knows the right straight road, strongly criticizes the disadvantages of the times, and publishes satirical remarks that will lead to jealousy and disaster for villains. But for the sake of the country, he did not hesitate to make self-sacrifice and showed sincerity and persistence: "Gu Yu knows the troubles of slapping, but he can't give up. "The poet saw that his ideal of" Guan Zheng "was shattered, and the national fortune was in danger. He could not hold back his anger and made a fierce attack on the decadent aristocrats. He would rather be persecuted than pervert and follow the crowd: "I'd rather die in exile, but I can't bear it!" "However, repeated struggles have brought more severe persecution by the supreme ruling group. He was first released to Hanbei, and then exiled to Jiangnan, wandering around, wandering around. Decades have passed, and he has suffered a lot and tasted the sadness of the world.
The double torture of politics and life weakened him day by day, but Qu Yuan's patriotism did not change at all. In Nine Chapters, Evocation and other works, the poet expressed his deep nostalgia for his old capital, hometown and country, as well as his regret and indignation at the broken mountains and rivers and the loss of his country. Although he is in the wild land of Jiangnan, he misses his hometown and hopes to return to Yingdu, the imperial court and serve the country.
Qu Yuan was the first famous poet in the history of China. His works have been handed down from generation to generation for more than twenty times, including Li Sao, Nine Songs, Nine Chapters and Nine Questions. Qu Yuan created a new era of China's poetry from collective singing to individual independent writing through the first batch of works such as Li Sao. In literary creation, poetry has developed from the four-character style since The Book of Songs to the flexible "Chu Ci" style, and has made outstanding achievements in the use of metaphor and romanticism such as fantasy, exaggeration and parallelism. Qu Yuan became a symbolic figure in the formation and development of China's romantic poetry tradition, which had a far-reaching influence on later literary creation. At the same time, Qu Yuan loves the motherland, the noble quality of the people and the pursuit of truth.