1. Reproduction of writers in Han Dynasty.
2. The literature of Han Dynasty presents a diversified development trend, and both folk creation and literati creation present a prosperous scene.
3. Literature and Confucian Classics in Han Dynasty influenced and infiltrated each other.
4. Han Dynasty is an era of great changes in literary genre, and many important literary styles were born in this stage.
The Han Dynasty is generally divided into the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Western Han Dynasty in the history of literature. The difference between East and West is named after the location of the capital. The main literary achievements of the Han Dynasty include: Han Fu, prose and poetry. Culturally, the literature of the Han Dynasty has a strong tradition of restoring ancient ways, which is related to the academic atmosphere of the whole Han Dynasty, which takes the Five Classics as its ancestor, takes sages as the criterion, attaches importance to the inheritance of learning from others, and attaches importance to the study of chapters and sentences. This has also caused some literary historians in later generations to criticize the two-way mode of literature in Han Dynasty, that is, the literati's literary concept under Confucian orthodoxy is retro and conservative, and the natural literary concept under Taoist heresy is innovative and enterprising.
Historical prose and political prose are the most prominent prose in Han Dynasty. Sima Qian's Historical Records reflects the history with people as the center, creates a new style of biographical history books and opens up a new era of biographical literature, which is the most brilliant achievement of the Han Dynasty. Han Shu written by Ban Gu in the Eastern Han Dynasty is equally famous. There are many famous political works, such as On Tong Qin and Public Security Policy by Jia Yi, On Gui Su by Chao Cuo, On Salt and Iron by Huan Kuan, On Balance by Wang Chong, On Hidden Husband by Wang Fu and Song of Eternal Sorrow by Zhong Changtong. Culturally, the literature of the Han Dynasty has a strong tradition of restoring ancient ways, which is related to the academic atmosphere of the whole Han Dynasty, which takes the Five Classics as its ancestor, takes sages as the criterion, attaches importance to the inheritance of learning from others, and attaches importance to the study of chapters and sentences. This has also caused some literary historians in later generations to criticize the two-way mode of literature in Han Dynasty, that is, the literati's literary concept under Confucian orthodoxy is retro and conservative, and the natural literary concept under Taoist heresy is innovative and enterprising.
Yuefu Poetry and Wuyan Poetry are the most remarkable achievements in the Han Dynasty. Yuefu poetry in the two Han Dynasties is a new style of poetry after The Book of Songs and Songs of the South. The famous Peacock Flying Southeast is a narrative novel in Yuefu Poetry, and later generations called it "Three Wonders of Yuefu" together with Mulan Poetry in the Northern Dynasty and Wei Zhuang's Poem of Fu Qin in the Tang Dynasty. Nineteen Ancient Poems represents the highest achievement of five-character poems in Han Dynasty.
Han Fu is another new style of literature in Han Dynasty. It is between poetry and prose, with both verse and prose. It is a poetic prose, and it is a poetic prose. It is eclectic and diverse in style, such as The Book of Songs, Songs of the South and pre-Qin prose. It has formed a comprehensive literary style with great capacity and expressive force. Jia Yi's Ode to Hanging Qu Yuan is a prose poem, Mei Cheng's Seven Hair is a symbol of the formal formation of Han Fu, and Sima Xiangru's Fu is the peak of Han Fu. Later, Ban Gu's "Two Dues Fu" and Zhang Heng's "Two Dues Fu" are both representative works of Han Da Fu. Zhang Heng's "Returning to Tianfu" also opened a precedent for lyrical small fu.
The highest literary achievement in the Han Dynasty is prose, which, after the pre-Qin Dynasty, became the first peak in the history of China literature together with the prose of the Warring States. Together with Tang and Song poetry, Yuan Zaju and Ming and Qing novels, it ruled the literary world in different periods. A kind of prose in Han Dynasty is narrative, represented by Historical Records and Hanshu. The other kind is argumentative essays, which mainly recite philosophical and political monographs by ministers and scholars by name, such as Salt and Iron, Balance, Latent Husband and Politics.
However, in contrast, the prose of the Han Dynasty was written for something. In the Han Dynasty, it was really "art for art's sake", and Ci was all the rage. This style directly inherited the debating skills of strategists in the Warring States period and Qu Yuan and Song Yu's Songs of the South. On the basis of Qu Yuan and Song Yu, they intensified their efforts, paid less and less attention to ideas, and worked hard on words and forms to strive for beauty. Writing Fu became a fashion in the Han Dynasty, and it seems that not writing Fu is not enough to show a person's talent. Poetry in the Han Dynasty was lonely, and there were almost no exciting literati poems except Chu Ci. However, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty established Yuefu organization and collected many folk songs. These poems have high artistic achievements. Yuefu in the Han Dynasty, with its glorious realistic tradition, had a direct and extremely great influence on the poetry creation of later China literati. In Nineteen Ancient Poems at the End of Han Dynasty, Cao's father and son and Jian 'an's seven sons directly inherited the mantle of Yuefu in Han Dynasty. The five-character style and miscellaneous style in Yuefu in Han Dynasty directly influenced the formation of five-character poems and the development of seven-character songs by literati in the Southern and Northern Dynasties and the Tang Dynasty.
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Historical masterpieces
history
Sima Qian (formerly 145— about 87), born in xia yang (now Hancheng, Shaanxi), is a great writer and historian in China. He was born in a historian's family, and his father Sima Tan was a scholar. Sima Qian moved to Chang 'an with his father when he was nearly ten years old. Later, Dong Zhongshu and Kong Anguo studied Chunqiu. At the age of twenty, he began to roam widely, including Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan and other places today. During this roaming, he visited the legendary Dayu site and the former sites of activities of Confucius, Qu Yuan, Han Xin and other historical figures. After roaming, he was appointed as a doctor and he was sent to Sichuan and Yunnan. Since then, he has been to more places and traveled all over the country. Wandering life opened Sima Qian's eyes. He contacted the lives of people from all walks of life, especially collected the information and legends of many historical figures, which laid the foundation for the later writing of Historical Records. In the first year of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (1 10), his father Sima Tan died, and the unfinished business of his father's history fell on his shoulders. In the third year of Yuanfeng, Sima Qian succeeded Taishiling. From then on, he read all the credentials, studied all kinds of historical materials and began to write history. Unexpectedly, a huge disaster fell from the sky. In the second year of Tianhan (99 BC), Li Ling was defeated and surrendered to the Huns. When the news reached the capital, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was furious, and the courtiers pushed the boat forward and scolded Li Ling. Sima Qian thought it was unfair to Li Ling and stood up. Chen said that Li Ling had no choice but to surrender. His excuses angered Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and in addition, he wrote "The Biography of Emperor Jing", bluntly stating that both Emperor Jing and Emperor Wu were at fault. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty took this opportunity to punish him for both crimes and execute "castration". Faced with such a great shame, Sima Qian thought of death, but his career of writing history did not end, so he had to endure and continue writing. In this regard, he made a detailed statement in his book Bao Ren, and put forward the view of life and death that "people are inherently mortal, or they are heavier than Mount Tai or lighter than a feather". In the fourth year of Taishigong (the first 93 years), Sima Qian finally completed the brilliant masterpiece Historical Records. Since then, his deeds are unknown and he died in the last years of Emperor Wu.
Historical Records is the first biographical general history of China, with *** 130 articles. As far as the style is concerned, Historical Records is divided into five parts, namely, the calendar year, which records the major events of emperors; Home, the matter of the princes; Biography, telling the story of people and ministers; Table, that is, memorabilia in tabular form; Books are the system of laws and regulations. Through these five parts, Historical Records formed a complete historical system and became the basic form of China's history books. The so-called "twenty-four histories" are headed by historical records.
Lu Xun called Records of the Historian "a masterpiece of historians, leaving Sao without rhyme" and deserved it. As far as the literariness of Historical Records is concerned, it is first manifested in its narrative mode, and the objective narration with the third person is actually "including praise and criticism in the narrative". It tells a long history of 3,000 years and reproduces magnificent scenes and people's activities in history. Many biographies in Historical Records are based on a series of stories. For example, the Biography of Lian Po and Lin Xiangru contains stories such as Return to Zhao in Perfect Condition, Meet in Mianchi, and offer a humble apology. At the same time, many stories in Historical Records are full of drama. For example, the story of the famous "Hongmen Banquet" in Biography of Xiang Yu is like a wonderful drama performance. The appearance, exit, expression, movement, dialogue and even the orientation of the seats of the characters in the play are written as if they heard their voices and met their people. The climax of the plot is one after another, gripping and dramatic. Secondly, he created many characters with distinct personalities: emperors and generals, wealthy businessmen, literati hermits, ranger assassins and ordinary people. Nearly a hundred people were impressed, including Xiang Yu, Liu Bang, Sean, Han Xin, Li Si, Qu Yuan, Sun Wu, Jing Ke, Lian Po and Lin Xiangru. For example, Xiang Yu is a failed hero, but Sima Qian did not talk about heroes by success or failure, but described and wrote the tragic fate of Xiang Yu in detail. The vivid characters depicted in Historical Records benefit from the artistic means of shaping the characters: the description of their appearance and expression, the description of life details, the use of dialogue between characters and the setting of drama scenes. All the above can be used freely in Sima Qian's works. Thirdly, the language art of Historical Records is exquisite. Sima Qian rewrote the difficult sentences in historical materials into the popular language of Han Dynasty, which made the ancient prose simple and fluent. For example, concise narrative language, personalized character language and so on.
Sima Qian's personality and record spirit have deeply influenced the creative attitude and methods of later writers. It pioneered China's biographical literature; His brushwork directly influenced the ancient literati in the Tang and Song Dynasties and became the norm of their words. It also had a far-reaching impact on Tang legends and even novels and operas in Ming and Qing Dynasties.
the Book of the Han Dynasty
Ban Gu (32-92) was born in Xianyang, Shaanxi. His father Ban Biao wrote 65 biographies of historical records. After his father's death, Ban Gu inherited his father's career, and compiled Han Shu based on the Hanshu part of Historical Records and Biography of Historical Records, which lasted for 20 years. Hanshu is China's first biographical work of dynastic history (writing only one dynasty). Its style is basically inherited from the historical records, but it changed the book into records, created four records of criminal law, five elements, geography and art, abolished the aristocratic family background and merged with biographies, collectively called biographies, which made the Book of Han take on a new look. Hanshu has twelve chapters, eight tables, ten records and seventy biographies. *** 100. This dynastic history later became a model of official history books.
Hanshu is another historical masterpiece with the characteristics of prose literature after Shiji. There are many excellent biographies, such as Biography of Huo Guang, Biography of Zhu Maichen and Biography of Dong Fangshuo, which are all recognized masterpieces. Especially the Biography of Su Wu, which is no less than the historical records. Su Wu defected to the Huns and was detained for 19 years, but he persisted in the struggle, did not yield to the enemy's persecution, and was not tempted to surrender. The image of an epic patriot is vivid and touching. In addition, compared with historical records, the language style of Hanshu is in sharp contrast, elegant, ancient and difficult.
Political prose
Writers in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty were born at the beginning of the establishment of the new dynasty. They are ambitious, closely linking their creations with real politics, and have strong characteristics of the times. The central topic of such political papers is nothing more than summing up the experience and lessons of the Qin Dynasty and providing good strategies for the new dynasty to govern the country and maintain peace. Among them, Jia Yi is the most outstanding writer. During his ten years as a doctor for Emperor Taichung of China, he wrote a series of political papers, the most famous of which was about the Qin Dynasty. This paper is divided into three parts: upper, middle and lower. The first part describes the process of Qin's prosperity and decline by exaggeration and exaggeration. At that time, the governors of the six countries concentrated huge military forces and the best talents to destroy Qin, and the result was self-destruction. Qin was invincible in the world, but it was "benevolent" and was finally destroyed by the peasant rebels against Qin, with great contrast. The second part and the second part point out that Qin Ershi and Zi Ying went their own way, were cruel and heartless, and lost the hearts of the people. In fact, they provided lessons for the Western Han Dynasty. Chao Cuo is another important political commentator after Jia Yi. His famous book "On the Turtle Speed Book" gives a more concentrated and detailed play to Jia Yi's viewpoint of attaching importance to agriculture and restraining business, which has practical significance.
A masterpiece of poetry
In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, folk songs of Han Yuefu had not been sung, and folk songs were rare. Rhyme follows the continuation of Chu Sheng and Chu Ge. Xiang Yu and Liu Bang, the protagonists of the Chu-Han dispute, wrote Songs of Gaixia and Songs of Great Wind, which are representative works of rhymes in the early Han Dynasty.
Song of Gaixia
Xiang Yu's "Gaixia Song" can be found in historical records. Biography of Xiang Yu, which says as follows:
Rise from the mountain and be angry with the world,
Bad times never die.
I can't help it if I don't die,
I'm afraid I'm afraid I can't do anything!
This poem, in the form of "Xi" font of Chu Ci, is short in length, simple in language and sincere in feelings, which shapes the lost hero image of Xiang Yu and has touching power. Shen Deqian commented on his "sobbing, lingering" (The Source of Ancient Poetry, Volume II).
Song of the wind
Compared with Xiang Yu's Song of Gaixia, Liu Bang's Song of the Big Wind is tragic and generous, but it has a sense of desolation in its grandeur:
The wind is blowing and the clouds are flying.
Vega returned to her home in the sea,
Andrew, soldiers are always looking!
This poem was written by Liu Bang in October of the 12th year (BC 195) when he returned to his hometown of Pei County after the uprising. His pride is beyond words, but the last sentence vaguely reveals a sad meaning. Han Gao Di Ji records that Liu Bang was "generous and sad, and wept a few lines" after singing. Although the space is short, the feelings are rich and complicated.
Other rhyming poems
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty had autumn wind poems, Princess Wusun had elegies, but not in the early Han Dynasty.
In addition, Huainan Mountain has its unique features in attracting hermits. Although he has the form of Chu Ci, what he shows is the secret content that Qu and Song's works have never had. The poem strongly exaggerates the lonely and gloomy atmosphere in the mountains, showing that the theme of "the king returns, but he can't stay in the mountains for a long time" is used in the cold and steep, and "the syllables are clear and sharp" (Wang Fuzhi's "Chu Ci Shi Wen") is the ancestor of poetry and fu that attracts concealment in later generations.
Yuefu poetry
Yuefu organization
Yuefu was originally a government-run music institution. This name has existed since the Qin Dynasty, and the word "Yuefu" was cast on the chime unearthed in the Qin Dynasty. After the founding of the Western Han Dynasty, following the Qin system, there were also special Yuefu institutions. During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the scale and functions of Yuefu institutions were greatly expanded, among which "collecting poems" was the most remarkable function of Yuefu. According to "Han Yi Wen Zhi", "Since Yuefu established filial piety and martial virtue, ballads were adopted. Therefore, the styles of Zhao, Dai, Qin and Chu are all influenced by sadness and joy, and also by events. You can also observe the customs and know how thick the clouds are. " This kind of poems originated from the folk, and in order to distinguish them from Yuefu songs created by literati, they are customarily called Yuefu folk songs. From the "sense of sadness and joy, starting from events", we can know that the poems adopted at that time had the spirit of realism. The so-called Han Yuefu poems mainly refer to this kind of poems.
yuefu folk songs
Although the number of existing folk songs in Han Yuefu is small, they have a wide range of contents, especially those that reflect the lives and feelings of the lower classes. Such as the miserable life of the people, the disaster caused by war and military service, the shamelessness of feudal bureaucrats, the evil of paternalism, the firmness of love, the pain of abandoning his wife and so on. In the Tenth Five-Year Plan, a veteran was written. He joined the army at the age of fifteen and returned at the age of eighty. His life was ruined, but his home was ruined and the people he loved withered, which made him very miserable. Shang Yang's love oath is: the seas run dry and the rocks crumble, and true love remains unchanged. In The Stranger on the Mulberry, Luo Fu is beautiful, brave and resourceful. On the contrary, the "monarch" is lewd, greedy and overbearing.
The main artistic feature of Yuefu folk songs in Han Dynasty is narrative-oriented, "feeling sad and happy, starting from something", which expands the narrative field of China's poems. Sang and Peacock Flying Southeast are representative works of narrative poetry, especially a long narrative poem like Peacock Flying Southeast, in which various artistic means are perfectly used. Whether it is the dialogue, action or psychological portrayal of characters, it is very successful and vividly shapes a number of characters. The unfolding of the story in the poem, the ups and downs of contradictions and conflicts, and the romantic ending are all properly arranged. In addition, there are various forms of folk songs in Han Yuefu, including three words, four words, five words, six words, miscellaneous words, etc., among which the most commonly used ones are new miscellaneous words and five-word poems. Miscellaneous words are poetic, with different words, whole and scattered, flexible and changeable. Five-character poems are very neat in form, such as "Joining the Army on the 15th". Compared with the four-character poems and Sao-style poems in The Book of Songs and Songs of the South, this poetic style has made obvious progress, representing the new trend of the development of poetic forms at that time, and has become the main form of literati creation in the following hundreds of years.
Southeast Fly the Peacocks; The Peacock Flies Southeast
Peacock Flying to the Southeast, also known as "Ancient Poems for Giving Wife", is the longest poem in Han Yuefu and a rare long narrative poem in the history of Chinese poetry. This poem describes the common family tragedies in feudal society. Jiao Zhongqing and Liu Lanzhi are a loving couple. Liu Lanzhi is beautiful and virtuous, and diligent in housework, but her demanding mother-in-law doesn't like her daughter-in-law, and the relationship between her mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is quite tense. Jiao Zhongqing was caught between his mother and his beloved wife, and was in an awkward position. Finally, because of her mother's disobedience, she persuaded her wife to return to her family for the time being. Because he didn't like his brother at home, Liu Lanzhi was forced to remarry, so he had to "bootstrap and clear the pool" by death. After hearing the news, Jiao Zhongqing suddenly realized that he "hanged himself in the southeast branch" and protested the tyranny of feudal parents with his heroic sacrifice.
Han Chinese clothing, Hanfu
Seven hairs of Meicheng
Seven hairs is an allegorical work, which exposes the decadent life of aristocratic children. In this essay, the author assumes that the King of Chu is ill, and Wu Ke comes to ask questions, and skillfully expresses his opinions in the question and answer between the subject and the object. The theme of Fu is music, diet, horses and chariots, palace gardens, hunting and Taoist observation. It is repeatedly said that the reason for illness is to lead a dissolute life. Only by listening to the sage's "punch line" can we eliminate disasters and diseases. This poem depicts all kinds of things in an exaggerated way, with gorgeous words, rich imagination and profound meaning. After the publication of this Fu, it had a strong influence because of its excellent ideological and artistic quality. There are many imitators in the literary world. Sometimes fu-style articles describing seven paragraphs and seven events in the form of subject-object questions and answers have almost become a trend, and "seven styles" have almost become a category of article forms.
Sima Xiangru Fu
Sima Xiangru is the greatest fu writer in the heyday of Han Fu, and his Zi Xu Fu and Shang Fu Lin are the most famous. "Zi Xu Fu" assumes that Zi Xu of Chu started a dialogue with Mr. Wu of Qi State, and Zi Xu boasted about the greatness of Yun Mengze of Chu State and the grand occasion of hunting by the king of Chu. Mr. Wu praised Qi for its magnificent mountains and rivers and rich products. In the dialogue between the two characters, the author made a detailed and exaggerated description with gorgeous words, which was magnificent and dazzling, making people feel as if they were there. The fictional words in Shang praise the royal gardens, which overwhelm Qi and Chu. The praise of imperial power in Fu lies in the description of mountains and rivers. Sima Xiangru's Fu is rich in imagination, exquisite in description, flowery in rhetoric and rigorous in structure, which laid a fixed pattern of Han Fu, especially in Han Dynasty.
The emergence of five-character poems
Five-character poetry sprouted from folk songs, and its formation was influenced by northern minority music and military music. The development of five-character poems in Yuefu folk songs influenced the writing of literati at that time, so five-character poems came into being. Ban Gu's Ode to History is regarded by many literary historians as the earliest extant five-character poem of literati. Of course, this poem is still immature, but it is a milestone in the history of China's poetry. Since then, many writers in the Eastern Han Dynasty have had five-character poems handed down from generation to generation, such as Zhang Heng's Simultaneous Song, Qin Jia's Poem of Giving a Wife and Xin Yannian's Jade. Lin Yulang describes a drunkard named Hu Ji, who is not afraid of violence and dares to refuse the flirting of aristocratic slaves. The girl in the poem, Hu Ji, is beautiful, loyal and pure; Haonu Fengzi is bullying others. This poem is similar to the Yuefu folk songs sung by Shang Mo, and reflects the creative achievements of the literati under the influence of Yuefu folk songs.
Nineteen ancient poems
Nineteen Ancient Poems is the most outstanding representative of literati's five-character poems. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, a large number of five-character poems of literati emerged, the author of which was unknown, and later generations generally called them "ancient poems". Nineteen of these works were selected by Xiao Tong as Selected Works of Liang Dynasty, which was later called Nineteen Ancient Poems. Most scholars believe that this group of poems was not written by one person, but originated in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. The most impressive thing he expressed was his poems expressing the feelings of lovesickness and telling the pain of parting. For example, the poem "Travel Again" is about a woman who misses her lover who has traveled far away. First, I said goodbye at the beginning, then I said that it was a long way to go in Xiu Yuan, then I said the pain of lovesickness, and finally I ended with comforting words. Another example is the poem "The Distant Altair", which describes the sadness that the Weaver Girl misses Altair across the Milky Way and expresses the pain when love is tortured. In addition, there are also works that show the shortness of life and lament the impermanence of life. For example, "born less than one hundred" and so on. Other descriptions, such as poor fame, frustrated official career, poor life, indifferent world, weak human feelings, and difficult to meet bosom friends, can also be found in the poems.
Nineteen Ancient Poems has made great artistic achievements, marking the maturity of China literati's five-character poems. His artistic achievements are first manifested in the poet's frank and unpretentious expression of his true feelings, setting off the feelings of the characters with specific scenery, and achieving the realm of mutual development and natural interest. Secondly, its language is simple, vivid, concise, chewy and highly generalized. It had a far-reaching influence on the creation of five-character poems in later generations, and then five-character poems began to gain unprecedented development. =
Jian 'an literature
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was turbulent. Cao Cao, a native of Guo Pei (now Bozhou) in Han Dynasty, set up Qingzhou soldiers, supported the Han Emperor, unified the north, and the society had a relatively stable environment. Both Cao Cao and his son have high literary accomplishment, and because of their advocacy, once-declining literature has a new vitality. In Yecheng, the capital city at that time (so the address is now Linzhang County, Hebei Province), a large number of literati gathered. New breakthroughs have been made in poetry, prose and prose creation. Poetry, in particular, absorbs the advantages of folk songs in the Han Dynasty, is full of love and words, has a generous and sad artistic style, and truly reflects the social reality and the thoughts and feelings of literati in the late Han Dynasty. Because it happened during the Jian 'an period of Emperor Xian of Han Dynasty, later generations called the literature of this period Jian 'an literature. The representative figures of Jian 'an literature are "Three Cao" and "Seven Zi". The core is the Three Caos, including Cao Pi, Cao Cao and Cao Zhi.