The Southern and Northern Dynasties refer to the 170 years from the fall of the Eastern Jin Dynasty to the unification of the Sui Dynasty (420-589).

At this time, the Southern Dynasties were successively divided into the Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen; the Northern Dynasties began with the unification of northern China in the Northern Wei Dynasty (439), and then split into the Eastern Wei and Western Wei, and were successively succeeded by the Northern Qi and Northern Zhou, and finally they were both Unified by the Sui Dynasty. This period is an important development stage in the history of Chinese poetry, especially the literati poetry of the Southern Dynasties, whose achievements far exceeded those of the Northern Dynasties, and became a necessary preparation and transitional stage for the overall prosperity of Tang poetry.

The development of literati poetry in the Southern Dynasties can be roughly divided into three stages. The Liu and Song Dynasties were the first stage. That is the stage when landscape poetry gradually became independent from the metaphysical poetry of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and became popular.

There are many reasons for the prosperity of landscape poetry at this time. First of all, it is a reflection of the literati's advocating for a life of seclusion in the mountains and forests. In the Wei and Jin Dynasties, due to social turmoil and political darkness, most scholar-bureaucrats, both in court and in the opposition, regarded seclusion as noble and mountains and forests as their paradise, so they described the beauty of mountains and rivers in poems to express some of their own feelings. Secondly, since the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the social economy in the south has developed greatly. Landlords of aristocratic families have built garden villas everywhere and lived a leisurely life of traveling around mountains and rivers. Landscape poems have appeared in their metaphysical poems, using natural landscapes to express Laozhuang. philosophy, this change was pioneered by Yin Zhongwen, Xie Hun and others in the late Eastern Jin Dynasty and completed by Xie Lingyun. Representative writers include Xie Lingyun, Yan Yanzhi, and Bao Zhao, who are known as the "Three Great Masters of Yuanjia". Among them, Bao Zhao, who was "talented but humble", not only created powerful and bold poems, but also paved the way for the development and prosperity of seven-character and miscellaneous poems. Qi and Liangchu are the second stage, that is, the stage of the formation and rise of the "Yongming style". At that time, famous poets Shen Yue, Xie Tiao and others applied the results of phonology to the field of poetry, thus forming Yongming's new style poetry that emphasized rhythm and antithesis. The third stage from the middle period of Liang Dynasty to the end of Chen Dynasty was the stage when "palace poetry" flourished, represented by Emperor Xiao Gang of Liang Jianwen and Emperor Xiao Yi of Liang Yuan. "Gong style poems" mostly describe women and palace life, and their style is light and gentle, but it still has certain positive significance in the development of poetry form.

The literati poetry of the Northern Dynasties was far inferior to that of the Southern Dynasties. Later, due to the two-way exchanges between northerners learning from southerners and southerners entering the north, the poetry world of the Northern Dynasties changed. Especially after Yu Xin came to the Northern Dynasties, he had the double melancholy of serving an enemy country and missing his homeland. The style of poetry in the early stage changed from the gorgeous to the vigorous. , embodying the initial integration of northern and southern poetic styles.

1. Xie Lingyun and landscape poetry

During the Jin and Song dynasties, the number of elements describing landscapes in poetry gradually increased. For example, Xie Hun's "You Xi Chi" has a lighter mystical color and has been The more concentrated depiction of landscapes is refreshing. In addition, metaphysical poems that are "plain and similar to moral theory" are bland and tasteless and can no longer meet people's aesthetic requirements. Therefore, when Xie Lingyun wrote a large number of landscape poems to relieve his political frustration, they were immediately accepted and imitated by people. As a result, landscape poetry finally became independent from metaphysical poetry, and Xie Lingyun was the first famous poet to establish the landscape poetry school.

Xie Lingyun (385--433), whose ancestral home is Yangxia, Chenjun (now Taikang, Henan Province), lived in Huiji (now Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province) after the Jin Dynasty migrated south. He is the grandson of Xie Xuan. At the age of 18, he became Duke Kang Le and was known as "Xie Kang Le". Xie Lingyun came from a high-ranking family. He received a good education in his youth, was very talented and famous, and was also keen on politics. After Liu Yu established the Song Dynasty on behalf of the Jin Dynasty, he implemented the policy of suppressing aristocratic families and reduced Xie Lingyun's title to Kang Lehou. He was very dissatisfied. In the third year of Yongchu (422), he became the prefect of Yongjia (Wenzhou), so he "traveled around as much as he wanted, visiting various counties...he often wrote poems and poems while he was traveling, which made him realize his thoughts." Later, he resigned and lived in seclusion in Shining (now Shangyu, Zhejiang), and often went out into the mountains and valleys to explore the wonders. In the eighth year of Yuanjia (431), Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty appointed him as the internal history of Linchuan. He was impeached for rebellion and was exiled to Guangzhou, where he was immediately killed.

Xie Lingyun's literary achievements are mainly reflected in his successful depiction of landscapes. Most of his landscape poems were written after he became the prefect of Yongjia. In these poems, he has the leisurely mood of a high-ranking scholar and uses gorgeous and exquisite language to describe the natural scenery of Yongjia, Huiji, Pengli Lake and other places, giving people a fresh feeling. For example, "White clouds embrace the secluded rocks, and the green ripples are beautiful and clear" ("Passing the Ningshu"), which uses personification to describe the beautiful scenery of the mountains. The clouds and rocks are dependent on each other, and the ripples reflect each other. White and green are dotted in between, forming a picture. It is a very layered and moving picture, and it reveals a desolate and distant atmosphere. Another example is "The green fields are beautiful in the spring evening, and the rocks are high in Baiyun Village" ("Entering Pengli Lake Mouth"), which describes the elegance of late spring, and "The wilderness and the sandy shore are clean, the sky is high and the moon is bright in autumn" ("Chuyun County"), which describes the elegance of autumn night. In the vast distance, "the bright moon shines on the snow, and the new wind is strong and sad" ("Sui Duo"), describing the coldness of winter and so on. These "famous chapters and verses" scattered in each chapter are fresh and smooth, and are indeed "like the first hair of a whip, naturally lovely" ("The Biography of Yan Yan in Southern History" quotes Bao Zhao), which reflects that the author has surpassed previous generations in depicting scenery. Great success for people. However, although Xie Lingyun's poems have many famous lines, they have few excellent ones. The main reason is that some of his poems still use mountains and rivers to talk about mystical principles (including Buddhist principles), and their discussion of mystical principles often seems clumsy or clumsy. We can get a glimpse of the basic pattern and style of his landscape poetry from his masterpiece "Climbing the Pond and Going Up the Stairs":

The beauty of the Qiu Qiu is hidden, and the distant sound of the flying giant is heard. The thin sky is ashamed of the floating clouds, and the Qichuan is sinking into the abyss.

If you talk morally and intellectually, you will be unable to do anything. When you are in trouble, you are facing the poor sea, and when you are sleeping, you are facing the empty forest.

I am waiting for the festival, and I will take a look at it temporarily. Listen to the waves with your ears, and look at the rugged peaks with your eyes.

In the beginning, the scenery changed and blocked the wind, and the new yang changed the old yin. Spring grass grows in the pond, and willows in the garden become songbirds.

Qi Qi hurts Binge, and feels the wilting of Chu Yin. It is easy to live alone forever, but it is difficult to live in isolation.

Is the practice unique to ancient times? There is no dullness today.

This poem was written during the reign of Yongjia. The whole poem first describes the complaints about frustration in officialdom, then describes the spring scenery, and finally writes about the desire to live in seclusion. Among them, the two sentences "Spring grass grows in the pond, and the willows in the garden turn into songbirds" are a stroke of genius that have always been appreciated by future generations. At the end, he not only writes about the pain of living in isolation, but also uses the philosophy of "reclusion from the world without boredom" in the "Book of Changes" to amuse himself. The meaning seems to be tortuous, but in fact it is quite unnatural.

Xie Lingyun’s landscape poems have their own artistic characteristics: he uses natural landscapes as independent and objective objects of description, rather than using them as a carrier of subjective emotions. It is not like Tao Yuanming's poetry, which pours the subject's emotions into the scenery it writes about. Instead, it depicts the landscape objectively and meticulously, striving to be realistic in appearance. Secondly, from the perspective of artistic expression, Xie's poems are good at grasping the characteristics of the scenery and describing them meticulously. They are especially good at writing static pictures, often using concise and accurate verbs, so they are quiet but not congested, vivid and vivid, giving people Enjoy the beauty. However, due to the over-elaboration of language and the pursuit of novelty, parallelism and allusion, the whole article has the disadvantage of being redundant and unfamiliar. Xie Lingyun's landscape poems usually adopt a three-stage structure of "recording travels - writing about scenery - expressing ideas", with a single side and few changes. The two parts before and after are often boring, and the main value is the scene description part in the middle. Such a structure will inevitably bring about the defect of famous sentences but no famous articles.

In short, Xie Lingyun was the first poet to reverse the style of Xuanyan poetry and create the landscape poetry school. He opened up a new field of poetic expression. Many poets at that time and in later generations, such as Xie Huilian, Xie Zhuang, Tang Huixiu, Xie Tiao, Wang Wei of the Tang Dynasty, etc., were deeply influenced by him. At the same time, his style of writing with extreme beauty and striving for innovation objectively improved his ability to describe emotional objects and his artistic skills in poetry creation, laying a certain foundation for the formation of Yongming style. In this sense, it makes sense for Zhong Rong to call him "the hero of Yuanjia" (Shipin).

2. Bao Zhao

Bao Zhao (414～466), named Mingyuan, was from Donghai (Tancheng, Shandong). He was born in a "lonely and humble" family, with few talents and reputation, and a strong ambition for fame. When he was in his 20s, in order to seek an official position, he wrote poems and expressed his ambitions to Liu Yiqing, the king of Linchuan. He was appreciated and appointed as the minister of state. Later, he became a member of Zhongshushe, Molingling and other positions. In the fifth year of the Ming Dynasty (461), he served as a soldier of Linhai King Liu Zixu. Later Liu Zixu was sentenced to death, and Bao Zhao also died in the rebellion.

Bao Zhao was politically unsuccessful throughout his life, but his works were quite famous at the time, especially his poetry. His Yuefu is not only numerous in number, but also rich in content, vigorous and high-spirited, and is a good inheritance of the Jian'an literary tradition.

One of the most important contents of Bao Zhao's poems is his strong dissatisfaction and indignation against the suppression of talents by the clan system. For example, Chapter 6 of "It's Difficult to Travel":

I couldn't eat at the table, so I drew my sword and hit the pillar with a long sigh. When will my husband be able to fly and droop his wings in his lifetime? He will be dismissed from office and return home to rest. When I went out to say goodbye to my wife in the morning, I was still by my side in the evening. Do some foreplay on the bed and watch the woman weave in the machine. Since ancient times, all the wise men have been poor and lowly, not to mention my generation, which is lonely and upright!

This poem expresses the pain of the poet who was a poor scholar and was suppressed in his official career. The language is simple and the emotions are indignant. The action of drawing the sword and hitting the pillar, the cry of the husband's hanging wings, the yearning to return home and live in seclusion, and the sigh of poverty and loneliness are all done in one go, expressing the emotional changes of depression, unrestrainedness, grief and indignation in a detailed way. Sad but not dejected, disappointed but not depressed, it has a majestic and bold style, which reflects the author's indignant, proud and aloof mental state.

Some of Bao Zhao's poems reflect the frontier war and conscript life, expressing his desire to make contributions and his strong enterprising spirit. For example, "Generation from Jibeimen Xing":

The feathers raised up the side pavilion, and the beacon fire entered Xianyang. He sent cavalry to garrison Guangwu and divided his troops to rescue Shuofang.

Yan Qiu's muscles and poles are strong, and his formation is refined and strong. The emperor was angry with his sword, and the envoy looked at each other from a distance.

The geese are flying along the stone path, and the fish are crossing the flying canal. Xiaogu flows into Han thoughts, and Jingjia is covered with Hu Shuang.

The strong wind blew up and the gravel blew. The horse's hair shrinks like a hedgehog, and its horns and bow cannot be stretched.

When times are dangerous, you will see the integrity of your ministers, and when the times are chaotic, you will see loyalty. Surrender yourself to the Lord Ji Ming, and die in mourning for the country.

The beginning of the poem exaggerates the tense atmosphere of the enemy's invasion, the middle describes the severe cold and hardships during the march, and the last part praises the heroic spirit of the soldiers for sacrificing their bodies for the country. It can be called an excellent poem about the border cold.

In addition, the sixth chapter of "Naked Ancient" describes his farming life, expressing his anger at not being able to display his talents, and also revealing his deep sympathy for the people:

In the quiet village of Shuxin, The cutting of millet is cold and the stream is cloudy; the wind hurts my muscles, and the howling birds startle my mind. At the end of the year, the well is finished, and Cheng Ke is pursuing it. The fields are rented and sent to the valley, and the beasts and trees are transported to the forest. The ice on the river Wei has not yet opened, but the snow on Guanlong is deep. Beating an official is punishable, humiliating an official is an intrusion. It doesn’t mean that I have taken advantage of Xuanyi, but I still have it to this day.

Vigorous writing, full of emotion, and intricate syllables are the main characteristics of Zhao's poetry. Bao Zhao is good at using a free and bold style of writing to express his fiery passion, creating a breathtaking momentum. In addition, he was also good at describing scenery and creating strange and magnificent words, thus forming a handsome, bold, vigorous and fierce artistic style. Du Fu praised in "Recalling Li Bai in Spring": "Jun Yi Bao joins the army", which is exactly in terms of this style.

Bao Zhao was also a person who studied and wrote Yuefu poems vigorously. He drew on the rich nourishment of folk songs and created a batch of seven-character Yuefu poems with substantial content and increasingly mature form, which laid a good foundation for the subsequent development of seven-character poetry. In the process of learning folk songs, Bao Zhao not only enriched this form with rich content, but also changed Cao Pi's sentence-by-sentence rhyme to alternate-sentence rhyme, and could freely change the rhyme. This opened up a broad field for the development of seven-character poetry. the way. After him, the seven-character style gradually developed in the poetry of literati in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Wang Kaiyun's "Selected Poems of the Eight Dynasties", Volumes 12 to 14, specifically selects this type of poetry from the Qi Dynasty to the Sui Dynasty, which is called "New Style Poetry". Therefore, later generations also called Yongming style new style poetry. Yongming poets boldly explore and innovate poetry forms, showing a valuable innovative spirit.

3. Xie Tiao and New Style Poems

Xie Tiao (464~499), whose courtesy name was Xuanhui, was from Yangxia, Chen County (near Taikang, Henan Province today). He was of the same clan as Xie Lingyun, and was known as "Xiao Xie". His great-great-grandfather was Xie An's younger brother. Both his ancestors and fathers were respected by the Liu Song Dynasty. His mother was Princess Changcheng, the daughter of Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty. Xie's family background was noble, but he was eager to learn when he was young and had a good reputation. Therefore, he once lived in the vassal residence of King Jingling Xiao Ziliang and held important clerical positions in the imperial court. He also served as the prefect of Xuancheng (so later generations often called him Xie Xuancheng), and finally served as Shangshu Bulang was framed and killed because he refused to participate in the coup planned by the court ministers and the fifth domain.

The main achievement of Xie Tiao's poetry is the development of landscape poetry. His works inherited Xie Ling's luck and became more mature. For example, in his famous work "Climbing Three Mountains at Night and Looking at the Capital City":

Baxi looks towards Chang'an, and Heyang looks towards Jingxian County. In the daytime, the flying birds are beautiful, and all the differences can be seen.

The remaining clouds dispersed into clouds, and the Chengjiang River was as quiet as practice. The noisy birds cover Chunzhou, and the fields are full of miscellaneous heroes.

Go away to stay in lust, and stop having fun when you are pregnant. How sad is the happy occasion? The tears are like falling rain.

Who can keep his temples unchanged when he has feelings for his hometown?

The poet uses natural and smooth language to weave the endless, beautiful and colorful natural landscape in front of him into a brightly colored and harmonious picture. The perfect pictures make readers feel the colors, sounds and breath of spring. This bright and beautiful scenery naturally blends with the poet's homesickness, making it appear profound and subtle, and has a strong artistic appeal. The two sentences "The remaining clouds disperse into clouds and the clear river is as quiet as practice" have been passed down through the ages. Like Xie Lingyun, Xie Xi also has many famous poems describing scenes. Such as "I know the boat is returning to the sky, and I can identify the trees in the clouds" ("Xuancheng County leaves Xinlinpu and heads towards Banqiao"), "The fish play with the new lotus, the birds scatter and the remaining flowers fall" ("Yiyoudong"); and "As soon as you look out at the cold city, you can see the flat, fierce and blue sky, ("Xuancheng County Climbing View"), etc., fresh and distant, like ink paintings, giving people a great sense of beauty.

Xie Tiao's landscape poems learn from Xie Lingyun's and describe the scenery in a detailed and realistic way. However, in comparison, Xie Tiao's landscape poems are more innovative and have their own characteristics. This is mainly reflected in the following: first, the landscape and official life in Da Xie's poems are very different. To deviate, he often deliberately seeks landscapes to forget about worldly affairs; the landscapes in Xiao Xie's poems are always unified with the expression of the subject's emotions, and the descriptions of palaces, pavilions, pavilions and natural scenery often blend with the lyricism. Second, Da Xie's poems. Landscape poetry always follows the travel notes and scene descriptions with a metaphysical tail; Xiao Xie's landscape poetry is completely free from the influence of metaphysical poetry, allowing landscape poetry to reach a relatively complete artistic realm. Third, with Da Xie. The poems are different in their richness, fine workmanship, and elegance. Xiao Xie's poems have less complicated words and phrases, forming a natural, smooth, fresh and smooth artistic style. In addition, Xie Zhi's poems have harmonious tones, sonorous rhymes, beautiful words, and good contrast. Neatness reflects the basic characteristics of new-style poetry. His new-style poetry had a certain influence on the formation of quatrains in the Tang Dynasty. Yan Yu's "Canglang Poetry Talk" said: "Xie Tiao's poems are similar to those of the Tang Dynasty. "Some famous poets in the Tang Dynasty attached great importance to Xie Tiao's poems, especially Li Bai, who quoted his best lines many times. Therefore, some people said that Li Bai "bowed his head to thank Xuancheng all his life" (Wang Shizhen, "On Poetry Quatrains"), which shows that Xie Tiao's poems The influence is profound.

However, Xie Fu's poems also lack profound social content. His ten poems "Yongming Le" and two poems "Listening to Prostitutes at Night" are typical boring works for banquets. In addition, there are also the shortcomings of what Zhong Rong said: "The good comes from the beginning, but the last chapter is too stagnant" and "the intention is sharp but the talent is weak".

Yu Xin

Yu Xin. Xin (513--581), courtesy name Zishan, was born in Xinye, Nanyang (now Henan). His life can be divided into two periods, marked by his mission to the Western Wei Dynasty at the age of 42 and his subsequent residence in the north. His early life coincided with the most stable stage of the founding of the Liang Dynasty. Yu Xin's early poems were for the king's entertainment, and their ideological content was light and simple. He was an important writer of palace poetry in the third year of Emperor Liang Yuan's reign. 554), he was sent as an envoy to the Western Wei Dynasty and was left in Chang'an. He later took up the post of Northern Zhou Dynasty, rising to the rank of General of Hussars and the Third Division of Kaifu Yi. This encounter and experience led him to combine the rich heritage of Southern Dynasty poetry with the healthier spirit of northern culture, creating a new style, which to a certain extent reflected the new trend of the convergence of northern and southern literature.

Yu Xin's later works express the poet's deep thoughts about his motherland and the complex emotions arising from his shameful life. Due to the poet's true feelings, although many of his poems use a lot of couplets, they do not. There are traces of carving, but there is a fresh air in the flow and beauty. The most representative one is the 27th poem of "Simultaneous Yong Huai".

For example, No. 26:

The depression pavilion is far away, miserable and dusty. When the door is closed and the car is driving in the white sky, the shadow of the city enters the Yellow River.

The autumn wind bids farewell to Su Wu, and the cold water bids farewell to Jingke. Who said that he was so powerful that he sang in the tent when he got up in the morning.

The first four sentences describe the scenery of the northern country, which is desolate and vast; the last four sentences express one's own sorrow. Depressing and tragic. The poem uses three allusions: farewell to Su Wu, farewell to Jing Ke, and Xiang Yu commits suicide to express the grief of being unable to return to his homeland. This is the core content of Yu Xin's later poetry, which is expressed in many chapters, but the way of expression is different, such as "The elms cut off the news, and the Han envoys never passed. The Hujia sheds tears, and the Qiang flute breaks the heart" ("Imitation") "Yong Huai" No. 7), "I still think about Jianye Water, and finally recall Wuchang Fish" ("Qin He Yongfeng's Statement of His Highness" No. 8), which can be said to be a blend of things to express feelings. Sun Wuyan's "Poems in Ode to Yu Xin" said: "Who can I talk to about my hard work on poetry and poetry? It's a shame to be reduced to Xianyang! It's a pity that Geng, a talented man, opened his mansion and spent his whole life melancholy and remembering the south." This is a high-level summary of Yu Xin's later state of mind and poetry. These works that express the thoughts of the hometown are the most touching and valuable parts of his poetry.

Due to the changes in ideological content and the influence of northern culture, the artistic style of Yu Xin's later poems has also undergone fundamental changes, from the gorgeous and weak in the early stage to desolate, tragic, strong and deep. For example, "The formation clouds are flat and motionless, but the autumn pods are about to fly", "The light clouds are floating on the horse's feet, and the bright moon is moving the bowstring" ("Yong Huai"), "Hu Jia is far away and is keeping watch at night, and the horse racing horses are neighing in the crowd" ("He Zhao Wang") Poems such as "Send Off the Army in the Gorge" are rare in Southern Dynasty poetry. Yu Xin was also good at using allusions, and he could apply them appropriately without revealing any traces, which had the effect of expanding the capacity of his poems and inspiring readers' associations.

Yu Xin’s later poems also developed in form and rhythm. Judging from the number of sentences, composition, and antitheses, his seven-character new-style poems are already the pioneers of seven-character rhyme and jue in the Tang Dynasty. Liu Xizai's "Art Summary" once said that Yu Xin's "Crying in the Night" "opened the Seven Rhythms of the Tang Dynasty".

In short, Yu Xin is a writer who embodies the great achievements of the literature of the Southern and Northern Dynasties. He absorbed the rhetorical techniques of Qi and Liang literature, such as rhythm and antithesis, and accepted the vigorous and vigorous style of Northern Dynasty literature, thus opening up and enriching the aesthetic conception and making necessary preparations for the formation of the new Tao style in the Tang Dynasty. Du Fu praised: "Yu Xin's articles are more mature and mature, and Ling Yunjian's writing style is vertical and horizontal." ("Drama as Six Quatrains") is a correct evaluation of Yu Xin's later works.

5. Folk Songs of the Southern and Northern Dynasties

Following the national style of the Book of Songs and the Yuefu folk songs of the Han Dynasty, the Yuefu folk songs of the Southern and Northern Dynasties are another batch of people's oral creations that have appeared intensively. Due to the long-term confrontation between the North and the South resulting in different politics, economy, culture and national customs, the folk songs of the Northern and Southern Dynasties also showed different colors and sentiments. The folk songs of the Southern Dynasties are clear, beautiful and lingering, reflecting more of the people's sincere and pure love life; the folk songs of the Northern Dynasties are rough and bold, broadly reflecting the turbulent social reality and people's living habits in the north. The long lyric poem "Xizhou Song" in the folk songs of the Southern Dynasties and the narrative poem "Mulan Poetry" in the folk songs of the Northern Dynasties represent the highest achievements of folk songs in the Southern and Northern Dynasties respectively.

(1) Folk Songs of the Southern Dynasties

Most of the folk songs of the Southern Dynasties are preserved in the "Collection of Yuefu Poems· Qing and Shang Song Ci" compiled by Guo Maoqian. There are mainly two categories: Wu songs and Western songs. There are 326 Wu songs and 142 Western songs. Wu Ge was mainly produced in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, centered on Jianye. Jianye was the capital of various dynasties from the Eastern Jin Dynasty to the Southern Dynasties. The Yuefu Bureau collected folk songs from this area nearby, sorted them out, and set them to music to create Wu Sheng songs. A considerable part of Wu Sheng's songs come from rural areas, but more may come from the mouths of urban citizens, so most of them have the characteristics of citizen literature. Xiqu originated in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and both sides of the Han River, with Jiangling as the center. The singing method of Xiqu is different from that of Wu songs. In addition, the era of Xiqu is slightly later than that of Wu Ge, and most of them are from Qi and Liang.

The content of the existing Southern Dynasties folk songs is relatively narrow, and most of them are love songs, because the Southern Dynasties folk songs were produced in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. There are beautiful mountains and rivers, singing birds and fragrant flowers, beautiful natural scenery, rich products, developed commerce, and abundant economic conditions. In such an environment, young men and women will naturally feel the joy of spring.

Wu Ge is characterized by its beauty and weakness, often showing shy and lingering moods. Among them, "Midnight Song", "Midnight Song of Four O'clock" and "Duqu Song" are the most important. There are 42 poems in "Midnight Song". It is said that it was originally composed by a woman named Ziye in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Its content may express the desire for love, such as "The night is long and sleepless, and the bright moon is so bright. I want to hear the call, but it echoes in the sky. "Promise"; or express resentment towards a heartless man, such as "I often worry about having second thoughts, and I see that the results are inconsistent. A dead fish is in turbid water, and the long-term and emotional flow is obedient." There are also "Songs of the Four O'clock in the Midnight" and "Songs of Duqu", both of which use fresh and simple language to express sincere and delicate feelings. The style is gorgeous, weak, sad and lingering, and truly reproduces the complex mentality of Jiangnan women on love issues, and Full of rich flavor of life.

Western songs mostly write about the parting feelings of travelers and merchants on boats by the waterside. They reflect a slightly broader aspect of life than Wu Ge, and their style is more straightforward and lively than Wu Ge. Such as "Nahe Beach":

Wen Huan went to Yangzhou and saw each other off at Jiangjin Bay. I am willing to get a broken pole and oar, and I will pay you back at the end of the day!

When the pole is folded, it is better to look for it, and when the oar is folded, it is safer. We are both officials, how can we get back together?

The men and women sing in harmony! The woman's singing conveys the true feelings and innocent wishes; the man's repartee expresses the regret and sorrow of being unable to control himself.

The formal characteristics of folk songs in the Southern Dynasties are that they are compact in structure, mostly in five characters and four sentences, and their language is fresh and natural. The songs are wonderful and the sound speaks from the heart.” The beautiful ballads are sung casually without any embellishment or pretense, expressing the lingering emotions deep in the heart truly and delicately. The extensive use of puns is a distinctive feature of Southern Dynasties folk songs, especially Wu songs. Puns can be roughly divided into two categories: one is homophones with different words, such as using lotus root to pun on "even", "lotus" to pun on "pity", and "silk" to pun on "si", etc.; the other type is homophones with the same word. , such as using the word "bolt" of cloth to pun on the word "pi" of couple, using the word "guan" of door to punctuate the word "guan" of concern, using the word "bitter" of coptis to punn the word "bitter" of lovesickness, etc. The use of these clever puns not only makes the language more lively, but also makes the expressions more implicit and euphemistic.

The representative work of folk songs in the Southern Dynasties is the lyrical folk poem "Xizhou Song". This folk song has been processed and polished by literati. The content of this folk song is about a young woman's lovesickness, interspersed with the changes in scenery and scenery in different seasons. The colorful depiction of the heroine's activities, clothing, and appearance expresses the character's endless lovesickness in an extremely delicate, lingering, and subtle way. The whole poem basically consists of four sentences with one rhyme change, and uses the rhetorical method of renjuge, thus forming a melodious and graceful melody. This special beauty of rhyme creates an effect that seems to be discontinuous and continuous, just like the continuation in the poem. The combination of mutual scenes creates endless aftertaste. This poem is "the most artistic one" among the folk songs of the Southern Dynasties.

(2) Folk Songs of the Northern Dynasties

The Yuefu folk songs of the Northern Dynasties are mainly preserved in the "Liang Gujiao Horizontal Blowing Music" in the "Yuefu Poetry Collection": the drum horn horizontal blowing music was composed by the northern people at that time and was used on horses. The military music played is called "drum and horn horizontal blowing music" because the instruments include drums and horns. Most of the folk songs of the Northern Dynasties are works after the Northern Wei Dynasty. With the exchange of cultures between the north and the south, songs from the north were gradually spread to the south. After Qi and Liang Dynasties, they were often used for palace entertainment and were preserved by the Yuefu organs of the Liang Dynasty, so they were called "Lianggujiao horizontal blow music".

Most of the folk songs of the Northern Dynasties were originally sung by ethnic minorities in the north. They were later translated into Chinese, so there is a saying in "Song of Willow Branches" that "I am a kid from a captive family and I don't understand Chinese children's songs." Some of them were created directly in Chinese by northerners, and it cannot be ruled out that there are a few works by northern Han people mixed in among them. Therefore, the folk songs of the Northern Dynasties are the cultural fruits jointly created by all ethnic groups in the north.

There are not many folk songs in the Northern Dynasties, but their contents widely reflect all aspects of social life. The living environment of the various ethnic groups in the north, mainly the Xianbei people, is different from that of the people in the south. The north is mostly flat sand deserts, grasslands and wilderness, so the scenes in the poem often have the characteristics of the vast and majestic north. For example, "Chile Song":

Chile River, under the Yin Mountain, the sky is like a dome, covering the surrounding fields. The sky is clear, the fields are vast, and the grass is blown by the wind, and cattle and sheep can be seen low.

In just 27 words, the vast and vast grassland scenery is described. The realm is magnificent, majestic and majestic. It can be said to be an eternal masterpiece. Due to long-term wars in the north, people's lives were miserable, so the poems often reflected the misery brought about by the unrest. For example:

The man is a pitiful man who worries about death when he goes out. In the narrow valley of zombies, no one has collected the bones.

(The fourth poem of "Qi Yu Song Ci")

The scene of "corpse mourning in the narrow valley, no one has collected the bones" can often be seen in Jian'an poetry, and the Yuefu folk songs of the Northern Dynasties The aspect of reflecting chaos and separation is similar to the poetry of the Jian'an period, and its sad chants and cries are heart-shaking.

In the folk songs of the Northern Dynasties, there are many works that reflect the nostalgia for homeland and homesickness during travel and exile life, such as "Longtou Song":

The flowing water in Longtou flows away from the foot of the mountain. Thinking of me, I float in the wilderness.

Go to Xincheng in the morning and stay in Longtou in the evening. Cold and unable to speak, tongue rolled into throat.

The water is flowing from the head of the dragon, and the sound is mournful. Looking at Qinchuan in the distance, my heart is broken!

The song profoundly reflects the pain of being displaced and missing my hometown. After thousands of years, it still makes people sad to read it.

The nomadic life and long-term state of war of the northern peoples have cultivated people's brave and resolute character and heroic and martial spirit. This spirit is often reflected in poetry. For example:

I bought a new five-foot knife with a central pillar hanging on it. Three massages a day, the drama is on fifteen women.

("Songs of King Langya")

A good horse must be fast, and a fast horse must be good. The toes hang under the yellow dust, and then the male and female are separated.

("Song of Broken Willows")

The songs all reflect the characteristics of fierceness and fierceness, full of manly spirit, in sharp contrast with the folk songs of the Southern Dynasties.

There are many works reflecting the themes of love and marriage in the folk songs of the Northern Dynasties. These folk songs are straightforward, simple and vigorous, which are very different from the lingering, euphemistic and tender sentiments of Southern Dynasty love songs. For example: "The moon is shining brightly and the stars are about to fall. If you want to come or not, tell me early!" ("Earth Drives Joy") "A man and a woman are born in the same place, and I hope to have two married women" ("Zhucha Song") ), has a bold and aggressive attitude towards marriage and love between men and women. Reflecting on marriage problems, most women want to marry early, such as "If an old girl doesn't marry, she will scratch the ground and call the sky" ("Song of Diqule"), "If a grandma doesn't marry, she will have to be embraced by her grandchildren" ("Song of Broken Willow Branches") ). These songs are straightforward and simple, unapologetic and without any coyness.

The representative work of Yuefu folk songs in the Northern Dynasties is "Mulan Poetry".

This poem was originally sung by folk in the Northern Dynasties. During its long circulation, it may have been polished and processed by literati in the Sui and Tang Dynasties.

"Poetry of Mulan" successfully created the immortal artistic image of Mulan. Mulan is a young girl in a boudoir. When her motherland needed her, she stood up for her father and joined the army. She disguised herself as a man and fought on the battlefield for more than ten years, making great contributions. After returning from victory, she declined the official position and returned home, showing her simplicity. and noble sentiments. She combined her love for her relatives and her motherland. The image of Mulan is the embodiment of people's ideals. She embodies the outstanding qualities of the Chinese nation of diligence, kindness, wit, courage, perseverance and simplicity. In her, she demonstrates women's aspirations and ideals for equality, independence and liberation.

"Poetry of Mulan" is very distinctive in its artistic expression techniques: first of all, the descriptions are both complex and simple:

The ink is splashed in details, such as the description of the layout of the pommel horse purchased before going out for the expedition. and a description after returning, thus creating a busy scene and a warm and happy atmosphere. The description of the battlefield is covered in a few words. Secondly, the character's psychology and personality are portrayed through the characters' actions and atmosphere, and the narrative and lyricism are perfectly combined. In addition, the sentence patterns of repetition, parallelism, parallelism, question and answer, and the use of overlapping words, metaphors, and exaggeration in the poem all serve to shape Mulan's image. Although it has been processed and polished by later generations of literati, the whole poem is lively, fresh and vigorous, and still retains its true character as a folk song. It is indeed an excellent poem that has been popular for thousands of years.