Strong as the mountains, heroic as the world, but the love between children is long, and heroes are short-tempered. Throughout the five thousand years of Chinese history, perhaps no other person's death can be as sighing as Xiang Yu's suicide in Wujiang River. .
For more than two thousand years, the world has never stopped debating the death of the Overlord of Western Chu, and countless literati and poets have written many immortal masterpieces on this subject. The most well-known among them is undoubtedly Du Mu. "Ti Wujiang Pavilion" by Li Qingzhao, and "Summer Quatrains" by Li Qingzhao.
In the first year of Huichang in the Tang Dynasty (841 AD), the great poet Du Mu was inspired by Wujiang Pavilion in He County, Anhui Province, the site of Xiang Yu's defeat and suicide, and wrote the famous "Ti Wujiang Pavilion" 》: The victorious and defeated soldiers have unexpected family affairs, and it is a man to bear shame. There are many talented people from Jiangdong, and their comeback is unknown.
Time flies, when the long river of history rushes to the Song Dynasty, Li Qingzhao, the most talented woman in the history, wrote the equally famous "Summer Quatrains" on the death of Xiang Yu when she was passing by Wujiang River: Live as a hero, die as a hero. Also a ghost hero. I still miss Xiang Yu and refuse to cross Jiangdong.
Du Mu's "Ti Wujiang Pavilion" and Li Qingzhao's "Summer Quatrains", one is a seven-character quatrain, and the other is a five-character quatrain. They are both concise and concise, and they are also easy to understand. The difference is that they He has a completely opposite attitude towards Xiang Yu's suicide in Wujiang.
Du Mu believes that victory or defeat is a common thing for military officers. Xiang Yu chose to commit suicide when he was defeated, which was unbecoming of a general and was a sign of narrow-mindedness. The last two sentences of the poem directly point out that if Xiang Yu had chosen to return to Jiangdong and regroup, he might have a chance to make a comeback and make a comeback.
Du Mu’s attitude toward Xiang Yu’s suicide in Wujiang was not only deeply regretful, but also mostly critical. In Du Mu's view, Xiang Yu's life was a failure. He failed because of his arrogance, because he didn't know how to endure humiliation and bear the burden, and even because he wanted to save face and suffer. Li Qingzhao held completely opposite views to Du Mu.
It must be said that Li Qingzhao is indeed a talented woman with a wealth of knowledge. Although the poem "Summer Quatrains" only has 20 words, there are many allusions. , Han Xin's praise, and "Guixiong" is Qu Yuan's famous saying in the article "National Sorrow". Li Qingzhao used the words "human hero" and "ghost hero" to describe Xiang Yu, which shows Xiang Yu's supreme status in her heart.
In Li Qingzhao's heart, Xiang Yu was like an unparalleled hero riding on colorful auspicious clouds. He was a "hero" when he was alive, and a "ghost hero" when he died. His suicide in Wujiang River was not cowardice or failure, but a hero. A complete expression of self-worth. Du Mu criticized Xiang Yu for his short-sightedness, and Li Qingzhao praised Xiang Yu for his steadfastness. Whose opinion is more convincing? If you want to understand history, you must go back to the historical background of that time. Du Mu and Li Qingzhao were in different situations when they wrote poems, which determined that their attitudes must be very different.
Du Mu passed by Wujiang on his way to be appointed as the governor of Chizhou. At that time, he was high-spirited and determined to make great achievements. In such a state of mind, Du Mu naturally could not understand Xiang Yu's despair and collapse when he committed suicide, so , Du Mu was critical of Xiang Yu's death.
Looking back at Li Qingzhao, she was in a very special historical period when she wrote "Summer Quatrains". In the second year of Jingkang (1127 AD), the Jin army invaded the Central Plains. Emperors Hui and Qin were captured, and the Northern Song Dynasty was destroyed. Later, Li Qingzhao's husband Zhao Mingcheng served as the prefect of Jiankang, but during the riots in the city, he ignored the country and the people and fled the battle.
Li Qingzhao felt deeply ashamed that the country was so humiliated and her husband was so cowardly, so he wrote "Summer Quatrains" while passing by Wujiang River. In fact, he was praising Xiang Yu to satirize the Southern Song Dynasty and himself. husband.
Therefore, starting from personal feelings, there is no right or wrong between Du Mu and Li Qingzhao. The only difference is that they are in different historical periods, so they have different attitudes towards the same historical event. If you look at it from a purely historical perspective, how do you readers view Xiang Yu's Wujiang suicide? Is it tragic or cowardly? Wang Anshi has something to say about this.
In addition to Du Mu and Li Qingzhao, the famous writer and politician Wang Anshi also wrote a famous poem "Wujiang Pavilion" (also known as "Wujiang Pavilion"): The warriors who are tired from a hundred battles mourn, and the Central Plains Defeat is hard to come back from.
Although the children of Jiangdong are here today, are they willing to fight against the king?
Wang Anshi's "Wujiang Pavilion" is as concise and concise as it is easy to understand. The difference is that he calmly analyzed the objective situation of the Chu-Han war from a politician's unique perspective and made This led to the conclusion that Xiang Yu could not make a comeback and make a comeback.
Wang Anshi's poem is also called "The Overlapping Title of Wujiang Pavilion". It is obvious that it was written in response to Du Mu's "Wujiang Pavilion". If Du Mu is a pure poet, then Wang Anshi has the identity of a politician. Therefore, his poems have a calmness and objectivity. Regarding Xiang Yu's death, he neither praises nor criticizes, but only makes a simple analysis.