Brief introduction of Wang Anshi (1021～1086), politician and writer of the Northern Song Dynasty. The courtesy name is Jiefu and the nickname is Banshan. A native of Linchuan, Fuzhou (now part of Jiangxi). He was granted the title of Duke of Jing State and was known as the King of Duke Jing in the world. Posthumous title, also known as Wang Wengong. Biography Wang Anshi moved to Xingan, Luling, Xinfan, Shaozhou and other places since childhood with his father Wang Yi, who was a local official. In the fourth year of Jing □ (1037), the family settled in Jiangning. His early life in rural areas exposed him to the poverty of society and the suffering of the people, and he developed the feeling of "sorrowing for this Guizhou head" ("Feelings"). He was "little fond of reading" ("History of the Song Dynasty: Biography of Wang Anshi") and "read everything from the books of hundreds of schools of thought to the Difficult Classics", "Su Wen", "Compendium of Materia Medica" and novels. , Ask about everything" ("Reply to Zeng Zigu's Book"). In the 17th or 8th year of his age, he named himself Ji and Qi: "I don't assume that my talents are sparse and my destiny is low, but I want to be with Ji and Qi." ("Recalling Yesterday's Poems to Show My Foreign Brothers"), showing his extraordinary aspirations and interests. In the second year of Qingli (1042), he ascended the Yang □ list and became a Jinshi, and signed a letter to the judge of Huainan. In the Qingli year (1047), he was transferred to Yin County, and he started to build water conservancy projects, lend grain to the people, and was loved by the people. In the first year of Jia □ (1056), he served as the judge of Qunmu, and later served as the magistrate of Changzhou, the magistrate of Jiangdong Prison, the magistrate of Sansi Duzhi, and the magistrate of Zhizhigao. When he was a judge of Duzhi, he was commissioned by his colleague Song Minqiu to compile "Selected Poems of One Hundred Masters of Tang Dynasty" based on the collection of Tang poetry collected at home. When Shenzong ascended the throne, he was called a Hanlin scholar and lecturer. In the second year of Xining (1069), he was appointed as the counselor of political affairs, and became the prime minister the following year. With the support of Shenzong, new laws were formulated and implemented on farmland water conservancy, young crops, equalization of transportation, protection of armor, exemption from servitude, market transactions, and protection of horses, which enhanced national strength. Due to the fierce attack by the anti-reform legalists, he resigned as prime minister in the seventh year of Xining (1074). The following year, he returned to the prime minister, entered the "Three Classics and New Meanings", and became an academic official. In the ninth year of Xining (1076), he resigned from the position again and retreated to Jiangning, concentrating on academic research and poetry creation. In the first year of the Yuan Dynasty (1086), Sima Guang came to power and abolished all new laws. Wang Anshi died of illness and worry. Wang Anshi's deeds can be found in the original biography of "History of the Song Dynasty", "Xu Zi Zhi Tongjian Changbian", "Chronicles of Song Poems", "Compilation of Anecdotes of Song People", "Song Bailei Chao", etc. Literary Advocacy and Creation Wang Anshi was an active participant in the Northern Song poetry innovation movement advocated by Ouyang Xiu. As early as the third year of Qingli Dynasty (1043), he criticized Yang Yi and Liu Yun, representatives of the Xikun School, for "infecting the world with their prose, and scholars are obsessed with its origins" and criticized their writing style for "without a sophisticated preface" ( "Preface to Zhang Xingbu's Poems"). Later, with the formation of reform ideas, his literary views clearly showed a utilitarian tendency. The core of his literary propositions are: "Articles should be used by the world" ("Send to Dong Zhuan") and "Must be of benefit to the world" ("Book of Masters"). But we do not deny the role of rhetorical skills: "Appearance (beauty of form) is not optional, don't do it first, it is possible" (ibid.). His literary creation is the concrete practice of this idea. Wang Anshi is one of the Eight Great Masters of Tang and Song Dynasties. His prose creations are most prominent in his essays. It can be roughly divided into four categories: ① Memorials directly stating political opinions to the emperor. For example, "Emperor Renzong's Statement" criticizes the corruption of the entire bureaucratic political system in the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, puts forward the idea of ????faxian king, and advocates "reform and change"; "This Dynasty Has Nothing to Do for a Hundred Years" systematically elaborates on Renzong's reign 41 The successes and failures of political measures during the year encouraged Shenzong to get rid of the "disadvantages of following the last customs". This type of article has the characteristics of strict organization, subtle analysis, bold, direct and measured wording, and a sincere, crisp and inspiring tone. In particular, "Emperor Shang Renzong's Statement" is filled with thousands of words, and his writings are grand and thoughtful. Liang Qichao, a recent scholar, considered it "the most important text after the Qin and Han Dynasties", but Jia Yi's "Chen Zhengshi Shu" was "slightly more than enough" ("Wang Jinggong"). Chapter 21). ② It is an essay that criticizes reality. For example, "Yuan Guo" and "Shi Yi" are short, concise and clever in the use of analogies; "Xingxian" and "Appointment" repeatedly demonstrate the pros and cons and are very logical; "Min Xi" and "Zhiren" criticize the world's indulgence Due to old habits and monarchs, they are unable to recognize the virtuous. The pen is sharp and the message is far-reaching. ③It is character theory and historical commentary. For example, "Zigong", "Gun Shuo", "Bo Yi", "Reading "Jiangnan Records"", "Reading "Biography of Mengchang Jun"", "Reading "Biography of Liu Zongyuan"", which went against the traditional views and made unprecedented achievements. Chu Xin thought that he could "Xi Feng's "Historical Records" comment and praise it, it is so beautiful and unique" (Volume 2 of "The Complete Works of Linchuan"). Among them, "Reading the Biography of Mengchang Jun" has less than a hundred words in total, but it is full of ups and downs and full of winning ideas. It is especially a masterpiece among short essays. ④ Prefaces, letters and others.

For example, "Preface to the Rites of Zhou" and "Preface to the Poems" reflect his anti-traditional political attitude in his academic opinions, which is Su Shi's so-called "collecting the legacy of the six arts and cutting off his own opinions" ("Wang Anshi's Gift to the Taifu"); The writing is "simple but powerful" (Volume 30 of Shen Deqian's "Tang and Song Dynasty Eight Scholars"), and every word is focused. "Reply to Sima's Remonstrance" refutes Sima Guang's criticism of the new law with strict logic; "Reply to Lu Jifu" writes a letter of severance of relations with an attitude of explaining regrets and grievances, disregarding personal grievances, and showing an open mind. Narratives occupy a large proportion in Wang Anshi's prose. Biographies such as "The Story of the First Doctor" use simple language to describe his father Wang Yiju's uprightness as an official. There is not much ink, but the impression is more vivid. "Injury to Zhongyong" describes Zhongyong's sad experience of being reduced from a child prodigy to an ordinary person due to his lack of learning. It expresses the purpose of encouraging learning. The theme is very typical. There are many epitaph inscriptions, which usually summarize the tomb owner's life, career, and character. The writing style is concise, clever, and clean. Occasionally, a few vivid stories are inserted, which are focused, cordial, and touching. For example, "The Epitaph of Kong Gong, the Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce" states that Kong Daofu was not good at the auspiciousness of ghosts and gods, and raised a wat to kill demons and snakes. In just a few strokes, it outlines the image of an atheist. Travel notes such as "Travel to Bao Zen Mountain", "use inscriptions to write about oneself, with profound feelings and exquisite workmanship" (Li Guangdi's words are quoted in Volume 58 of "Yu Selection of Tang and Song Dynasty Wen Chun"). Generally speaking, Wang Anshi's narrative prose does not rewrite the scenery, elaborate and illustrate, but focuses on reasoning and expressing aspirations, so some works appear to be insufficient in image. Most of the lyrical essays are sacrificial essays. Written in four-character rhyme, such as "Sacrifice Shu Xiangyuan Daowen", "Sacrifice Fan Yingzhou Zhongyan Wen", etc., the words are simple, sincere and contagious; those written in miscellaneous rhymes, such as "Sacrifice Ouyang Wenzhong" "Official Document", which highly praised Ouyang Xiu's literary achievements and moral sentiments. His words were clear and rhymed, and he was grateful. It was the most outstanding among the memorial tributes to Ouyang Xiu written by various writers at that time. However, some rituals performed on behalf of others and purely for entertainment purposes are not exempt from the custom. There are also lyrical texts in the preface, such as "A Farewell to a Classmate", which expresses the meaning of warning and consolation between friends, and sings about affection, which is tactful and profound. In his early years, Wang Anshi was a literary master who studied under Mencius and Han Yu. Ouyang Xiu gave him some advice: "Although Mencius and Korean are high-level, there is no need to resemble them, just use their natural ears." (Zeng Gong's "First Letter with Wang Jiefu") From then on, his literary thoughts opened up. He combined Han Fei's sharpness, Xunzi's magnificence and Yang Xiong's simplicity, and integrated them into a unique style that is steep, distant, powerful, upright, simple and natural. Wu Dexuan said: "In ancient times, there was no one like Wang Jiefu who had extensive communication and was not burdened by the accumulation of books" ("Introduction to Ancient Chinese Prose in Chu Yue Lou"), pointing out his strengths that can win over others. The contemporary Zhu Ziqing said: "The king is a politician, and his work is more powerful than others" ("Classic Chang Tan·Article 13"), pointing out the difference between his prose and Ouyang Xiu and Su Shi. Wang Anshi's poems are not only numerous in number, with more than 1,500 poems, but also very distinctive and unique. Most of the poems he wrote before he retired to Jiangning were political poems. He wrote his long-term observation and analysis of social reality and his ambition to help the world and improve people's customs into his poems, mainly including "Feelings", "People in Hebei", "Collecting Salt", "Rewarding King Zhan Shu for his envoy to Jiangdong for his tea visit". "Jian Ji", "Fa Lin", "Amalgamation", "Provincial Soldiers", "Reading the Edict", "Ci Yun and Fu Yong Xue", etc. These works are closely related to real life and have relatively substantial content; however, in terms of art, they generally have shortcomings such as too much discussion, insufficient imagery, and blunt language. For example, in the poem "Merge", Hong Mai believed that "its language is absolutely incompetent" (Volume 3 of "Rongzhai Poetry Talk"). After coming to power, he implemented new laws. When he was attacked by the anti-reformists, he wrote poems such as "Everyone", "Giving Ye", "Wang Zhang", "Six Poems on Ji Shi" No. 2, and "Gu Tong" to fight back. , showing an unwavering will to implement the new law. Wang Anshi is a patriotic poet, and poems expressing patriotic feelings occupy a certain proportion in his political poems. "Enter the Fortress", "Send Zhao Xueshi to Shaanxi for Punishment", "Xi Shuai", "Yinshan Painting Tiger Picture", "Ciyun Yuanhou Zhi Pingrong Qingjie", etc. are representative works of this type of poems. There are also quite a few poems with the theme of chanting history and nostalgic for the past that have been recited. For example, "Shang Yang", "Zai □", "Han Xin", "Fan Zeng's Two Poems", "Jia Sheng", etc. are all inspired by his feelings and have profound meanings. Li Dongyang believes that "the writing is so powerful that it should be viewed with one eye" ( "Huailutang Poetry").

The two songs "Ming Fei Song", which have always been popular among the public, are composed of meticulous portrayal and exquisite discussion. They express his own feeling of underappreciating his talent in the sympathetic image of Wang Zhaojun. Huang Tingjian believes that "it can be compared with Li Hanlin and Wang Youcheng". Drive and fight to be the first" (quoted by Li Bi's Notes on Wang Jingwengong's Poems). Wang Anshi also wrote a large number of works about traveling, visiting, rewarding and mourning friends, such as "Thoughts on Travel", "Climbing Feilai Peak", "Inscription on the Wall of Taiyi Palace in the West", "Farewell to Sun Xinlao", "Send Off to Mr. Cheng". "Guarding Hongzhou", "To Wang Fengyuan", "Three Poems in Thought of Wang Fengyuan", etc. are all rare masterpieces. However, there are also many works that are polite and empty articles laying out allusions and idioms, and have low artistic value. In the 10 years after Wang Anshi retired to Jiangning, his thoughts were very contradictory. On the one hand, he continued to care about the new law and wrote poems praising its effectiveness. "Five Songs of Yuanfeng", "Yuanfeng Xing Shows Virtue", and "Hou Yuanfeng Xing" etc. describe the happy scenes of the people after a good harvest. Although they are not without praise, it can be seen that he still has a deep concern for Shenzong's continued implementation of new laws. Enthusiastic support. He expressed his ambitions in twists and turns. The last two lines of the famous poem "Beipi Apricot Blossom" "Even if it is blown into snow by the spring wind, it will be crushed into dust by the southern road." Chen Yan believed that "it is exactly his identity" ("Essence of Song Poetry") 》Volume 2). Others such as "Stand Quinoa", "Plum Blossoms", "Dushan Plum Blossoms", "Wangfu Stone", "Owl", etc. all show his positive attitude of not forgetting politics and unwilling to detach himself from things. On the other hand, as Shenzong became more and more wavering about the implementation of the new law, Wang Anshi's situation became increasingly difficult, and he had to resort to Buddhism to relieve his mental depression. "Three Poems of Revealing Baojue", "Revealing Master Wu Zhu", "Three Poems of Fables", "Twenty Poems Found in Xihanshan", etc. all show that he is getting further and further away from the world. In addition, he attached great importance to landscapes and cultivated his temperament, and wrote a large number of pastoral poems about landscapes and rivers. Among them, "Nan Pu", "Ran Yun", "Shu Hu Yin's Wall", "On the River", "Beishan", "Bochuan Guazhou", etc. are all recognized masterpieces in ancient and modern times. Wang Anshi's collection of poems has a large number, and some of them are more natural. Under his advocacy, this special style of poetry developed in the Song Dynasty. Therefore Yan Yu said: "Only Jing Gong has the longest collection of sentences." ("Canglang Poetry Talk")

The poetic style of Wang Anshi's early and late poems was very different. In the early stage, he mainly studied Du Fu's spirit of caring about politics and sympathizing with the people's sufferings. "Portrait of Du Fu" fully illustrates his admiration for Du Fu. The poetry of this period is rich in content and full of enthusiasm. In terms of art, the modern style mostly imitates the syntax of Du Shi's poems, while the ancient style clearly absorbs the strong and majestic and multi-purpose argumentative characteristics of Han Yu's poems, and has a strong and majestic air. However, poems such as "Reading Mo" are "like prose in the end, but with rhymes" ("Wang Jingwen Gong's Notes on Poems" quotes Li Yong), which contributes to the shortcomings of boring discussions on Song poetry. The later poems followed Du Fu's artistic path of "becoming more refined with age", striving for excellence in antithesis, allusion, and meter; they also absorbed the strengths of Wang Wei's poetry in terms of context, further enhancing the artistic beauty. Ye Mengde said: "Wang Jinggong's poems in his later years were particularly rigorous in rhythm, and there was no room for words and words. However, the meaning and the words were in harmony, and the words were spoken at will, completely natural, and there was almost no parallelism" (Volume 1 of "Shilin Poetry Talk"), Wu Zhizhen said He "expressed his love for the world, and his tragedy was contained in leisure" ("Song Poetry Notes·Linchuan Poetry Notes Preface"), which quite appropriately pointed out the artistic characteristics of his later poetry. Yan Yu called Wang Anshi's poetry "Wang Jing Gong Style" (Canglang Poetry Talk), mainly referring to his later poetic style. Some people also expressed dissatisfaction with Wang Anshi's later poems that used too many allusions and emphasized techniques. For example, Chen Shidao said that he "hurt his work" (quoted in "Wang Zhifang's Poetry Talk"), and Ye □ said that he was "only delicate" ("Preface to Xi Xue Ji Yan") Volume 47), Zhao Yi said that several of his poems that are precise and accurate "are all written in a literal sense, but their energy is already languid" (Volume 11 of "Oubei Poetry Talk"). But in general, Wang Anshi's poetry creation played a great role in clearing away the influence of Xikun and creating a situation for Song poetry. His famous comment on Zhang Ji's Yuefu poems "seems ordinary and the most extraordinary, but is easy but difficult to achieve" ("Poems Inscribed on Zhang Siye"), which contains the joys and sorrows of his creation and has deeply inspired later poets, such as Huang Tingjian and Yang Wanli. Under his influence. However, he sometimes liked to refine clumsy sentences, rhyme with clumsy rhymes, and use obscure classics, which started the unhealthy trend of the Jiangxi School of Poetry in pursuing formal techniques such as rhymes and hard language. Wang Anshi's lyrics are not large in number, but their artistic quality is relatively high.

[Qianqiu Suiyin] The poem "Bieguan Hanzhen" is "meaningful and clear" ("Poem Collection of Polygonum Garden"); [Guizhixiang] "Jinling Nostalgic" is worthy of "Jie Xie Qingzhen, Jiaxuan" ("Yi Heng Guan") "Selected Poems"), are all rare masterpieces. Collection and Edition of Wang Anshi's poems were compiled into a collection by Xue Ang and others during the reign of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, but have long been lost. There are two kinds handed down from generation to generation: one is "Collected Works of Mr. Linchuan", the popular ones are the Yingyun □ edition in the 25th year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty and the engraved edition by He Zhongcheng in the 39th year of Jiajing, both of which are 100 volumes. They originated from Zhan Dahe during the Shaoxing period of the Southern Song Dynasty. The carved version is the so-called Linchuan version. The other is the "Collected Works of Wang Wen Gong" carved by Long Shu of the Southern Song Dynasty, which also has 100 volumes, but the chapter content and ordering are different from the Linchuan edition, and there are only two fragments left. The "Collected Works of Mr. Linchuan" compiled and published by Zhonghua Book Company in 1959 was based on the Linchuan edition and was compiled with reference to other rare editions. At the end of the collection, 47 lost poems and essays compiled by Japanese Shimada Han from the fragmentary "Collected Works of Wang Wengong" are attached as "Supplements". This is the most complete complete collection of Wang Anshi's works at present. In 1961, the Shanghai Editorial Office of Zhonghua Book Company obtained the two fragments of Long Shu's edition and cut them together to form a complete "Collected Works of Wang Wengong", removing the duplications.

Reference: /TeacherHome_RS_01/SID-H101/SID10001/RID-TT6/RID-H75/1000100057476.DOC