For more than 2,000 years, the world has never stopped arguing about the death of the overlord in the West Chu, and countless literati and poets have written many immortal masterpieces on this, among which Du Mu's Tiaojiang Pavilion and Li Qingzhao's Summer Jueju are undoubtedly the most well-known.
In the first year of Huichang in the Tang Dynasty (AD 84 1 year), Du Mu, a great poet, was deeply touched when he passed through Wujiang Pavilion in Anhui and County, where Xiang Yu was defeated and set himself on fire. He wrote the famous "Title Wujiang Pavilion": The victory or defeat of the military commander was unexpected, and Bao was ashamed. There are many talented children in Jiangdong. Whether they will make a comeback is still unknown.
Time flies, when the long river of history rushed to the Song Dynasty, Li Qingzhao, the first talented woman in the ages, wrote the same famous "summer quatrains" on the death of Xiang Yu: life is a hero, and death is also a ghost. Today, people still miss Xiang Yu because he refused to live and returned to the East.
Du Mu's Tiaojiang Pavilion and Li Qingzhao's Summer quatrains, one of which is a seven-character quatrain and the other is a five-character quatrain, are as simple and easy to understand. The difference is that they hold diametrically opposite attitudes towards the Wujiang River of Xiang Yu.
Du Mu believes that winning or losing is a common occurrence for military strategists. Xiang Yu's suicide after defeat is a sign of narrow-mindedness. The last two sentences of the poem directly point out that if Xiang Yu chooses to return to Jiangdong and regroup, there may be a chance to make a comeback.
Du Mu's attitude towards Xiang Yu's Wujiang River is mainly criticism besides deep regret. In Du Mu's view, Xiang Yu's life was a failure, because he was arrogant, because he didn't know how to bear the burden of humiliation, and because he was proud of himself. Li Qingzhao and Du Mu hold completely opposite views.
I have to say that Li Qingzhao is indeed a talented woman with rich knowledge. Although there are only 20 words in the whole poem, there are frequent allusions, among which? Outstanding person? Is it that Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang praised Sean, Xiao He and Han Xin? Ghost man? It is a famous saying of Qu Yuan in the article "National Mourning". Li Qingzhao used it? Outstanding person? And then what? Ghost man? Describing Xiang Yu shows the supreme position of Xiang Yu in her heart.
In Li Qingzhao's mind, Xiang Yu seems to be a human hero stepping on colorful auspicious clouds. What was he when he was alive? Outstanding person? When did he die? Ghost man? His Wujiang suicide is not cowardice or failure, but a thorough embodiment of self-worth. Du Mu criticized Xiang Yu for his short-sightedness, while Li Qingzhao praised Xiang Yu for his integrity. Whose view is more convincing? If you want to understand history, you must go back to the historical background at that time. Du Mu and Li Qingzhao are in different situations when writing poems, which determines that their attitudes are necessarily different.
Du Mu passed the Wujiang River on his way to Chizhou Secretariat. At that time, he was in high spirits and determined to make great achievements. In this state of mind, Du Mu naturally could not understand Xiang Yu's despair and collapse when he committed suicide. So Du Mu is critical of Xiang Yu's death.
On the other hand, Li Qingzhao wrote "Xia Jue Ju" in a very special historical period. In the second year of Jingkang (A.D. 1 127), Jin Jun invaded the Central Plains, Hui Di and Qin Emperor were captured, and the Northern Song Dynasty perished. Later, Zhao Mingcheng, Li Qingzhao's husband, became a health magistrate, but the city rioted, and he ran away regardless of the country and people.
The country is so ashamed, and her husband is so cowardly. Li Qingzhao was deeply ashamed, so she wrote "Summer quatrains" when passing by Wujiang River. She actually alluded to the Southern Song Dynasty and her husband by praising Xiang Yu.
Therefore, from the perspective of personal feelings, there is no right or wrong between Du Mu and Li Qingzhao, but they are in different historical periods, so they have different attitudes towards the same historical event. From a purely historical point of view, how do 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, Wang Anshi, a famous writer and politician, also wrote a famous "Wujiang Pavilion" (also known as Overlapping Wujiang Pavilion): The Central Plains is exhausted and sorrowful, and it is difficult to recover from defeat. Although the children of Jiangdong are here today, are they willing to make a comeback with the king?
Wang Anshi's Wujiang Pavilion is also concise and easy to understand. The difference is that he calmly analyzed the objective situation of the Chu-Han War from the unique perspective of a politician and concluded that Xiang Yu could not make a comeback.
This poem by Wang Anshi, also known as Overlapping Wujiang Pavilion, is obviously written for Du Mu's Wujiang Pavilion. If Du Mu is a pure poet, then Wang Anshi is a politician. Therefore, his poems are relatively calm and objective, and there is no praise or criticism of Xiang Yu's death, only a simple analysis.