The cause of the ancient prose movement in the Tang Dynasty The ancient prose movement in the Tang and Song Dynasties is an innovative movement that advocates ancient prose and opposes the style, style and literary language of parallel prose. Its content is mainly to revive Confucianism, and its form is to oppose parallel prose and advocate ancient prose. The so-called "ancient prose" is for parallel prose. Prose in the pre-Qin and Han dynasties is characterized by simplicity and freedom, concise lines and no format constraints, which is conducive to reflecting real life and expressing ideas. The so-called "parallel prose" refers to the style that pays attention to parallelism, rhetoric, melody and allusions since the Six Dynasties. Since the Southern and Northern Dynasties, parallel prose has prevailed in the literary world, starting from the Han Dynasty and prevailing in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Although parallel prose has excellent works, a large number of articles are rigid in form and empty in content. A mere formality, such as duality, temperament, allusions and rhetoric, is flashy and not suitable for use. Parallel prose, as a style, has become an obstacle to the development of literature. In the Western Wei Dynasty, Su Chuo once imitated Shangshu as a great height and advocated the reform of ancient prose in Shang and Zhou Dynasties, but it didn't work. Emperor Wendi of the Sui Dynasty issued a letter forbidding "expressing feelings by writing", and Li Huan wrote to ask Ge Wenhua to do so, but none of them reversed the trend. In the early Tang literary world, parallel prose still dominated. Emperor Taizong was still flashy about writing. Liu Zhiji, a historian, once put forward the view that "words must be close to the truth" and "no color carving" in Shi Tong. Wang Bo proposed to reform the shortcomings of writing, but his works still use parallel prose; Chen Ziang also unveiled the flag of retro. During the Tianbao period of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, Xiao, Li Hua, Jie Yuan, Du Fu, Liang Su and Liu Mian successively put forward the idea of "learning from the scriptures" and became pioneers of the ancient prose movement with prose. In the first ancient prose movement (Tang Dynasty), Han Yu and others held high the banner of "restoring ancient ways" and advocated learning ancient prose to publicize their political views and Confucianism. This thought has been strongly supported by Liu Zongyuan and others and widely reacted by the society, gradually forming a wave of mass struggle, overwhelming parallel prose and forming a far-reaching "movement". This movement has its development process. When parallel prose was popular, some people asked for reform. In the early Tang Dynasty, Chen Ziang advocated retro, and was a pioneer of stylistic innovation. Later, Xiao, Li Hua and others followed suit and put forward the idea of adopting the method of three generations and two Han dynasties, which made ideological preparations for the ancient prose movement in Han and Liu Dynasties. After the Anshi Rebellion in the middle Tang Dynasty, although the national strength of the Tang Dynasty was weak, after Zhenyuan, the society was temporarily stable and the economy developed, and there was hope of "revival". In this way, the time is ripe for Han Yu and others to advocate the ancient prose movement. They put forward the slogans of "Dao" and "Dao", which are the basic theories of the ancient prose movement. They attach importance to the writer's moral cultivation, write true feelings, and emphasize the original spirit of "saying things" (Han Yu answered Li Yishu) and "saying what you say will come out" (Han Yu's Epitaph of Nanyang Fan Shaoshu). On the one hand, they practiced, on the other hand, they trained many young writers, which made the momentum of the ancient prose movement stronger and stronger.
The second ancient prose movement (Northern Song Dynasty) In the late Tang Dynasty, the ancient prose movement tended to decline, and there was a bad style of writing that focused on carving chapters and sentences. During the Northern Song Dynasty, some literati, represented by Ouyang Xiu, praised Han and Liu and set off a new ancient prose movement. Oppose the bad writing style since the late Tang Dynasty; On the one hand, he advocated inheriting Han Yu's Taoist and literary traditions, emphasizing the unity of literature and Taoism, and Taoism precedes literature. He wrote a lot of simple and natural prose, cleared away the obscure style of writing, and made the prose embark on the road of being approachable and reflecting real life. People call Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan in the Tang Dynasty and Ouyang Xiu, Ceng Gong, Wang Anshi, Su Xun, Su Shi and Su Zhe * * * in the Song Dynasty as "eight masters in Tang and Song Dynasties", and the two ancient prose movements in Tang and Song Dynasties as "ancient prose movements in Tang and Song Dynasties".
Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan, the representatives of the Tang Dynasty, are the representatives of the ancient prose movement in the Tang Dynasty, and they are also the only two of the "eight masters in the Tang and Song Dynasties". They advocate ancient prose in order to carry forward the ancient road and revive Confucianism. Han Yu said: "Learn the ancient road and want to talk at the same time; Those who preach their words are also those who are interested in the ancient road "("After Mourning Ouyang Sheng "). Therefore, their ancient prose theories put it in the first place, but hankyung emphasized Confucian benevolence and orthodoxy, while Liu advocated "taking time and things as the Tao". In addition, the theoretical system of ancient Chinese prose of the two schools also includes: ① advocating "nourishing qi", that is, improving the author's moral cultivation, and emphasizing that "those who are rich in roots are practical, those who are full of cream are gorgeous, and those who are righteous are as they say" (Han Yu's Answer to Li Yishu). The author's moral cultivation determines the expression form of the article, so "bold words, short words and high voices" (2) As for the standard of learning, he advocates "the books of three generations and two Han dynasties, but dare not read them" (ibid.), and it is not only classics and history, but also the artistic achievements of Qu Yuan, Sima Xiangru and Yang Xiong. , so as to absorb their essence and enrich their writings (Han Yu's Interpretation of Learning, Liu Zongyuan's Answer to Wei Zhongli's Book and Teacher's Way). (3) To create new ideas and new words, we should not avoid "strangeness" (Han Yu's "Sending Poor Articles"), oppose imitation and follow the trend, demand "acting only on his words" (Han Yu's "Answering Li Yishu"), and think that "only ancient words come from themselves and are not thieves" (Han Yu's "Epitaph of Nanyang Fan Shaoshu"). Therefore, the works of ancient sages should be "learned from their meaning, not from their words" (Han Yu answered Liu). (4) While attaching importance to artistic forms, we especially oppose works with literary talent and absurd content, and think that "it is still a matter covered up by literary brocade. ".Don't know is upset. "(Liu Zongyuan's answer to Wu Wuling's book" Non-Mandarin "). ⑤ Require serious writing attitude, no carelessness, no laziness, no fatuity and no arrogance (Liu Zongyuan answers Wei Zhongli's book "Teacher's Way"). ⑥ Oppose to emphasize the past blindly, and think that "the ancients were also human ears, and their husbands were far away" (Liu Zongyuan's Book with Yang Jingzhao). He expressed indignation at the situation of "respecting the past and abusing the present" (Liu Zongyuan's book on friends), and pointed out that there are many outstanding contemporary writers. "If all are endless, then the articles will flourish, and there will be no antiquity" (Liu Zongyuan's On Books with Yang Jingzhao). Obviously, the ancient prose movement advocated by Han and Liu is to carry out literary innovation and promote literary progress under the banner of retro. Han and Liu advocated ancient prose and experienced some struggles at that time. Han Yu once said, "A servant has been a writer for a long time. Every time he thinks he is good in his mind, he thinks he is evil. A small name means a small person; Say what you want to say, people will be very strange. " However, in the face of people's criticism and ridicule, Han Yu did not waver. He "abandons vulgarity without hearing, laughs without insulting, and learns after calling" (Liu Zongyuan's Answer to Wei Zhongli's Teacher's Book), and constantly expands the team of the ancient prose movement. Han Yu's students include Li Ao, Huangfushi and Li Han. They converted to teaching and promoted the development of the ancient prose movement. Han and Liu pay attention to absorbing fresh words from spoken language, refining new written language close to spoken language, writing many excellent works, expanding the expressive function of written language and creating a new prose tradition in the history of China literature. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, some satirical essays written by Pi Rixiu, Lu Guimeng and Luo Yin also used ancient prose, which can be said to be the inheritance of the ancient prose movement.
Ouyang Xiu, a representative of the Song Dynasty, was a representative of the ancient prose movement in the Song Dynasty.
After the middle Tang Dynasty, the ancient prose movement gradually declined from the late Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, and parallel prose revived. Aestheticism and formalism have become the mainstream of literary world. So a new round of dispute between ancient prose and parallel prose began. By the middle of the Song Dynasty, due to Ouyang Xiu's creation and guidance, a magnificent poetry innovation movement was set off. Ouyang Xiu advocated that "literature should be based on Ming Dow", which laid the foundation and established the direction for the innovation of poetry and prose from both theory and creation. He also pays attention to training and selecting experts in ancient Chinese. Ceng Gong, Wang Anshi and Su Shi are all his proteges. Their prose creation inherits and develops Liu Han's tradition, which is unique and colorful.
The Eight Great Prose Writers in Tang and Song Dynasties are collectively referred to as Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan in Tang Dynasty and Su Shi, Su Xun, Su Zhe (Su Shi, Su Xun and Su Zhe are collectively called Su San), Ouyang Xiu, Wang Anshi and Ceng Gong in Song Dynasty.
Eight masters in Tang and Song Dynasties played a vital role in promoting the movement of ancient Chinese prose. Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan were the leaders of the ancient prose movement in Tang Dynasty, Ouyang Xiu was the leader of the ancient prose movement in Song Dynasty, and Su San and others were the core figures of the ancient prose movement in Song Dynasty. Eight masters have made brilliant achievements in their creation, leaving many masterpieces for future generations.
The contribution of eight masters in Tang and Song Dynasties to prose creation is 1. On the relationship between the content and form of the article, they emphasized the ideas of "Ming Dow as the literary style" and "Taoism as the literary style", and opposed writing for the sake of writing.
2. Created a prose language that can convey the meaning only by saying what you should say, which is both Ming Dow and full of literary images.
3. In the way of expression, the eight great masters often combine narrative discussion with description and lyricism.