The concept of "ancient prose" was first put forward by Han Yu. Since the Six Dynasties, he has emphasized melody and rhetoric. Parallel prose is regarded as a popular prose, and its own prose inherits the tradition of Han dynasty articles, so it is called "ancient prose"
Han Yu advocated ancient prose in order to restore the Confucian orthodoxy in ancient times and turn the reform of writing style and the revival of Confucianism into a complementary movement. When advocating ancient prose, we further emphasize the necessity of civilized Taoism.
Extended data:
I. Introduction to Han Yu
Han Yu, a writer in Tang Dynasty, is a legend. He is three years old and lonely. He was brought up by his brother and sister-in-law. Holding Yu's hand, he was full of knowledge, fame and fortune, and went through hardships to enter the Jinshi.
After entering the official career, he suffered from honest and frank personality and outspoken. He was demoted to Yangshan, then to doctor, and then to Chaozhou. He was exhausted, but he was not surprised by honor or disgrace, and he was uncertain about ups and downs. Be an official in politics, do your best to benefit the people; Write for the sake of writing, flow jade and fly beads, and become a generation of masters.
Second, the ancient prose movement in the Northern Song Dynasty
That is, the poetry reform movement in the Northern Song Dynasty mainly opposed the extravagant style of writing represented by Kunxi style and advocated poetry innovation. In the late Tang Dynasty, the ancient prose movement tended to decline, and there was a bad style of writing that focused on engraving chapters and sentences.
During the Northern Song Dynasty, some literati, represented by Ouyang Xiu, greatly 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".
References:
Baidu Encyclopedia-The Decline of Wen Qi in the Eighth Generation
Baidu encyclopedia-ancient prose movement in Tang and Song Dynasties