Getting Rich from Legend of Zhen Huan

Idyll

Picking chrysanthemums under the eastern fence and leisurely seeing the southern mountains (Chinese painting by Cheng Lianou) (1 photo)

Tao Yuanming's pastoral poems are the most numerous and the most accomplished. This type of poetry fully demonstrates the poet's noble integrity; fully demonstrates the poet's love for the simple pastoral life, his understanding of labor and his friendly feelings towards the working people; and fully demonstrates the poet's pursuit and yearning for an ideal world. As a literati, such thoughts and feelings, such content, are unprecedented in the history of literature, especially in a society with a family system and strict concepts. Some of Tao Yuanming's pastoral poems also reflect his difficult situation in his later years, which can indirectly enable readers to understand the miserable life of the peasant class at that time. Tao Yuanming is the pioneer of pastoral poetry. His pastoral poems, with their simple and natural language and lofty and unconventional artistic conception, opened up a new world for the Chinese poetry world and directly influenced the pastoral poetry school of the Tang Dynasty. In his pastoral poems, his disgust with the dirty reality and his love for the quiet pastoral life can be seen everywhere. Because of his actual working experience, his poems are filled with the joy of workers and express thoughts and feelings that only workers can feel. For example, the third poem of "Returning to the Fields" is a powerful proof of this, and this is also the progress of his pastoral poetry.

Tao Yuanming's pastoral and hermit poems had a great influence on Tang and Song poets. Du Fu wrote in his poem: "Wine is the best way to relax, and poetry is the best way to relieve one's boredom. Tao Yuanming understands this idea, and I hope you will come after I die." Su Dongpo, a poet in the Song Dynasty, had a high opinion of Tao Yuanming: "Yuanming's poems seem to be slow and unhurried at first glance, but you will find wonderful sentences after you read them carefully. ... Generally speaking, he is talented and far-sighted, so he can express his ideas in a wonderful way and create words with great precision, which is why he can do so well. It is like a master craftsman using an axe without leaving any traces of chiseling." Su Dongpo also wrote 109 poems in response to Tao Yuanming, including "Reply to Tao Zhijiu", "Reply to Tao Lianyu Duyin Two Poems", "Reply to Tao Encouraging Farmers Six Poems", "Reply to Tao Jiuri Xianju", "Reply to Tao Imitating Ancient Poems Nine Poems", "Reply to Tao Miscellaneous Poems Eleven Poems", "Reply to Tao to Yang Changli", "Reply to Tao Tingyun Four Poems", "Reply to Tao Xing to Ying", "Reply to Tao Ying Reply to Xing", "Reply to Tao Liu Chaisang", "Reply to Tao Reward Liu Chaisang", and "Reply to Tao Guo Zhubu", which shows the profound influence of Tao Yuanming on Su Dongpo.

Prose

Tao Yuanming's status and influence in the history of literature are due to his prose and poetry, which are no less important than his poetry, especially "Biography of Mr. Wu Liu", "Peach Blossom Spring" and "Returning to the Countryside", which are the most representative of his temperament and thoughts and are also the most famous.

The Biography of Mr. Wu Liu adopts the form of an official history biography. It does not focus on describing life events but on expressing the interest of life. It has the characteristics of self-narration. This writing style was first created by Tao Yuanming. The Return to the Countryside is a declaration of leaving the official career and returning to the countryside. There are many brilliant paragraphs in the text. Its ups and downs of rhythm and comfortable voice present the poet's ecstatic state to the readers. Ouyang Xiu once commented: "There is no article in Jin Dynasty, only Tao Yuanming's Return to the Countryside." What should be emphasized in the Peach Blossom Spring is that the ideal model provided by Tao Yuanming has its own uniqueness: the people living in the Peach Blossom Spring are a group of ordinary people, a group of people who escape from war, not immortals, but they retain more of the purity of nature than the world. At the beginning of Tao Yuanming's retreat, he still thought about his personal advancement and retreat. When he wrote the Peach Blossom Spring, he was no longer limited to himself, but thought about the way out for the whole society and the happiness of the people. The ability to take this step is related to years of farming and poverty. Although the Peach Blossom Spring is just a fantasy, it is very valuable to have come up with this fantasy. [11]

Literary Thought

Tao Yuanming was a great thinker in the Middle Ages. His literary thought is an important part of the literary thought of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. His understanding of truth not only focuses on the truth of history and life, but also on the truth of thoughts, emotions, and ambitions, which is a more perfect artistic truth. At the same time, his understanding of nature also reflects the uniqueness of his literary thought. He does not talk about teaching or carving, but pays attention to the free expression of emotions and the naturalness of poetry and prose, which is a very high realm. However, whether it is advocating artistic truth or advocating the nature of literature, it is to express life in a hearty and free manner. This is the soul of Tao Yuanming's literary thought.

Tao Yuanming had a very clear understanding of the hypocrisy and darkness of social affairs, so his seclusion was not a passive escape from reality, but had a positive significance of criticizing social reality. When he fell into the predicament of hunger and cold in his long secluded life, although he hesitated and wavered, he did not succumb to reality in the end, and would rather be poor all his life than stick to his integrity. It is said that the county official sent the inspector to see him, and the county official asked him to dress up to greet him. He sighed and said, "How can I bow to the children in the village for five pecks of rice!" From then on, it became a good story that he would not bow to five pecks of rice. Tao Yuanming liked to drink, and "sending wine as a trace" expressed his wish not to go along with the corrupt ruling group, showing the poet's calm and far-reaching mind, lonely and noble character. It is precisely because of this that his works are plain and simple but full of poetry.

Tao Yuanming wrote more than 12 poems and essays, citing allusions from Liezi and Zhuangzi as many as times. It can be said that he was deeply influenced by the thoughts of Laozi and Zhuangzi. Tao Yuanming admired the natural aesthetics of Laozi and Zhuangzi, and at the same time, he lived and worked in the countryside. Naturally, rural life became his aesthetic object, and thus achieved the glory of Chinese pastoral poetry. Tao Yuanming's poetic aesthetic thought of taking nature and truth as beauty shines in the poetry, illuminating the personality of the characters, allowing readers to strongly feel the poet's arrogant and unyielding personality charm of pursuing freedom; reflected in the content, it introduced rural life into the poetry world, opening up a new world for the development of Chinese poetry; permeated in art, it created a true, simple and distant artistic realm and an aesthetic style that dilutes nature. This is the great poet Tao Yuanming. For thousands of years, his character, his poetry, his countryside, and his leisurely nature have become the objects of worship and study by later poets and readers, which is enough to illustrate the endless vitality of his aesthetic thought. []

Artistic Features

Language

Tao Yuanming from Chuanshan’s “Portraits of Famous Officials of All Dynasties” [13]

The language of Tao Yuanming's works is plain, but this plainness expresses deep feelings and rich thoughts in simple and easy-to-understand language; the meaning is easy to understand, and its connotation needs to be savored carefully, but it is full of sentiment and interest. Liang Shiqiu said: "The most gorgeous things return to plainness, but that plainness is not mediocre plainness, that blandness is not bland and tasteless blandness, that plainness is an artistic charm without any trace of artificiality."

Like the colloquial language of farmers, the artistic image created is vivid and distinct. Su Shi said: "Yuanming's poems seem slow and slow at first glance, but they are interesting when read carefully. Like the warm and distant village, the lingering smoke in the village. Dogs barking in the deep alley, chickens crowing on the top of mulberry trees.' He also said: 'Picking chrysanthemums under the eastern fence, leisurely seeing the southern mountains.' Generally speaking, his talent is high and his ideas are far-reaching, so his expression is wonderful, so he can be like this, like a master carpenter using an axe without leaving any marks. Those who don't know will exhaust their energy and never understand until they die." It embodies a clever conception of "seemingly ordinary is the most extraordinary, and it seems easy to achieve but is difficult" (Wang Anshi's words).