| 姓： | 劉 | ||||
| 名： | 禹錫 | ||||
| 字： | 夢得 | ||||
| 籍貫： | 彭城 | ||||
| 今属： | 江蘇徐州 | ||||
閱讀劉禹錫 Liu Yuxi在诗海的作品!!! | |||||
字夢得 ，彭城（今江蘇徐州）人，是匈奴人的後裔。唐代中期詩人、哲學家。他的家庭是一個世代以儒學相傳的書香門弟。政治上主張革新，是王叔文派政治革新活動的中心人物之一。
劉禹錫耳濡目染，加上天資聰穎，敏而好學，從小就才學過人，氣度非凡。他十九歲遊學長安，上書朝廷。二十一歲，與柳宗元同榜考中進士。同年又考中了博學宏詞科。
後來在政治上不得意被貶為朗州司馬。他沒有自甘沉淪，而是以積極樂觀的精神進行創作，積極嚮民歌學習，創作了《采菱行》等仿民歌體詩歌。
一度奉詔還京後，劉禹錫又因詩句"玄都觀裏桃千樹，盡是劉郎去後載"觸怒新貴被貶為連州刺史。後被任命為江州刺史，在那裏創作了大量的《竹枝詞》。名句很多，廣為傳誦。824年夏，他寫了著名的《西塞山懷古》："王晉樓船下益州，金陵王氣黯然收。千尋鐵鎖沉江底，一片降幡出石頭。人世幾回傷往事，山形依舊忱寒流。今逢四海為傢日，故壘蕭蕭蘆荻秋。"這首詩為後世的文學評論傢所激賞，認為是含藴無窮的唐詩傑作。
後來，幾經多次調動，劉禹錫被派往蘇州擔任刺史。當時蘇州發生水災，饑鴻遍野。他上任以後開倉賑饑，免賦減役，很快使人民從災害中走出，過上了安居樂業的生活。蘇州人民愛戴他，感激他，就把曾在蘇州擔任過刺史的韋應物、白居易和他合稱為"三傑"，建立了三賢堂。皇帝也對他的政績予以褒奬，賜給他紫金魚袋。
劉禹錫晚年回到洛陽，任太子賓客，與朋友交遊賦詩，生活閑適。死後被追贈為戶部尚書。
[劉禹錫柳宗元]
對於中唐詩人來說，如何擺脫盛唐詩風的籠罩，開創新的詩歌境界，是他們的重要
課題。所以，很多詩人都在各自的角度摸索，在不同的方面創新，由此而出現了一種多
元化藝術追求的趨嚮。以韓、孟和元、白為代表的兩大新詩潮固然最為引人註目，但在
此之外，還有不少具有自己獨特風格、獨特建樹的詩人，其中比較傑出的，是劉禹錫和
柳宗元。
劉禹錫（772—842）字夢得，洛陽人（今屬河南），貞元九年（793）進士，貞元
末任監察御史時，與柳宗元等人參與了由王叔文、王伾領導而很快宣告失敗的革新活動，
因此被貶為朗州司馬，此後長期在外地任職。至大和二年（828）纔回到長安，先後任
主客郎中、集賢殿學士。此後又曾出外任蘇州、汝州刺史，繼而遷太子賓客。有《劉夢
得文集》。
劉禹錫早年隨父寓居嘉興，常去吳興拜訪作為江南著名禪僧兼詩僧的皎然和靈澈，
據其《澈上人文集紀》自述，當時他“方以兩髦執筆硯，陪其吟詠，皆曰孺子可教”，
這一早年經歷對其後來的詩歌創作影響很深。那麽，皎然、靈澈的詩歌主張是怎樣的呢？
皎然有《詩式》論詩，特別註意兩方面，一是主張苦思鍛煉，要求詩人在對詞句加以精
心錘煉之後復歸自然，他認為這種自然纔是詩的極緻；二是極重視詩歌意藴深遠而氣韻
朗暢高揚的境界，認為“取境偏高，則一首舉體便高，取境偏逸，則一首舉體便逸”。
而這“境”即意境來自創作主體的心境，“真思在杳冥，浮念寄形影”（《答俞校書鼕
夜》），即詩人主觀心境與審美觀照乃是最重要的。靈澈沒有詩論傳世，但據權德輿
《送靈澈上人廬山回歸沃州序》說，他“心冥空無而跡寄文字，故語甚夷易，如不出常
境，而諸生思慮終不可至……知其心不待境靜而靜”；又說他常“拂方袍，坐輕舟，溯
沿鏡中，靜得佳句，然後深入空寂，萬慮洗然”，可見靈澈也重視在主體的靜默觀照中
贏得意境的空靈深邃，而且語言也是追求自然的。這些見解一方面受到大歷、貞元詩風
影響，講究字詞錘煉，不露痕跡，一方面則來源於佛教重視“心”即主觀體驗感受的思
想。劉禹錫深信佛教，得其中三昧，在很多年以後他還說，寫詩的人應該“片言可以明
百意，坐馳可以役萬景”（《董氏武陵集紀》），前句即指語言的簡練與含蓄，後句即
指主體的觀照與冥想。所以他一方面重視通過錘煉與潤飾使詩歌的語言既精巧又自然，
而反對多用生僻字眼，提出“為詩用僻字，須有來處……
後輩業詩，即須有據，不可率爾道也”（《劉賓客嘉話錄》）；
另一方面，他又極重視主體的觀照與冥想，在《秋日過鴻舉法師寺院便送歸江陵詩
引》中他曾說：
能離欲則方寸地虛，虛而萬景入；入必有所泄，乃形於詞。……因定而得境，故翛
然以清；由慧而遣詞，故粹然以麗。
定，是排除雜念的觀照，慧，是一種靈感的獲得。這樣寫出來的詩，便能容納更豐
富的內涵，有着更深的意境。因此，劉禹錫的詩大多自然流暢、簡練爽利，同時具有一
種空曠開闊的時間感和空間感。像他的名句如“芳林新葉催陳葉，流水前波讓後波”
（《樂天見示傷微之敦詩晦叔三君子皆有深分因成是詩以寄》），“沉舟側畔千帆過，
病樹前頭萬木春”（《酬樂天揚州初逢席上見贈》），都是他對歷史、人生進行沉思之
後的一種感悟。這種感悟以形象出現在詩裏，不僅有開闊的視界，而且有一種超時距的
跨度，顯示出歷史、現實、未來在這裏的交融。
劉禹錫的詠史詩十分為人稱道。這些詩以簡潔的文字、精選的意象，表現他閱盡滄
桑變化之後的沉思，其中藴涵了很深的感慨，如《西塞山懷古》、《烏衣巷》、《石頭
城》、《蜀先主廟》等都是名篇。
王濬樓船下益州，金陵王氣黯然收。千尋鐵鎖沉江底，一片降幡出石頭。人世幾回
傷往事，山形依舊枕寒流。今逢四海為傢日，故壘蕭蕭蘆荻秋。（《西塞山懷古》）
朱雀橋邊野草花，烏衣巷口夕陽斜。舊時王謝堂前燕，飛入尋常百姓傢。（《烏衣
巷》）
前一首是詩人站在西塞山遠眺的感慨，在他心中，是一種永恆與短暫的強烈對比：
千帆競發、鐵鎖沉江，無論是戰降治亂、分裂統一，這一切比起默默無言的大自然來，
都不過是過眼煙雲，瞬間即逝。後一首則通過王謝這些士族的舊跡變為尋常百姓傢的歷
史變遷，呈現了人們心靈深處常有的對一切繁華與高貴都會被時間洗刷淨盡的嘆息。
劉禹錫的山水詩，也改變了大歷、貞元詩人襟幅狹小、氣象蕭瑟的風格，而常常是
寫一種超出空間實距的、半虛半實的開闊景象，如“水底遠山雲似雪，橋邊平岸草如煙”
（《和牛相公遊南莊醉後寓言戲贈樂天兼見示》），“野草芳菲紅錦地，遊絲繚亂碧羅
天”（《春日書懷寄東洛白二十二楊八二庶子》）。再如《望洞庭》：
湖光秋月兩相和，潭面無風鏡未磨。遙望洞庭山水翠，白銀盤裏一青蠃。
在這靜謐空靈的山光水色中融入了詩人的主觀情感，構成了一種恬靜平和的氛圍。
不過，雖然劉禹錫說過“能離欲則方寸地虛”，但是他積極參與永貞革新，其實還
是要在社會中實現人生理想；他的性格也比較倔強，所以儘管受佛教徒影響，他卻不像
後期的白居易那樣，時而滿足，時而頽廢，詩中倒是常常表現出高揚開朗的精神。如
《秋詞》二首之一：“自古逢秋悲寂寥，我言秋日勝春朝。晴空一鶴排雲上，便引詩情
到碧霄。”《同樂天登棲靈寺塔》：“步步相攜不覺難，九層雲外倚欄桿。忽然語笑半
天上，無限遊人舉眼看。”都有一種高揚的力量。由於有了含蓄深沉的內涵、開闊疏朗
的境界和高揚嚮上的情感，劉禹錫的詩歌便顯得既清峻又明朗。
此外還應該提到他受民歌影響所寫的一些詩篇。皎然、靈澈等人生活在民歌興盛的
吳地，而在禪宗看來，民歌率直自然、活潑樸素，正是語言的極緻，所以他們也曾汲取
民歌的特色來寫詩，這無疑對劉禹錫有一定影響；劉禹錫又多次貶官南方，這也是民歌
盛行的地方，所以劉禹錫常常收集民間歌謠，學習它的格調進行詩歌創作，如《白鷺
兒》：
白鷺兒，最高格。毛衣新成雪不敵，衆禽喧呼獨凝寂。孤眠芊芊草，久立潺潺石。
前山正無雲，飛去入遙碧。
詩以隱喻方式寫自己孤高的情懷，但用的是輕快的民歌體。還有一些完全仿照民歌
的作品，如《竹枝詞》、《楊柳枝詞》、《堤上行》、《蹋歌詞》等，都很樸素自然、
清新可愛，散發着民歌那樣濃郁的生活氣息，以下兩首尤為傳神：
江南江北望煙波，入夜行人相應歌。桃葉傳情竹枝怨，水流無限月明多。（《堤上
行》三首之二）
楊柳青青江水平，聞郎岸上唱歌聲。東邊日出西邊雨，道是無晴還有晴。（《竹枝
詞》二首之一）
（中國文學史，章培恆 駱玉明，youth掃校）
Biography
Family background and education
His ancestors were Xiongnu nomadic people. The putative ‘seventh generation’ family head, Liu Liang, was an official of the Northern Wei (386-534), who followed the Emperor Xiaowen (471-499) when he established the capital at Luoyang in 494. Following the government sinification policy, he became Han and register his surname as Liu. From then on the family was based in Luoyang.
Liu Yuxi’s father, Li Xu, was forced to leave Luoyang to avoid the An Lushan rebellion (755-763) and went to Jiaxing (in the north of present-day Zhejiang Province). Liu Yuxi was born and grew up in the south. In his youth he studied with two renowned poets in Kuaiji (now Shaoxing), the Chan (Zen) monks Lingche (靈澈, 746-816) and Jiaoran (皎然, 730-799), and his later works often reflected this Buddhist sensibility.
Early career
| Names | |
|---|---|
| Chinese: | 劉禹錫 |
| Pinyin: | Liú Yǔxī |
| Wade-Giles: | Liu Yü-hsi |
| Japanese: | りゅう うしゃく Ryū Ushaku |
| Zì (字): | Mèng dé (夢得; Meng-te in Wade-Giles) |
| Hào (號): | Shī háo (詩豪; Shih-hao in Wade-Giles) |
In 793, Liu passed the jinshi imperial examination. One of the other successful candidates that year was another great poet, Liu Zongyuan, whose career was to be closely connected to that of Liu Yuxi. That same year, Liu Yuxi went on to pass the higher examination (boxue hongceke). In 795, the Ministry of Appointments sent him to be a tutor to the Heir Apparent, a sign that he was destined from a prominent career. However, in 796, his father suddenly died and he had to return to Yangzhou.
In 800, Liu became a secretary to the important scholar-official Du You who had been made the military governor of Xusihao Circuit, in charge of suppressing an insurrection in Xuzhou, enabling Liu to see army life at first hand. Later he followed Du You to Yangzhou, where he enjoyed the company of the poet Li Yi.
In 802. Liu was transferred to be a registrar (zhubu) in Weinan (in Shaanxi). The following year, on the recommendation of an official in the Imperial Censorate called Li Wen, Liu was transferred to the post of investigating censor. At that time, the essayist and poet Han Yu was already also working as an investigating censor, with Liu Zongyuan shortly to join him. These three literary giants of the middle Tang period became friends and were to remain in close contact for the rest of their lives.
Yongzhen Reform and banishment
In 805, the Emperor Dezong died and was succeeded by his son Shunzong. The government was entrusted to two reformers associated with the new emperor, Wang Shuwen and Wang Pi, 'imperial scholars' of the Hanlin Academy, who initiated the 'Yongzhen Reform' (after the new emperor's reign title). Liu Yuxi and Liu Zongyuan were closely connected to these officials, working immediately under them. However the emperor was in poor health and after only five months, the powerful eunuchs forced him to abdicate in favour of his son, who became Emperor Xianzong. The reform party lost power, Wang Shuwen was ordered to commit suicide, and the officials connected with the 'Yongzhen Reform' were banished to remote parts of the empire.
Liu Yuxi was sent to Lianzhou in Guangdong to be the local governor, then redirected, in a further demotion, to Langzhou in Hunan. Liu Zongyuan was sent to Yongzhou, another city in the same province. Others in the same group of banished officials included Wei Zhiyi, Cheng Yi, Han Ye (韓曄), Han Tai (韓泰), and Ling Zhun (凌準 ).
Second period of banishment and subsequent recall
In 815, Liu and the other Yongzhen reformers were recalled to the capital. Early the following year, he reached Changan, and unrepentantly wrote a poem with a veiled satire on court politics (The Peach Blossoms of Xuandu Temple 玄都觀桃花 ) that helped earn him another immediate banishment. Liu was to be sent to be the prefect of Bo (播州, in modern Zunyi, Guizhou), but as this would have been too hard a living place for Liu's mother, Liu Zongyuan offered to go there instead. Finally Pei Du, the deputy chief imperial censor (御史中丞, Yushi Zhongcheng), persuaded the emperor that Liu could be the local governor in Lianzhou in Guangdong, while Liu Zongyuan was sent to Liuzhou in Guangxi. In 821, Liu was again transferred to Kuizhou (on the Yangtze River), then transferred to another post at Hezhou (Guangxi).
In 826, Liu was again recalled, this time to Luoyang, ending the long period of his banishment from the court. In 827, he was given a post in the government, becoming a director (langzhong) of a bureau the following year. With the support again of the (then) Chancellor Pei Du, Liu was once again promoted to be an Academician (Jixianxueshi 集賢院學士), a post that lasted for four years, during which he was able to associate with Pei Du, Cui Qun and the poet Bai Juyi. In 828, he was able to visit Changan, where he wrote the poem Visiting Xuandu Temple Again (再遊玄都觀 Zài Yóu Xuándū Guān), noting that the peach trees had all disappeared, since his previous visit 14 years earlier.
Later career
In 830, Pei Du resigned as chancellor, and Liu was again given a provincial post, this time as governor in Suzhou, where his work on flood control was particularly appreciated. The local people designated him, with Wei Yingwu and Bai Juyi, as one of the ‘Three Worthies’ (三賢 sanxian), later to be commemorated in the ‘Three Worthies Hall’ (三賢堂). After Suzhou, he was posted to Ruzhou (in Henan) and Tongzhou (in Shaanxi).
In 836, he left Tongzhou to take up a nominal post in the household of the Heir Apparent in Luoyang. In 841, he also became an ‘Acting Adviser’ to the Director of the Board of Rites (Jianjiao Libu Shangshu 檢校禮部尚書). At that time Bai Juyi was also in retirement in Luoyang and the two old poets were able to spend time together. Liu Yuxi died in the autumn of 842 at the age of 71. He was given the posthumous rank of ‘Minister of Revenue’ (Hubu Shangshu 戶部尚書).
Poetry
Liu Yuxi’s wide interests are reflected in the subject matter of his poetry: the economic and social customs of ordinary people and their problems, folk music and folklore, friendship, feasting and drinking, and historical themes and nostalgia for the past. Some of the best known are notable for their simple, 'folksong' style. Just over 700 of his poems still exist, four of them are included in the classic Qing Dynasty anthology Three Hundred Tang Poems, which was first published in the 18th-century.
He excelled in the shorter, more complex forms of Chinese poetry. In technical terms, he preferred using heptasyllabics (seven character lines) to pentasyllabics (five character lines) (123 to 47 examples in Wu Zaiqing's edition of selected works), regulated rather than unregulated (145 to 22 examples in Wu), and short forms (8-line lüshi and 4-line jueju) to longer poems (142 to 25 examples in Wu).
He was a close friend and colleague of three great contemporary poets: Liu Zongyuan, Han Yu and Bai Juyi. Bai was born in the same year as Liu Yuxi and referred to "Liu and Po, those two mad old men" in at least one poem dedicated to Liu.
English translations
Two of Liu's poems were included in one of the first collections of English translations of Chinese literature: Herbert Giles's 1898 Chinese Poetry in English Verse:
秋風引 Summer Dying 何處秋風至？ Whence comes the autumn's whistling blast, 新妝宜面下朱樓， A gaily dressed damsel steps forth from her bower, | ||
A more recent translator, Red Pine (Bill Porter) has translated Ode to the Autumn Wind (秋風引 Qiūfēng yǐn, the same poem as Giles's Summer Dying above), The Peach Blossoms of Hsuantu Temple (玄都觀桃花 Xuándū Guàn Táohuā), and Visiting Hsuantu Temple Again (再遊玄都觀 Zài Yóu Xuándū Guān).
Loushi Ming
One of his most famous works is 'Loushi Ming' 陋室銘, "The Scholar's Humble Dwelling", a prose-poem describing living in a simple dwelling, following a life that is refined in culture and learning:
'Loushi Ming' 陋室銘 is famous. There is a song composed for that poem in 2016. That song appears in a music sheet book entitled as <Ten Songs Collection Used Chinese Ancient Poetry as Lyrics>. The ISBN 9781365417665, published by lulu.com.
A memorial of my shabby dwarf house
Johnson K. Gao November 18, 2016
Translated from an ancient Chinese poem written by Liu Yuxi (AD 722 ~ 842) in Tang Dynasty。
A mountain does not necessary to be high. As long as there lives a saint, It will get good fame.
A water body does not necessary to be deep. As long as there exists a dragon, It will demonstrate vital spirit.
That is my tiny room, although simple and shabby. My noble morality will help it revealing aromatic.
The trace of moss is crawling upon the staircases, Showing green; The color of grass is penetrating through the curtain, Presenting Prussian blue.
Chatting and smiling, among high rank scholars, They came and back, carried with no servants, Wrapped with white towel on head.
No noisy string instrument and flute disturbing ears, One can tune zither and read gold printed scripture; There are no messy files piled on the table, Showing the shape of fatigue, neither.
To the Zhuge Kongming’s hut in Nanyang, and The Yang Xiong’s pavilion in West Sichuan, Even Confucius could make remarks: "How could one say shabby with them?"
Philosophy
Li Yuxi was involved in a philosophical debate with his fellow literati, the poets Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan, concerning the duality of heaven (the sky, and by extension the natural world or God) and earth (the world of man). Han Yu, as a Confucian, regarded Heaven as paramount, whereas Liu Zongyuan regarded them as separate spheres. Lu Yuxi’s view, expressed in an essay called the Tianlun Shu (Tiānlùn shū 天論書), was that heaven and earth (i.e. nature and man) interacted to some degree. Heaven sometimes predominated over earth, and earth sometimes predominated over heaven.
Gallery
Notes
- ^ Liu Yuxi short biography at Renditions.org Archived 2006-10-02 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c d e f g h 劉禹錫集 (Liu Yuxi Selected Works) 吳在慶 (Edited by Wu Zaiqing) Nanjing：鳳凰出版社，2014 ISBN 978-7-5506-2009-4
- ^ The Peach Blossoms of Xuandu Temple, on Mountain Songs
- ^ Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 239
- ^ Visiting Xuandu Temple Again on Mountain Songs
- ^ To Liu Yu-hsi (AD 838) from More Translations from the Chinese, by Arthur Waley, 1919, at sacred-texts.com
- ^ H Giles (1898): Chinese Poetry in English Verse, Bernard Quaritch, London
- ^ Red Pine (translator) (2003): Poems of the Masters: China's Classic Anthology of T'ang and Sung Dynasty Verse, Port Townsend, WA: Copper Canyon Press
- ^ "The Scholar's Humble Dwelling (Poem). Liu Yu Hsi. Translated by James Black.," The Open Court: Vol. 1911: Iss. 3, Article 7, available at: Open SIUC
- ^ https://www.scribd.com/document/331739595/A-Memorial-of-My-Shabby-Dwarf-House
- ^ Fang Li-Tian (1989): Liu Zongyuan and Liu Yuxi. Theories of Heaven and Man Archived 2015-09-23 at the Wayback Machine in Yijie Tang, Zhen Li, George F. McLean, Man and Nature: The Chinese Tradition and the Future, CRVP, 1989, pp. 25–32, ISBN 978-0-8191-7412-3
References
- Chen, Jo-shui (1992): Liu Tsung-yüan and Intellectual Change in T'ang China, 773-819, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521419646, pp 49, 57, 58, 60, 67, 68, 70, 72, 73, 76, 111, 117, 119, 121, 186
- Lim, Chooi Kua [Lin Shui-kao] (1994, 1996): A biography of Liu Yuxi, Chinese Culture, 36.2, 37.1, 115-50, 111-141
- Luo Yuming (translated with annotations and an introduction by Ye Yang), (2011): A Concise History of Chinese Literature Volume 1, Brill, Leiden, pp 356–8
- Richardson, Tori Cliffon Anthony (1994). Liu Pin-k'o chia-hua lu ('A Record of Adviser to the Heir Apparent Liu (Yü-hsi's) Fine Discourses'): A Study and Translation. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Wisconsin
- Sping, Madeline K (1989): Equine Allegory in the Writings of Liu Yü-hsi, in Ti-i chieh Kuo-chi T'ang-tai wen-hsüeh hui-i Lun-wen chi 第一結國際唐代文學會議論文集, Taipei Student Book Company, pp 1–35
External links
- Liu Yuxi in The Anchor Book of Chinese Poetry, Whittier College
- Works by Liu Yuxi in the Complete Tang Poetry (Chinese only) at the Zhengzhou University Internet Centre
- Works by Liu Yuxi at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- Books of the Quan Tangshi that include collected poems of Liu Yuxi at the Chinese Text Project: