| xìng： | liú | ||||
| míng： | yǔ xī | ||||
| zì： | mèng dé | ||||
| jíguàn： | péng chéng | ||||
| jīnshǔ： | jiāng sū xú zhōu | ||||
yuèdòuliú yǔ xī Liu Yuxizài诗海dezuòpǐn!!! | |||||
字梦得 ，彭城（今江苏徐州）人，是匈奴人的后裔。唐代中期诗人、哲学家。他的家庭是一个世代以儒学相传的书香门弟。政治上主张革新，是王叔文派政治革新活动的中心人物之一。
刘禹锡耳濡目染，加上天资聪颖，敏而好学，从小就才学过人，气度非凡。他十九岁游学长安，上书朝廷。二十一岁，与柳宗元同榜考中进士。同年又考中了博学宏词科。
后来在政治上不得意被贬为朗州司马。他没有自甘沉沦，而是以积极乐观的精神进行创作，积极向民歌学习，创作了《采菱行》等仿民歌体诗歌。
一度奉诏还京后，刘禹锡又因诗句"玄都观里桃千树，尽是刘郎去后载"触怒新贵被贬为连州刺史。后被任命为江州刺史，在那里创作了大量的《竹枝词》。名句很多，广为传诵。824年夏，他写了著名的《西塞山怀古》："王晋楼船下益州，金陵王气黯然收。千寻铁锁沉江底，一片降幡出石头。人世几回伤往事，山形依旧忱寒流。今逢四海为家日，故垒萧萧芦荻秋。"这首诗为后世的文学评论家所激赏，认为是含蕴无穷的唐诗杰作。
后来，几经多次调动，刘禹锡被派往苏州担任刺史。当时苏州发生水灾，饥鸿遍野。他上任以后开仓赈饥，免赋减役，很快使人民从灾害中走出，过上了安居乐业的生活。苏州人民爱戴他，感激他，就把曾在苏州担任过刺史的韦应物、白居易和他合称为"三杰"，建立了三贤堂。皇帝也对他的政绩予以褒奖，赐给他紫金鱼袋。
刘禹锡晚年回到洛阳，任太子宾客，与朋友交游赋诗，生活闲适。死后被追赠为户部尚书。
[刘禹锡柳宗元]
对于中唐诗人来说，如何摆脱盛唐诗风的笼罩，开创新的诗歌境界，是他们的重要
课题。所以，很多诗人都在各自的角度摸索，在不同的方面创新，由此而出现了一种多
元化艺术追求的趋向。以韩、孟和元、白为代表的两大新诗潮固然最为引人注目，但在
此之外，还有不少具有自己独特风格、独特建树的诗人，其中比较杰出的，是刘禹锡和
柳宗元。
刘禹锡（772—842）字梦得，洛阳人（今属河南），贞元九年（793）进士，贞元
末任监察御史时，与柳宗元等人参与了由王叔文、王伾领导而很快宣告失败的革新活动，
因此被贬为朗州司马，此后长期在外地任职。至大和二年（828）才回到长安，先后任
主客郎中、集贤殿学士。此后又曾出外任苏州、汝州刺史，继而迁太子宾客。有《刘梦
得文集》。
刘禹锡早年随父寓居嘉兴，常去吴兴拜访作为江南著名禅僧兼诗僧的皎然和灵澈，
据其《澈上人文集纪》自述，当时他“方以两髦执笔砚，陪其吟咏，皆曰孺子可教”，
这一早年经历对其后来的诗歌创作影响很深。那么，皎然、灵澈的诗歌主张是怎样的呢？
皎然有《诗式》论诗，特别注意两方面，一是主张苦思锻炼，要求诗人在对词句加以精
心锤炼之后复归自然，他认为这种自然才是诗的极致；二是极重视诗歌意蕴深远而气韵
朗畅高扬的境界，认为“取境偏高，则一首举体便高，取境偏逸，则一首举体便逸”。
而这“境”即意境来自创作主体的心境，“真思在杳冥，浮念寄形影”（《答俞校书冬
夜》），即诗人主观心境与审美观照乃是最重要的。灵澈没有诗论传世，但据权德舆
《送灵澈上人庐山回归沃州序》说，他“心冥空无而迹寄文字，故语甚夷易，如不出常
境，而诸生思虑终不可至……知其心不待境静而静”；又说他常“拂方袍，坐轻舟，溯
沿镜中，静得佳句，然后深入空寂，万虑洗然”，可见灵澈也重视在主体的静默观照中
赢得意境的空灵深邃，而且语言也是追求自然的。这些见解一方面受到大历、贞元诗风
影响，讲究字词锤炼，不露痕迹，一方面则来源于佛教重视“心”即主观体验感受的思
想。刘禹锡深信佛教，得其中三昧，在很多年以后他还说，写诗的人应该“片言可以明
百意，坐驰可以役万景”（《董氏武陵集纪》），前句即指语言的简练与含蓄，后句即
指主体的观照与冥想。所以他一方面重视通过锤炼与润饰使诗歌的语言既精巧又自然，
而反对多用生僻字眼，提出“为诗用僻字，须有来处……
后辈业诗，即须有据，不可率尔道也”（《刘宾客嘉话录》）；
另一方面，他又极重视主体的观照与冥想，在《秋日过鸿举法师寺院便送归江陵诗
引》中他曾说：
能离欲则方寸地虚，虚而万景入；入必有所泄，乃形于词。……因定而得境，故翛
然以清；由慧而遣词，故粹然以丽。
定，是排除杂念的观照，慧，是一种灵感的获得。这样写出来的诗，便能容纳更丰
富的内涵，有着更深的意境。因此，刘禹锡的诗大多自然流畅、简练爽利，同时具有一
种空旷开阔的时间感和空间感。像他的名句如“芳林新叶催陈叶，流水前波让后波”
（《乐天见示伤微之敦诗晦叔三君子皆有深分因成是诗以寄》），“沉舟侧畔千帆过，
病树前头万木春”（《酬乐天扬州初逢席上见赠》），都是他对历史、人生进行沉思之
后的一种感悟。这种感悟以形象出现在诗里，不仅有开阔的视界，而且有一种超时距的
跨度，显示出历史、现实、未来在这里的交融。
刘禹锡的咏史诗十分为人称道。这些诗以简洁的文字、精选的意象，表现他阅尽沧
桑变化之后的沉思，其中蕴涵了很深的感慨，如《西塞山怀古》、《乌衣巷》、《石头
城》、《蜀先主庙》等都是名篇。
王濬楼船下益州，金陵王气黯然收。千寻铁锁沉江底，一片降幡出石头。人世几回
伤往事，山形依旧枕寒流。今逢四海为家日，故垒萧萧芦荻秋。（《西塞山怀古》）
朱雀桥边野草花，乌衣巷口夕阳斜。旧时王谢堂前燕，飞入寻常百姓家。（《乌衣
巷》）
前一首是诗人站在西塞山远眺的感慨，在他心中，是一种永恒与短暂的强烈对比：
千帆竞发、铁锁沉江，无论是战降治乱、分裂统一，这一切比起默默无言的大自然来，
都不过是过眼烟云，瞬间即逝。后一首则通过王谢这些士族的旧迹变为寻常百姓家的历
史变迁，呈现了人们心灵深处常有的对一切繁华与高贵都会被时间洗刷净尽的叹息。
刘禹锡的山水诗，也改变了大历、贞元诗人襟幅狭小、气象萧瑟的风格，而常常是
写一种超出空间实距的、半虚半实的开阔景象，如“水底远山云似雪，桥边平岸草如烟”
（《和牛相公游南庄醉后寓言戏赠乐天兼见示》），“野草芳菲红锦地，游丝缭乱碧罗
天”（《春日书怀寄东洛白二十二杨八二庶子》）。再如《望洞庭》：
湖光秋月两相和，潭面无风镜未磨。遥望洞庭山水翠，白银盘里一青螺。
在这静谧空灵的山光水色中融入了诗人的主观情感，构成了一种恬静平和的氛围。
不过，虽然刘禹锡说过“能离欲则方寸地虚”，但是他积极参与永贞革新，其实还
是要在社会中实现人生理想；他的性格也比较倔强，所以尽管受佛教徒影响，他却不像
后期的白居易那样，时而满足，时而颓废，诗中倒是常常表现出高扬开朗的精神。如
《秋词》二首之一：“自古逢秋悲寂寥，我言秋日胜春朝。晴空一鹤排云上，便引诗情
到碧霄。”《同乐天登栖灵寺塔》：“步步相携不觉难，九层云外倚栏杆。忽然语笑半
天上，无限游人举眼看。”都有一种高扬的力量。由于有了含蓄深沉的内涵、开阔疏朗
的境界和高扬向上的情感，刘禹锡的诗歌便显得既清峻又明朗。
此外还应该提到他受民歌影响所写的一些诗篇。皎然、灵澈等人生活在民歌兴盛的
吴地，而在禅宗看来，民歌率直自然、活泼朴素，正是语言的极致，所以他们也曾汲取
民歌的特色来写诗，这无疑对刘禹锡有一定影响；刘禹锡又多次贬官南方，这也是民歌
盛行的地方，所以刘禹锡常常收集民间歌谣，学习它的格调进行诗歌创作，如《白鹭
儿》：
白鹭儿，最高格。毛衣新成雪不敌，众禽喧呼独凝寂。孤眠芊芊草，久立潺潺石。
前山正无云，飞去入遥碧。
诗以隐喻方式写自己孤高的情怀，但用的是轻快的民歌体。还有一些完全仿照民歌
的作品，如《竹枝词》、《杨柳枝词》、《堤上行》、《蹋歌词》等，都很朴素自然、
清新可爱，散发着民歌那样浓郁的生活气息，以下两首尤为传神：
江南江北望烟波，入夜行人相应歌。桃叶传情竹枝怨，水流无限月明多。（《堤上
行》三首之二）
杨柳青青江水平，闻郎岸上唱歌声。东边日出西边雨，道是无晴还有晴。（《竹枝
词》二首之一）
（中国文学史，章培恒 骆玉明，youth扫校）
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: | 刘禹锡 |
| Pinyin: | Liú Yǔxī |
| Wade-Giles: | Liu Yü-hsi |
| Japanese: | りゅう うしゃく Ryū Ushaku |
| Zì (字): | Mèng dé (梦得; 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 (凌准 ).
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 集贤院学士), 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’ (三贤 sanxian), later to be commemorated in the ‘Three Worthies Hall’ (三贤堂). 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 检校礼部尚书). 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 户部尚书).
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 何处秋风至？ Whence comes the autumn's whistling blast, 新妆宜面下朱楼， A gaily dressed damsel steps forth from her bower, | ||
A more recent translator, Red Pine (Bill Porter) has translated Ode to the Autumn Wind (秋风引 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 刘禹锡集 (Liu Yuxi Selected Works) 吴在庆 (Edited by Wu Zaiqing) Nanjing：凤凰出版社，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 第一结国际唐代文学会议论文集, 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: