Yu Guangzhong once praised Li Bai in a poem, saying that "as soon as he spit out his embroidered mouth, he was half of the prosperous Tang Dynasty." Li Bai, who was born in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, drank and sang wildly, expressing his thoughts directly in the mountains, rivers and wilderness. His poems He is bold and unrestrained, expressing his uninhibited feelings.
Li Bai was also praised by later generations as " banishing the immortal ".
During the Northern Song Dynasty, Su Shi made extraordinary achievements in poetry. His writing style was unbridled and unrestrained, and he was a very representative lyricist in the Northern Song Dynasty.
And Su Shi was also praised by Huang Tingjian as "a true god among immortals".
Li Bai and Su Shi are both known as "immortals" and both are famous for their beautiful words and phrases. Who will be better and win the title of "the most talented person of all time"?
is comparable, but the academic level is slightly inferior.
Such a story was recorded in "Gengxi Poetry Talk".
It is said that Song Shenzong asked the ministers who were accompanying him on a whim. Who among the literary talents in the past dynasties was as talented as Su Shi?
The minister respectfully replied: "Li Bai."
But such an answer did not satisfy Song Shenzong. He shook his head and said: "Although Li Bai has Su Shi's talent, he does not have Su Shi's learning."
In the Song Dynasty, Song Shenzong In Shenzong's view, Li Bai was indeed a gifted scholar, but his practical knowledge was far inferior to that of Su Shi.
Perhaps in Song Shenzong's mind, Su Shi was the rare greatest talent in ancient and modern times.
But why did Song Shenzong say this?
Similar experiences, common literature
It actually makes sense for ministers of Song Shenzong to compare Li Bai and Su Shi. Just as Song Shenzong said, the two of them are actually very similar in terms of talents.
In terms of talent, both Li Bai and Su Shi are world-famous as "geniuses" and "young prodigies".
Li Bai "Reciting Liujia at the age of five, observing hundreds of schools of thought at the age of ten" , is a young prodigy with extraordinary talents.
And Su Shi was no less generous. In "History of the Song Dynasty ", it is written that when Su Shi was a boy, his father Su Xun traveled far and wide, and his mother personally taught Su Shi poetry, calligraphy, etiquette and Yi. When Su Shi reached his prime, he was even more " Both of them are representatives of natural talents.
From the perspective of achievements, Li Bai and Su Shi each represent the pinnacle image of a dynasty's poetry creation.
Li Bai wrote hundreds of poems about drinking wine. His songs completely broke the fixed pattern of old poetry creation. His writing style was elegant, his poetry style was smooth and hearty, and he could express endless emotions in the most concise and brisk language.
And his quatrains are even more outstanding. There are many poets in the prosperous Tang Dynasty who are good at quatrains. Wang Wei is good at five-character quatrains, and Wang Changling is best at writing seven-character quatrains. However, only Li Bai is good at both five and seven characters.
As for Su Shi, he can be called the originator of bold style of lyrics. Since the late Tang Dynasty, the style of Ci writing has always been dominated by elegance and elegance. However, it was not until the time of Su Dongpo that the style of Ci writing changed, truly interrupting the "ci style of Yanke" and "ci style of elegance and beauty". ” appearance.
It can be said that Su Shi led a storm of changes in the style of poetry.
Since both of them are immortal-level figures in the world of poetry, how can they compare to each other?
In fact, Song Shenzong pointed out one point that clearly distinguishes the two.
Poems of poets and poems of scholars
Song Shenzong’s words are very accurate. The biggest difference between Li Bai and Su Shi is that Li Bai’s poems are poems of poets, while Su Shi’s poems are poems of scholars and scholars. .
What do you mean by this?
First of all, Li Bai indulged in landscapes throughout his life, but Su Shi was obsessed with studying literature and becoming an official.
During the Tang Dynasty, the trend of study tours was popular, that is, "reading thousands of books and traveling thousands of miles." Li Bai was also a loyal follower of this principle. Except for studying hard when he was a boy, he spent most of the rest of his time It was spent on wandering around the beautiful mountains and rivers.
However, in the Song Dynasty, civil servants were highly respected, and the social atmosphere was also proud of studying and being an official. Although he once expressed his love for mountains and rivers because of being repeatedly demoted, these were short-lived. Su Shi basically lived a scholar-style study life, with reading and writing as his lifelong pursuit.
In addition to his great achievements in lyrics, he also devoted himself to practicing calligraphy. Su Shi's running script and regular script were particularly outstanding. He was also included in the "Four Song Calligraphers" together with Mi Fu and other calligraphers.
Moreover, Su Shi not only dabbled in painting, he could even be said to be a master of calligraphy and painting. He is extremely good at painting ink bamboo, and he advocates that painting not only requires a physical resemblance, but also pays attention to natural interest and pursues spiritual resemblance.
The idea of " literati painting " proposed by Su Shi also laid an ideological and theoretical foundation for the future development of the field of painting.
Therefore, compared to Li Bai, who specialized in poetry and was obsessed with landscapes, Su Shi was more like a "literary all-rounder" and more erudite and knowledgeable.
Secondly, Li Bai was a romantic poet, while Su Shi was a literati doctor who focused on theoretical speculation.
The imperial examinations in the Tang Dynasty were mainly based on poetry and songs, so scholars would focus their main energy on studying literary and artistic books. Li Bai, who was cultivated in such a social atmosphere, was naturally a romantic poet.
In addition to the miscellaneous studies Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, Li Bai also has a strong color atmosphere of the knight-errant and strategist .
For example, in his poem "Xia Ke Xing", "Kill one person in ten steps, and leave no trace in a thousand miles." And in "Recalling Old Travels in Xiangyang Presented to Jiyin Ma Shaofu", "High crown and long sword, long bow to Han Jingzhou." The knight-errant style of the Warring States Period is clearly present in several poems.
In other words, Li Bai embodies a kind of free and easy feeling of gratification and reciprocity, and he does not want to be bound by traditional ethics, nor does he want to be involved in the turmoil of his official career.
Judging from this personality, Li Bai was straightforward and unruly in nature. Such a person could not adapt to the political life of the court, and he could only spend his whole life as a poet.
But the scholars in the Song Dynasty were different. At that time, Ercheng Neo-Confucianism was prevalent, and the imperial examinations in the Song Dynasty were mainly based on policy literature. Therefore, scholars in the Song Dynasty mostly focused on studying articles and theoretical speculation.
As a well-educated scholar, Su Shi was naturally deeply influenced by this idea of studying and becoming an official. He was more like a scholar-type talent who liked to reason and discuss.
Li Bai's poem about the moon is "raising a glass to invite the bright moon, facing the shadow to form three people", while Su Shi's poem about the moon is "people have joys and sorrows, separation and separation, the moon has waxing and waning, this matter is difficult to complete in ancient times". The former tends to be lyrical, while the latter is quite philosophical.
The famous lines in Su Shi's poems, such as "Looking at the side, it looks like a ridge and the side looks like a peak, with different heights from near and far", which contains more philosophical interest.
From this perspective, Li Bai is and can only be a poet, but Su Shi can be a scholar full of speculative philosophy , with profound reasoning and current problems.
Li Bai and Su Shi are world-famous scholars. They have both taken the lead in the field of poetry. Li Bai symbolizes an uninhibited and free personality. He is a pure poet. But Su Shi is the representative of Chinese literati. He is not only a poet, but also a scholar and politician.
Therefore, there is a saying by Song Shenzong that "there is only Shi's talent but no Shi's learning".
