Today, we will introduce to you the historical figures of our country's Northern Song , whose name is Mei Yaochen . He was born in a poor peasant family. After hard study and celebrity recommendations, he finally entered the ranks of government civil servants. But he later became a realist poet and was hailed as "the first person in the poems of Song ".
Mei Yaochen
This article will mainly explore why Mei Yaochen changed from a government official to a realist poet?
1. Due to poor family background, the scientific expedition was not successful
Mei Yaochen, whose courtesy name was Shengyu, was born on April 17, the fifth year of Emperor Zhenzong of Song Dynasty (May 31, 1002). He is from Xuancheng, Xuanzhou (now Xuanzhou District, Xuancheng City, Anhui Province). He was born in a farm family and was poor when he was young, but he loved studying since he was a child. At the age of 16, Mei Yaochen participated in the provincial examination, but was not admitted.
Because his family was unable to continue to support Mei Yaochen's study again, he followed his uncle Mei Xun to Luoyang , and served as the Taimiao Zhailang with his kindness. Later, he served as the chief clerk of the three counties of Tongcheng , Henan and Heyang (the documents of each supervisor).
Because he did not enter the officialdom through the academic examination, when the imperial examination was regarded as the only way to enter the officialdom, Mei Yaochen never had the opportunity to be promoted when he was young and middle-aged. This made him have the ambition to serve the country and never fully demonstrated it.
2. Promoted by celebrities but not in the right place
In the officialdom, Mei Yaochen began to transfer his talents to poetry creation. He took advantage of the opportunity of serving in various parts of the country to travel to the beautiful mountains and rivers of the motherland; in poetry creation, he reversed the style of poetry, and often expressed his feelings and aspirations with simple and plain poems, reflecting social reality. And it was very famous in the poetry world at that time.
Mei Yaochen's poems
Tiansheng Ninth Year (1031), Mei Yaochen was appointed as the chief clerk of Heyang County. Because Heyang is very close to Xijing Luoyang. At that time, the main figure of the Xikun Poetry School, Qian Weiyan, , was sentenced to Henan Prefecture and Xijing , Ouyang Xiu served as the Xijing Promotion Officer , and Yin Zhu and others were also in charge of xijing. Mei Yaochen often fought with these celebrities, and was highly praised and became close friends with Ouyang Xiu. He actively supported Ouyang Xiu's ancient Chinese movement, and Ouyang Xiu once thought that his poetry was not as good as Mei Yaochen.
It is precisely because of the support of these celebrities that Mei Yaochen's official career has changed. In the third year of Huangyou (1051), after the strong recommendation of Ouyang Xiu and others, 50-year-old Mei Yaochen was awarded as a Jinshi and was appointed ; he was changed to Taichang Ph.D. Jiayou second year (1057), Ouyang Xiu recommended him as the official in charge, hoping to pass the exam to crack down on the floating and obscure writing style at that time. Mei Yaochen once praised the article on Su Shi's in the marking papers, recommended it to Ouyang Xiu, and selected Su Shi as the second place.
However, during Mei Yaochen's tenure in Beijing, his footprints were never "not entering the power gate". Even Ouyang Xiu, a friend who was the official at that time, was unwilling to go to his home. Usually, the important officials of the imperial court came to visit his home. In the second year of Jiayou (1057), Mei Yaochen was promoted to the Minister of the Shangshudu official, so he was known as " Meidu official ".
Mei Yaochen once wrote his own "Tang Zai Ji" in the court, which corrected many omissions and errors in the old history. Song Renzong finally trusted him and ordered him to participate in the compilation of " New Book of Tang ". Unfortunately, when the "New Book of Tang" was completed, Mei Yaochen died before he could report it to Renzong .
Mei Yaochen stone carving
In the fifth year of Jiayou (1060), an outbreak of an epidemic occurred in Bianjing. On April 17, Mei Yaochen unfortunately contracted the disease. On the 25th of the same month (May 27, 1060), Mei Yaochen died of illness in Bianjing at the age of 59.
3. Indulge in poetry creation and become the "No. 1 Song Poetry Person"
Because he was born in a poor peasant family, Mei Yaochen was sincere and could understand the sufferings of the people. When he was an official at the grassroots level, he did his best to do many things that benefit the people.He often went deep into the countryside’s homes for private visits, talked to farmers, bricklayers, and poor women, learned about the sufferings of the people, and rushed to the scene of the forest fires, and inspected the flooded streams on the spot; he eliminated the bad policies and did everything himself.
Mei Yaochen, who had been unsuccessful in the officialdom throughout his life, gradually turned his attention to poetry creation to express his depression, expose the corruption and darkness of the court, and reflect the hard life of the people. Mei Yaochen's early poetry creation was influenced by the Xikun School (poor and empty ideological content, separated from social reality, and lack of true feelings). Later, because he cared about reality and approached the people, his poetry style gradually changed, and he proposed a poetry theory that was tit-for-tat to the same as Xikun School.
Mei Yaochen emphasized the tradition of " Book of Songs " and "Li Sao", and advocated that poetry creation must be "stimulated by things, and through things" ("Answer the poem "Song of Han Three Sons, Hua Han Five Holdings, Han Six Yuru Sees"), and fiercely criticized the floating and empty style of poetry.
Mei Yaochen's poems
In art, Mei Yaochen pays attention to the characteristics of poetry's imagery and implicit artistic conception, and put forward the famous artistic standard of "the difficult-to-write scene is like the present, and the inexhaustible opinions are beyond the words" (quoted by Ouyang Xiu's " June 1 Poetry Talk "), and advocates the artistic realm of "stubbornness": "Writing poetry has no past and present, but it is difficult to create plainness." Mei Yaochen's creative practice is consistent with his creative propositions.
Mei Yaochen's poems are rich in realistic content and have a wide range of subjects. He understood rural life and wrote a number of works that cared about the fate of farmers in his early days, such as "The Four Seasons of the Field Family", "Handling Muslim ", "Watching the Li Crops", "New Cocoon", etc. Later, he wrote " Tian Jiayu ", describing the disasters and pains caused by heavy taxes and corvee labor to farmers. His famous work "The Poor Girl in the Ru Tomb" deeply reflects the tragic experiences of the people through the crying of a poor woman in her family.
Some of Mei Yaochen's poems express their concern for state affairs. Such as "Xiangcheng Against Snow" 2, "The War of the Yuan Dynasty" and so on. Other chapters such as "The Clever Wife", "When Ouyang Yongshu exiled to Yiling", and " Tiger Walking ", express his hatred for conservative and corrupt forces. He also wrote many landscape poems, including "Cold Grass", "Hidden Grass", "Hidden Cattle Herders Playing Flute Through the River ", "Watching the Cocks in the Evening Moor", which embody profound philosophy in ordinary scenery or things.
Portrait of Mei Yaochen
Because Mei Yaochen made important contributions to opening up the path of Song poetry, Liu Kezhuang called him the "founder" of Song poetry. Gong Xiao said that he "get rid of the habits of frivolity, transcends the extreme evils of Kun style, preserves the ancient and simple ways, and stands out the predecessors before the great rise of all the people"; later he was praised by people as "the first person in Song poetry."
In short, Mei Yaochen, a historical figure in the Northern Song Dynasty, was a poor peasant family. After studying hard and passing the imperial examination, he finally entered the ranks of government civil servants. But he later became a realist poet and was hailed as "the number one person in Song poetry."
The reason why Mei Yaochen transformed from a government official to a realist poet was mainly because his family was poor and he failed to provide the only way to enter the imperial examination at that time, which made him not worthy of the imperial examination; his own strength was poetry creation, and he was not good at management; the court was corrupt and did not care about the suffering of the people at that time.
Mei Yaochen's experience inspired us: a person should choose his or her life position and give full play to his or her own strengths; it is not only an official or a civil servant that is the only way out. All roads lead to Rome. We can choose the path of career choice according to social needs and our own characteristics. We believe that all walks of life can contribute to the construction of the motherland.
Mei Yaochen statue
This article is original by "Laowu Talks about Chinese Studies Today". Welcome to follow, learn together, and make progress together!
