[The author says]
In 2019, I said in the preface of "Mo Lifeng Talks about Tang Poetry Class": "From 1979 when I took the entrance examination to Mr. Cheng, until his death in 2000, I established Xu Cheng's for twenty-one years. In Mr. Cheng’s study, I personally listened to Mr.’s lectures, and I also wrote papers under the guidance of Mr. or co-authored papers with him. Every step I took in my studies was inseparable from the support and guidance of Mr. Accepting the invitation of the publishing house to compile this book, without avoiding repetition, the title is "Mo Lifeng Talks about Tang Poetry Lessons" to show the relationship between this book and Mr. Cheng's "Tang Poetry Lessons", and express his gratitude to Mr. I miss it.” Actually, I should also write a book devoted to Song poetry, which can also show my academic connection with Mr. Cheng.
one
On April 7, 1979, I went to the Department of Education of Anhui Province to check the subject catalogues of graduate students recruited by various universities. After many setbacks, I chose the Chinese Ancient Literature Department of Nanjing University as my volunteer for the examination. The research direction was "Poetry of Tang and Song Dynasties". This is Professor Cheng Qianfan.
Ashamed to say, before that day, I didn't even know there was Mr. Cheng in the world.
I was in my second year of undergraduate study in the Department of Foreign Languages at Anhui University, and I didn't know anything about Chinese.
In September, I entered NTU as a postgraduate student, and since then I have established Xuchengmen.
Mr. Cheng's guidance to us is from the direction of "Tang and Song Poetry". The curriculum may focus on Tang Poetry, but the topic selection of the thesis focuses on Song Poetry.
My master's thesis is titled "Research on Huang Tingjian's Poetry", and my doctoral thesis is titled "Research on Jiangxi Poetry School", which is due to this tendency.
Mr. Cheng has always paid attention to both the Tang and Song Dynasties in his management of poetry, and has attached great importance to popularizing Song poetry to the public.
As early as the 1950s, Mr. Cheng compiled Selected Poems of the Song Dynasty (published by Classical Literature Publishing House in 1957).
In the new century, Mr. Cheng compiled and selected "Song Poems Selection" (published by Jiangsu Ancient Books Publishing House in 1992).
Both of these books are popular readings of Song poetry, especially the latter, which has been republished several times under the title of "Reading Song Poems and Essays".
If a publishing house compiles Mr. Cheng's essays and comments on Song poetry into a book and names it "Song Poetry Lessons", it would be a very appropriate topic.
My talent is weak and my character is restrained. Since I embarked on the academic road of Tang and Song poetry research under the guidance of Mr. Cheng, I have not taken a step forward in the past 40 years.
Like Mr. Cheng, I also pay attention to the Tang and Song Dynasties when I teach poetry, and also pay attention to the Tang and Song Dynasties when I teach poetry.
Mr. Miao Yue said it very well: "Tang poetry is superior in rhythm, so it is elegant, but noble connotation is ethereal; Song poetry is superior in meaning, so it is capable, and precious and profound. The beauty of Tang poetry is in love words, so it is rich; Song poetry The beauty lies in the bones, so it is thin." Mr. Qian Zhongshu also said it very well: "Tang poetry and Song poetry are not only different dynasties, but also different physique and personality. There are two kinds of people in the world, and there are two kinds of people. Poetry. Tang poetry is mostly good at expressing emotion and rhythm, and Song poetry is more successful in thinking and reasoning." "Since the Song Dynasty, during the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, talented people have come out in large numbers, but their works cannot be outside the scope of the Tang and Song Dynasties. All can be divided into Tang and Song Dynasties. Song Dynasty." I completely agree with these judgments, so I think Song poetry, like Tang poetry, is not only an important subject for modern academic research, but also an important text for daily reading by today's readers.
Because of this, after I finished the manuscript of "Mo Lifeng Talks About Tang Poetry Class", I started to write this "Mo Lifeng Talks About Song Poetry Class", which once again showed the relationship between me and Mr. Cheng.
two
Similar to the structure of Mo Lifeng Talks about Tang Poetry Lessons, this book is also divided into four parts.
The first part is "Reading Background", which respectively introduces the general situation of Song poetry and its research. I think this is the background knowledge that is helpful for readers to read Song poetry.
The second part is 20 "Famous Poems Close Reading", and the third part is 50 "Famous Poems Brief Comments". They are all my experience of reading the famous poems of Song Dynasty. There is no difference between the selected famous poems. , but due to space limitations, the latter is discussed briefly.
The fourth part is 6 "problems and reflections", which are my superficial thoughts after exploring some people or topics in Song poetry.
The first part is an introduction to common sense, but mistakes are inevitable.
The last three parts are all my own opinions, which are more prone to the mistakes Ying Shuyan said.
I hope readers and friends will give me some advice.
Speaking of Song Poetry, of course, Song Poetry is inseparable.
In my opinion, poetry and ci were two peaks in the Song Dynasty, and they were highly complementary in terms of subject matter and style.
The Song Dynasty has a unique cultural background, and most of the literati in the Song Dynasty realized the integration of social responsibility and individual freedom.
The attitude of the scholar-bureaucrats in the Song Dynasty in political life was very serious. They used poetry to express the serious content of politics and society. The style was also quite solemn. The theme of love almost disappeared in poetry.
But at the same time, the scholar-officials in the Song Dynasty lived prosperously, and of course their private lives included the content of love between men and women, and they also had a gentle and delicate aesthetic mentality, so the word style was chosen as a suitable emotional outlet to express The deepest love in the heart.
In this way, there was a clear division of labor between poetry and ci in the Song Dynasty: poetry was mainly used to describe aspirations, while ci was used to entertain.
This division of labor was particularly evident in the Northern Song Dynasty. Ouyang Xiu, a Confucian sect of a generation, wrote beautifully and sensually, and was second-hand to his poetry, so that some people thought it was a fake.
Because of this, the style of Song Dynasty was seldom constrained by the thought of "Writing carries the Tao", thus maintaining its stylistic characteristics and gaining an independent status.
Song poetry pays unprecedented attention to female subjects. The prostitutes in Liu Yong's poetry and the gentle and kind-hearted singers in Yan Jidao and Qin Guan's poetry are all female images rarely seen in the five-seven-character poems, let alone women. The lyricist Li Qingzhao made a self-portrait of the women in the poem.
Song Ci has a greater pioneering significance on the theme of love.
Due to the great influence of the Confucian poetry theory, the lack of love theme in Chinese classical poetry has become a congenital chronic disease.
Even if ancient poets wanted to sing about love, the sage's teaching of "beyond love, stop at propriety and righteousness" would prevent them from being too enthusiastic and frank.
The unique nature and function of Song Poetry make it overcome this defect, and its great achievements in the subject of love are unique in the entire history of classical poetry.
Of course, the style of bold and unrestrained ci is unique in the Song Dynasty.
Especially in the Southern Song Dynasty, patriotic poets such as Xin Qiji expressed their ambition to recover lost soil and reunify the motherland in their words, and Liu Chenweng and other poets in the late Song Dynasty used the word style to express the grief and anger of the subjugation of the country, all of which broke through the original boundaries of the word style.
But on the whole, Song Ci focuses on personal feelings rather than social reality in terms of subject matter, and prefers deep and euphemistic rather than heroic and unrestrained art style.
Song poetry and Song poetry can be said to be on a par with each other in terms of achievement, and they are like Chunlan Qiuju in art.
Without reading Song Ci, it is difficult to deeply understand Song poetry.
Without reading Song poetry, it is difficult to understand Song poetry deeply.
Therefore, like the "Song Poetry Class", the compilation of "Song Poetry Class" is also the obligation of contemporary Song Dynasty literature researchers.
Coincidentally, when I first entered Chengmen, Mr. Tang Guizhang, a great master of Song poetry, was teaching at Nanjing Normal University.
Mr. Cheng is a good friend of Mr. Tang, and we, the disciples of the Cheng family, also respect Mr. Tang with the disciple salute.
When I graduated with a doctorate in 1984, Mr. Tang was my defense committee member and wrote two pages of comments for my dissertation.
All the seniors under Mr. Tang's family have also become my friends, one of them is Professor Wang Zhaopeng.
A few years later, Zhaopeng brother has become a new generation of Song Ci research experts.
In 1996, I was invited by Mr. Yuan Xingpei to be the editor-in-chief of the Song Dynasty editor of "History of Chinese Literature". At the beginning of my appointment, I invited Brother Zhaopeng to write all the chapters on Song Ci.
During the few years we were engaged in literary history compilation, we worked together quite well, from negotiating outlines to reviewing manuscripts with each other.
So when I started to write this book, I immediately invited Brother Zhaopeng to write a "Wang Zhaopeng Lectures on Song Poetry" of the same nature, which was quickly accepted.
With the enthusiastic support of Phoenix Publishing House, we have launched the two books together as sisters, and sincerely hope to be loved by readers.
(Author: Mo Lifeng, senior professor of liberal arts at Nanjing University and president of the Chinese Song Dynasty Literature Society)