A Study Of Yuan Zhen’s Folk Poetry

As one of the representative figures in the poetry circle of the middle Tang Dynasty,Yuan Zhen created a rich number of folk poems.These folk poems show the rich and diverse social customs and unique customs and cultures of different social groups in the middle Tang Dynasty from different angles,fully show Yuan Zhen’s deep concern for social reality and people’s livelihood,and also embody the poetic proposition of "writing poetry because of things" of Yuan Bai poetry school.From the perspective of creation,Yuan Zhen’s folk poems show a wide view of the living conditions of all levels of society,including not only a detailed description of the secular spirit of the upper class in the middle Tang Dynasty in pursuit of pleasure,but also a deep concern for the hard life of the people at the bottom of society,which fully shows the transformation of his creative perspective and mentality brought by Yuan Zhen’s political life,It not only shows Yuan Zhen’s romantic interest as a scholar in the upper class society,but also shows his political consciousness of loving people and things as a local official.At the same time,these folk poetry creation from different perspectives also highlights the two creative paths of "highlighting emotion" and "serving enlightenment" in Yuan Zhen’s poetry creation.In addition to paying attention to the people’s production and living customs,Yuan Zhen’s folk poetry also fully shows a variety of beliefs and customs under different regional cultural backgrounds in the middle Tang Dynasty,including not only the description of sacrificial activities in Jingchu area,but also the records of sacrificial offerings to Dayu in Wuyue area,as well as the extensive belief in Huashan God in the middle Tang society and the performance of folk worship of crows.In these descriptions of different beliefs and customs,Yuan Zhen’s distinct attitude differences are shown,which reflects Yuan Zhen’s attention to agricultural production and love for the people’s livelihood,as well as his strong dissatisfaction with the dark political reality.In terms of writing techniques and the artistry of poetry,Yuan Zhen strengthened the use of poetry preface and annotation in the creation of folk poetry,developed the function of poetry preface and annotation in the whole poetry,skillfully used poetry preface and annotation to describe and vividly explain folk matters in detail,and enhanced the narrative of his folk poetry,Moreover,the comprehensive annotation of regional customs in the poem also makes Yuanzhen folk poetry show a straightforward and simple artistic style.In addition,Yuan Zhen is also good at using tortuous plot design and vivid three-dimensional characterization to make his folk poetry narrative more plump and vivid,which fully shows his creative consciousness of "writing poetry for things".From the perspective of status and influence,Yuan Zhen’s folk poetry creation inherited the traditional creative consciousness of "elegance and prosperity" since the book of songs,and advocated to fully carry forward the political and religious function of folk poetry by showing,criticizing or praising the political situation at that time.At the same time,some poems in Yuan Zhen’s folk poetry focus on describing the life interest shown in daily folk activities,which provides a new aesthetic paradigm for the creation of folk poetry and has been widely pursued and imitated by later generations.