Qu Yuan was well educated, knowledgeable and ambitious when he was a teenager. In his early years, he was trusted by Chu Huaiwang as Zuo Tu and Dr. San Lv, and he was an important figure in domestic and foreign affairs.
At first, he was just a local official. Later, his talent was revealed and was highly valued by Chu Huaiwang. Officials worshipped Zuo, and Chu Huaiwang sent him to Qi. Later, Qu Yuan suggested that the King of Chu should carry out political reform. Qu Yuan is the main manipulator and promoter of Chu's political reform.
Qu Yuan's political reform advocated that domestic talents should be promoted, statutes should be clear, and foreign countries should unite against Qin. However, because this reform affected the vested interests of the old aristocracy, it encountered many difficulties. Qu Yuan himself was alienated by Chu Huaiwang because he was excluded and framed by the nobles, and later he was exiled twice by the King of Chu. Qu Yuan, who was exiled twice, was finally humiliated. On the fifth day of May, he threw himself into the river.
The Songs of Chu is another important literary achievement after The Book of Songs in the Warring States Period.
Chu Ci is a poem that originated in Chu State and was written in the dialect and unique tone of Chu State. With a strong local color, it was once all the rage and spread for a hundred years, which had a positive impact on later poetry creation.
Songs of the South is the name of a literary work, which contains 17 poems by Qu Yuan, Song Yu and some people in the Han Dynasty. Among them, Qu Yuan's works are the main ones, with the most collections. Other works generally inherited Qu Yuan's works. Therefore, we think that Qu Yuan is the founder of this literary genre.
There are two kinds of Qu Yuan's works. One is a lyric short song written in the original form of folk literature, such as Nine Songs and Nine Chapters. The other is famous works created on the basis of folk literature, such as the most famous Li Sao and Tian Wen.
Li Sao is the representative work of Qu Yuan and the longest lyric poem in ancient China. There are 373 sentences and 2490 words. This long poem, full of romantic feelings, embodies Qu Yuan's lofty ideals and ardent patriotic feelings, and has achieved his lofty position in the history of China, ancient civil society and the history of China literature.
Sima Qian, the author of Historical Records, interpreted the name of Lisao as "leaving sorrow", Ban Gu, the author of Hanshu, as "worrying", and later it was interpreted as "not worrying". No matter what kind of explanation, it is agreed that the main content of Li Sao is to express inner grief and indignation. People of insight in ancient and modern times have no different opinions on this point.
In this long poem, the poet proudly tells about his life experience, family background, life and political ideal. He hated the political forces in the court of Chu who framed loyalty, wronged the country and hurt the people. He severely condemned the perversion and incompetence of the powerful people in Chu, repeatedly affirmed his spirit of sacrifice to save Chu from peril, and showed his noble integrity of not colluding with evil forces until his death.
The theme of Li Sao is simply expressed in the present words: a group of confused people drag out an ignoble existence for vested interests, with conservative thoughts and outdated and narrow methods. I'm not worried about my health. It's okay to suffer a little. What I am afraid of is that the king's career will be destroyed.
Li Sao shows Qu Yuan's spiritual realm of persisting in ideals, hating darkness and evil. The poet's words, myths and legends, historical figures, the sun, the moon and mountains are all vivid, magnificent and full of romanticism.
Li Sao, as a classic of romanticism in China's classical literature, had a far-reaching influence on many accomplished writers after the Han Dynasty.