Before Su Shi, influenced by the "Huajian" in the late Tang and Five Dynasties and the Southern Tang Ci School, the ci circles in the Northern Song Dynasty basically sang the love and parting of men and women from funeral march. Looking at Wen Tingyun, Wei Zhuang, Li Yu, Liu Yong, Yan Shu and even Ouyang Xiu, their ci works are full of "Melody makes Xiang Ze" and even "Men make boudoir sounds". Although some of them feel homesick for the mountains.
The appearance of Su Shi has made a qualitative leap in the style of Ci. This leap is not a leap from Liu Yong and Zhang Xian to slow poetry, but a leap in the content of ci after "taking poetry as ci". After the transformation of "taking poetry as ci", ci is no longer just a tool to convey love, nor an ornament to entertain and entertain guests, but has been given new life and pushed to a new climax.
In Dongpo's ci, anyone who can enter the poem can enter the poem, as Liu Xizai said, "everything is without meaning". Its Ci can be said to cover almost all aspects of society, mainly including the following categories:
First, patriotic words. Before Su Shi, the most famous patriotic word was Fan Zhongyan's The Pride of the Fisherman, but it was called "the word of the poor" by Ouyang Xiu. Su Shi's patriotic words are impassioned, inspiring and firm. For example, "Hunting in Jiangchengzi Mizhou" wrote: "You can bow like a full moon and look at the northwest.
Second, there are many poems describing friendship in Tang poetry, such as the famous "Advise Jun to make a glass of wine and go out of Yangguan for no reason" (Wang Wei's "Send Yuan to Anxi"), "Mochow has no confidant in the road ahead, and no one knows Jun in the world" (Gao Shi's "Biedongda"). But before Su Shi, there were few poems about friendship.
Third, pastoral poetry. The poems of landscape poets Wang Wei and Meng Haoran in Tang Dynasty are fresh and beautiful. Su Shi's reform of "taking poetry as ci" greatly expanded the vocabulary of this theme. In his works, the beautiful rivers and mountains of the motherland, such as spring water flowing eastward, summer trees shaded, autumn chrysanthemums in full bloom and winter snow fragrance, are fresh and natural. For example, "Nanxiangzi" wrote: "Know Minshan Chun Xue Wave.
Fourth, poetry about things. Poetry about objects originated from the metaphor in The Book of Songs, and there were many excellent works in the past dynasties. In this regard, Su Shi put forward his own views. He said that "poets have the power to write" and that poets should not only sing things like gods,
Fifth, festival words. In Tang poetry, there are many poems about festival commemoration and celebration, such as Wang Wei's "I miss my relatives at every festival" (on Shandong brothers' yearning for the mountain festival) and "Cold food is the east wind and willows" (Han Yi's "Cold food"). Su Dongpo should be the initiator of festival words. For example, at the Dragon Boat Festival in Huanxisha, there is "fragrance floating in Qingchuan is bored."
Sixth, mourning poems. Since Pan Yue wrote mourning poems in Jin Dynasty, mourning poems have become a patent for mourning his dead wife, among which Yuan Zhen's Mourning for the Past is representative. Su Dongpo started the mourning poem. His most famous poem, Dream of the 20th Night of the First Month of Jiangchengzi Mao Yi, was written by him in Mizhou, because he dreamed of his dead wife Wang Fu at night.
Seventh, farewell words. "Lin Zhongmei, the wind will be destroyed." Su Shi, because of his honest personality and extraordinary talent, was involved in the party struggle, which led to slanders. His life was ups and downs, he was demoted three times, and his career was bumpy. But he often shows an optimistic and open-minded attitude towards life, so the style of these words is more clear and vigorous. This had an important influence on the later ci style, so Dongpo's ci was called "bold and unconstrained".
The above are the general internal types of Dongpo's ci, but because of "nothing to say but no heart", it is difficult to classify his ci concretely. The reason why Dongpo's ci is all-encompassing is that Su Dongpo's transformation of "taking poetry as ci" has promoted the liberation of ci style.