从云间到虞山——论柳如是的诗学嬗变

From the Yunjian School to the Yushan Schoolc—On the Transformation of Liu Rushi's Poetics

柳如是系明末云间派诗人。她的创作活动分前后两期 ,体现了不同的审美取向。前期立足于云间派 ,以汉魏盛唐为标准 ,不脱七子派文学之蹊径 ;后期受虞山派钱谦益诗学之影响 ,突破了云间派限制 ,有宗宋之趋向。从云间到虞山 ,柳如是的人生境遇、社会角色也有了巨大的转折 。

Liu Rushi is the figure that can't be ignored at all when it comes to the literature of the Yunjian School of the late Ming Dynasty. Her poetics once belonged to the Yunjian Literary School. Her spirit of national independence and thought of freedom were formed by the influence of Yunjian literary men. Liu also regarded herself as a Yunjian local. In her book Liu Rushi's Letters written in 1641, the signature was ″Liu Rushi in Yunjian″. Therefore, it is reasonable to take Liu as one of the Yunjian poets.Liu's writing could be divided into two periods, which was demarcated by the winter of 1640 when Liu Ru-shi went to the Banye Hall in Yushan to pay her first visit to Qian Qiany. Her works written before 1640 were collected in Wu Yin Grass, Hu Shang Grass and Liu Rushi's Letters. Those written after 1640 were collected in Dong Shan Chou He Ji and some of them could be found in Qian Qianyi's Chu Xue Ji and You Xue Ji. Her experience of going to Yushan from Yunjian marked the turning point of her life and of her aesthetics as well. Liu's works in her earlier period were based on the Yunjian Literary School. Her poems (shi) were composed in line with the standards of the Han Dynasty, the Three Kingdoms period and the mid-Tang Dynasty, while her lyric poems (ci) conformed to the standard of the Northern Song Dynasty. All of her works were written in a unique and succinct style with no flowery language. However, the aesthetic horizon of her works was not broad enough, which didn't break through the limitation of the literary doctrines of ″back to the ancients″ in the Ming Dynasty. Her works in the later period were influenced by Qian Qianyi's poetry, which belonged to the Yushan Literary School. During this period, the aesthetic horizon of her works became broad enough to break through the limitation of the Yunjian Literary School. Combining the characteristics of both the Tang and the Song Dynasty, her poetry became deep in thought and mature in style.Liu's poetics was also greatly influenced by legends. In the late Ming Dynasty, legends spread all over the country. The characters and plots in operas exerted a subtle influence on her. In writing, she couldn't help mixing her poems with the spirit, characters and plots of the operas. In this way, she integrated the opera, the song and the poem into one. As far as the Yunjian Literary School is concerned, their shi and ci were considerably influenced by legends, too. Liu's works were just a case in point. Liu appreciated operas very much, especially Yuming Hall legends. She cited some plots including loves affairs in the operas to express her own feelings. In Dong Shan Chou He Ji, Qian Qianyi and Liu Rushi compared their marriage with that of Du Liniang and Liu Mengmei repeatedly.Going from Yunjian to Yushan, Liu underwent a fundamental change in terms of her living circumstances and her social role, which gave rise to an obvious transformation in her poetic creation. As far as her poems are concerned, although the poems in the collection of Wu Yin Grass were neither mature nor smooth, they sent forth a delicate fragrance of a young girl. But the poems in Dong Shan Chou He Ji were affectedly unconventional. They were neither the songs of freedom nor the impulse of her inner desire. Poetry became a tool for her to have social intercourse. The aesthetic quality of her works was bound to suffer. Generally speaking, Liu's poems in the period of Yushan displayed a remarkable talent and a mature style, but were expressed with common characteristics. Her learning couldn't go with her characteristics and her poems failed to attain the realm of combining her intelligence with her deep thoughts. As she had found the ″Gold House″ —— a home to return to, everything in her life calmed down. She didn't look forward to anything, and the romantic poetic goddess was not with her any longer.