What influence did Confucius' thoughts have on China literature?

Confucius' literary thoughts are mainly preserved in The Analects of Confucius. This book, which is made up of Confucius' disciples and his disciples, records the words and deeds of Confucius and his disciples. It is one of the classic works of Confucianism, which is extremely rich and profound, and has a far-reaching and extensive influence on the history of China's ancient ideology and culture (including the history of literary thought).

First, the basic content of Confucius' literary thought

(1) Confucius' criteria for evaluating poetry and music: Innocent thoughts.

What criteria does a poem follow to be a good poem? Starting from the social function of literature, Confucius put forward the standard of good poetry in The Analects of Confucius, that is, "thinking without evil" for politics:

Confucius said: There are 300 Poems. In a word, it says, "There is no evil in thinking".

Confucius' standard of "thinking innocence" is mainly aimed at the content, and the content of poetry should conform to the political thought, ethics and aesthetic standards of Confucius or Confucianism. At first, the works in 300 poems were not only related to the content (lyrics), but also closely related to music. Therefore, musically speaking, "thinking innocently" means advocating music, which should be just and peaceful, and "be happy without lewdness, sad without injury"; In terms of literary works, it is required that the works should not be too intense from ideological content to language, be euphemistic and tortuous, and not too straightforward:

"The Analects of Confucius Eight Shu") Confucius said: "Guan Ju", happy but not obscene, sad but not hurt.

Confucius' view of music takes "innocence in thought" as the fundamental requirement, "being happy without lewdness, being sad without injury" as the emotional expression requirement, advocating elegant music and releasing Zheng Sheng. This standard of "courtesy" is obviously branded with the ruling ideology of the times.

(2) The social function of Confucius' literary art: appreciating the audience and blaming the audience.

When discussing the social function of literature and art, Confucius put forward the theory of "prosperity, outlook, group and resentment".

Confucius said, "Why not learn poetry? Poetry can be appreciated, observed, grouped and resented. You are the father of all things, and you are the king of all things far away. The social function of literature is well known in the names of birds, animals and plants. " ("The Analects? 6? 1 Yang Huo ")

Xing and Kong Anguo are marked as "Bixing" and Zhu is marked as "Emotion". In other words, "Xing" takes poetry as a gift (The Analects of Confucius Taber), "Learning poetry is the first step to express self-cultivation" (The Analects of Confucius is quoted as a salty note), which talks about the educational function of poetry in self-cultivation. To put it simply in modern terms, that is to say, poetry has the function of inspiring people's spirit and can arouse people's association.

It seems that Zheng Xuan's notes are "observing the rise and fall of folk customs", while Zhu's notes are "observing gains and losses". In other words, poetry can play a role in observing social reality and can see the ups and downs of the world, so talking about poetry has a certain cognitive role.

Group, Kong Anguo note for "complement each other", Zhu note for "harmony without flow". It is poetry that allows readers to communicate with each other, learn from each other and improve together. Achieve harmony and unite people.

Resentment, Kong Anguo's note is "resentment against politics", and Zhu's note is "resentment without anger". In other words, poetry can interfere with reality and criticize the dark society and bad politics.

The theory of "enjoying the scenery and complaining" fully affirmed the aesthetic function, cognitive function, educational function and even knowledge learning function of literature.

(3) Discusses the relationship between literary content and form.

Confucius also discussed the content and form of poetry. Generally speaking, Confucius attached equal importance to the content and form of literature. This concept, which not only attaches importance to expressing content, but also opposes excessive form, is essentially the relationship between "literature" and "quality".

Confucius said: quality is better than literature, and literature is better than quality. Gentle, then a gentleman. ("The Analects of Confucius Yongye")

Confucius' theory on the relationship between "literature" and "quality" originally did not belong to the category of literature and art, but it has far-reaching significance; It combines literature with people's life and moral cultivation. Confucius applied the exposition of "Wen" to literary creation, demanding the perfect unity of content and form of literary works.

Confucius said: "There is will; Words are inexhaustible, and words are inexhaustible. Who knows its ambition if you don't tell? Words without words are not far away (Zuo Zhuan, Twenty-five Years of "xianggong"). This is the emphasis on "writing".

Second, the influence of Confucius' literary thought on later generations.

(1) Confucius' aesthetic standard of "thinking innocently" is the aesthetic pursuit of "gentleness and tenderness" and "implication" derived from his theory of "innocence" to "golden mean"; From the perspective of utilitarianism, the tradition of literary creation and literary criticism aimed at political utility in ancient China was initiated, but the external role of literature was only emphasized unilaterally, while the study of the internal laws of literature was neglected.

(2) His theory of "literature and quality" is not about literary issues, but formally introduced literary criticism from Han Confucianism, which became an important standard of China's ancient literary criticism;

(3) The most profound influence of Confucius' literary thoughts on China's literary realism tradition is mainly his theory of "complaining about enjoying the scenery". The influence of Confucius' poetic teaching principles of "Xing, Guan, Qun and Fen" on literary theory lies not only in these concepts themselves, but also in the significance of the materialized behavior of "Guan Xing and Qun Fen". Confucius' theory of "Guan Xing Qun Fen" is the source of realistic literary criticism theory, which has a very positive impact on later realistic literary criticism theory and realistic literary creation.

The theory of "Xing, Guan, Qun and Complain", especially the theory of "Poetry Can Complain", had a great and far-reaching impact on the long-term development of China feudal social literature and literary theory. The theory of "irony" was put forward in Preface to Mao Shi in Han Dynasty, which fully affirmed the practical significance and function of literary criticism. Sima Qian inherited and developed the idea that Confucius' poems can be blamed. In Historical Records Biography of Qu Yuan, he said that Qu Yuan's Li Sao was covered with self-blame, which gave birth to the theory of "writing books with anger". Later writers and literary theorists often use this as a weapon to oppose literature being divorced from social reality or lacking positive social content. For example, Zhong Rong particularly emphasized the need to express "resentment" in "poetry"; In the Tang Dynasty, Chen Ziang emphasized the role of "good luck" in his poems, while Bai Juyi emphasized the roles of "satirizing good words" and "compiling current events and releasing human feelings", all of which inherited the tradition of attaching importance to the social function of literature. Until the end of feudal society, many writers such as Huang Zongxi were deeply influenced by this theory.

Confucius, the first thinker and educator in the history of China, expressed his concept of "literature" in the discussion of The Analects of Confucius, which truly reflected the basic content of Confucius' literary thought. These views greatly show the face of China's Confucian literary theory. China's literature generally follows a "golden mean" in history, and China's novels, operas and other popular literature works are often difficult to achieve elegance. In the final analysis, it is influenced by Confucius' advocating elegance and uprightness and despising popular literature and literature.

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