Yang Guang, an emperor who can write poetry and die

Mondo History Updated on 2024-01-30

Yang Guang (569-618), also known as Emperor Yang of Sui, was the second emperor of the Sui dynasty. Although he made some political mistakes, he also had many achievements in culture and art. He is good at poetry, especially good at writing palace style poems, with a gorgeous and delicate style. His poetic works have also had a certain influence on the history of Chinese literature.

In 589 years, the spring breeze of the park swept across the Yangtze River and blew through the tall walls of the healthy city, and the Southern Chen Dynasty was breached, and it was a young man named Yang Guang who was in charge of this military operation. So how did Yang Guang become Emperor Yang of Sui?As we all know, Yang Guang has an elder brother named Yang Yong, who is a figure with a low sense of historical existence, and the battles for succession also exist in all dynasties. Yang Jian and his wife had the lesson of Empress Chen, and they hated the prince very much for being obsessed with lust and not learning skills. And Yang Guang set up a character for himself in the battle for succession - a poet.

As the name suggests, "palace poems" are poems created and written in the court, which are generally described as court life, which is obviously not in line with the image of the Sui Dynasty, so a reform experiment of "re-taking the road of Jian'an" was opened, of course, Yang Guang stood out.

Yang Guangxian handed over two masterpieces, one of which was called "Spring River Flower Moonlit Night". That's right, it has the same name as Zhang Ruoxu's "Lonely Piece Suppresses the Whole Tang Dynasty". "Spring River Flower Moonlit Night" was originally the old title of Yuefu, and its creator was none other than Chen Shubao, the queen of Chen, but Chen Shubao wrote a beautiful song, and Yang Guang used the same title to write a completely different poetic meaning: the twilight river is not moving, and the spring flowers are blooming. The waves will go away from the moon, and the tide will bring the stars. This poem gets rid of the "enchanting queen" and "backyard", gets rid of the "lewdness", and throws itself into the "spring river", "bright moon" and "starry sky", fresh and sparse, and swept away the vulgar. And Zhang Ruoxu's "The tide of the spring river is even with the sea, and the bright moon on the sea is born together" is also the same artistic conception. Let's look at his second poem, called "Wild Hope": The jackdaw flies to the point, and the water flows around the lonely village. Where the sun is about to set, the soul is dimmed. Isn't it quite a taste of "withered vines and old trees, faint crows, small bridges and flowing water"?Such a man with wisdom and beauty naturally took over his own country.

When he ascended the throne, people found out that Yang Guang was a complete drama spirit, and he completely let himself go. The construction of the palace, the digging of canals, the construction of the Great Wall, high taxes, the levy of Goryeo, the fight against the Turks, a series of death-defying actions, have long made the people's lives miserable, and the Tang Dynasty has also appeared on the stage of history.

History gave Yang Guang a chance to become a great emperor, but unfortunately, he used it to squander. Therefore, Yang Guang is known as an emperor who can write poetry and even more so die because of his outstanding literary talent and political mistakes. This description is also a reminder that a leader should not only be talented and creative, but also have wise decision-making and a sense of responsibility.

Related Pages