杜甫詩史、敍事傳統與《春秋》書法

Du Fu the Poet-historian, Narrative Tradition, and the Writing Style of the Chun Qiu

Abstract

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English.

杜甫三十歲時，曾作《祭遠祖當陽君文》，稱遠祖杜預：“《春秋》主解，稿隸躬親。嗚呼筆跡，流宕何人？”當下許諾“不敢忘本，不敢違仁”。晚唐孟棨（啟）《本事詩》稱杜甫逢安禄山之難，“流離隴蜀，畢陳於詩。推見至隱，殆無遺事，故當時號爲詩史。”《史記·司馬相如列傳》稱，“《春秋》推見至隱”，可見杜甫詩號爲詩史者，除了“詩是吾家事”之外，其中自有《春秋》書法之薪傳在焉。清章學誠《上大司馬論文》稱：“敍事實出史學，其源本於《春秋》比事屬辭。”今選擇杜甫詩敍事歌行，關注其善陳時事之特質，持屬辭比事之《春秋》教，考察其中推見至隱之書法，就杜甫詩史與屬辭比事之敍事傳統，分三項考察之：一，屬辭比事，筆削顯義；二，據事直書，美惡自見；三，微婉顯晦，推見至隱。援舉杜詩相關作品，參考清人杜詩說解，藉以探索杜甫詩之敍事傳統。夫然後知抒情傳統之外，敍事傳統也者，尤爲中國文學源遠流長之重要特色。

When he was thirty years old, Du Fu (712-770) wrote “A Funeral Oration for My Ancestor, Dangyang Jun,” in which he praised his ancestor Du Yu (222-285): “Commentating the Chun Qiu, / He transcribed it by his own hands. / Alas! His own handwriting, / To whom will it pass on?” He then made a promise: “I dare not forget about my roots, / And dare not violate benevolence and righteousness.” Meng Qi of the late Tang commented on Du Fu’s suffering during the An Lushan rebellion: “He wandered to the Long and Shu regions and wrote about all of his experience in his poetry. Its hidden meaning may be inferred—perhaps no incident is left unaccounted for. For this reason, he was given a sobriquet of poet-historian.” The “Biography of Sima Xiangru” in the Shiji says, “Chun Qiu allows one to infer the message hidden in the most profound text.” Therefore, the reason why Du Fu’s poetry was referred to as “poetry-history” was not only because, as he claims, “poetry is my family’s matter,” but also because of his inheritance of the writing style of Chun Qiu. Zhang Xuecheng (1738-1801) wrote in his “Discourse on Literature, Presented to Grand Protector”: “Narrative was in fact derived from historiography. Its origin was in word connection and event arrangement in Chun Qiu.” This study pays special attention to the proficiency at narrating current events observed in some narrative ballads selected from Du Fu’s works. It takes into consideration the model method of “word connection and event arrangement” from Chun Qiu in its examination of the writing style of “hidden meaning may be inferred” in Du Fu’s poetry. In its discussion of Du Fu the poet-historian and his method of “word connection and event arrangement,” the essay analyzes three aspects: 1) “word connection and event arrangement” and manifesting the principles by writing method; 2) writing according to facts and thus praise and condemnation will naturally be shown; 3) showing the implicit through a subtle and euphemistic style and “the hidden meaning may be inferred.” It will analyze relevant examples of Du Fu’s works in light of commentaries by scholars of the Qing dynasty in order to explore the narrative tradition in Du Fu’s poetry. Therefore, in addition to the lyrical tradition, we learn that the narrative tradition has a long history and plays an important role in the history of Chinese literature.