hannah+egg

37(246)
The sudden arrival of the catastrophe had awakened only a relatively small group from their dreams of a perfect and orderly society. Many others strained their literary efforts in praise of the reigning dynasty. For those who had stopped dreaming, however, the universe had acquired an appearance of seriousness and their own philosophies of life had become profoundly realistic. This difference in response was naturally traceable to differences in personal temperament. Even a casual look at new literary trends after the rebellion, however, would convince us that they were, by and large, the products of a completely changed age. In Tu Fu’s own words:
這突如其來的大禍，只從唐朝社會完美而井然有序的美夢中喚醒了相當少數的一群人。許多人仍舊沈醉於紙醉金迷當中，還有許多人竭盡心力地用文學來讚揚國朝統治者。然而，對那些已經停止作夢的人來說，天下人們已經學到了事情的嚴重性，他們的生活哲學變得深切符合實際。這些不同的反應，自然可以追溯自每個人性格上的不同。可是，即便是不經心的去看戰亂之後的新文學潮流，一般來說，我們相信那潮流就是時代全面改變的產物。在杜甫的詩句中：

憶昔 杜甫
憶昔開元全盛日，小邑猶藏萬家室。
稻米流脂粟米白，公私倉廩俱豐實。
九州道路無豺虎，遠行不勞吉日出。
齊紈魯縞車班班，男耕女桑不相失。
宮中聖人奏雲門，天下朋友皆膠漆。
百餘年間未災變，叔孫禮樂蕭何律。
豈聞一絹直萬錢，有田種穀今流血。
洛陽宮殿燒焚盡，宗廟新除狐兔穴。
傷心不忍問耆舊，復恐初從亂離說。
小臣魯鈍無所能，朝廷記識蒙祿秩。
周宣中興望我皇，灑血江漢身衰疾。

38(246)
Changes in literature thus reflect the transition to a new age. Literature of the latter half of the eighth century was cast in an entirely different mold from that of its predecessor. This is most clearly seen in the seriousness of attitude and the profundity of vision of the writers. Literature was no longer a pastime or a ladder to the imperial official hierarchy. Moreover, it was no longer a form of entertainment supplying the court musicians with lyrics for the amusement of the aristocracy. Nor did it consist in ventures into the unreal by imagining the toilsome life of military service, or by projecting pictures of an earthly paradise of the immortals. Leaders in literature now began to face life seriously—not imaginary life but real life—the suffering of the masses, problems of social change, challenges of state and government, and the realistic aspirations and fears of actual living.
文學的改變如此反映了新時代的變遷。十八世紀後半葉的文學從原有的前人模子，被澆鑄到完全不同的模子裡。這可以清楚地從作家嚴肅的態度和視野的深度來得知。文學不再是娛樂或者通往政治核心的階梯。更甚者，亦不再是為了滿足貴族逸樂而提供歌詞給宮廷音樂家的娛樂形式。（文學的價值）不是在於想像征旅行役的虛假冒險，也不是仙人們人間天堂的投射。文學領導者自此開始認真的面對生命，不是想像的而是真實的生命，包含了人民的苦難、社會變遷的問題、國家政治的挑戰，以及現實生活中的理想抱負和生活中恐懼。

39(247)
Traditional historians of T’ang literature have failed to stress this sudden change on the Chinese scene and the incongruities of the reigns of K’ai Yüan and T’ien Pao when they refer to the middle decades of the eighth century as an indivisible unit. Actually the line of division made by the rebellion of 755 cut deep into the century. What had preceded it was a literature singing praises to peace and prosperity with romantic contents creating man-made scenes, whereas what followed it was a literature saturated with pain and suffering reflecting a disintegrating society—a literature deeply characterized by an all-pervasive realism. This new age was no longer the age of lighthearted songs sung to the accompaniment of music. What had been known as yüeh fu, songs written in imitation of the ones sung by the Music Bureau, had done its work as an effective training program in inducing the writers to attempt liberation in technique and in spirit. Instead of subjecting themselves to further discipline, the new poets were now eager to create, hence, we have what was publicly heralded as “the new yüeh fu”—a kind of new poetry to demonstrate the new life under a new age.
傳統研究唐代文學的史家在提到八世紀中開元天寶這幾十年是個不可分的單元時，常沒有去強調這場巨變，以及兩個時期間的不一致。
事實上以755年開始的安祿山之亂為分隔線，可以深深地切分這個世紀。前者是一部用詩人浪漫文筆所創造的景象來歌頌太平盛世的文學，然而後者是一部充滿痛苦與磨難以反映社會分崩離析的文學，換句話說，後者的文學特徵就是無所不在的寫實主義。這個新時代不再是無憂無慮為配樂而歌的時代。我們所知的樂府詩，原是模仿樂府官署已有之樂，它有效引發詩人試著在技巧與精神當中尋求解放。與其讓自己委身於嚴格的紀律（格律），新一代詩人們渴望能夠創作，因此我們可以公開的預言「新樂府」的出現——一種在新時代之下說明新生活的新詩體。