北魏现存完整的文人诗仅九十余首，而四言即有四十四首之多。汉代已退出诗坛的四言诗，在北魏初又得到了复兴，这其中的缘由：一是活跃于北魏初期诗坛的一批诗人实际都是儒学之士，文学素养并不高，他们写诗也仅为宣扬儒家诗教。而四言诗的“雅颂”传统，也最能体现诗人的庄重和恭敬的态度，这些儒学之士便在赠答酬唱中最喜用“词义典正”的四言体。另外，北魏初鲜卑武人专政，他们动辄兴大狱，实行恐怖统治。诗人们生活在这样险恶的环境下，无法以诗赋自由地传情达意，只能借助四言体，以“典正”的词义，为统治者大唱赞歌，以明哲保身。%There are only 90 odd intact poems by men of letters in the early North Wei Dynasty rema- ined so far, among which 40 odd poems are four-word poems. The four-word poems, which had already de- clined in Han Dynasty, flourished again in the early North Wei Dynasty. The reasons might be caused by some active Confucian poets of low literary quality, who lived in the early North Wei Dynasty and wrote po- ems only to popularize the Confucian teachings. The tradition of the "elegant and refined" four-word poem could best embody the poets' solemn and reverent attitudes, so those Confucian men of letters loved to com- pose the "standard and square" four-word poems in their social occasions. Besides, in the early North Wei Dynasty, Xuanbeiwu People was in power. They carried out dictatorship, and frequently put dissenters into prison. Living in such perilous period, the poets could not express their emotions freely. They could only highly eulogize the rulers to protect themselves by the aid of four-word poems with its "standard and square" lexical meanings.
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