A Study Of Pre-Tang Dynasty Narrative Poetry

Pre-Tang Dynasty narrative poetry, an important composite in the history of Chinese poetry, is full of historical and cultural meaning. The dissertation attempts to make a systematical study of it, to define its connotation, to analyze how it came into being and to trace and describe its development in Shijing(The Book of Songs), Chuci (The Songs of Chu), Han Dynasty, Wei-Jin and the South and North Dynasties. The dissertation is a diachronical study done according to the development of history, and unveils the different developmental stages of the narrative poems and their common hot issues and focal points. Through the thorough manifestation of the Chinese Pre-TangDynasty narrative poetry and its historical background, the dissertation makes a clear historical description of its development. In this way, the dissertation describes the development of Pe-Tang Dynasty narrative poems. Synchronically speaking, the dissertation summarizes the narrative mode of Chinese Pre-Tang Dynasty narrative poetry with the help of western narrative theories.The dissertation is composed of three parts, namely, the introduction, the body and the conclusion.The first part is Introduction.In the first place, the dissertation expounds the purpose and meaning of the study of Pre-Tang Dynasty narrative poetry. Then, the study outline and method of the dissertation are introduced. Finally, it recalls the history of the study of narrative poetry, and foresees its future.The dissertation proper is composed of six chapters.Chapter One studies the two basic issues of narrative poetrythe first of which is what narrative poetry is, its origin and its basic characteristics. This chapter attempts to explore the origin of narrative poetry, define narrative poetry, and expounds its traits through Jin scripts (Inscriptions on Ancient Bronze Objects), the Book of Changes, and other later historical works.Chapter Two mainly expounds the narration and the epic narrative of Shijing and illustrates the epic in Shijing and short narratives. Firstly, this chapter discusses the disputes about Shijing epic, and believes that there exists epic in China by exploring the relationship between Zhou Dynasty epic and pre-Zhou Dynasty history and summarizing the narrative modes in epics. Then, it studies Shijing short narrativess. Finally, it summarizes the narrative modes in Shijing. Chapter Three is a study of Chuci and mythological narrative poetry by exploring the origin of mythological narrative poetry, Chuci and mythological narrative poetry, the meaning and value of mythological narrative poetry.Chapter Four mainly studies Han Style and folk narrative poetry. First, it makes a survey of Han Dynasty narrative poetry. Then, it studies this kind of poetry through its foundation and development, its subject matter, and its narrative modes. At last, it studies the narrative poetry of men of letters represented by Nineteen Stories from perspective of subject type and narrative modes.Chapter Five studies the narrative poetry in Wei-Jin South and North Dynasties. First, it makes a survey study of the poetry in Weijin South and North Dynasties. Then, it studies the two main kinds of narrative poetry, namely, epics and biographical narrative poetry.Chapter Six introduces the development of western narrative theory in China with the help of western theories, believing that narrative theories provide us with methodological aid. Then, it studies Pre-Tang Dynasty narrative poetry from the perspective of narrative content and narrative language.The Conclusion summarizes the whole dissertation and highlights the main ideas and contributions of this study.