A Research On The Ci Studies And Works By Four Masters In Late Qing Dynasty

A school of Ci writers that came out in the waning years of Qing Dynasty., Four Masters took the throne of Ci creation in Late Qing Dynasty, and their advocation of Ci theory studies and reforms in Ci writing has turned out a profound influence on Ci studies in not only Late Qing Dynasty but modern and contemporary times. Themselves Ci professionals , they displayed great expertise on writing, reviewing and proofreading of Ci works, managed to encourage and help more young talents, and were pioneers in the founding of modern and contemporary Ci studies. Therefore, a research on the Ci studies and works by Four Masters will provide us some knowledge about the social environment and people's mentality in Late Qing Dynasty, and can also build a bridge between tradition and the contemporary. Considering the current studies on Four Masters, the author of this paper will view Four Masters as a closely related school of Ci writers, and will mainly probe into the general and individual characteristics of their Ci studies and works. The paper will also tap on the relation of Four Masters and Ci field, so as to indicate Four Masters' historic role and influence.This paper is composed of four major parts. The first part introduces the social and theoretical background for the appearance of Four Masters, including the current situation, aim and approaches of Ci studies, different schools of Ci theories, flourishing of Ci societies, and opportunities for Ci resurrection in Late Qing Dynasty. There could not have been such great artistic achievements by Four Masters without a favorable social climate; on the contrary, the appearance of Four Masters should be attributed to the historical changes, the development of Ci theories, and the discussions of Ci writers in Late Qing Dynasty. The second part, through careful analyses, comparison and contrast of Four Masters, aims to elaborate the general and individual characteristics of their theories on Ci studies, general characteristics like Form Venerationism, Complicationism&Implicationism, and Hardships-to-Art Theory, while individual characteristics like Wang Pengyun's theories on form and style, Zheng Wenzhuo's Emptiness, Kuang Zhouyi's Zhongzhuoda Theory, and Zhu Zumo's Form-Spirit Equalism. The third part, a detailed analysis of Four Masters' Ci works, is the focus of this paper, since there has been .little research on this aspect. In this part, a probe is made into Four Masters' subjects and artistic styles, and their Ci works are also compared and contrasted from the perspective of Subject Consciousness and that of Art Aesthetics, in order to describe Four Masters' similarities and individualities in Ci creation. They were similar in the sense that in SubjectConsciousness all showed strong Monarch & Nation Complex and Life Consciousness, and that in artistic style all appreciated rhetorical devices like metaphors and Xing, lofty and pure ideas, bleak and blurred settings, and similar images. Meanwhile each displayed his own individuality, namely, Bantang's grandness, Huifeng's solemnness, Dahe's preciseness and Jiangcun's implicitness. Then conclusion part recalls briefly predecessors' comments on Four Masters, and on this base analyzes the role and influence of Four Masters in Ci history.This paper, adopting the approach of analyzing works in the writers' social and historical background and comparison and contrast devices, not only probes deeply into Four Masters' micro mentalities, but also manages to research on the macro historical environment in which they lived, and thus successfully forms a trinity of writers, works and society, and reveals the special fusion of mentality and artistic form.