The History Of Classical Chinese Frontier Poetry

With long historical resources and far-reaching influence, frontier poetry is one of the important schools in the history of Chinese literature, about which plentiful research achievements have been made, but most are limited to studies of the limited writers and their works in the various dynasties within the Tang Dynasty, lacking historical researches on the course of its development. In view of the fact, this dissertation, named The History of Chinese Frontier Poetry, attempts to solve the problems.With about 0.4 million Chinese characters in all, the dissertation c6nsists of four parts. Part One is the introduction, in which the formation and concept of the frontier, and the origin and development, the social value, present research of frontier poetry, and many theoretical problems concerning frontier poems are analyzed and discussed. By so doing the theoretical obstacles of comprehensive researches on frontier poems can be cleared.The text has three parts. In Part One, the frontier poems in primitive ballads, in The Book of Songs, in Chuci and some other sources of the period of pre-Qin are discussed, showing developmental traces, ideological contents, artistic characteristics of the frontier poems in this period, as well as the great influence on those in the coming periods. In Part Two, Yuefu poems and folk songs in the periods of Qin-Han Dynasties and the period of Wei and Jin Dynasties and Southern and Northern Dynasties, are discussed, indicating changes of frontier poems from narration-oriented to emotion-oriented, and from folk Yuefu to literati' s Yuefu, and in this period, more Writers wrote plentiful frontier poems with wide subjects and variety of forms and styles. Part Three covers three chapters of the early, middle and late periods, showing the course that based on the rooted foundation of long developmental history, frontier poetry came to its prime time, and the change from prosperity to decline, so as to outline the course of the change, and provide useful references for the reality.One the whole the dissertation has the following characteristics:1). the paper discusses not only the frontier poems in the High Tang,but also those before and after the High Tang , that is , from Pre-Qin to Late-Tang, in this way , the paper can trace the origin of the development of frontier poetry, outline its changing orbits , show its rich contents, and widen the research scope . There was an erroneous zone in the research of frontier poems , that is , time of frontier poetry was limited to the whole Tang Dynasty or even only to the period of High Tang , and the spade of that was confined mainly to the area on each side of the Great Wall, in which Tang Dynasty had continuous political and military conflicts with ethnic minorities on the other side of the Great Wall. The misconception is rather subjective in that it fails to accord with the internal laws of literary evolution, the objective existence in the prolonged history of the frontier life and struggle before the Tang dynasty, moreover, th.s viewpoint overlooks the reality of the voluminous poems which reflect the frontier life and conflicts. To avoid the above-mentioned misconception, the paper first discusses the concerned concepts such as frontier poetry, frontier poets, and the school of frontier poetry, concluding that the frontier poets, and the school of the frontier poetry represented by Gao Shi and Cen Shen, appeared in the High Tang, but it does not follow that the frontier poetry appeared in the High Tang alone. As a matter of facjt, the frontier poetry boasts of a long history with its birth from Pre-Qin, the Han dynasties and the Wei and Jin dynasties, so the three terms shoujld not be confused. Secondly, we cannot isolate history and negate t|he developmental law of literary works, therefore broadening the horizon of the research on frontier poetry, teasing out its developmental route, and displaying a panorama of the space and time for the frontier poetry, are the issues that the paper is intended to solve. Furthermore, in terms of the contents definition, the frontier poetry lies beyond the Tan Dynasty, so defining and exploring the contents , space and time is also one of the main concerns.2). This dissertation not only attaches importance to specific writers and their works, but also to the time they lived in, which means the continuity and uniqueness of the frontier poetry can be displayed through chronological narration, and via noticing different influences on frontier poetry from social lives of different times. The paper concentrates on ihe specific writers and their works, giving a through probe into the connotations and spirits of their works , and the links among a group of writers of frontier poetry, as well as the relationship between poems and reality, which will help us to grasp the historical development of frontierpoetry. For instance, in the general outline of Part Two, the paper concludes that in the period of Wei and Jin Dynasties and Southern and Nprthern Dynasties, the frontier poetry changed from narration-oriented to emotion -oriented, making the frontier poetry shift from reflecting rfeality to imaging scenes by which poets' emotions are conveyed. These changes are further confirmed via analyzing the specific poets and their works, for example, In the Yuefu poetry of the Han Dynasty, poems like Fighting in the Southern Part of the City and Recruited at the Age of Fifteen all emphasized narrating events, while Cao Pi and Cao Zhi' s poems emphasized emotion. In the period of the Jin and Song Regimes of the Southern Dynasties, Bao Zhao first set the lyric backgrounds to the northern frontier areas, using images of historic figures and frontier place names to form striking frontier surroundings , at the same time he created lyric patterns such as ancient allusions and of "Qin-and-Han Complex. " Wu Jun established an important new way of writing frontier poetry, that is, to write frontier pcjems according to the meaning of names of yuefu , and also he combined the figures of errant knights in Cao Zhi' s frontier poems with literati ideals to being loyal to monarch, and to defending state and so on, thus the spliritsof "zhong" and "yi " (being loyal and being ready to repay others' kindness)stressed. Another typical example is true of the Tan Dynasty during which the frontier poetry culminated. The flowering of the frontier pdetry is a combination of prolonged efforts of generations and spirit of th|e particular times. The early Tang poets, for example, transfer the settings of the poetry from courts and pavilions to the landscapes and the frontiers. Chen ziang ,with elegance and metaphor , and style of Han and Weji as his archetype, cleans up the malpractice of the poetry circles, and furthermore, initiates " elegant style" with representative of his own poems, paving way for the High Tang poetry. Additionally, The High Tang with its power and genius poets such as Gao Shi , Cen Shen, Wang Changling, Li Bai, Wang Wei, Du Fu, Li Jing, Wang Han, etc. move the frontier poetry to its summit. The expository method with either the outline of the history or text materials as support is supposed to be of much benefit to widening and deepening the research.3). While investigating the frontier poetry , the paper also discusses the concerned theories , thus connecting literary history and theory of frontier poetry, for example, patriotism, official honor and rank, and loy-alty in frontier poetry. The relationship between frontier poetry and evdlution and wars of ancient and modern ethnics are the main theoreticalproblems existing in researches of frontier poetry, if these problems cannot be clarified, they will seriously influence the directions and courses of researches on frontier poetry, so the introduction is devoted to some personal comments about the above-mentioned problems, concluding that the patriotism, loyalty to sovereign, pursuit for official and scholarly honor are embodied in frontier poetry, and it is the main component part of Chinese literary spirits , so we should fully confirm thme . Considering such issues as patriotism and ethnic relationship in the ancient times, historical materialism and down-to-earth spirits are necessary, and only in this way can the right conclusions be drawn.4). So far as specific writers and their works are concerned , the dissertation, with equal attention to facts and mainstreams and minors, exerts great efforts to collect sufficient sources , so that comments can be made objectively and practically. The paper attaches importance not on|]y to major poets, but also to the ordinary ones, especially some "mininr writers" , in this way , the exposition is expected to be comprehensivle, for example, in the developmental history of frontier poetry, Cao Rui, Wang Cai, Zhang Zheng-jian of Wei and Jin Dynasties and Southern and Northeirn Dynasties , and Shen Quan-qi, Zhang Yue, Cui Rong, Li Qiao, Xu Shang, Ma Dai, Zhang Zhong-su etc, are all "minor poets" , but they also have thsir own value and make contribution to the frontier poetry, so the paper analyzes and introduce their works as well. The Sui Dynasty lasts less longer and its poetry is overflowing with imperial styles, but a probe irjito the poetry of Yang Su and yang Guang will indicate that their detached $nd robust styles play a historical role in initiating the flood of the Ttting frontier poetry. As for some unsolved or controversial problems, personal points of view are made only by carefully collecting and analyzing sources available, for example, in the Part Three, different texts of Wan;\ Zhi-huan' s Liangzhouci, and the different explanation of Gao Shi' :-. Yangexing are analyzed and distinguished. And the so-called assassination of Zhang Shougui has been redressed , as to the unfair criticism of some writers have been rectified. Though there are personal opinions, they might function as a helpful introduction or prelude to further research.