On The Nature Of Poems Before The Period Of Wei Jin

There are many studies about the essence of Chinese ancient poems, but they just focus on the concept itself. The paper is aim to make an analysis of the Express Aspiration, Convey Ideas, According to Matters and In Relation to feelings according to the social background and science background of that period, through a historical view and based on the social tradition and the requirement in that epoch, this paper make a study of the reason why these points of view appeared and try to expose the relationship between them.This paper is divided into three chapters.The prodrome of the paper aims to state in three aspects: firstly, the paper defines the essence of the poem, and the poem develops as the time goes by. It followed by the introduction of the different opinions toward the essence of the poem. Secondly, this paper aims to look back the studies of this problem and make a brief study of these researches, and at last, this paper makes an expectation concerning with the thoughts and the main content of this paper.The first chapter is about Express Aspiration, mainly discussing the changes of the meaning after it appears. It is considered that form the very beginning, the poem, as a text, was deeply influenced by the magic, religion and politics, further more, also from the very beginning, the poem used music rather than poem itself to express affection. The poem in that period was collected and arranged and so the affection was largely reduced. But as it appeared in Westzhou dynasty, Aspiration has already contained affection. In Chunqiu dynasty, the social construction of clan system and community system has collapsed. As a result of this, the holiness and authority of poem were also disappeared. The well-educated nobles held their ground of noble life by writing poems or quoting some poems form Shijing. Along with the development of poem, people in Han dynasty realized that poem was a good way to express their feelings and pursue a sense of beauty. But the people in that period also considered poem as a political tool, and on the other hand, the nobles of Xihan wanted to guide governors by apotheosizing the classical Confucian texts. Finally, through the publishing of the Preface of Poem, the theory of Poem Instruction was established.The second chapter is about Convey Ideas and According to Matters. This chapter aims to explain the appearance of these ideas by seeking the significance of these ideas and making comparisons between them. The main viewpoints are as following: Sima qian was influenced by the theory of Poem Instruction, he claimed that poem should be said in mock and remonstration. But he disliked some Han poets, because they considered ideas in Convey Ideas as an isolated concept. Sima Qian used a concept Meaning to express ambition and affection. The Meaning of Sima Qian considered Shi as historical materials and emphasized the expressing of the meaning. Ban Gu was deeply affected by the theory of Poem Instruction. During his writing practice, Ban Gu theoretically brought an idea of According to Matters. The ruler of Han dynasty established Yuefu as a way of seeking enjoyment, but it also said to be a tool of politics. Ban Gu should establish the tenet of Yuefu poem, which should never isolate the thought of Poem Instruction and also the poem should be a reflection of real life. On the basis of mock and remonstration, Ban Gu has brought an idea of According to Matters, which could combine the spirit of Yuefu and the traditional elegance. Superficially, the opinion of mock and remonstration and According to Matters were accordant. they had reflected the political requirement of nobles in Donghan dynasty, this was also reflected in the theory of Chenwei . Sima Qian and Ban Gu were both influenced by the theory of Poem Instyuction. Both of them realized the factor of affection in the poems, but they had different attitudes. Sima Qian tried his best to improve his poems and his poem contained the factors of above, i.e. affection, a reflection of real life. But Ban Gu slid over this. This mainly because of the different social background, and they lived in different period of time, also their thoughts or spiritual status were different.The third chapter is about In Relation to feelings. Through a brief study of the theories before the period of Weijing, the paper will find out the reason why the theory of In Relation to feelings had appeared. The paper also makes a study of the significance of the theory. The main viewpoints are as following: as long as Shijing appeared, the essence of affection in writing poem was realized, which was stated in the latter works such as Zuozhuan, Confucius Poetics, Preface of Poems and Zhengxian's Shijian. In the period of Jian'an, affection became more and more important. Express Aspiration and In Relation to feelings contained aspiration and feelings, but feelings was just as a supplement in Express Aspiration and aspiration was weakened in In Relation to feelings. Concerning with the inner meaning of affection, the poem in the first stage was expressing religions. And in Han dynasty, the poem emphasized the affection of a group, In Relation to feelings was basically from materials and expressed the affection of individuals. In ancient China, affection was relatively concerning with character, as a result of this, affection was restricted by the character. Lu ji's theory of In Relation to feelings broke through the restriction of human character. after a brief study from Qu Yuan to the poets of Wei Jing period, the aesthetic significance of In Relation to feelings are : Literature is in relation to feelings, the creation of art is a choice based on some objects, the theory of In Relation to feelings caused to a colorful and meaningful art. Language is beautiful because of its affection, and the emotional language should be well-arranged.