Research On Jiang Ying Ke’s Poetry

Late Ming Dynasty witnessed surging trends in social thoughts that were varying vigorously and rarely seen in China’s history. The literature practice of the Gong’an School, like a unique movement, just formed under this specific cultural background. Gong’an literature is basically poetry and led by Yuan Hongdao, and therefore is usually referred to as Yuan’s. However, among all the Gong’an wise men, Jiang Yingke and Yuan Hongdao held similar claims in poetic responsory and spiritual views, and were thus called "Jiang and Yuan". Jiang Yingke was indeed an important member in this School and shouldn’t have been ignored. Therefore, his poems were selected as the foundation for academic investigation and exploration, in the hope that the outline of Gong’an literature could be revealed by studying the works of an important writer.This paper consists of three components:the introduction, body, and conclusion.The Introduction first reviewed in brief the history and current situation of the research on the Gong’an School, then introduced the principal part of this thesis, further summarized the extant achievements from the research on Jiang Yingke, and finally carried out the specific research target and listed the methods and expectations. Should this thesis help to extend the achievements in Gong’an research, it will be very fortunate and rejoicing.The principal part consists of four chapters:Life and Thoughts of Jiang Yingke, Poetic Theory of Jiang Yingke, Poetic Practice of Jiang Yingke, and Jiang Yingke’s Contributions to Gong’an Literature.Chapter One is Life and Thoughts of Jiang Yingke. Based on the idea of "understanding writers and their times", this chapter tries to outline clearly the life and conducts of Jiang Yingke, as well as the construction of his thoughts. Jiang’s life could be generally divided into two parts:the difficult sought of education and official career as a son of a farm family, and the helpless sink and float in the official circle as a diligent officer. His ideas and connotations can be concluded as "not only integrating Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism, but also valuing Confucius highly and returning to Confucianism".Chapter Two is Poetic Theory of Jiang Yingke. Jiang Yingke’s poems assertively recommended spirituality and opposed to follow old routine, and thus were in deep agreement with the arguments of the Gong’an leader Yuan Hongdao. This chapter reveals his poetic theory from three aspects:the theory of "primordial spirit is vitality", the view of "find truth based on today", and the argument of "poetic courage and poetic talent".Chapter Three is Poetic Practice of Jiang Yingke. Jiang has left a favorable number of poems with complete styles and abundant themes. This chapter specifically analyzes his poetic practice from two aspects: the contents and intentions, and the artistic expression. In regard to the large amount of poems and the involved multiple life aspects, we elaborate three types which are most representative of Jiang’s poems, rather than discuss each of his poem. They were composed to express the complex of "official seclusion" and seek the freedom of personality; to concern national affairs and people’s livelihood and to disclose the existing malpractices in society; to reveal the ways of the world and show customs and habits. Jiang Yingke’s poetic practice was not limited to routines and was opposing adherence to conventions, and regarding the artistic characteristics of his poems:first, he governed the diverse poetic styles in the overall appearance of clearness and smoothness; second in material selection, he began writing everywhere and started adoration for matters; third in methods of expression, he expressed his ideas casually and stated his feelings frankly; fourth in language styles, his poems were easy and smooth, and solemn and harmonious.Chapter Four is Jiang Yingke’s Contributions to Gong’an Literature. Jiang Yingke’s prose is transcendental and frank, and precise in language and profound in meaning. However, due to the theme of this thesis, this chapter proves his preeminent and irreplaceable contributions to Gong’an School from only three aspects:his participation in building the School, his poetic theory, and his poetic practice.In the conclusion, after pointing out the perverse academic fact that Jiang Yingke was nearly neglected and unknown, this thesis honestly approved the self-expression of temperament, the interest in rareness and reality, the respect in changes and the promotion over particularity, the frank and direct expression, and the unbridled creativity that were all claimed by Jiang’s works; then recognized the powerful impacts of his poetic creation and practice on the old and constrained literary world, but also didn’t ignore the bias in his poetic theory and the defects in this poetic practice.