A Comparative Study Of Yan Shu’s And Zhou Bangyan’s Ci

Yan Shu and Zhou Bangyan are both representatives of graceful and restrained poets in the Northern Song Dynasty’s ci circle,who are in line with the "true nature of ci".One inherited the Tang and Five Dynasties,opened a small river in the early Song Dynasty,and the other opened up the Southern Song Dynasty,collecting the great achievements of Northern Song poetry.Both of them played an important transitional role in the changes of ci poetry.However,currently,the academic community has not conducted in-depth comparative research on their ci works.This paper makes a comparative study of Yan Shu’s Ci and Zhou Bangyan’s Ci,combining the social history background and their respective life experiences at that time,with a view to comprehensively exploring their similarities and differences in subject matter,artistic techniques,aesthetic style,etc,so as to further understand the micro representation of "the true color of Ci",and explore the characteristics of the times of the graceful and restrained Ci in the Northern Song Dynasty from multiple perspectives.The main text consists of four chapters:The first chapter is the introduction.Yan Shu and Zhou Bangyan’s coordinate positioning in the field of ci is "the ancestor of relying on sound" and "the crown of ci masters",respectively.Both of their ci works aim to assist the audience in singing,possessing a classic and graceful artistic style.This chapter aims to summarize the research achievements of Yan Ci and Zhou Ci in the academic community in the past,grasp the overall characteristics of their respective ci styles,and elaborate on relevant academic issues.The second chapter compares the theme content.The regionalization of the environment and the secularization of the concept are the common points of the two in the theme.Yan Ci takes the capital as the center,and Zhou Ci takes the travel as the track.Both of them coincidentally present exquisite and luxurious material enjoyment,elegant and leisurely living scenes,and comfortable and harmonious living spaces in their poems,while female writing is an implicit channel for male literati to express delicate emotions that are not allowed by etiquette.The third chapter compares the artistic techniques.The two are skilled in combining and composing poetry in terms of structure.Yan’s poetry is rich and meaningful,while Zhou’s poetry is discouraging.Their narrative methods reflect the development process from time transition to perspective interweaving.In terms of language style,they are similar,focusing on refining words and sentences,adept at using function words and spoken language,and like to use Tang poetry and prose,cleverly combining the musical and literary aspects of the words.The fourth chapter compares the causes of their styles.The two originated from the Huajian Ci of the Tang and Five Dynasties,and their styles can be divided into warm and fluent and beautiful and stagnant,corresponding to the "Tang Yin" and "Song Diao" in the theory of ci.They wrote about the style of wealth and wealth in elegant language,and the feelings of leisure and sorrow in the heart of literati.As a new group of literati in the Northern Song Dynasty,they not only had the rational thinking of being prepared for danger in times of peace,but also established an independent and enterprising personality spirit.The conclusion points out that the transition from Yan Ci to Zhou Ci reflects the development of graceful and restrained Ci in the Northern Song Dynasty from "correcting its origin" to "preparing for its prosperity".In terms of the historical status of Ci,Zhou Bangyan is more important than Yan Shu,and each has its own advantages and disadvantages in style.One wins with emotions and the other excels in thinking.Both of them have a tendency towards a mixture of elegance and vulgarity as their ultimate goal,promoting a spirit of humanity and individuality.