A Comparative Study Of Liu Yuxi’s And Su Shi’s Poems Narrating Aging

Writing about aging encompasses the profound contemplation of literati on their own lives,and the related compositions have been developed and enriched since the pre-Qin period,and gradually developed into an aesthetic culture of preference for aging.This trend was first initiated by Du Fu,and after deepening and developing by literati in the Middle and Late Tang dynasties,it gradually matured in the Northern Song dynasty.Liu Yuxi and Su Shi,as representative poets of both the Middle Tang Dynasty and the Northern Song Dynasty,share similarities and connections in their lives and poetry,and their writing on aging reflects the development and changes of the aesthetic culture of aging between the Tang and Song dynasties.This paper focuses on the poems describing aging by Liu Yuxi and Su Shi,comparing them in four aspects: subject matter,creative mentality,artistic expression,and cultural connotation,so as to improve the understanding of their poetic creations and further understand the development process of the culture of respecting aging between the Middle Tang Dynasty and the Northern Song Dynasty.The first chapter compares and analyzes Liu Yuxi’s and Su Shi’s poems on aging from the perspective of their subject matter.Both of them develop their understanding of aging from both sadness and joy,while Liu Yuxi mainly outlines the state of aging in a general way and shows more restraint,while Su Shi mainly depicts the appearance of aging in detail and shows more frankness.Both of them also build up their unique self-image of aging in their poems.Liu Yuxi fuses the stubborn character of determination with the bold character of drinking and playing to express the image of a wild old man who is not afraid of aging;Su Shi fuses the self-adapted mentality of returning to nature with the record of wandering and difficulties to create the image of an open-minded old man who is free from aging and sickness.The second chapter compares Liu Yuxi’s and Su Shi’s life experiences and creative mindsets.Both of them suffered from illnesses in the first half of their lives,and in their later years,although they were in different situations,neither of them really realized their personal aspirations,and their life experiences look different but are essentially the same.Therefore,they have similar feelings about aging.In describing the mentality of aging,both of them are able to face aging with ease,sighing under the thought of seclusion,and both of them are influenced by Buddhist and Taoist thoughts.However,Liu Yuxi was more influenced by Confucianism’s aggressive thought and political environment,while Su Shi mainly recognized and adapted to his own situation and state of life.The difference in mentality makes their poems describing aging also show different personalities.The third chapter focuses on the artistic expression of Liu Yuxi’s and Su Shi’s poems about aging,and compares them from three aspects: image application,language characteristics and lyrical ways.Both of them use physical imagery to depict aging,but Liu Yuxi mainly combines physical imagery with natural imagery;Su Shi focuses more on depicting the physical imagery itself,and mainly combines it with life imagery.Both of them use the rhetorical techniques of metaphor and allusion;Liu Yuxi uses event-related allusions and is good at using subtle metaphors;Su Shi can combine event-related allusions with language-related allusions and uses more obvious metaphors;Liu Yuxi likes to use imaginary words,and his language style is subtle and full of lyrical meaning;Su Shi uses more numerical words,and his language style is frank and full of fun.Liu Yuxi is able to incorporate his feelings into the scenery and events;Su Shi mainly expresses his feelings with the help of scenery and events.The individuality of artistic expression makes their poems unique.The fourth chapter,based on a macroscopic view of culture,compares the cultural connotations of Liu Yuxi’s and Su Shi’s poems about of aging,starting from the cultural differences and cultural development of the Tang and Song dynasties.Liu Yuxi’s creation reflects the romantic poetic spirit of the Tang Dynasty,which valued merit and talent,while Su Shi’s creation reflects the self-reflective rational character of the Song Dynasty,which valued temperament and discernment.The differences between Liu Yuxi’s and Su Shi’s poems describing aging reflect the development of aesthetic concepts of "aging" from the Middle Tang Dynasty to the Northern Song Dynasty,which can be seen in three aspects: the difference in the concept of understanding aging;the development of the technique of writing about aging;and the change in the poetic tendency to take aging as beauty.Liu Yuxi’s poems describing aging reflect the budding of the aesthetic concept of "aging" in the Middle Tang Dynasty,while Su Shi’s poems describing aging show the maturity and popularity of this aesthetic concept in the Northern Song Dynasty.