A Cognitive Study On “Sorrow” In Li Qingzhao’s Ci-poems Under Figure-Ground Theory

Song Ci is a bright pearl in the treasure house of ancient Chinese literature.As a well-known poetess in the Song Dynasty,Li Qingzhao was praised as the most talented woman in history whose Ci-poems are distinctive,with novel language,tactful tone and rich emotion.Meanwhile,most of them expressing sorrow are exemplary,which is the other distinctive feature of Li Qingzhao.Nevertheless,most scholars at home and abroad focus on the literary review of Li Qingzhao’s Ci-poems,while few have a cognitive interpretation on sorrow from the perspective of figure-ground theory.Figure-ground theory,originated from psychology,is a theory based on the prominent principle.Talmy incorporated it into language studies and broaden the range of study.The rapid development of cognitive poetics in the 20 th century set off a great wave of the study on literary texts from the perspective of cognitive linguistics.As a major component of cognitive poetics,figure-ground theory is increasingly applied to expound on the meaning construction and interpreting process of literary texts to reveal its cognitive function.This thesis studies “sorrow” in Li Qingzhao’s 46 Ci-poems from the perspective of figure-ground theory.It finds that different linguistic structures highlight different images,and by which the corresponding sorrow is underlined.Specifically,temporal relation,causal relation and spatial relation underscores plant images,human images and natural images respectively.In turn,they correspondingly highlight boudoir sorrow,family sorrow,and national sorrow.With further analysis,we find that sorrow expressed in the Ci-poems becomes the most significant figure in the changes of figures and grounds from multiple levels and dimensions,coming under the spotlight of readers.For example,images of flower and tree highlight idle sorrow in the boudoir;images of garret and alcohol highlight sorrow of missing,and images of stars and moon as well as wind and rain highlight sorrow of worriment.The changes of different sorrow in Li Qingzhao’s Ci-poems,such as sorrow of boudoir,sorrow of parting and sorrow of homesickness,match up to her life stages and experiences.As a well-educated female in a scholar-official family,Li Qingzhao greatly surpassed contemporary women in cognition.However,she wasn’t released from the constraints of feudal system and patriarchal society to achieve self-liberation.On the one hand,she yearned for love and freedom.After the conflict between parties in the era of Yuanyou during the Song Dynasty and Jingkang Incident,Li Qingzhao suffered a total dislocation of life,lonely and helpless.Her sorrow was growing with the aspiration for love gradually being snuffed out.On the other hand,highly prosperous economy in the Song Dynasty and budding capitalism provided favorable conditions for ideological emancipation,but feudal ruling class nipped capitalism in the bud to safeguard their own interests.Therefore,Li Qingzhao’s aspiration for freedom was disillusioned.Her sorrow expressed in the Ci-poems also reached its peak.This thesis interprets “sorrow” in Li Qingzhao’s Ci-poems to help readers deeply comprehend the artistry and emotional significance in her works,hoping to provide a new perspective to interpret the ancient Chinese poetry.