Study On Major Problems About Poetry's Knowledgeability In Han And Wei Dynasties

"Knowledgeability "("学问化")is a new concept and new category recentlyproposed by Professor Wei Zhonglin in his study of Chinese classical poetics. Thesignificance in proposing the concept of knowledgeability of poetry lies in the factthat it makes the study or learning of what has usually been regarded asramifications (meaning insignificant skills) an important content of poetics toponder. While there have always been similar remarks and related discussions inliterary criticism, most of them exist in sporadic self-sufficiency. Up to now, as aresult, little is found in the existing literature of full-length academic studies andformulations of Chinese classical poetics, such an important poetic phenomenonmost characteristic of Chinese national thinking and culture. Therefore, a poeticstudy aimed at knowledgeability is doubtless of new and enlightening academicsignificance for us to further comprehend the special qualities of Chinese poetics.Poetry of Han-Wei and Six Dynasties is chosen as the object of study in thispaper mainly on account of the fact that poetry of Han-Wei and Six Dynasties,especially that of Six Dynasties, emerges, whether in creation or in theory, at animportant, critical time of change from old to new. While the various problemswith which poetics of Han-Wei and Six Dynasties is faced may well be said to be"unprecedented and anticipant"(as quoted from Mr. Guo Shaoyu), this paperobserves that, from the new perspective of knowledgeability, an inquiry into anumber of important problems in poetics in Han-Wei and Six Dynasties helpsunderstand and figure out the special facets and evolution of theknowledgeability of Chinese classical poetics in its formative stage and providesan incentive to further discern and reveal the unique content of Chinese classicalpoetics.This paper consists of eight chapters, of which the first is an introductionexplaining the reason why the concept of knowledgeability is proposed and itssignificance and demonstrating the particular meaning of knowledgeability as a category of poetics and its requirements.The second chapter of this paper demonstrates in respect of the naturalrelation between Fu and poetry that Hanfu represents a key link in thedevelopment of the knowledgeability of poetry and analyzes the stylisticconnection between Hanfu and the evolution of later poetry in Six Dynasties andthe profound influence of the views of the writers of Hanfu on creation and theirkeen intent to mull and try upon the views of the poets in Six Dynasties onliterature and their actual creation.The third chapter of this paper deals with the relationship between theemulation of poems and Fu in Six Dynasties and the systematization of poetry,resulting in the conclusion that "surpassing predecessors"("欲丽前人")as animportant idea of competition and academic attitude in the emulation of poemsand Fu in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, thereby analysis of the three related issues:First, the emulation of poems and Fu become an important means of fame;Second, the emulation has become a competitive art; Third, the emulationhighlights the competitive factors of the poems and Fu itself.Chapter four analyzes the separation of poetry and music and theestablishment of the artificial technology of poetry inWei and Jin Dynasties, withan emphasis on the clarification of three somewhat typical topics:1. Trend of theseparation of poetry and music and the establishment of a poetic concept, and2.requirements of the times of poetry and music evolve along different paths afterthe poetry of an artificial way, and3. The poetic significance and revelation ofLu Ji's creative poetic emulation and theory.Chapter Five deals with the connection between metaphysic poetry and theknowledgeability of poetry, resulting in the conclusion that knowing is in fact anessential element of metaphysical conversations and metaphysic poetry, and thendelves into the role and significance of metaphysic poetry in the change of ametaphysic atmosphere in the West and East Jin Dynasties, the new change ofattitude toward things (i.e., attitude toward natural objects) and theestablishment of objects and skills of emulation motivated by the shift frommetaphysic to landscape poetry during the Jin and Song Dynasties.Chapter Six dwells on the relationship between landscape poetry and theknowledgeability of poetry, with the focus on the investigation into the bold creative intent and practice of Yuan Jia landscape poetry on the principle of"talent in line with change"("以才济变") in a singular cultural milieu wherelandscapes have become objects of objective representation after theestablishment of a new view on nature, and the analysis of the new pursuits ofthe Yuan Jia poets as represented by Xie Lingyun and the systematic charactersof the Yuan Jia landscape poetic style in its mulling, trial and generation.The last chapter, Chapter Seven, mainly probes into the relationshipbetween temperament and knowledge and believes that Han-Wei and SixDynasties are a period in which the discussion in fact begins of the relationshipbetween temperament and knowledge at the poetics level although the knowledgeof the people in Han-Wei and Six Dynasties is full of contradiction. While ZhongRong's theory of "zhixun"(直寻) shows that the knowledgeability of poetry hasbecome a conspicuous issue of the time, the creation of the Yong Jia and YongMing poets is actually a response to and a reflection on it.