The Aesthetic Experience Of Yuan-qing Poetry During Late Han And Wei Jin Dynasties

This dissertation emphasizes the local concept of "yuan-qing" poetry to distinguish itself from western lyric, and rectifies the narrow concept of taking "yuan-qing" as love affair. At the same time, it points out that combining the theories of "yuan-qing" and summarizing the creation trend of "yuan-qing" during late Han and Wei Jin Dynasties are necessary. Subsequently, the verse history, in which "gan-wu-yuan-qing" is viewed as the basic aesthetic experience, will be surveyed independently."Yuan-qing" poetry derived from the transition of poetic experience from "yan-zhi" to "yuan-qing". Meanwhile, it relied on the turn of idea history from the study of Confucian Classics to metaphysics. In ancient poems, the lyricism of The Book of Songs has the character of publicity, which neither accords with the concept of individual lyric in a western sense, nor develops the aesthetic experience of "gan-wu-yuan-qing". The Songs of Chu, which owns definite protagonists, produced the self-consciousness of individual emotion, established the sense of time of grieving over the passing of spring or feeling sad with the advent of autumn, which was reinforced by "yuan-qing" poetry of later generations. In fact, its "bi-xing" with lyricism and satire is different from the theoretical connotation of "yuan-qing". The theory of "yan-zhi" in the Han period, which still emphasized the study of Confucian Classics, showed a gradual conversion towards "yuan qing". Poems expressing private emotions appeared and the tradition of five character poems which revealed personal emotions were established.Nineteen Ancient Poems established the aesthetic mode of "gan-wu-yuan-qing" which expressed universal emotions through individual angles and inner perspectives, and was good at using images of scenery or constructing scenes to offer agent and environmental support for lyricism, and at last, the aesthetics of "wu-gan" appeared. The self-consciousness of individual, the value and consciousness of present are related to metaphysics, which became the poetic prelude to the age of metaphysics. Jian'an poetry contributed to the new emotional area and style of the tragic mood of heroism, expanding the subject matter and type of "yuan-qing" poetry; meanwhile, it degenerated towards "yan-zhi" tradition of The Songs of Chu, and its poetic techniques couldn't be compared with Nineteen Ancient Poems. The rise of metaphysics had double influences on lyrics. On one hand, metaphysics initiated the trend of emphasizing emotions in Wei Jin period, and made Zheng Shi and Tai Kang periods the summit of the creation of "yuan-qing" poetry. On the other hand, metaphysics reflected on emotions, and helped to bring about the new poetic type of metaphysical poetry whose gist is "anti-yuan-qing". After metaphysical poetry strongly opposed the tradition of lyricism, the basics of the sense of time, tragic mood, and the organization of "yuan-qing" poetry were shaken."Yuan-qing" poetry opposed "yan-zhi" tradition, focused on individual emotions instead of publicity, reformed associational "bi-xing" aesthetics of ancient poetry, and created the "wu-gan" aesthetic experience which was characterized with instant nature perceiving. But it doesn't repel lyricism. "Yuan-qing" poetry does not directly bring about landscape poetry, instead, the emergence and thriving of landscape poetry needs the poetic revolution which was initiated by metaphysics poetry. From the differences of "yuan-qing", "yan-zhi" and the aesthetic experience of landscape, the non-linearity feature of Chinese verse history can be discovered. Above all, the standardization of "yuan-qing", or the attempt of using "yuan-qing" or lyricism to summarize the whole Chinese aesthetic should be doubted.