The Study On Zhang Wentao: His Poetry Theory And His Verses Of Poetry Theory

Zhang Wentao is a rare talent for poetry, calligraphy and painting, of which he is famous especially for his poetry. He is named "the best poet in the district of Shu during Qing Dynasty". As a descendant of a prime minister, mixed with the thought of Buddhist and Taoist, he represented mainly a Confucian. He had been irresolute the whole life whether to be a hermit or to be an officer. Even when he had an official career he still dreamed of becoming a hermit. After resigning from the post he was still concerned about the country and people, though. His theory and writing of poetry had been influenced to a certain degree by his thought. The first chapter of the thesis introduces his life and thought, which is helpful to the understanding of his theory and writing of poems.Zhang Wentao is a famous poet and poetry critic, whose theory of poetry and writing of poems were very influential at that time. It's a pity that he hadn't published any monographs on poetry theory. His theory of poetry is to criticize poems in the form of verses. His giantcollections of stanzas on poetry amounts to more than 10 , among which are "Eight Poems On Composition" and "Twelve Stanzas About The Comments on Poems". Moreover, there are also some comments on poems in the form of single sentences which can be found in "Chuanshan's Poetry Anthology". The comments on these stanzas and single sentences are beneficial for the probe into Zhang Wentao's opinions. The second chapter analyses Zhang Wentao's contribution to the verse of poetry theory by relating its origin, development and prosperity. The purpose of this chapter is to probe into Zhang Wentao's opinion on poetic literature by understanding and criticizing his anthology of poetic stanzas.Zhang Wentao's criticism on the writers of the past dynasties embodies his opinion of "Natural Disposition Theory". Studying the important contents of his criticism on poet of the past dynasties in the form of verses could be contribute to a complete and objective comprehension of his "Natural Disposition Theory". My thesis tends to probe into the contents mentioned above which has never been touched by any one else. The writers criticized by Zhang Wentao are more than 1000, ranging from Quyuan to the poets of Qianlong and Jiaqing Empire. After sorting out "Chuanshan 's Poetry Anthology", the third chapter of the thesis is to comment on the most important points. It is divided into five parts which are respectively about the following: Zhang Wentao's comments on the writers of Pre-Qin's period, East Han Dynasty and West Han Dynasty, Zhang Wentao's comments on the writers of the Wei and Jin Dynasty and the Six Dynasties, Zhang Wentao's comments on the writers of Tang Dynasty, Zhang Wentao's comments on the writers of Song Dynasty, Jin Dynasty and Yuan Dynasty, Zhang Wentao's comments on the writers of Qing Dynasty.Zhang Wentao's comments on poetry and writing advocate natural disposition, blaze new trails, oppose imitation. There are common points between his writings and those written by Yuanmei and Zhaoyi in either the theory of poetry and writing practice. Furthermore, he has formed a style of his own. Zhang Wentao's theory of poetry benefits a lot from the traditional theory of poetry and from the essence of "Natural Disposition Theory" belonging to Yuanmei and Zhaoyi, and even has its own characteristics. Zhang Wentao's theory is not less perfect than the "Natural Disposition Theory" of Yuanmei and Zhaoyi. That he upholded publicly "elegance" in comments on poetry and had written a lot of poems which exposed social reality is rare among the...