Research On Zhang Lei And His Poetry

Zhang Lei's has made friends with Su Shi, Su Che, Huang Tingjian, Qin Guan, Chao Buzhi and Chen Shidao, whose friendship reflects the exchange and integration of their morality and characters. Zhang Lei got to know Su Shi in 1071, and in 1085 he set the junior fellow apprentice with Su Shi. With his respect and admiration to Su Shi, Zhan Lei followed him since then. It is said that Zhang Lei knew Su Che at the age of 17 or 18. When he was with Su Shi, he still kept close contact with Su Che. His association with Su Che by letters came to an end when he wrote Suimujishijiziyouxiansheng (《岁暮即事寄子由先生》)in Chen. Zhang Lei met Huang Tingjian in 1085 and Zhang Lei was on good terms with him. It was quite normal to write poems each other at the beginning of Yuanyou period. Although Zhang Lei stopped writing poems for two times because of political reasons, their friendship remained the same as before. Zhang Lei knew Qin Guan in 1079, and they met frequently during the period of Yuanyou, but their contact was forced to suspend in the period of Shaosheng, after that they resumed their friendship. Songqinguan congsuhangzhouweixuexu (《送秦观从苏杭州为学序》) should be regarded as Songqingoucongsuhangzhouweixuexu (《送秦觏从苏杭州为学序》), which was written for Qin Gou's following Su Shi. Zhang Lei met Chao Buzhi in 1074 or 1075. Since 1086 he had a frequent contact with Chao Buzhi. Zhang Lei knew Chen Shidao in 1086, they occasionally wrote letters each other and they finished writing letters in 1100.Confucianism is the basic component of Zhang Lei's academic thoughts. In his poetry he advocated the kindness, the doctrine of mean, and the normal emotion. He considered that the propriety and law were based on the human very nature feelings. His proposition of integration of Confucianism and Taoism implied the ideological trend of covering Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism, which complied with the opinions of Su Shi and Su Che. His idea on sincereness mainly explained the moral value of sincerity and the importance of governing nation. His theory on sincereness and nature was quite different from that of Su Shi and of Su Che. In Zhang Lei's views, Taoism was rooted from the works of world, from the highest state of men's ethics, from a certain theory or ideology, or from the principle of Confucian. Principle in his eyes referred to the intrinsic rules of works and laws of society, which was not equal to "Tao" of Taoism and "Principle" of the Philosophers of the Song and Ming Dynasties.Zhang Lei incorporated Principle, Sincereness and Spontaneity in his literal thinking. He argued that understanding principle was the basis of writing poem, and it was also the standard to evaluate the quality of poem. The power of poetry came from the sincereness, which closely related the art of poetry with human morality. According to the ideas mentioned above, he promoted that poems should express the true feeling and thoughts without the artificial and fictitious intention.Zhang Lei widened the range of the theme and content of yuefu or music bureau, in which he was concerned about the hardship of people of lower strata and traditional customs and he created a quantity of music bureau substantial in content and typical in feature. Meanwhile he created the new types of music bureau, such as Yonghua Yuefu and Muxieyuequ Yuefu. As Zhou Zizhi remarked, Zhang Lei's Yuefu was in the first place with his variety in style.It was not difficult to find the excellent pieces of Zhang Lei's old style poems. Jiehouganyong poems combined the narration and argumentation to express their thoughts on the basis of what was seen. The main purpose of writing poems each other was for exchange and communication, therefore these poems presented the characteristics and personality. His fields-and-garden poems, describing the pictures of farmers and country life, were typical among contemporary poets. The poems on traveling and visiting mountains and rivers directly came from his personal experience, using the method of narration and comments. The poems on objects showed the aesthetical characteristics of Yongwu poems by expressing ideals and truth based on the vivid description of objects. Poems on history incorporated the history with high praises of people of integrity or personal feelings on the rise and decline of country. Zhang Lei created the typical style of Xushi poems. In general, the style of Zhang Lei's old style poetry was amiable without neglecting a strong and powerful mood.In Zhang Lei's lii shi or code verse, he often described the scene and expressed his emotion, esp. at the final part of poetry. His strength lied in describing the scene. In his lii shi, the repetition of words was quite common, as his language was less refined than other poets but with harmonious elegance and vivid descriptions. In the view of Zhang Lei, the most typical feature of poems was natural, which did not mean that he wrote poems without paying attention to any skills. Zhang Lei's qijue filled the grid of harmony and rhyme with a vivid and fresh style dealing with various practical themes without neglecting romanticism and beauty. Zhang Lei composed many excellent pieces in simple language to create a profound emotion with scenery. There were some poems to state a certain meaning through discussion and explanation.Zhang Lei exerted a far-reaching influence on the development of poetry during the period of Yuanyou. Due to the difference from Su Shi's and Huang Tingjian's thoughts and characters and the ignorance of elaboration, Zhang Lei's poetry introduced an innovative style. However as a kind differing from Tang Dynasty, Zhang Lei's poetry is inferior to Su Shi's and Huang Tingjian's at the aspect of innovation. He avoided the corrupted practices of Su Shi's and Huang Tingjian's poetry. With the broad mind and appreciation on different groups, Zhang Lei focused on his style and was well-known for his naturalness and peculiarity during the period of Yuanyou.