On The Poetic Theories Of The Four Greatest Poets In The Revival Period Of Southern Song Dynasty

You Mao, Yang Wanli, Fang Chengda and Lu You were known as the Four Greatest Poets in the Revival Period of Southern Song Dynasty. The title was first suggested by Yang Wanli then approved by Fang Hui, which has been widely accepted by scholars in the years to come. Outlining the learning journey of the four greatest poets from the Jiang Xi Poetic School, exploring the development of their poetic theories, and summarizing their poetic theories as a literature group, the dissertation attempts to evaluate their transitional position in Chinese poetic history and their contribution to Chinese poetics objectively, based on the main thread of the greatest four poets' literature independence from the Jiang Xi Poetry School which dominates Chinese poetics in an unquestionable way before their emergence, in the hope of a better understanding about Chinese poetic theories during the transitional period between the Jiang Xi Poetic School and the Poetic School of Rivers and Lakes. This dissertation consists of three parts. Based on the relevant literature review, the first part mainly addresses one important question, that is , who are the greatest four poets, in order to clarify the object of this research. The significance of this research is also talked about.The second part runs from chapter 1 through chapter 8. Chapter I deals with the literature works of the four poets and their intellectual interactions which are the foundation of their poetic theories as a literature group.