Zhang Ji Wang Body Research

Zhang Ji and Wang Jian were very important poets of the middle Tang Dynasty, who were schoolmates of the same year and experienced similar life chances. They were equally famous for their mighty creation of Yuefu(folk) poems, hence equally referred to as 'Zhang-Wang Yuefu'. Zhang Ji and Wang Jian were also good at writing "modern style" poetry, ignoring the regulations and limitations of regulated verses instead of pursuing after passion and truth. This thesis intends to make an overall study of the general poems of Zhang Ji and Wang Jian, investigate the origin; content; achievement and influence of poetry and their association with Han Yu and Bai Juyi—two representative poets of the two major poetry schools in mid-Tang Dynasty, and discuss about their status and significance in the field of poetry in their time. Through an in-depth and detailed study of the poems written by Zhang Ji and Wang Jian, the author is trying to make a better and new understanding of their poetry. Besides the introduction and appendices, the thesis consists of seven chapters, with approximately 18 thousand characters.The introduction expounds the significance of selecting the topic and the research methods, and makes a brief literature review of the subject. There exist two monographs and over one hundred academic papers about Zhang Ji and Wang Jian. The investigation into this field became fruitful especially after 1980s, mainly about their life, their literary thoughts on poetry writing, their poems and textual researches and so on. Among these topics, researchers pay more attention to the creation of their Yuefu poems rather than the study of their "modern style" poems, in which they had substantial accomplishments.Chapter one is A Summary of Zhang Ji and Wang Jian. First, I explained the meaning and the reason why their names were put together. The combination of their names started when they were alive, the basic and foremost reason being that Zhang Ji and Wang Jian both indited a great deal of Yuefu poems and acquired some influence. The title of as 'Zhang-Wang Yuefu' first came out in Gao Bing's A collection of Tang Peotry: A Genaral Narration in the Ming Dynasty. Then, I reviewed their association with Han Yu and Bai Juyi, two representatives of the two major poetry schools in the mid-Tang Dynasty, and learnt that they acted as a bridge between the two. Finally, I made an investigation into the influence of Zhang Ji and Wang Jian and the wide circulation of their poems. Chapter two is The Background of Zhang Ji and Wang Jian's poems. It is mainly about the life time of Zhang Ji and Wang Jian, the origin of their poems, and the time spirit. Their realistic writing style was much influenced by Du fu, Yuan Jie etc. Ideologically, they were counted mainly as Confucian followers, but were also afcted by Buddhism and Taoism in the circumstance of multi-thoughts in mid-Tang Dynasty.Chapters three and four, The Yuefu Poems of Zhang Ji and Wang Jian, mainly discuss the achievements of Zhang Ji and Wang Jian's Yuefu poems. Chapter three expounds the general conditions of Yuefu poem in early Tang Dynasty and the prosperous Tang Dynasty, the reason why Zhang Ji and Wang Jian wrote so many Yuefu poems, the spread of Zhang Ji and Wang Jian's Yuefu poems, a comparison of Zhang Ji and Wang Jian's Yuefu poems with Yuan Zhen and Bai Juyi's, an analysis of the responsory phenomena in Zhang Ji and Wang Jian's Yuefu poems. Chapter four analyzes Zhang Ji and Wang Jian's Yuefu poems using specific poems. The content of their poems reflect the social customs and the life of ordinary people, in terms of the expansion of the meaning of Yuefu poetry, the reflection of the living environment of the lower classes, special consideration of the fate of large numbers of women and, and the exposure of the cruelty of wars. In terms of artistic style, I came to a conclusion that Zhang Ji and Wang Jian applied a writing technique of gentle oral narration and metaphor with implicative meanings. The final part falls on the differences between their respective poems. Generally speaking, they were largely identical but with minor differences.Chapter five is The Wulv poems of Zhang Ji and Wang Jian. Zhang Ji had more than 140 Wulv poems, and Wang Jian had more than 60 Wulv poems. Zhang Ji's Wulv poems were mainly delineated to the beautiful natural scenery, corny but likable. Wang Jian's Wulv poems were mainly descriptions of his poor and idle life together with kind of cannot-help-but self-mockery of human life. In addition, the part also makes a comparison and contrast between the Wulv poems of Wang Jian and Yao He.Chapter six, The Qilv poems of Zhang Ji and Wang Jian, expounds the general conditions of Qilv poems in early Tang Dynasty and prosperous Tang Dynasty and analyzes the creation of their works by referring to specific poems. Both Zhang and Wang had 81 Qilv poems, mainly to their friends, describing their poor life and their pleasure of tours and travels.Chapter seven, The Archaistic poems and Four-lined Verses of Zhang Ji and Wang Jian. Zhang and Wang's archaistic poems were mainly those with five characters in each line, with a special feature of an integration of depiction; expressions of emotion and comments. Their four-lined poems were mainly delineated to the beautiful natural scenery; expressions of emotion and correspondence with their friends; etc. However some poems with vivid description and rich connotations could also be found among them.The Conclusion part makes a brief summary of the whole thesis. It also comments upon Zhang Ji and Wang Jian's status and significance in the field of poetry of the mid-Tang Dynasty.Moreover, there are some poems about Buddhist thought and Taoism thought Witten by Zhang Ji and Wang Jian; meanwhile, there are also lots of poems that poets in the mid-Tang Dynasty wrote to Zhang and Wang, all of which are attached as appendixes at the end of the thesis.