A Study Of Chuanshan's Poetics

This dissertation takes Chuanshan's poetics as the thesis, and, through a search for its significance and value, tries to bring to light the charm of a cultural giant. Further studies are made into the causes for the formation of his poetics, as well as the tendency and significance of the Chinese classical poetics in a specific historical period. It consists of five parts:Partâ… Emotional Life of Wang Chuanshan. A study of his life and career is made to show the cultural impact of his time on the formation of his poetic thought. Another study of his literary work, ci poems and zaju operas, is made to reveal the emotional problem that puzzled all his lifetime or the inner world of one who transited from the Ming to the Qing Dynasty.Partâ…¡A study of Chuanshan's Poetic Studies. Chuanshan's Poetic ('shi') Studies, a premise for for the construction of his poetics, is the key to the study of his poetic thought. Shijing Baishu, Shi Guangzhuan and Shiyi, three of Chuanshan's major poetic work, characterize his poetic studies. The first emphasizes interpretation of zi and words, as well as things and animals; the second attaches importance to semantic expression and random writing; the latter forms a critic analysis of the contemporay poetic composition. All these constitute the cornerstone of Chuanshan's poetic studies.Part III A Study of Poetic Forms. An investigation is made of the development of three major poetic forms in an effort to construct Wang Chuanshan's ideas of poetic forms. Wang believes that all poetic forms originate from The Book of Songs and should abide by the ideology and artistic values found in it. Poems writing in the later periods seem to be flourishing but in reality is a deviation to such ideology and values. It is inevitable that it came to the deadend at the end of Ming Dynasty.Part IV The Theory of pratyksa-pramana. An analysis of Indexx to pratyksa-pramana of Zen indicates that the term'pratyksa-pramana'is not that used in Buddhism, but is used by Chuanshan as a philosophical sense. Introduction of the term into poetic study marks his departure from the traditional poetics and his effort of constrcting his own poetic study. Such misinterpretation complies with the'morals and sentiments of poetry'and thus the term becomes a key concept in Chuanshan's poetic study. Studies show that the term governs the two major categories in his poetics: sound of mind and situation - the former focusing on the internalization of the external situation with a metaphysical feature, and the latter strssing the externalization of the inner mind or the concrete phenomena. A combination of the two make up the perfect representation of the realm of'xianliang'.Partâ…¤Theory of Thinking. Chuanshan builds up his poetic thinking theory on a philosophical and ethical basis, and combines the theory of'qi'and'nature'into an entity, which provides the major premise for his poetic thinking.'Sincerity', according to Chuanshan, serves as the medium in the combination, and thus"qi-sincerity-nature"constitutes his poetic thinking pattern, the starting point of his poetic thinking theory.The conclusion that is drawn from the analyses is that in spite of the profound poetic theory and the delicatepoetic construction Chuanshan's studies and thought belong to the Confucianism and that his poetic ideology in comparison with the current ideology in the late Ming Dynasty is in effect a return to the earlier tradition...