On The Evolution Of The Feminist Characteristics Of The Song Lyrics

Based on the diachronic approach, this dissertation takes the representativepoets in the Song Dynasty as its study. Through the textual research and quantitativestatistics, the author analyzes such topics as the feminist themes, feminist feelingexpressions, feminist images and languages in the lyrics so as to trace back theevolution of the feminist characteristics in the Song lyrics.The dissertation consists of an introduction, a main body and a conclusionaltogether.In the introduction, the author elaborates such topics as the denotations of thefeminist characteristics of the Song lyrics, the studies both at home and abroad, theresearch significances, the methodology and the contents.And, in the body part, the author finds out that the poets in the early SongDynasty inherited the feminist characteristics in the Late Tang Dynasty, expressedthe gentry’s inner feelings with erotic techniques, and contemplated everything withfeminine sentimental feelings. Therefore, the Song lyrics not only possessed itsnature, but also had the subtle and implicit lyric characteristics so as to achieve thetransformation and transition from the Five Dynasties to the Song Dynasty.The general features in Liu Yong’s lyrics are erotic and full of folklores, possessthe gaudy and sincere feminist characteristics and promote the ordinary people’serotic folklores to the extreme. And, he made true nature of the Song lyricsstereotypical further and influenced such poets as Su Shi and Qin Guan deeply. Thelyrics of Yan Ou and Zhang Xian should be the products of the early and middleNorthern Song Dynasty gentry’s awakening, and realized the responses from thepoetic style and the lyrics themselves to the gentry’s reflections of the socialphenomena. Yan Ou wrote “tenderness with elegance”, and continued to describe the erotic society from different levels. And, Ou Yangxiu, influenced by Liu Yong’sfolksays, laid the foundations for Shao You, Yi An and even Lu You’s descriptions ofthe implicit feminine inner worlds. While, Zhang Xian changed Wen Wei’s eroticstyle into delicateness and gracefulness in his writings. His poetry opened up thechanges of the writings from the poets to the gentry. And, Zhang Xian’s poetrytranscended the erotic features in Liu Yong’s and headed for gracefulness, and gavebirth to the emergence of the characteristics of gracefulness in Dongpo’s lyrics.The transition and development of the feminist characteristics in the Song lyricsshould be the emergence of Dongpo’s poetry. He regarded poems as lyrical songsand thus made the lyric style change a lot. Although Su Shi took poems as lyrics andenlarged the themes and manifestations, the rhythmic nature of the lyrics determinedthat Dongpo’s lyrics must have the lyrical nature. And, the tenderness style of thelyrics could be inseparable from the description of the feminine themes and innerhearts. They had the feminist characteristics of “the bold style of writing withtenderness”. The influences of Dongpo’s lyrics on the Su Four Scholars weresignificant, and Zhou Bangyan and Xin Qiji’s lyrics were also his reflections.Yan Jidao and Qin Guan are called “the ancient sad poets” for their poems andtheir lyrics in common have the feminist characteristics of sentimental pathos.Xiaoyan composed his lyrics with narcissistic feminization. His lyrics maintainedthe “original nature”, and influenced Shaoyou’ composition in a certain degree.Shaoyou first studied Liu Yong’s lyrics and then were influenced by Dongpo’s.“Heincorporated his own life experience into the erotic senses”, and returned the missionof feminist characteristics of the lyric ontology from the lyrics with the self-sadfeminist characterization. Therefore, he paved the first road for the lyrical formationsof the sad feminine style. Huang Tingjian and He Tao, influenced by dual impacts ofthe traditional lyrical compositions and Su Shi’s graceful innovations, bothcomposed a lot of erotic folklore lyrics. Shangu, affected by Liu Yong’s descriptionsof the civilian folklores, also composed a large number of erotic folk lyrics, whichwas the inheritance of Huang Tingjian’s softness and beautifulness of “another school”, and especially, paved the road for the emergence of the Jin Yuan’s lyrics.And, influenced by Dongpo’s lyrical composition of “poetry as lyrics”, he extendedthe lyrical expressiveness. Thus, Shangu’s lyrics were sometimes vulgar andsometimes graceful. He regarded vulgarness as elegance, which was the inheritanceand development of the lyrical feminine characteristics. While, He Zhu’s lyrics,affected by the erotic poetry and folk lyrics, were mostly in line with the traditionalaesthetic style. His lyrics were soft, implicit and flirtatious, conforming to the lyricalexpert.Until the times of Zhou Bangyan, the lyrical style again changed. Meicheng’slyrics could be regarded as the poignant beautifulness of his own doomsdaysentiments, and had the harmony of not only the lyrical organizations but also thestrict rhythms. However, this doesn’t mean that Meicheng’s lyrics deviated therequirements of the feminist characteristics of the lyrics themselves, but his lyricschanged a lot in the feminist reflections. Meicheng integrated his own doomsdayfeelings by means of sentimental stories into the aesthetic views, which showed the“elegant, brilliant and sad” feminist characteristics. Therefore, it became animportant link between the North and South Song lyrical veins.Yi’an, because of her female identity and her writing objects and genderperspective, no doubt made the lyrical feminist characteristics far more hearty. WhatYi’an inherited from Meicheng was that he composed lyrics with allusionsartistically. He often wrote lyrics with common vernaculars and with somewhat LiuYong’s style. But, he was obviously a bit better than Liuyong. Yi’an truly changedvulgarness into elegance and his lyrics exhibited the feminist characteristics uniqueto the females. Jiaxuan expounded his deep implicitness in his lyrics with thedescriptions of the large number of scenes and usage of allusions, which formed thebeauty of deep vagueness, and by employing the female themes and languages, hevividly depicted the other aspects of the human psyches. His lyrics showed thelyrical features of the energetic boldness and the water-like femininity, and had theartistic charm of implicitness and virility. Jiang Bian’s lyrics opened a new era. His love lyrics were not only of emotional focus, but also upholded moderation. Hisimages were clear and his dictions were elegant, but not conventionally erotic, whichopened a new road for the elegant and love lyrics. Even if in his object chants, Baishishowed his elegance in describing such things as fragrant weeds and beauties so asto make his lyrics “elegant and erotic”, which showed another kind of feministcharacteristics. Baishi’s lyrics inherited the elegance-pursuing composing ideas ofYan Jidao, Qin Guan and Zhou Bangyan, and had a positive impact on Wu Wenying,whose lyrics, regarded as the final glory in the Tang and Song dynasties, were theintegrations of the ending times from Tang and Song. However, Mengchuang’s lyricswere not the simple ending of the South Song lyrics, but the involvement of theNorth Song lyrical style and even the late Tang and Five Dynasties. His lyricsshowed his sentimental feelings from the female sensitive thinking, and consciouslyor unconsciously revealed the feminine characteristics. And, Mengchuang’s lyricsnot only had Liu Yong’s styles but also Shaoyou’s features, which showed thefeminist characteristics of “secret and peacefulness”.The evolution of the feminist characteristics in the Song lyrics is summarized inthe conclusion part.