A Study On The Relationship Between The Phenomenon Of Entering Shu And The Poetry In Early Tang Dynasty

Abstract:Since the1980s,regional literature studies have become a prominent area of inquiry in ancient literature. The Tang Dynasty is especially central in this project, since this is the era when the literati traveled frequently for official and personal reasons, whether and southern and northern cultures converged. More specifically, this work concerns itself with the literati’s entry into Shu area, using the colorful space as an inroad into the larger issue outlined above. Temporally, the project limits itself to the beginning eras of Tang, with an emphasis on the experiences of traveling in the Shu area and the resulting poetic output. More generally, the dissertation examines the complex social and literary dynamics implied in these poetic works.The project consists of a preface and a body of four chapters. The structural logic is as follows:description of a phenomenon--analysis of causal factors--case studies of the four primary poets in the Shu area--panoramic view of the poets’time in Shu and how it impacted the trajectory of Tang poetry. It aims to provide a broad and detailed study of the last issue.The first chapter starts with statistics, describing the scale of literati’ travels to Shu, arguing that this phenomenon originated in Early Tang. It summarizes and analyzes close to90poets’ experiences to tease out their diverse motivations for traveling to Shu, their political and poetic stature, and their kinship relations. It then points out three major literary consequences of this massive phenomenon.The second chapter seeks to lay out the causes for such a phenomenon, with an aim to thoroughness. First, the regional advantages of Shu and its development during early Tang; Second, the system of civil officers during the Tang, under which the civil officers had to move to various posts scattered in different places. Third, its special literary milieu and appeal to the poets; Fourth, the rise of Buddhist and Taoist thought as a hidden motive. Chapter Three turns to the four representative poets in early Tang who converged in Chu, analyzing the similar ways in which their poetic works were affected by their experiences in Shu. It ends with reflections upon Chen Zi ang’s archaism and the archaic currents in the four Big Poets upon arrival in Shu, with the aim of establishing a connection between region and poetics.Chapter Four pulls back and provides a more broad-strokes look at the subtle and complex relationship between the poets’ affiliation with Chu and the development of poetics in early Tang. The chapter contains three parts:Firstly, the court-society distinction and how the poets negotiated this difference; Secondly, an inquiry into the formation of ad hoc creative collectivities among the Shu poets; Finally but more importantly, an study of the major figures in the stages of the development of early Tang poetry that points out how their poetics changed upon exposure to Shu, which aims to provide an argument about how travels and regional experiences shaped early Tang poetry.