Study Of Hong Se-Tae's Literature

The subject of this paper is Hong Shitai,the representative of Folk Poets in the late Korean Dynasty.Folk poets emerged as Korean Dynasty declined and were also addressed as'"middleman",in that they were ranked between scholar-bureaucrat of Yangban and civillian.Though having a gift for literature,Hong could not achieve his ambition for his whole life in his patrimonial identity of "middleman".In this situation,he questioned the inequality of social identity of the time,realizing that the biggest barrier for Folk Poets lied in the inequality between identity and social class.Hong,in turn,accepted the theory "writing are for conveying truth" from literature of scholar-bureaucrat,and came up with "instincts of temperament" and "equality of temperament"on the basis of "integrity of temperament" in it.Tian Ji lun raised by Hong not only expressed a reserve understanding to "utility theory",but also illustrated a fresh view of literature and creative concepts.Hong had more than 2443 poems and selected poems of Folk Poets-Hai Dong,which had been handed down in his life.Nevertheless,the research on Hong is not profound enough in academic field.The aesthetic ideology in Tian Ji Lun and how it put into use are particularly threadbare.Consequently,this paper completely illustrates the history,background,tendency and themes of Hong literature.Additionally,it demonstrates a detailed and systematic analysis on Tian Ji Lun,and then generalizes a conclusion of the characteristics,appreciation and ideas of Hong literature.Finally,it makes an objective and unique evaluation of Hong literature and his place in history.Hong lived in the declining and transitional period of Korean Dynasty,after it suffering from Wanli War(the war between North Korea and Japan in Wanli year)and Bingzi War(the war between North Korea and China in Bingzi year).The corruption and incapability of feudal ruling class,however,could not prevent monetary economy from developing,and on the contrary,feudal identity was in stake.Then,new spirits were beginning to spring up at an increasing rate.The representative one is "practical learning",accepted by scholar-bureaucrat.This is a disordered period when feudal ruling class was being challenged and a variety of systems lost control.Speaking of the arts and culture,nothing could be more affected than Han Poetry,which was seen as the highest field of literature and would be left to molder except for scholar-bureaucrat.Since then,the underclass had also began to write Han Poetry.It is worth mentioning that Folk Poets are deep in Han Poetry both from quantity and quality,almost standing up to those of scholar-bureaucrat,and Hong was one of them."Writings are for conveying truth",advocated by Shilin was the mainstream of literature in early Korean Dynasty.Li Huang and Li Er are the representatives.Tian Ji" in this theory focused on"integrity of temperament",promoting the significance of charitable deeds to cast dark and keep silver.In other words,Tian Ji Lun,though given a variety of terms("nature","temperament"),"writings are for conveying truth" is virtually its essence.As for temperament,it was merely about the rational thinking and highest spirits in the range of morality and justice.In the medium term,in Xu Jun's research,temperament got rid of "ration",starting to liberate.She believed only when people appreciated "Tian Ji" without caring much for writing techniques,can they find true poetry.From then on,people explained "Tian Ji" as human's pure and rich emotions.She also added"instincts" to "temperament" and attributed creative writing to the liberation of emotions.Later,another scholar-bureaucrat,Jin Changxie drew "Tian Ji Lun" into the range of notes and critics of poetry,believing Tian Ji with instinctive temperament is true poetry and can be matched with that of Tang Dynasty.Hong's Tian Ji Lun not only was related to Jin's literature view,but had extended meanings as well.In the first place,Hong pointed out "temperament" must be true and only true temperament can bring about Tian Ji,the cornerstone of creative writing.Second,it was temperament stretched into sociology that was the most unique point.In his opinion,temperament was equal to everyone for no one is superior to another,so did individual's personality.Each one deserved respect and conveying emotions at will.Hong was aloof and brilliant,but ill-fated on his road of bureaucracy for his identity of middleman:He was admitted to the government at 23;At the age of 46 he was appointed as an official at Translation Department.Even in his old age,he had twists and turns in the lower rank.The gap between ideal and reality had bad effect on his writing inevitably.His literature embraced the contradiction between self and reality,criticism of social reality,desire for equality of temperament and individual respect.Meanwhile,Hong witnessed the corruption of ruling class of the late Korean Dynasty and sufferings of citizens as he experienced in the low ranks.And all of these can be found in his poetry.It is obvious that his autognosis and concern about civilian are two themes in Hong Literature,showing humanistic concern and humanism.Aesthetic ideal in Hong Literature was embodied in Shanshui.He expressed the most natural and true emotions in his lines.Combining the outside world with the emotions of individuals,he focused on the scene and expressed his feelings peacefully and smoothly.What's more,his social poetry was drawn from the injustice and poverty,which drove him resentful and lamented.From this,we can see what Hong pursued primarily in aesthetic ideal was "emotion".In the process of self-awareness,Hong understood the significance of power and space for liberation of personality and humanity.Hong literature was full of praises for life and desire for energy.From the view of life aesthetics in Tang Literature,Hong,as the prime creative subject in appreciation,seeing "life"by epiphany in his creation.The product of epiphany is a surpassing of life,which means only surpassing of life can reach the extreme beauty.Conception,the advanced form of literature,is inevitable in the field of appreciation.It is necessary to appreciate the style of works and its varieties from artistic conception.Aesthetic conception in Hong literature can be divided into grievance,reality and lament according to emotion.To summarize,Hong literature contained the social view and values of the masses at that time.Besides,his work also reflected the spirit of the equality of human nature and humanism which were valued by the folk literature.The period he lived in was declining but in its infancy as well.At that time,Hong put forward an idea that the "emotion" in Tian Ji Lun should not just require"instincts",in some words,it more high lightened "equality".This idea later became the fundament of "Xing Ling Lun" that developed by the subsequent folk literature,and was widely welcomed in other folk cultural fields,playing an indispensable part in the great development of the folk culture and art.Therefore,we can say that Hong's Tian Ji Lun and other literature works arouse the self-expression and personality of the ruling class,providing a theoretic guide for the diversity of literature and the awakening of the social-consciousness.