Jian'an poetic discourse

The importance of poetry from the Jian'an era (196-220 C.E.) in Chinese literary history derives from its formal innovations, predominantly its codification of the pentameter line, and, more importantly, from the new emphasis it gave to subjectivity in the lyric. This dissertation concentrates on how Jian'an subjectivity is formed within texts and the reading of texts, and on significant dimensions of late Han social, intellectual, and literary history which contributed to the particular versions of subjectivity in the Jian'an lyric. It also treats formal and textual aspects of shi poetry such as line length, diction, intertextuality, and beginning and ending conventions.;Cao Pi's poetry is outstanding in the Jian'an for its use of and incorporation of earlier and contemporary texts. Many of the poems which are seemingly most "subjective" are revealed to be pastiches of other works. This intertextual dimension must qualify our notion of subjectivity as proceeding solely from an individual poet's consciousness. A reading of his Dian lun: Lun wen emphasizes the intersubjective character of the interpretive practice as conceived in the late Han.;The poetry of Cao Zhi is acknowledged to be the poetry most characteristic of the new lyrical subjectivity. This is achieved through manipulations of the dynamics of individual voice, and a particular positing of the poetic persona's affective relationship to the world.;The last chapter treats the social determinants and social functions of poetry at the end of the Han. The literati's newly found group identity was formed in part through the political chaos that marked the end of the Han, and was reflected in contemporary writings on human relationships. The moral ambiguity of the friendship relationship, evident in early Cofucian writings on the subject and acutely present in Jian'an writing, reveals the problematic character of literati social relations. Poetry, particularly group composition and epistolary verse, was a site of affirmation of literati group identity, with all of its problematic dimensions.;The poetry of Cao Cao is evidence of the confluence of historical reputation and the nature of individual poetic subjectivity. The deep concern for historical reputation, evident in Cao Cao's poetry and other writings, is matched by the problematic quality of his literary and historical reputation in later reading practices.