On The Evolution Of Scholarly Popular Lyrics In The North Song Dynasty

Scholarly Popular Lyrics in the North Song Dynasty will be discussed from the social cultural background and the evolution in the thesis. Proposed by the ruling class and owing to the prevailing custom of the pleasure-seeking for dances and songs in the Song Dynasty, the creation of lyrics thrived. Lyrics were sung in four places, i.e. imperial conferences; private banquets; brothel, tearoom, taverns; and Washi(a land of place for entertainment).Loved by townspeople, popular lyrics were prevalent in the last two places ,and occupied the first two places where refined lyrics had governed.Creator of popular lyrics could be classified as folk artists who created or by adapting?previous literary works wrote folk lyrics, and scholars in the middle or lower class, who affected by such tendency, created scholarly popular lyrics.The main characteristic of scholarly popular lyrics in the North Song Dynasty was clear, popular and even vulgar in language. The formation of the characteristic was caused by two reasons: Firstly the tradition of using Buddhist allusions which originated in the middle and late of the Tang Dynasty continued because the literati officialdom contacted more Zen and began to write popular lyrics. Secondly creators of scholarly popular lyrics adopted the slang for they were local officials and close to common people.There were three stages of the evolution of scholarly popular lyrics in the North song Dynasty, i.e. establishment stage, climax stage and refinement stage. Liu Yong was die representative of the first stage and the focus of the argumentation between refinement and popularity. Liu Yong was in the lower stratum due to his lyrics and unorthodox life. His creations, closely connecting with composing and performances, reflected the commercial culture. Highly praising "looks" and "crafts" of the prostitute, Liu Yong implied the high price of the prostitute and used her true name in his lyrics, showing the commercial character. Controlled by such commercialism his lyrics fixed two modes: men and women's love mode and voyage love mode. Lyrics of first mode were created for townspeople in Bianjing, written in the vernacular and chosen topic or the relationship between men and women. Lyrics of the second mode were for businessmen and scholars who had received better education. So the taste of lyrics of the second mode was higher.Huang Tianjian, Chao Duanli and Qin Oman were representatives of the second stage. The most distinctive feature of their lyrics was unrefined in language and sentiments. Another feature was the good depiction of the variation of the psychology. They narrated key actions in lyrics as telling stories.Until Zhou Bangyan in Yuanfeng year changed the extremely unrefined style in the second stage. Refining poetical meter, using allusions and imitating the style of Yuefti folksongs and Song poems, Zhou Bangyan was the forerunner of the meaning innovation. By correcting the uncultured style and keeping true qualities of lyrics, Zhou's innovation improved the status of lyrics and prepared for the Refinement Movement in the south Song Dynasty.