A Study Of Hou Cun's Poetic Theory And Poetic Creation

Liu Kezhuang is a famous poet in the Southern Song Dynasty. He is known as the leader of Jianghu poetic school which has great influence at that time. This position is based not only his plenty of creation and high social position, but also on his profound poetic theory, which directs the younger generation and conforms the poetic progress at that time. At present, the academic circles have not paid enough attention to Hou Cun's poetic theory and his poems, so the writer wants to do something in this sphere of learning.In the times when Liu Kezhuang lives, the Song poetry is declining gradually. The final group of Jiangxi Poetic School cries up "taking the classics as poetic material", which pushes the Song's inclination of "taking argumentation as poetry, taking scholarship as poetry, and taking words as poetry" to a extreme obscurity and stiffness. The appearance of Siling Poetic School marks a regression of the poetic style to that of the late Tang Dynasty. Its pure, natural and succinct style is sure to wipe out the social abuse and becomes fashionable for a time, however, its narrow range of subjects, talent lack, and unrealistic and shallow thought are doomed to failure one day. So Jianghu Poetic School, the successor of Siling School, cannot escape from such shortcoming. The poetic circle calls some poets with innovative spirit and exploring consciousness to change the decadent poetic creation, when Liu Kezhuang appears among the circle. With his poetic practice and theory he wins quickly a popular reputation and becomes a poetic leader. From Liu Kezhuang we can find a kind of puzzlement, exploration and pursuit forthe poetry in dead end in that epoch. His efforts, although may not be successful, serves as a typical representative of the poetic developing tendency in the late Southern Song Dynasty.The original is living sufficiently on the basis of the ample materials. Through the development of Song poetry and especially Nan Song poetry, the writer wishes to talk about Hou Cun's poetic theory and his poetic creation: Firstly, the author probes into Hou Cun's ideological level and creative mind, which influences his poetic theory and poetic creation, through historical background, official career and ideological origins; Secondly, Hou Cun's poetic theory is noted for its substantial contents and wild field of vision, so the author engages in the study of three important topics (topics concerning the true qualities of poems poverty giving rise to a desire for poem and poetic creation through widespread learning)to reveal the positive role for his poetic creation. Thirdly, the ideological content and artistic style of Hou Cun's poems is summarized from the history of Song poetry, and the poetic trend in the Nan Song's last stage is uncovered with the relationship between Hou Cun's poems and other poetic groups.At the moment, the study of Hou Cun's poetic theory and his poetry is still deficient in the academic circles, so the writer wishes to arouse the further concern of academic circles with this article, and the fresh field of vision and territory will be opened up through our joint efforts.