On The Cultural Mind Of Wei Yingwu And Its Influence On His Poetic Writing

Wei Yingwu, an important poet in the fore period of the Mid-Tang Dynasty, was famous for his pastoral poems. With a simple, idle and elegant poetic style, he was long ranked with Tao Yuanming, Wang Wei, Meng Haoran and Liu Zongyuan. In fact, he also wrote many poems to satirize the state affairs or to show his sympathy for the working people, being not so softy to alienate the world. Wei Yingwu met with many sinkings and risings in his official careers for more than thirty years. In spite of this, the thought of serving the people of the confucianists played the most important part in his mind. But the bumpy official carrer and the loomy fate continually spurred his seclusive idea. Because of this, the contridiction of holding public office and secluding from society was always exiting in his mind and promoted the development of his mind. So the thoughts of serving and secluding comprised two useful ideal values in his cultural mind, and had powerful influence on his poetic writing.The passion of serving the people and realizing one's ideal was inherent with the scholars who were deep soaked in the Confucianism. As the kernel in Wei Yingwu's mind, the thought of working hard for and being politically kind to the people of the Confucianism always played a leading role in Wei Yingwu's cultural mind, with this in his mind, he tried to lead an active life, so his poems were endowed with a particularly pure and warm style with rich implications contained in it. In the meantime, Wei Yingwu also had a strong seclusive ideal originated from the politically disturbed society, his bumpy official careers, the influence of Buddhism and Taoism, the sadness of losing his wife and the suffering of his illness. He often sang the beauties of the countryside, admiring the secluded life of Tao Yuanming. So holding public office wasn't the only attracting thing to him, the wonderful idyllic life also had powerful glamour to him. He often thought of the secluded life while he was in office, and when he retreated, he wrote many poems praising for hermitage. In spite of the undulating development of this ideal, the thought of serving the people was always in his heart. Maybe he would sing seclusion while he was an official,he still had the same sorrows and pains of the people in his heart. Coexisting in his mind and fighting with each other, this two ideals rolled into one in the poems reflecting his secluded life in the office thanks to the influence of Buddhism and Taoism.The influence of Wei Yingwu's cultural mind on his poetry writing was powerful. Some of his poems were praised for their "elegant and simple", "delicate and simple", "simple", "classical and simple" style. Wei Yingwu was also ranked with the poets of the "pure and perspective" poetic style. You can find the close relation between his pure poetic style and his indifferent mind. And not to forget, the pure style is the most distinguished characteristic of Wei Yingwu's poems.. He often expressed his ideals and feelings unintentionally, narrated in a talking-at-the-home means, and was very excellent in expressing his feelings with the concrete objects, in making a pure and perspective artistic conception. The achievements of Wei Yingwu in this poetic field were superior to other poet with the same style. The poems of Wei Yingwu also had a pure poetic style effected by his cultural mind with different characteristics, so made his poems more colorful and attractive.