The Recluse Ethos And The Mountains-and-waters Poems In The Southern Dynasties

Anchoret ethos has a long history in China, with varieties in each historic period. The culture of anchoret ethos came to be mature in Wei, Jin and the Northern and the Southern Dynasties, which greatly affected the society, objectively promoted the aesthetic knowledge of the mountains and waters, thus established to a degree the foundation of the boom of the mountains-and-waters poems later on.Anchoret ethos reached its zenith in the Southern Dynasties in Chinese history. As a spiritual product of recluse literators, the mountain-sand-waters poems were affected greatly by anchoret ethos when they were produced. This article analyzes the relationship between anchoret ethos and the mountais-and-waters poems in the Southern Dynasties in the following aspects:Firstly this article tries to describe the prevalency of the anchoret ethos in the Southern Dynasties. This phenomenon has many differences in quality and degree comparaing with things in other historic stages. This essay summarizes three main characteristics of this phenomenon and searches for the reason from three aspects including politics, society and ideolody.Secondly, this article explains the positive effects of anchoret ethos on the idea of mountains-and-waters aesthetics. The development of the idea of mountains-and-waters aesthetics is the necessary premise of the accomplishment of the formation of mountains-and-waters poems in the southern dynasties. Various ideas of anchoret ethos directly affect the poets' choices of poem materials and the ways of expression of their mountains-and-waters poems. Chapter two gives a pectination on the complex relationships among anchoret ethos, mountains-and-waters aesthetics and mountains-and-waters poems.Last but not the least, this essay explains the deep relationship between the formation of the styles of mountains-and-waters poems in the southern dynasties and the anchoret ethos, from the following aspects: spiritually, the idea of standing aloof from worldly affairs; aesthetically the ideal of similarities in appearance and spirit, and the rhymes of poets and the natural, vacant and recluse art taste.As an important factor, anchoret ethos promoted the mountains-and-waters poems in Southern Dynasties to embody various styles and features, which offered precious experience for idylls in Tang Dynasty as well as to have occupied an irreplaceable place in the poetic history for its unique art characteristic, and thus has become a permanent spiritual treasure of Chinese people. However, few study has been done on the relationship between the anchoret ethos and mountains-and-waters poems. A deeper research on this is hopefully helpful to understand the reasons of the formation development of the mountains-and-waters poems in the southern dynasties better.