A Study On Yan Ermei: A Poet Living In Dynastic Changes

Yan Ermei is considered as a patriotic poet who lived in the dynastic changes from Ming to Qing. He stood out among all the adherents of a former dynasty. Seeing the kaiserdom of Ming was coming to ruin, he even took part in the voluntary army to fight against Qing's army for several times experiencing all kinds of hardship and dangers regretlessly. He, as an outstanding, bold and unrestrained poet without any fears to traditional restrictions, acted like a madcap. Yan Ermei had a high production, however he hardly let them out, because he was chary of courting disaster. That's why among all his works, very few come down till today. In this thesis, a study on Yan Ermei will be based on this three aspects:â…  A brief introduction of Yan Ermei's poems.His works reflects the process of uprising of the Ming's peasantry, the decline of Ming dynasty, the invading of the Ming's army until the stabilizing of Ming's governance. His works is a historic evidence of an irreconcilable conflict between different estates and nations. It exposes many aspects of social, political and financial situation as well as military affairs. He spoke highly of dumb millions, especially those underprivileged intellectuals who were unflinching and stuck to fight against Qing's invaders just like him. He also wrote a lot of poems in praise of landscape. Among these works, some are combined with a thought for old time's sake;some are associated directly with the actual state of affairs, which express a deep sorrow over the social transformation and nostalgia for the conquered country. Meanwhile, he also wrote a plenty of poems of experiences on traveling and making acquaintances, which reflect the bittersweet intercourse as well as the common aspiration of the friends in the same camp.â…¡ The theory of Yan's poem.The most outstanding and audacious opinion of him is that poem can express the anger besides the complaining ,which is quite different from the previous ideas. It's said to be a brave action of developing the useful and discarding the useless. This opinion resulted from the Yan's experience of battle and exile and it also shows the unyieldingness of Yan.He relatively emphasized that poet's moral quality was more important than the quality of the poems, if not, at least we ought to pay equal attention to both. Furthermore, he attached importance to the historic value of poems. He wrote poems to record history, made them the complement and evidence of history, because poems can perfectly record the incognizable mentation.Ill The artistry of Yan's poems.Yan's poems differ in types of literature and contents. The poems of metrics are precise and their tones are massive. The ancient poems are elegant and romantic, but most of them are sentimental. The landscape poems are natural and lasting appeal. However, the main of them are bold and unconstrained , whose maestoso and pensive atmosphere impresses people deeply.