Spirit Of Qu Yuan And Mentality Of Poets In Song Dynasty

This thesis focuses on the poems of Song Dynasty concerning Qu Yuan, aiming at analyzing contemporary people's mentality indicated by their various understandings of and comments on Qu Yuan and his works in a period when the Song society underwent profound changes. This thesis is divided into five parts. Chapter 1 centers on death of Qu Yuan. Chapter 2 analyzes awareness of Qu Yuan. Chapter 3 sets forth exile of Qu Yuan. Chapter 4 deals with the influence of Qu Yuan's master piece—"Li Sao" on poetical composition of Song poets. Chapter 5 explains the relation between Qu Yuan and the Dragon Boat Festival. Poets in Song Dynasty are inclined to show the reflection upon life and death, awareness and drunkenness, promotion and demotion and poetry through their comments on the death, the awareness and the exile of Qu Yuan as well as his "Li Sao". On the one hand, they appreciate Qu's integrity and loyalty; on the other hand, they do not and cannot adopt such extreme action. They admire reason and prefer mental cultivation; so man's action, in their eyes, should be concordant with ration; for example, a poet can express his grievance through his poem, but he should keep his mind placid and his action moderate. These poets often highly praise Qu's noble virtues while criticize his obsession with reality at the same time. Some of them usually draw analogy between Qu and themselves because of similar experiences, but they also indicate that they would never follow his suicide. The poets' attitude towards Qu seems to be a paradox; it is actually a reflection of contemporary intellectuals' psychology in a complex social milieu of Song Dynasty. They share a collective ideal of benefiting the people, the country and the world; meanwhile they follow an individual value of self-improvement in morality. They believe that self-discipline in individual morality will promote the development of whole society.