Poetry Style Connections Between Yongjia Four Lings And YAO He

Yongjia four Lings set up a new banner in the late Southern Song Dynasty poetry styles. They pattern after the poetry style in the late Tang Dynasty resigning from the most popular Jiangxi poetry style and especially follow the examples set by YAO He and JIA Dao. This is highly praised by Confucian scholar YE Shi at that time. Researchers hold different viewpoints on what sources are Yongjia four Lings respected and promoted in their works. Some take YAO He as their pattern and some acclaim that they use various poets' works as reference. However what could be agreed is YAO He's and JIA Dao's style and compose techniques could be most easily trailed in their work. This paper aims at find out YAO He or JIA Dao, who would be the one Yongjia four Lings emphasize more reference on in their study and compose. Based on JI Jun's study on Yongjia four Lings, this paper makes survey of the correspondences Yongjia four Lings' poems in different aspects by comparing Yongjia four Ling's and YAO He's works. It could be approves, as the viewpoint stated by JI Jun, that Yongjia four Lings' works mirror and are close to YAO He's poetry style by analyzing their life, series of poetry, aesthetics and specific works and comparing with JIA Dao's. In particular, Yongjia four Lings take "Ku Yin" as the excelsior in practice of art rather than the ascetic exercise of sprit which is highly valued by JIA Dao. They make poetry a carriage of life and a carrier of dream with their peaceful and graceful heart. Hence, gracefulness goes through Yongjia four Lings' works while obscurity goes through JIA Dao's. To the conclusion, Yongjia four Lings' poetry style is closer to YAO He's regarding to this character.This article is divided into four parts. Based on a review of the previous study of Yongjia four Lings' poetry, as well as the comments of their works, "Introduction" gives a clear research direction in this paper. Chapter I briefs YAO He's life and his "Ji Xuan Collections", discusses his poetry characters in terms of "YAO Shaojian Poetry Collections" and distinct his "Ku Yin" attitude and forms from JIA Dao's. Chapter II introduces the period background in Yongjia four Lings' life and indicates that they respect and promote YAO He's style by comparing YAO He's "Ji Xuan Collections" and ZHAO Shixiu's "Zhong Miao Collections". Chapter III indentifies four Lings' characteristics individually based upon comparison of their works and points out the commons in YAO He's and, as a group and a whole, Yongjia four Lings' composing.