Chenxiang's Poetry And Literary Thought

Chen Xiang was a famous official, educationist, rationalist and poet in North song Dynasty. Chen's poetic style has noting extrodnary, but profound emotions have been embeded in. His poems, eulogizing his contemporary society through the comparison with the ancient, hyming the nature and with an insight into human life; pathetic or sentimental, reflect extensively the particular life, thoughts and emotions of his society. Some of his poems even become more significant for their historical attributes, because these poems reflect the social, cultural and ideological states of his age. Chen Xiang's works inherited much from the Confucius ideology, which can be traced back to Confucius ideology in Qin Dynasty, Yang Xiong in Han Dynasty, Han Yu and Ouyang Xiu's theories. Chen's thoughts was related much with politics, so he emphasized the political and educational effects of poetry. Meanwhile, he cherished an open mind towards Confucius tradition, regarding that the combination of Confucius ideology with Daoism, so he had integrated the Daoist and Buddist artistic spirit into Confucius morality, his poems thus had avoided the morally biased views and formed his dinstictive features of morality and poetics.