Wang Yangming Poetry Research

During Hongzhi and Zhengde period of Ming dynasty, Li Mengyang and He Jingming advocated that literature renown in the Qin and Han Dynasty, Poems renown in the Prime Dynasty. They tried to change the long-standing status which lack of vitality caused by Taige Ti literature. It started the trend back to the ancients. Almost at the same time, Wang Yangming set the culmination of Xin-Xue,launched the opposition to Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism. From then on, literature restoring ancient ways and spiritual literature advocated by Xin-Xue became the two main lines of literature in Ming Dynasty. Wang Yangming, as a great confucianist of grant talent and erudite knowledge in Ming Dynasty, is famous by his philosophical thought. Thus his other side of outstanding talents was not concerned by academia. Actually as a traditional cultural giant, he was also good at poetry and calligraphy. Meanwhile, he had a sense of responsibility. He paid attention to the social reality and advocated pragmatism. Wang also had great military prowess. Therefore, Wang is a military talent, not a pedantic psychologist.Wang's poetry creation, at first took part in the trend of restoring ancient ways. After middle age, he had his independent thought system. He opposed to imitation on poetry and emphasizes the sentiments. When the Classicist School went in many ways and the literary arena was filled by the voice of"Tang better than Song", he found another way and became one of the early poets who could make a combination of Tang and Song styles. His achievement in poetry is as good as Seven-Scholar School.This research tries to put Wang in the background of Neo-Confucianism recession and academic transition in Mid-Ming Dynasty, studies Wang's status in spiritual literature and even in Ming Dynasty's history of poetry through the variation of his thought and poem style. Although this research focuses on Wang's poetry, it also to some extent reflects the prosperity of poetry in Ming Dynasty.