Women's Writing To Dun Huang Poetry

Dun Huang poetry included the first songs to be written about women. In the portions written about women, both the lyrics and the manners of expression had a great impact on Song Dynasty poetry and feminist literature. Although folk poets only had limited education, their writings introduced the natural tone found in early Song Dynasty poetry. Because there were so many different poets from so many different social classes, they could accurately reflect the broad spectrum of different lifestyles and feelings of women at the time. Through studying Dun Huang poetry, we can correct a popular misconception about the history of Song Dynasty poetry, provide valuable data, and add to the development and understanding of feminist literature. In short, this essay uses many perspectives to discuss the gentle aesthetic quality of Dun Huang poetry, the inner heart and lifestyle of women at the time, and offers a deeper understanding of the relationship between women's writing and the development of Song Dynasty poetry.This essay is divided into five sections.Section one introduces the current body of research about the women's writing within Dun Huang Poetry and the main essence of this essay.The second section uses a narrative tone to highlight the differences between how male and female authors write about women; male authors tend to first describe a female character's appearance before discussing what, is in her heart, whereas female authors tend to emphasize only the heart of the woman.Section three analyzes more closely the inner hearts of typical female figures in Dun Huang poetry, such as the hearts of women pining for their husbands far away at war, the complex situations of prostitutes, the up and down lives of imperial maids, the naive innocence of young girls, the sorrowful toil of loving mothers, and hints at their bitter situations in society and in the home.Section four begins with the marriage and home life of women, analyzing the differences between upper class and lower class women's situations, and the sources that contributed to difficult home life.Finally, section five examines in detail the particular characteristics of feminist writing and its significance in the history of Song Dynasty Poetry.