On Chen Sanli's Poetry Style

Among the Tongguang' poets, Chen Sanli's opinions on poem creation are different from Shen Zengzhi and Chen Yan. He emphasized on developing poet's moral qualities. In his opinion, a poet should cultivate broad mind and regard saving common people from suffering as his own responsibility. What's more, he called on learning from famous poets of Tang and Song Dynasty and forming distinctive style. He especially revered such a style that is grievous and normal. What should be paid attention to is that he revered Tang poem's typical style, which's recognized by fluent rhythm and profound meaning. This interest made him distinctive at that time. His opinions on poem creation, together with his life, influenced his creation and led his poems' intricate style.Chen Sanli took great pains to select the appropriate and seldom used word. He also created new grammar and wrote some poems which were like proses, such as Feeling when Walking along the River, Feeling in the Spring and so on. In this case, his poems became abstruse. But not all of his poems have this trait. We can find new content in his poems after Xinhai Revolutionary, which was due to his feeling of sorrow. The form became normal and profound, but there were still some uncommon words and grammar. After 1911, he wrote many magnificent poems, such as Leave Sanyuan Villa, Drank with some Classmates when Arriving at Nanjing Railway Department and Called on Mr. Ouyang in the Rain on March 7th.Chen Sanli's poems appear strange, which has something to do with the way he made use of imagery. He often wrote about sudden change and damaging things, such as thunder, storm and fierce wind. Chen Sanli felt like an orphan and often depicted desolate imagery, such as bald tree and dreary moon, to express his sadness. Sometimes, he described moon and snow, which were beautiful objects in traditional poems, to express depressed feeling. By describing setting sun, frozen hawks, thin dogs and escaping mice, he showed his sadness when facing the bleak reality.Because of learning from many poets and each system's own speciality, Chen Sanli's poems of different system have different styles. His five-word ancient poems are naive and moving, such as Express Sadness in Jing Room, Cry for Fan Kentang andSacred Rites in Fertival( written in 1914). His 7-word ancient poems are grievous and indignant. Other poems that were about scenery with unrestrained power are different from those works that were about depressed feeling. Chen Sanli's Jueju are different from his ancient poems. He often combined some Jueju into a whole, such as Sacred Rites in Renyin, Sing -when Going along the River and so on. He expressed more abundant content by this system. In Chen Sanli's poems, two opposite facts often appear together. Such comparison can be often seen in his Jueju, such as the comparison of suffering with free in Stop in Jiujiang in the Evening and using spring scenery to describe sadness in Feeling in Xishan.Chen Sanli's ancient poems, especially those that were written before Xinhai Revolutionary, were similar with Huang Tingjian's poems. However, he created Jueju by a way that was different from Huang Tingjian's way. He tended to express his sadness with fluent rhythm which was similar with Tang poems. What's more, Huang Tingjian emphasized on writing in an implicit way and expressing profound thought. While Chen Sanli's poems were full of tears and would lead the reader to a desolate environment.