Mi Fu's Poetry

Based on the ideological changes and the development of the works of Mi Fu,a famous calligrapher in Song Dynasty, this study devides Mi's life into three periods of time: the first one is the period before he took the government job; secondly, from the year when Mi was twenty-one to the one when he was forty-four, he served as the local government head of Li Yong Qiu County; the third period is from the year when he was forty-five to the one when he was fifty-eight --these two respectively indicate the time when he worked as Jian Zhong Yue Miao and the year of his death. It is his description of scenery, objects and personal feelings and his critique on calligraphic and painting works that constitute most of his current available poetry works. This study conducts a detailed analysis for these two types and the author conducts some brief studies on other kinds as well. On the basis of what have been scatteredly researched before, the study aims at exploring the characteristics and fulfillment of Mi's poetry works. The author points out that those works are best illustrated by the features described as "the morale of going above the clouds," "the style of being calm and straigt-forward," and "the words of originality and adventure." Moreover, the study also intends to investigate the reason why Mi is not regarded as a great poet--his calligraphy overshone his poetic talents and the weak points of his personality can also explain it.