On The Pre - Qin And Han Dynasties And Its Influence On The Poetry Of Life And Death

The argument of "life" and "death" has always been thought and discussed since the birth of human beings and it is considered as one of the eternal topics which have attracted countless thinkers and writers both at home and abroad to pay attention restlessly. In this thesis, the author defines the connotation and denotation of "life" and "death" in the first chapter. With the statement of the categorization of the traditional views on "life" and "death", the authors intends to trace and compare different opinions on "life" and "death" between Chinese and Western cultures in order to conclude the characteristic of Chinese traditional view on "life" and "death", which is considered as "valuing life and undervaluing death". In the third chapter, the author takes the highlights on presenting the holistic philosophical structure on "life" and "death" in ancient China, which covers the views on "life" and "death" in ancient Chinese myths, the ones in Confucianism, Taoism, and Mohism in the Spring and Autumn Period, the ones in The Book of Songs (Shi Jing) and people's lives in Zhou Dynasty, and the ones in Qu Yuan's thoughts and works. Moreover, the social trends of "Seeking gods and asking ghosts" and its development both in Western Han Dynasty and Eastern Han Dynasty is summarized and analyzed. Likewise, the songs and poetry in that period are also employed as the subjects in this paper. The fifth chapter mainly takes the emphasis on the statements of the development of the views on "life" and "death" in Wei Dynasty and Jin Dynasty; meanwhile, the author argues the influence of the views to the poetry and the features in that period.This thesis dates back the origin of views on "life" and "death" in the Chinese literature history, and exploits the Book of Songs (Shi Jing), the Songs of Chu (Chu Ci) and other classical literary works in ancient China as the subjects in order to present a systematic analysis of the views on "life" and "death" in ancient China and its development and influence over Chinese literature.