Chinese Poetry. Goryeo Dynasty Poet Li Gather In Harvest Confucian Style

Lee Saek (1328-1396), also known as Mokeun, was a famous poet at the end of Goryeo Dynasty and the early beginning of Choson Dynasty. Lee Saek was an excellent litterateur and Neo-Confucianist with tremendous achievements. He wrote numerous poems and essays, which were gathered in the book MOKEUN's Corpus. That made him one of the three personages in the literature history of Goryeo. For a long time, scholars in Chinese academia didn't pay much attention to the research on Lee Saek, and only made a few results without an intensive study of his works. Based on analysis of plentiful poems, this thesis mainly elaborates on Lee Saek's demeanor as a Confucian gentleman, especially when he chose to be both an official and a recluse. Form the view of comparative literature, this thesis also discourses how Lee Saek accepted traditional Confucianism and put it into use. Research results in this thesis will make up the deficiency about studies of Lee Saek's poetry and provide supplementary materials for poetry, culture exchanges activities between ancient China and Korea.Research approach of this thesis is to profile a man at his times in classical Chinese literature and have effect on others in comparative literature. Regarding Lee Saek's poetry as the object of study, this thesis makes a point of reading meticulously and detecting his minds. In the period of Lee Saek lived, different furious political factions engaged in prolonged struggles against each other for their personal interests and power, with no regard of the whole country and people. By traditional Confucianism request, Lee Saek was devoted to the Goryeo Dynasty and his duties. He maintained a rigidly political stance, elevated sentiments and firmness on Confucian beliefs. Once in success, a Confucian would try to let others be benefited as well, so did Lee Saek. Lee Saek had been looking forward to realizing the political ideals about a prosperous country and people with peaceful, beatific life. A Confucian advocated loyalty, chastity and righteousness in good times and bad. When Lee Saek became a deportee in his later years, he refused to cooperate with the Choson Dynasty, but turned to the nature and lived in seclusion. All these feelings and thoughts were written down in his corpus. Confucianism was an edifying culture for Lee Saek. Besides, he was acquainted with Chinese classical works and aesthetics of poetry. Form his exquisite poems, Lee Saek's noble and elegant demeanor was demonstrated in true representation.There are four chapters in this thesis. Chapter1gives a general introduction to the complicated and changeable period of history, and how Lee Saek maintained a firm political standpoint and life choice as well as made proficiency both in Neo-Confucianism and literary accomplishments. Chapter2and3analyzes many representative poems in MOKEUN's Corpus which can showed Lee Saek's positive thoughts on contributions in politics career as well as great perseverance and integrity in seclusion, in order to reveal his cultivation of ethic thought and conduct. Chapter4units Lee Saek's values about being an official at first and a recluse later to elevates and sublimes Confucian spirits.Lee Saek's poetry had a high place in the history of ancient Korean literature with an influence on style of study and writing afterwards. This thesis summarizes the primary contents which reflected Lee Saek's Confucian spirits in order to show his concern about the country, people and high-minded principles, sentiments. That will solve some problems of literary studies in academic circles.