A Study On Peng Ruli’s Poems

Peng Ruli is a knowledgeable and erudite scholar in the Northern Song Dynasty. The minister ofImperial Library says:“His article is very elegant, like the ancient writing style; his poem and prosecombine the tuneful tone with implicative style”.However, He did not receive the deserved reputation in poetic world in the Northern Song Dynasty.This paper takes his lifetime stories as the breakthrough point, developing a holistic approach to his poetrycontent, poetic theory and character. The text launches discussion from the following three aspects:First, this text narrates his family members, official careers and friendships according to the availablehistorical materials. Peng Ruli, from Poyang, Raozhou, has one elder brother, two younger brothers, twosons and two daughters. He once held the posts of the chief military justice of SiZhou、the chief militaryjustice of Baoxin、WuAn area confidential secretary、the chief military justice of TanZhou、the lecturer ofSupreme school、Dali temple auxiliary officials、Prince ZhongYun、Supervisory empire Line in、Jiangxitransport assistant、 JingXi forensic、Daily life Scheeren、The book Scheeren、the minister of PersonnelAffairs，etc.He has an abundant life experiences, making many good friends, such as his talented fellow-villagersZhang Qian, Xiong Ben, Liu Zhengfu, colleagues Cheng Silong, Wang Fen, Yu Xidan and many otherprimary officials. In the late Northern Song Dynasty, when the emphasis of disputation had switched fromdivergent political viewpoint to sturdy will, he was not confined to the arguments between authorities. Theadoption and abandonment of language and action must accord with the truth and morality, it means thatthe political decision-making couldn’t be differed from person to person, but insisted on the right principles,He had a good relationship with Wang Anshi, Zeng Zhao, Fan Chunren, Su Shi and some other figuresfrom the old or the new parties.Second, the content of Peng’s poetry tends to be classified into four categories in accordance with thethemes embodied in his poetry. First, social political poems, which involves the two parts of his greataspiration and attention to the reality; second, Emotional poems, which expresses his disappointment towards the sinister reality, unfulfilled performance, drift wandering and yearn miss of families; Third,leisure poems, which describes amorous feeling for attracting landscapes, and elegant feast; fourth, logicalpsychology poems, which is used for stating his arguments directly or via objects. The theme of Peng’spoety has a deep link with his compound subject character which mixed the policy-participating subject,literary subject and academic subject. The creation of his poetry had a sufficient reflection of the politicalcharacter’s humanistic concern, literary character’s plaint and delight, the academic character’stemperament and thoughts.Third, this thesis is to analyze Peng’s theory and achievements. Influenced by Song ideological trend,Peng’s poetry emphasized expressing one’s emotion and ambition,；pursuing the variation. His poetry stylewas deeply affected by Ouyang Xiu, Wang Anshi, Su Shi and many other masters in literature, and hassimilar with Huang Tingjian’s “making a thoroughgoing change, turning stone into gold”. The specificskills of Pang’s poetry contributed a lot to the formation of Jiangxi Faction. His poem had typicalcharacteristics of Song Tune in his poem, which were embodied mainly in three aspects: the themes ofpoem were mainly drawn from daily life; the technique of prose was introduced in the composing of poem;Peng’s talents and learning were reflected in his poem. Meanwhile, his poetry, viewed in a natural way,without the help of human beings, has a lasting appeal, and natural composition. To some extend, this hasbroken the boundry of Song Tune, and has led to the emergence of regression of Tang Tune aesthetic value.In addition, the Appendix Part of this paper records Peng’s biography according to the tablet gravemoment, literary sketches, and poetry anthologies.