The Discussion Of The Book Of Songs From Yuan Mei Based On The Notes Of SuiYuan

The Book of Songs, a sylloge of poetry, was set as classic at the beginning of the Western Han Dynasty. Since then, the interpretation of the book from the aspect of Confucian classics has taken up the dominant position, while its literary interpretation has not been stressed. But since The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons by Liu Xie of the Southern Dynasties, the literary interpretation of The Book of Songs has not stopped. Two thousands years later, Qing Dynasty was influenced by the transition from Ming Dynasty to Qing Dynasty and several emperors praised Sinology highly. A remarkable phenomenon appeared in the study of The Book of Songs. On the one hand, study of Confuscian classics and texual criticism prevailed, and the function of moralizing and advocating ethic of The Book of Songs was exaggerated. On the other hand, the literary interpretation of The Book of Songs also changed at the turn from Ming to Qing Dynasty for the reason of fierce social changes.From the aspects of literary functionality, scholars represented by Chen Zilong, He Yisun, begin to explain the literary content of The Book of Songs, trying to develop its social function and moralizing function. In term of literary artistry, Wang Fuzhi becomes the first person to interprete The Book of Songs from the aspect of literature during the three hundredsyears in Qing Dynasty. However, during this period, study of Confuscian classics and texual criticism prevailed, which hindered the belletristic development of The Book of Songs. Only a few of scholars sticked to it, among them are Fang Bao and Jin Shengtan who are slightly involved in it and mainly focus on elucidating the artistic style of poetry and discriminating styles and meaning of the poetry.Yuan Mei applys the method of studying pure literary text in the comments on The Book of Songs in Essays of Suiyuan on Poetry. In his interpretation, The Book of Songs is not Confucian classics, but a classic model of literature that expresses temperament. Yuan Mei not only views The Book of Songs as poems, but also restores the specific writing environment and expresses the real temperament of the poems from the emotional point of view. Based on the temperament, he furtherly probes the writing techniques and artistic characteristics of The Book of Songs. Besides, he also deals with the acceptance of The Book of Songs and its historic value. Throughout Qing Dynasty, "temperament" is a distinct feature of the literary research of The Book of Songs. Although influenced by the traditional study of Confucian classics and textual criticism, many scholars come to realize the functions of "temperament", not yet boasting spirits. This recognition reaches its peak when Yuan Mei presides over poetic circles holding the flag of spirit. Thus, Yuan Mei’s view on The Book of Songs is of great importance to understanding the literary researches on The Book of Songs in Qing Dynasty.