"Written Yuefu Songs":the Relations Of Diction And Music In WANG Shizhen’s Concept Of Literary History

In the literature history of Mid-late Ming,WANG shizhen was the iconic character who transferred Retro into Disposition.His thoughts upon literature is inclusive and can’t be confined by "Latter Seven Persons"(Hou Qizi).Yiyuan Zhiyan and its Appendix I,as his representative works of literary theory,promoted further academic progress in poetics,Ci study and Qu Study.However,Quzao,a book extracted from Yiyuan Zhiyan Appendix I,has been misinterpreted severely in a long period of time.For example:some scholars still believe its weakness lies in uniformity between Qu criticism and Poetic one.Others insist the opinion that Northern Qu shouldn’t be harmonious to southern ears and then Southern Qu was born is totally subjective assumption.Separated from culture context about rites and music,these judgements are reckless,lack of empathic comprehension,and can’t bring out the positive meanings in regarding Northern and Southern Qu as modern Yuefu songs.Therefore,this paper attempts to clarify the concept of Written Masterpiece(Wenzhang)and Yuefu,and then,based on the relations of diction and music,excavates the cultural connotation of the rite and music in WANG Shizhen’s concept of literary history,The full text is divided into three chapters:The first chapter focuses on the life of WANG Shizhen.With the historical background of the political decadence,it turns out the traces of his spiritual evolution and the stage of his literary thoughts.Tersely speaking,his literary career experienced five periods:home school,determined to Retro,sunk and changeable state,tired and saturnine state,peaceful and self-satisfied state.The more deconstructive his Teacher Morality(Shidao Spirit)was,the more inclusive his literary proposition became.The second chapter investigates WANG Shizhen’s critical discourse,in which the concept of Written Masterpiece is the core.Through the analysis on the origin of Written Masterpiece,the Classics(Zheng)and Variation(Bian)schools of Written Masterpiece style,the rhetoric of Written Masterpiece,it proves that his purpose of upholding the lyrics of Pipa Ji is to advocate the sound of prosperity,which contains both common emotions and poetry education.The third chapter,based on North-South Transmutation,discusses WANG Shizhen’s concept of Yuefu.On the premise that poetry,Ci and Qu are kind of Yuefu style,it presents the rivalry between Zhongyuan Sound and Wu Sound in phonology,tones and songs aspects.What matters is that WANG Shizhen’s attitude confides his Wuzhong consciousness.Using the concept of Written Masterpiece and Yuefu,WANG Shizhen sorted out the timeline of poem-music literature,in which Southern Sound,Wu Sound are regarded as Chinese orthodox.Furthermore,the historical narration,consisting of Tushan Woman’s Song,South of Zhou,South of Shao,Qingshang Music,Wu Sound Songs(Wusheng Gequ),Wuzhong Boat Songs,has demonstrated his theoretical appeal for linking up North and South.