Research On The Imagery And Subject Matter Of Falling Flowers In Ancient Chinese Literature

Fallen petal is not only a common scene in life, but also an important kind of image and subject matter which frequently appears in the works of Chinese ancient literature. There are already many descriptions about different flowers in The Classic of Poetry, and people who lived in the pre-Qin period had also noticed the description of some wilting plants. But there was not specific statement about "fallen petal" until The Chu Elegies. During the long literary evolution after that, poets promoted the process of the "fallen petal"s canonization and topicalization gradually. The image of fallen petal became a specific topic in the Wei-Jin and Six Dynasties period. Moreover, the creation related to the image presented a splendid sight during the Tang and Song Dynasties. Afterwards, the Geniuses of Wuzhong represented by Shen Zhou, Wen Zhengming, Tang Yin, and the Loyalist Poet represented by Wang Fuzhi and Gui Zhuang, those two groups of poets made great efforts to write large-scale poetry. As a result, those poetry on the topic of "fallen petal" has made a remarkable achievement.As a symbol of passing time and ruining nicety, the image of fallen petal is not a kind of scene in one moment or in one type. The poets could elaborate the fallen petal from different perspective on account of its continuity of phase and diversity of species. On the phase side, there are some conditions such as "willing fall", " being falling" and "fallen already". As the category of flowers, there are many types, such as plum blossom, peach blossom, lotus, poplar blossom and so on.In addition, the fallen petal often appears with other literary images, too. Such as running water or blowing wind and running rain, constitute classic image compositions with particular connotation.The image of fallen petal has rich connotation in the relevant literature. People thus feel grieve over the deceased and spring as the close corresponding relationship between the fallen petal and late spring. They express their condolence to the dead as the common sense of life between flowers and human beings. The men who were traveling or residing far away from home were triggered homesick by the condition that flowers were flowing in the wind while no where to belong. Besides, the image of fallen petal made people feel sympathy on the life tragedys of the unfortunate women because they are somewhat alike in aspects of appearance and fate.Outside the field of poetry, the image of fallen petal is also an important art element in the narrative literature. The beautiful,perishable,and elegant fallen petal could often meet the needs of the author such as heightening atmosphere, performing people's characters and unfolding plot.Therefore it becomes the wedge of background, property and talking in the story, or appears in the poetry inserted on occasions. In the famous Chinese classical novel the Dream of Red Mansions, the image of fallen petal can be said to be a great metaphor in the whole novel. It was regarded as the symbol of those beautiful ladies' final destination,and also the epitome of the decadent feudal society.