Comparative Study Of Yuanzhen's Poems Written In Jiangling And Tongzhou

Yuan Zhen's outcast to Jiangling and Tongzhou are two important successive periods and also the pinnacles of his literary creation.This article gives a meticulous sorting-out about Yuan Zhen's experiences during his sojourns in both places,his mindsets,the geographical background he was involved into,the cultural heterogeneity,and compares the similarities and dissimilar parts of the themes,contents,emotional elements and artistic features between the Jiangling poems and Tongzhou poems.This comparison is beneficial for a deep touch into the influences brought by the poet's personal experiences and surrounding circumstances to his writing,as well as the evolutionary change of his poem writing styles in these two periods.The first part combs through Yuan Zhen's experiences in Jiangling and Tongzhou,analyzes the psychological differences in between.In 810 AD he was sagged and deported to Jiangling signifying a turnover of an ascending career path of him as a government official.At this moment although he had enough vexation of being exiled,but an anticipation of revival and the pleasing environment of Jiangling also made him excited and open-minded.In 815 AD he arrived at Tongzhou,this was his second time deportation after he revisited the capital with a heart charged with aspiration.One by one career setbacks along with the regional and environmental factors had forced Yuan Zhen lose his open mind as in his lodge in Jiangling.More of him is a moody depression,anxiety and deprivation.The second part compares the geographical environments,cultural differences between Jiangling and Tongzhou,investigates Yuan Zhen's attitude towards the two sides.In a geographical and cultural sense Jiangling and Tongzhou cannot be more dissimilar to each other.One is dominated by Jingchu culture,another is marked by the Ba culture.Yuan Zhen assumed a highly complex attitude towards both region's natural settings.He posed an appreciative stance to the mountainous and watery scenery of Jiangling,which is highly representative of the Jingchu area.However his opinion to theBa region's natural environment was mostly fearsome or even amounted to hatred.On humanity aspects,with respect to the folk cultures from both regions Yuan Zhen's critical opinions overshadowed his positive acknowledgement.In the third part there is a comparison of the differences and similarities in themes and content between Yuan Zhen's Jiangling poems and Tongzhou poems.During his tenures in Jiangling and Tongzhou Yuan Zhen's object illustrative poems had attained the climax.A total number of 85 accounts for 64% of his object illustration output over his whole lifetime.During his Jiangling sojourn,being affected by the prevailing romantic ambience in Jingchu,a large chunk of romance themed poems,history poems were churned out.During the Tongzhou period,due to the fact Bai Juyi was also outcast to Jiangzhou in the same period,the same fate had easily generated a shared resonance in their minds.With abundant free time to spare,he concentrated all his leisure on responsorial poems and lyrics,so in this genre Yuan and Bai had created 31 pieces of poems and responding poems which accounts for 69% of all the responsorial poems written in the Tongzhou period.Different from his preoccupation on politics in his historic poem written in Jiangling,he paid more focus on people's livelihood during the Tongzhou period.The fourth part compares the differences in emotional expression manners,imagery selection and literary styles between Yuan Zhen's Jiangling poems and Tongzhou poems.Amid the Jiangling period,Yuan Zhen endured all the pains for an aspiration of resurgence,when the poems were mostly rich of metaphors and inductions,charged with a hopeful spirit,and at the same time highly non-straightforward and obscure.During the Tongzhou period because of continuous failures and being affected by the Ba local's untainted simplicity and candid heart,his poems were mostly direct emotional outbursts.68% of the scenic poems written in Jiangling are colorful and bright,only 32% of them are of a melancholy tone.Au contraire,as for the scenic poems written in Tongzhou,35% are colorful,and 65% are gloomy.This stark contrast is obviously directly related with Yuan Zhen's experiences and mindsets in both regions.The Jiangling poems tap extensively into historic lore with a richly condensed style receiving a profound influence from Jingchu's romantic atmosphere.In general the poems are not lack of a romantic feel.The Tongzhou poems might get heavily affected by the pro-candid Ba people,are mostly written in a bland illustration style which make them look shallower minded and akin to pop-culture.In general they are more solid and more rustic.