Research On Wang Shizhen's Poems On Seclusion

Wang Shizhen(1526-1590),whose courtesy name is "Yuanmei" and who styled himself as "Fengzhou" and later as "Yanshan recluse",is honoured as a great master of poetry in Jiajing and Wanli Period of Ming Dynasty for his dominance through the literary arena for more than twenty years.During his lifetime,Wang Shizhen has created large quantities of poetical works.There are 6,726 poems in total collected in Yanshan Recluse Tetralogy and Yanshan Recluse Continuation,among which 355 poems were set in pastoral scenery,landscape,gardens and Zen with a keen feeling of retiracy and seclusion and thus can be classed as the typical reclusion-themed poetry.By means of those poetical works,Wang Shizhen expressed his opinion about court recluse,and the contents of these poems are also closely related to the poet's own life experience and ideological attitude,which both make the present study of much significance.Chapter One introduces the creation motivation of Wang Shizhen's reclusion poetry.Wang Shizhen has lived across three dynasties:Jianjing,Longqing and Wanli Period of Ming Dynasty.At that time,the impeical court is characterized as turbulance and intranquility,so the powerful ministers seized the chance to come into authority which makes Wang Shizhen be deeply afflicted.In Wang Shizhen's early life,his farther's death and malicious officialdom have resulted in an idea of reclusion grown in his mind.In Wang 'Shizhen's middle age,he was fed up with the sentiment of living in a strang land again and again,so he submitted resignation memorials to the emperor for many times so as to escape from the dark circle.In Wang Shizhen's late years,he was addicted to Buddhism and affected by Manster Tanyang who advocated the thought of indifference to fame,wealth and desire.To sum up,Wang Shizhen's life experience has a great influence on his reclusion-themed poetry.Chapter Two focuses on the main contents of Wang Shizhen's reclusion-themed poetry which can be divided into two parts:boredom of official circle and escape from solitude.Wang Shizhen's official career has went through much ups and downs.He became famous since a very young age.During his offical years,Wang Shizhen is eager to serve the emperor,but things go contrary to his wishes.The emperor paied no attention to Wang Shizhen's ambition and aspiration for ten years,so he gradualluy felt underappreciated and untimely.In the late years of his official career,base persons' defamation and slander intensified his boredom toward officialdom.At the same time,expatriate dislocation also made him fell lonely.Therefore,Wang Shizhen has begun to wander in fields and woods to seek spiritual relief and mediation from the landscape scenery.Chapter Three deals with the image analysis of Wang Shizhen's reclusion-themed poetry,and much attention will be paid to the image of "recluse" and "alcohol".Wang Shizhen respectd and admired Xu You,Chao Fu and Tao Yuanming very much,so many literary allusions about those ancient recluses have been quoted into his poems to express his ideals and pursuits.Meanwhile,Wang Shizhen also had a passsion for alcohol.Poems and alcohol have contributed to express his recluse feeling to his heart's content.Chapter Four illustrates the thought of "city recluse" held by Wang Shizhen.There existed many kinds of time-honored recluse culture in ancient China and the city recluse appeared much latter than others.It was acknowledged that the city recluse developed and grew stronger in commodity economy society in the mid-late Ming Dynasty,and the related thought held by Wang Shizhen can be seen as a typical representation.Besides,Wang Shizhen's special status in the mid-late Ming Dynasty also made his recluse behaviour exert much influence on Jiangnan literati and wits.