A Study On Ouyang Xiu’s Theory Of "Adversity May Make Literary Works Excellent"

As a hot topic in Ouyang Xiu’s research,the theory of "Adversity may make Literary Works Excellent" has attracted much attention for a long time and has accumulated relatively rich research results.However,the interpretation of the connotation of this proposition by predecessors is still ambiguous,and there is still much room for further exploration in the context of the generation of the proposition.Based on Ouyang Xiu’s overall poetic thought and the background of the poetic world at that time,this paper makes a thematic discussion on the theory of "Adversity may make Literary Works Excellent",clarifies the theoretical connotation of Ouyang Xiu’s theory,and at the same time,puts the proposition under the vision of the transformation of Tang and Song Dynasties to reveal the specific background of the generation of the proposition,and then discusses the significance and value of Ouyang Xiu in the transformation of poetry in Tang and Song Dynasties.The full text is divided into five parts:The introduction combs the current research status of Ouyang Xiu’s theory of "Adversity may make Literary Works Excellent" in the academic circle,and starts the research on Ouyang Xiu’s proposition on the basis of absorbing the existing research results.The first chapter explains the connotation of "poor" in the proposition in three aspects.Ouyang Xiu’s theory actually involves three aspects of "poor" : "poor" in the political situation,as the poet fails to achieve his goal;"poor" in heart,as the poet feels sad and resentful in his heart;and "poor" in expression,which means the poet expresses his own depression in his poems.In poetry,the expression of personal sadness and depression does not include the concern and worry about the people’s livelihood of the country."Adversity May Make Literary Works Excellent" focuses on how the poet adjusts his mentality when he is in political despair to avoid the adversity of mood and literary expression,and realize the transformation from the poverty of situation to the work of creation.From the Middle and Late Tang Dynasty to the Northern Song Dynasty,the mentality of literati when they were in poverty underwent several changes,and at the same time,the value judgments about the poet expressing his own depression in poetry from affirmation to negation.The proposition of the theory of "Adversity May Make Literary Works Excellent" comes from the transformation of the scholars’ mentality of being in political despair in the Renzong Period,that is,the reflection of the elimination of the general sense of depressed and sorrow.Also,there have been opposing value judgments about poets expressing their depression in poetry,which is an important difference between the theory of "Adversity May Make Literary Works Excellent" and "the idea that expressing their depression is easy to make good poetry".Sorting out the connotation of "poor" from three levels helps to clarify the logical relationship of the propositions,while avoiding the ambiguity of the connotation of "poor" to a certain extent.The second chapter discusses the connotation of "Gong" in the proposition.The "Gong" of "Adversity May Make Literary Works Excellent" first refers to exquisite.On the one hand,it emphasizes the description of scenery by language,focusing on the similarity of description and the experience of authors and readers;On the other hand,it regards deliberate not exquisite as a kind of exquisite,and especially discusses the requirement of deliberate clumsiness in poetry rhyme.Secondly,"Gong" refers to the description of the appearance of things and the feelings of people,which is often delicate and meticulous."Adversity May Make Literary Works Excellent" is a judgment based on the writing of some subtle emotions that are difficult to express or inconvenient to express.Ouyang Xiu faces these emotions in theory and emphasizes the perfection of performance in writing.The pursuit of rational spirit in Song poetics is not only conducive to the deepening of the poet’s experience,but also conducive to his writing of human feelings.In this way,what the poet writes can be refined and profound.Based on the overall thinking of Ouyang Xiu on "Gong",it can be seen that the pursuit of exquisite and the new understanding of the concept of exquisite and clumsiness by the Song people reflect a new change in the language concepts of the Northern Song Dynasty.At the same time,the aesthetic taste of Tang poetry has shifted from implicit to delicate.All these changes stem from the goal of Song people try to establish their own unique style beyond Tang poetry.The third chapter discusses the relationship between "poor" and "Gong" in the proposition.During the development of Ouyang Xiu’s poetic thoughts,there was a significant change in his thinking about the relationship between "poor" and "Gong",while his understanding of "poor" and "Gong" itself was generally relatively stable.It can be said that the changes in Ouyang Xiu’s understanding of the connotation of "poor" and "Gong" in different periods did not affect his overall thinking about the relationship between "poor" and "Gong".In general,Ouyang Xiu’s thinking about the relationship between "poor" and "Gong" has gone through a process,that is,from "the better the poem is written,the poorer the poet’s life will be" to "Adversity may make Literary Works Excellent",and then to "Adversity may be easier to create excellent literary works".In practical acceptance,future generations are more inclined to choose Ouyang Xiu’s "Adversity may make Literary Works Excellent" concept proposed in his early years rather than his revised "Adversity may be easier to create excellent literary works" concept in his later years.From the perspective of the internal logic of the proposition,"Adversity may make Literary Works Excellent" does not mean that "a poet’s situation is good,his creation will become worse".The poor situation of a poet and his good poetry writing are not directly related.There is a conversion process in these two things.The focus of proposition statement is that the poet’s political failure can be remedied by creating excellent poems.One’s poetry likewise oneself and based on diligence constitute the theoretical premise of the theory of "Adversity may make Literary Works Excellent".The writing of scenery is the poetic basis of the theory of "Adversity may make Literary Works Excellent".In this way,this chapter not only presents Ouyang Xiu’s thinking on "Adversity May Make Literary Works Excellent" in a more complete way,starting from the formation of the proposition,but also outlines the process of exploring the relationship between "poor" and "Gong" from Tang to Song through the examination of the acceptance of the proposition.The fourth chapter examines the significance of the theory of "Adversity may make Literary Works Excellent" in the establishment of the plain style of poetry in the Song Dynasty,which is a study of the impact of the proposition.Ouyang Xiu’s theory of "Adversity may make Literary Works Excellent" played an important role in the formation of the plain style of poetry in the Song Dynasty.In terms of realization and achievement,there are many similarities between the theory of "Adversity may make Literary Works Excellent" and the plain poetic theory: both recognise peace,and not pursuing fame and wealth,attach importance to the poet’s personality cultivation,emphasize the need to maintain integrity even in times of poverty,and be loyal to the monarch and patriotic.From the perspective of creative methods,"Jiang Shan Zhi Zhu" theory and laborious versifying are particularly important for both,however,in terms of the specific factors that promote the creation of poets,the relatively isolated landscapes,experiences and knowledge that have been involved in "Adversity may make Literary Works Excellent" have established a connection in plain poetic theory,at the same time,the significance of laborious versifying as a creative method is further explored in plain poetic theory.All these reflect the development and deepening of poetics in the Song Dynasty.Through the analysis of the first three chapters,the theoretical connotation of Ouyang Xiu’s "Adversity May Make Literary Works Excellent" has been clarified,and the examination of the context of proposition generation has been interspersed with it,while the introduction of the transformation from Tang to Song dynasties,which incorporates the changes in the imperial examination system,social structure,and the mentality of the scholars,helps to grasp the ideological background of the Northern Song dynasty in a comprehensive manner and to think more deeply about the proposition generation and its meaning.This will help us to think more deeply about the generation and significance of the propositions on the premise of a comprehensive understanding of the ideological background of the Northern Song Dynasty.Finally,in the fourth chapter,the influence of the proposition is explored,and the acceptance and development of the proposition at that time and in later times are also viewed to a certain extent,and the contribution of Ouyang Xiu’s proposition and its value in the transformation of poetry in the Tang and Song dynasties are shown in a more concrete way.