The Spread And Acceptance Of Yang Wanli’s Works

As one of the great masters of the Southern Song Dynasty,the dissemination and acceptance of Yang Wanli’s poetry in successive dynasties shows the status of his works in different periods,and also shows the change in the status of Song poetry in different cultural trends.The first chapter of this essay sorts out the dissemination of Yang Wanli’s works from two aspects:the version of Yang Wanli’s anthology and the selected poems and essays of Yang Wanli in the general collections.Yang Wanli’s conscious publication of his own poems and gifts to friends during his lifetime promoted the spread of his poetry;After his death,Chengzhai Yizhuan and the Chengzhai Anthology were published.Among them,the Chengzhai Anthology has four versions:one edition has one hundred and thirty-three volumes,the other one has one hundred and thirty-five volumes,in addition to forty-two volumes as well as reprints by the descendants of the Yang family.Most of Yang Wanli’s selected poems were based on artistic pursuits,while his articles were mostly included for the practical purpose of examination or debate.The second chapter according to the evaluation of Yang Wanli’s poetry by successive generations of literati,studies the changes in his poetic status,poetry quality and style,and interpretation of poetic origins.Yang Wanli was revered as the hegemon of poetry in the Southern Song Dynasty,and his poetry was unanimously praised for its fresh style and ingeniousness;His status in Jin,Yuan,Ming Dynasty underwent a metamorphosis from great master to a ordinary person,people affirmed the liveliness and humor of his poetry and began to realize its vulgarity and weakness;In the Qing Dynasty,he was ranked as one of the Four Great Masters of Zhongxing Period,and the poetry criticism presented a polarization phenomenon of ingeniousness and attacking the colloquialism and weakness.In the retrospection of the origin of poetry,the Song and Yuan literati paid more attention to his learning from multiple avenues,and the Ming and Qing literati regarded him as a learner of Tang poetry.The third chapter studies the Yang Wanli’s influence on the literati’s creation.The Southern Song Dynasty arose a trend to imitate the style of Chengzhai’s poetry,and Zhang Zi and Liu Kezhuang were deeply influenced by Yang Wanli in their creations;During the Jin,Yuan,Ming period,the acceptance of his creation fell into a low ebb,and zhao Bingwen’s poetry can be seen in the flavor of Chengzhai;In the Qing Dynasty,the wind of imitating chengzhai was revived,and Yuan Mei,Zha Shenxing,Jin Zhang,Guo Lin and others imitated him.The fourth chapter explores the acceptance from four aspects:the theroy of poetry,essays,lyrics and Confucianism.Yang Wanli’s emphasis on talent and self-emotional expression laid the foundation for Yuan Ming’s theroy of poetry,and the Overturning Method proposed by him was questioned by later generations.His essays and lyrics are affirmed generally,but mostly stayed in a simple style of perception.Chengzhai Yizhuan was Yang Wanli’s theoretical work about confucianism,and the acceptance of his method of "citing history and proving the confucian classics" has undergone a process from questioning to defamation,while the implementation of confucian politics,the noble character of integrity,and the way of he becoming an official or retiring are praised by later generations.Multiple versions of Yang Wanli’s anthology have promoted the preservation of his works,but the voluminous volume and misplaced publications have hindered efficient dissemination.Yang Wanli’s poetry was the focus of his work acceptance,and successive generations of literati have not only interpreted it from multiple angles and viewpoints,but also regarded it as an object of emulation in creation.The acceptance of poetry,lyrics,essays and Confucianism is slightly sluggish,but it also constitutes a more comprehensive situation of yang Wanli’s pluralistic acceptance.