An Exploration Into The Study Of The Cipoetry In The Jin And Yuan Dynasties

The research subject of this dissertation is the study of the ci poetry in the un and Yuan dynasties. It comprises the studies in the ci music, ci selection, ci criticisms and the reception history of the study of the ci poetry in the aforesaid period.In the Introduction, the author first makes a general survey of the un-Yuan ci study in the 201h century, and, after pointing out its achievements and its failings, ccmes to the opinion that the study on these two aspects, the ci music and ci theory, yet needs to go deeper and be more systematic.The dissertation falls into 7 chapters. Chapter 1 delineates the development of the study of the ci poetry in the Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties and the South Song and North Song Dynasties, so as to trace whatever influence that might have been there on the ci study of the Jin and Yuan Dynasties.Chapter 2 dwells on the ci music of the 3m-Yuan dynasties, constituting a major ad the most difficult part of the dissertation. In this part, the author first conducts a discussion on the book Ci Yuan (The Origin of the Ci), and, confirming its contribution to the preservation and collation of the ci music of the Song Dynasty, he makes a further study of its expositions on the music tune, score and rhythm. Then, comparison is made between Bi ii Man Zhi ( The Unofficial History of Ri Ji), Ci Yuan and Yue Fu Zhi Mi (An Understanding of the Folk Songs), a comparison that produces the following findings: a) Becauso the book Bi Ji Man Zhi was written at the height of splendour of the ci poetry in the Song Dynasty, it concentrates on tracing the origin of different ci schools, and discusses the relationship between the ci poetry and anquet music? things that seem to be proper for it to do; b) Ci Yuan, which was composed at a time when the ci poetry was on the decline, distinguishes itself in providing a solid survey and assessment of the ci music, but the weak point in that it only centres on a discussion of music theory without mentioning the anquet music? and c) While Yue Fu ZJii Mi came out at about the same time as Ci Yuan, it only gleans randomly remarks from its predecessors with no systematic scheme. From the comparison, it can be surmised that the ci music must have died away in the early Yuan period.Chapter 3 looks into the ci anthologies, focusing on the documentary value of Thong Zhou Yue Fu ( Folk Songs of Mid-northern Part of China) and those ci theories celebrating the renowned poets Su Shi and Xin Qiji and poems written in the same heroic and unrestrained style. This part also discusses three other books. In the study on1Jue Miao Hao Ci (Best Ci Poems), discriminating comments are made on the affixed notes of the selection, and, while due credit is ~11owed to the compiler in cc?ecting and collating those poems, exposition is carried out on its preference for t.hose poems composed in the delicate and restrained style and its direct influence on Zhang Yan抯 Ci Yuan and Lu Fuzhi抯 Ci Zhi (The Essence of the Ci Po~ ity). The exploration into Yue Fu Bu 71 (A Folk Song Supplementary) finds the author ef the present dissertation of the opinion that the collection mainly reflect the nostalgic mood cf the compiler rather than have anything to do with 搕he exhumation of the royal tombs? In the discussion on Yuan Coo Tang S/il Yu (More Poems Selected by The Owner of the Yuan Cao Tang Study), the author holds a different view to the critic Li E抯 belief梩hat the poems, 揳ll composed by adherents of the former South Song Dynasty? 揳re chiefly melancholy and nostalgic敆 claiming, after a solid investigation into the time of the book抯 publication, a particular artistic insight on the part of the compiler.The Fourth Chapter, supported by richer materials that those that the then active critics availed themselves of, examines the ci theory of the un Dynasty. Here the author detects a special emphasis on the heroic and unrestrained quality of poetry and probes into the reasons lying behind it.Chapters 5 and 6 discusses the ci theory of the Yuan Dynasty, makin...