Han Yu's Poetry Study

Chapter One, The Progress of Han Yu's Poetry, looks back on the development of Han Yu's poetry. The first stage lasted until before the middle of 796 B.C..An imitation of Han Wei style was the character of Han Yu's poetry during this period. There was an inclination for obscure language. The second stage lasted from the middle of 796 B.C. to the end of 803 B.C.. With a co-existence of Han Wei style and obscure style, Han Yu's poetry tended to be hard to understand. The essence of obscure style was in refinements on the structure, the image, the wording and the theme. Han Yu's obscure style brought about significant changes in the way of writing five-syllable regulated verses. The aim of writing tended to be entertainment, as Han Yu's obscure poems prove. The third stage lasted from 804 B.C. to 814 B.C.. Han Yu's poetry in its prime was characterized by the extent to which it reached and the aesthetic standards it held. He strayed from the traditional aesthetic concepts and described common things in everyday life. Besides, he introduced the use of obscure, humorous and rational language in poem writing. The expansion of Han Yu's poetry resulted from a different social background. The use of linking verses is typical of the expansion. Han Yu's poetry had tended to be lucid and elegant since 815 B.C., which meant a return to the tradition of poetry. The return to tradition was a result of the change of Han Yu's life. It also meant a correction of the previous poetry reform. And it had to do with the current political situation as well as the cultural tendency.Chapter Two, The Progress of HanYu's Guwen Prose, deals with the development of Han Yu's guwen prose. The period before Han Yu took part in the imperial examination in 796 B.C. was the beginning stage of his guwen prose. Ganyewen prose characterized Han Yu's works during this period, which proved fine with originality both in content and in form. Han Yu's choice of guwen prose at the beginning stage of his creation of prose was due to an influence from Liang Su as well as his own educational background. And it was also a reflection of the pragmatic and radical practice among intellectuals at that time. Han Yu drew on the experience of Lu Zhi, a parallel prose writer. The developing stage of Han Yu's guwen prose was from 796 B.C. to 803 B.C., which was an important period in the formation of his ideology. From the creation of A Letter in Reply to Zhang Ji and Thirteen Questions Initiated by Jinshi, to the completion of Wu Yuan, it took Han Yu quite a long time to think and form his Confucian ideology. The spirit of Han Yu's daolun lay in the theory of xiangshengyang, i.e., the function of literature is toconvey Confucian philosophical and moral principles, which kept to the stand of common intellectuals, especially those who got promotion through imperial examinations. Han Yu's ideology was not only a product of the restoration of Confucianism in the middle of Tang Dynasty, but also a product of the perfected imperial examination system. His ideology could not be parted from Confucianism. Daotonglun and paiyiduan are the two sides of the same issue in Han Yu's daolun, both of which set out to defend Confucianism, especially its purity. While piousness was suggested by Han Yu's daolun to regulate the behavior of intellectuals, self-consciousness of the intellectuals was also put forward. Han Yu's daolun was significant in that it had been the guiding principle for those intellectuals who got promotion through imperial examinations and had been the essential part of the bureaucrat society since Song Dynasty. Han Yu's perception of the function of literature was of great significance in that it settled the contradictions in writing by balancing content against writing techniques, i.e., it stroke a balance between the good and the beautiful. This owed a lot to Han Yu's qualifications to be a writer, a historian, a statesman, and at the same time, a thinker. While guwen prose was being advocated by Han Yu, parallel prose found itself a remedy in the excellent...