| As one of a number of literary forms existing in ancient China,Song has had its unique stylistic features during its evolvement,as well as the profound cultural connotations.Song(颂)and Song(诵)are interchangeable characters,which results in two kinds of implications of Song:the generalized meaning and the narrowed one.With the generalized meaning,Song contains all kinds of writings with rhymes;with the narrowed meaning,it refers to the writings to eulogize.As a literary form,Song has been an independent literary style separated from poetry since Han Dynasty.Similar to Fu,it is the writings not to be sang but be recited,and can be divided into two types:the Songs with rhymes and the ones without rhymes,between which the former is attached the more importance to.Since the Eastern Han Dynasty,Song has had its own style,whose stylistic features have been radicated in Wei,Jin,the Northern and Southern Dynasties.Liu Xie has said,"Song must be elegant with pure and beautiful diction.It elaborates and describes as Fu,but not grandiose;it is reverent and cautious as Ming,but not to admonish." It is regarded as the best definition for Song.In later ages Song has not be used to sing,but it is still appreciated by the rulers as the important carrier of propriety and music culture.Thus,Song is a style of writing with great practicability besides its literary features.This dissertation is divided into five chapters as follows:Chapter Ⅰ discusses the literary form of Song.According to Ren Fang,a famous scholar in Souther Dynasties,the first writing possessing all the stylistic features of Song is Wang Bao’s Shengzhu De Xianchen Song in Han Dynasty.Ren Fang did not make the further argument,but this writing has preliminarily had the features of Song,whose significance is the transition of Song from poetry to essay.In the summary of the stylist features of Song by his contemporary Liu Xie,he implies a lot by the concise words such as "elegant as Fu",and "reverent as Ming",and his concept of Song would be deeply explored with the analysis of these words.The predecessors did not indicate that Song had not be used for music,but it could be found in the classification of Song by Ban Gu and the attitude towards Song in Yuefu Guti Xu by Yuan Zhen.What’s more,the completely different usages of Shisong and Songshi by the predecessors illustrate the separation of Song from music.Chapter Ⅱ makes an analysis of the relationship between Song and other literary forms.Due to the disunity of the classification,Song is often mixed with other literary forms.The same piece of writing could be Song,as well as Fu,Zan,Ming,and Bei,which results in the expansion of the significance in the research of Song.The double implications of Song,and the highlight of eulogizing and euphuism in Fu of Han Dynasty,led to the common phenomenon that the appellations of Fu and Song were mixed.Besides the reasons above,another factor is the homology of Fu and Song,and the similarity of their status.The boundary of Zan and Song is so indistinct that Ban Gu even said that "Song and Zan are similar to each other".Zan is a kind of eulogizing writing but not Song,in spite of the similar aspects they have presented.Ming,Bei and Song have different functions,different objectives in appellation,as well as the field of literary styles.Liu Shipei points out the irrationality in Liu Xie’s"reverent and respectful as Ming",which is resulted from Liu Xie’s no recognition of the relationship between Song and Ming according to him.The wide usage of the word "Bei Song" indicates the integration of the literary forms of Song and Bei.As the other literary forms,Song also has its own preface.Entirely different from the prefaces of the poetry and Fus the preface of Song is intimate with the text,whose function is to emerge the content that can not be presented in the text.There is no specific writing method for the preface of Song,but the most common one is to blend the Biao in the preface.Chapter Ⅲ makes a research of the combination of Song and stone inscription.It is a tradition in ancient China to carve on the stones to record the merits,which is another important source of Song in later ages.People always use the names of "Le Shi","Zhen Shi","Xuan Shi”to give the stones good implied meanings,and the appearance of "Song Shi" emphasizes the eulogizing function of stone inscription.The stone inscription was flourishing in Tang Dynasty,when Song was mostly used in this way,whose extensive subjective,great quantity,and diverse forms are incomparable with the past.The stele of Datang Zhongxing Song,whose author is Yuan Zhen and penman is Yan Zhenqing,is often regarded as the writing not to eulogize by the posterity,which is indeed a misunderstanding.Chapter Ⅳ analyzes the usage of Song in rituals.In Han Dynasty,there was no Fu for emperor’s inspections of tours,and the related writings were named Song.In Ming and Qing Dynasty,people reinterpreted the Classics,and Fu for emperor’s inspections of tours sprung up.Compared with other literary forms,Song appears in the Fengshan Ceremony with a high frequency:before Fengshan,it is used to admonish;during the process of Fengshan,it is used to carve stones to record merit;after Fengshan it is used to record the rituals.Shangshou Song appeared in Song Dynasty,and did not blossom until Ming and Qing Dynasty,espeically in Qing Dynasty.The appearance of Jiuru Song,Jiju Song,Qianzi Song and Wanyan Song,greatly enriched the literary style of Song.Chapter Ⅴ illustrates the Song’s record of historical events.Song often narrates some political events,which dates from "Shi Ke wrote the Song" in Book of Songs,In Kaihuang 16th year of Sui Dynasty,the nation was prosperous and strong,and a variety of measures in Kaihuang Zhizhi had been accomplished,so Xu Shanxin wrote Shenque Song to eulogize the ruler’s merits and achievements.It was complimented by Emperor Wen of Sui,which reflected the complacency and fulfillment of him.Ping Jianghan Song created by Song Lian in Ming Dynasty is a first-hand material recording the Battle of Poyang Lake,and is a supplement to the historical records in the later ages as well. |
