The Study Of Mystery Of Guo Pu'works

Guo Pu ranks as one of the most important writers in the literary circle during the Western Jin and Eastern Jin dynasties. In his lifetime, Guo Pu has achieved a great number of writings and established a school of his own in almost every field he has dipped. The all-inclusive odes by him fully describe the magic power; the group poems on the roaming immortals are spoken highly of by the readers; most of the objects written about in the same breath possess mystery and unearthliness and become the embodiment of the subject's interest in mystery; and the articles submitted to his superiors well serve the purpose of the rulers, in which he strongly argues for"the telepathy between the heavenly and the earthly". It is not difficult for us to find there is a distinct correspondence in the above mentioned literary types: the mystery throughout his writings. Mystery can be defined as the unusual existence of immortals and ghosts or the special characteristics of being supernatural. In other words, it covers the connotations of such concepts as gods, immortals, ghosts, strangeness, effectiveness and unusualness. Guo Pu's writings reflect the characteristic of mystery from every perspective, whose representation can mainly be seen in the following four aspects:Firstly, the mystery of the images finds full expression in Guo's writings. Among the abundant mysterious and unusual images contained in his writings, two images are especially favored: the image of water and mountains. From of old, the two images have been masked with a mysterious veil, based on which Guo Pu reinforces the characteristic to a higher point. The objective existence of water and mountains evoke his sentiment and aesthetic interests. While describing the scenery and expressing his feelings, he inserts the mysterious and strange phenomena; while complimenting the waters and mountains in nature, he endues them with a color of mystery, which shows their greatness and richness.Secondly, the unusual use of quotations and classical allusions enrich his writings. Guo Pu often mentions the books he uses for reference. Simply from the books he cites, he chooses the books on augury using divine symbols and employs the literary quotations in his writings which results in reasonable explanation for some super mundane phenomena. Besides, Guo Pu cites scattered mystery writings of ancient philosophers other than those of Confucius and history records. Through making use of the mysterious content, he enriches his writings content, makes more detailed explanation and reinforces mystery sense. It is, without doubt, necessary to cite the stories of the immortals. However, he draws vivid pictures of the immortals with his own flavor. Furthermore, when he is glossing his writings, he employs the mutual proving of books and notes. And the mutual proving between, Shanhaijing, Mutianzi Biography and Songs of Chu contributes to the characteristic of mystery in Guo's glossing.Thirdly, Guo Pu's views contain extraordinary ideas. Besides the above mentioned two facts, another element contributing to the mystery in his writings is the theory of Yin Yang and Five Elements and the idea on the telepathy between the heavenly and the earthly. Guo creates a mysterious world of his own using such kind of theory and art of augury.And the fourth aspect is about his unusual artistic style. Guo Pu has achieved a high...