The Study On TaoShu's Poetry

As a noble minister in Daoguang Period of Qing Dynasty, Tao Shu(1779-1839) was not only the outstanding politician and preeminent reformer but also the representative man of action during the course of China's transformation from the archaic to the modern. Still unknown to many people, Tao Shu was also a poet enjoying fleeting fame between the rule of Jiaqing (1796-1820) and Daoguang (1821-1850). Unfortunately in the modern Chinese academic field, his literary achievements have been long neglected for the fact that his poetry's brilliance was always shrouded by his fame and he was active in the Opium War eve, a transitional age from the feudalism towards modernity in Chinese history. Starting with a systematic introduction to Tao Shu's poems, the paper is aimed at analyzing his poems'elegant demeanor of manifesting"lofty aspiration of making contributions"and"boldness and unconstrainedness", attempting to convey his mind from the perspective of his artistic life, putting in a deserving name for him and meanwhile probing into the unique mentality of those feudal intellectuals who were nurtured under the traditional culture of great changes at the turn of Jia and Dao periods.This article consists of six parts. The introduction is to review literatures about Tao Shu. The first chapter makes a brief introduction to Tao Shu, the social background, and his achievements in politics, economic reform, as well as his study of history and geography. The second chapter summarizes Tao Shu's friend-making practice, the literati collection and his outlooks on literature and arts. The third chapter takes his poetry as the core in an effort to analyze his poems' ideological content of caring for national affairs and public life and attaching importance to practice based on his four different types of poems. The fourth chapter is to catch his literary achievements, especially such poetic styles as the combination of politics and art. The conclusion briefs a little about the tremendous influence of Tao Shu's poems and the important role of his artistic creation in his age.