Li Gang, Poetry Study

Li Gang was an important politician and poet during the transition from the Northern to the Southern Song Dynasty. Though being upright and steadfast in personality and cherishing an intense sentiment of patriotism, he was excluded by the capitulationists and demoted many times, eventually died in despondency. Li Gang cared a great deal about the nation and the people, achieved in his literary creations and exerted an influence on the poetic circles during the declination of Jiangxi Poetry Group and the prosperity of Reviving Poetry Group. The present paper is composed of four chapters. Chapter One is the study of Li Gang's life experience and thoughts, including the supplements about his life which were not or not precisely shown in his chronicles, the analysis about his shining characters such as patriotism, benevolence and broad-mindedness, as well as the research of his thoughts based on the Confucianism and influenced by Taoism and Buddhism. Chapter Two to Four are the study of his poems, including the historical origins, the contents, the artistic characteristics, the advantages and disadvantages of them. Li Gang was adept at learning from the ancients, especially from the great ones such as Tao Yuanming, Du Fu and Su Shi. His poems, characterized by substantial contents and strong sense of realism, had a large theme system ranging from politics, personal emotions, landscape and pastoral, chant of objects and history to those responding to his friends. Li Gang was fond of narration and comments, which give his poems a strong inclination of carrying certain prose features. His poems took generous and exuberant artistic manner as the main style, but those with natural and plain writing or true and genuine feelings were also distinguished.