The Tragedy Of Jidao YAN’s Life

Jidao YAN (1048?-1113?), the seventh son of notable politician and literati Shu YAN, is known as the representative of the graceful school of Iambic Verse in Northern Song Dynasty. Generally speaking, the life of Jidao Yan is considered to be shadowed by pathos. Because of the glorious status of his family and the well-off growth environment, Jidao YAN was endowed with inherent political superiority; furthermore, his cultural superiority was fulfilled through the social intercourse within the small ring of culture. However, following the death of his father and rise of various parties conflicts, he was influenced by the fierce political conflicts; precisely, he was involved in the incident of his friend Xia ZHENG’s Refugee Picture and sent to jail. When his official career is negatively impacted on by a range of political strikes and financial difficulties, his psychological inversion was aroused; meanwhile, he still insist on his spirit superiority while marginalized by the mainstream society. In his later year, Jidao YAN, surpassing the social barrier and his self limitation, successfully alleviated the intension with the mainstream society so as to retrieve the self-based cultural confidence; additionally, he achieved the sublimation in spirit thereby being acknowledged and admitted by the society. Although it seemed that the life of Jiadao YAN was full of despair and hopelessness, the influence of his own choices could not be overlooked.This dissertation, organized by the life experiences of Jidao YAN, will divide the Jidao YAN’s life into child period, mid-age period and senectitude on the basis of analyzing the significant life stories of him. Accordingly, this dissertation, which will investigate his unique thought and character, the formation of his attitudes to life, and the conflicts, will study Jidao YAN’s tragedies of life; thus, the characteristics and causes of his tragedy could be revealed in order to illustrate Jidao YAN’s life.