The Study On Liu Yan’s Collection Of Long Yun

Liu Yan wrote Collection of Long Yun which was complete in thirty two volumes,8 ci-poetries,432 poems,245 essays included. Zhou Bida prefaced Liu’s collection and he commented in the preface that Liu’s essays inherited the essence of Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan but was composed in the writing way of Ou Yangxiu. Among writers from Luling area, Ou Yangxiu really followed the writing style of Han Wengong, became a great Confucian master with further effort. After Ou, Liu became another great master. Liu’s poems were remarked in the one hundred and fifty five volume of Siku Quanshu Zongmu Tiyao that his poems were fresh and refined other than the ordinaries. He merely composed eight ci-poetries, which were recorded in many collection of ci and had met great favor at later ages. Therefore, this research focuses on Collection of Long Yun aiming at exploring Liu’s unique literature thoughts and composing achievements.In this dissertation, Family background and writings of Liu Yan are recommended. His life are divided into four stages, among which the stage of composing political articles accords well with his life stage. Besides, literary thoughts of Liu hidden in the text are concluded. Liu advocated the view of taking author’s spirit as domain. The spirit is not only a reflection of author’s characters and style, but also relates to author’s self-cultivation. The stronger spirit the author has, the more majestic writings he create are. Meanwhile, the concept of change was brought into foundational principles of writing by Liu, who explained the purposes to write and advocated that it was the contents and functions of the writings that should be focused in composing. Not only his concept of both spirit and change but also his explanations of purpose to write all give full expression to his Confucian complex. Liu wrote under the guidance of his relatively conservative poem concept. Finally, for different kinds of Liu’s writings, every category is concentrated. Political articles in his different live stage are further investigated. The beginning, the fastigium and the end of this stage are described respectively. In addition, his essays, including travel notes, prefaces and epitaphs, and poem are focused on works themselves and analyzed by classified study, which manifest overall style and features of Liu’s creations.Combined with Liu’s experiences, his special literature thoughts and creation achievements are studied. His influence on Jiangxi area and even the whole times are evaluated. Although the comment that Liu is a great Confucian master gave him so high credit, he made real achievements and deserved the remark well. It make sense that his essays are more famous than his poems on this score.