On The Evolvement Of Chen Xiaocui’s Classical Poetry And Ci

Chen Xiaocui(1902-1968), born in Qiantang, Zhejiang province, was a poet and artist. Chen was famous for her talent in the Republican period. She started to write poems at the age of 13 and never stopped in her entire life. All her works were collected in Cui Lou Yin Cao. Chen was gifted in writing poems, ci, sanqu and articles. Her works were highly praised by many great writers and artists, such as Zheng Yimei, Chen Shengcong and Shi Zhecun. While being a talented, respectable female poet, Chen has been ignored by reviewers for decades and did not gain the proper status she deserved. This thesis takes Chen Xiaocui as well as her classical poetry and ci for objects, and analyses the theme and style of her works thoroughly. The writer also gives an precise introduction to her poetic concepts at different periods of her life.This thesis can be divided into three chapters:The first chapter is named Early Stage or Growing Period. This chapter introduces and analyses Chen’s works and poetic concepts formed from 1915 to 1930. During this time, Chen was still an immature poet, and she learnt from many great ancient poets. The themes of her works were mostly about her daily life, and the styles of her works were fresh and natural, which reflected her experience as a young girl. Her writing skills, while still wanting improvements, already started to show great potential. Her poetic concepts at this period was similar to those of Tao Yuanming’s, that is, poems should express the poet’s true feelings and should take genuine and natural as the best styles.The second chapter is named Middle Stage or Turning Period. This chapter introduces and analyses Chen’s works and poetic concepts formed from 1931 to 1940. At this time, Chen’s works took a dramatic turn:The themes of her works were widely extended, and she created a large number of poems about social and political life. Furthermore, the style of her works transformed to be bold and poignant. In the respect of poetic concepts, Chen still took sincerity as the highest standard, and she encouraged poets to create poems based on reality. Moreover, Li Bai and Wang Wei’s poems were her models of the best of the Chinese poets’ works.The third chapter is named Late Stage or Mature Period. This chapter introduces and analyses Chen’s works and poetic concepts formed from 1941 to 1966. During this period, Chen still took social life as the main object of her works. However, Chen experienced a series of dramatic life changes, which traumatized her emotionally. To alleviate the pain, she created large amount of poems on self-pity and nostalgia. Her artistic techniques nearly reached perfection and all her works were full of deep emotional strength. She set Du Fu and Su Shi as her role models and learnt from them at full steam. She insisted that poets should be content in poverty and the style of their poems should be in accord with the historical background.