A Study Of The Poem Of Listening To The Bell In Tang Dynasty

Bell, as a hollow in the middle and making a sound by an external force impact artifact, is both a unit of measurement of container and a musical instrument of palace entertainment, both a political tool of imperial worship and religious set of collecting people. It concentrates all kinds of functions and meanings in the political and cultural aspects. Because of its multi-cultural significance, the bell becomes an important object in the poem of Tang Dynasty, resulting in a number of poem focusing on “listening to the bell”. Rooted in this situation, my topic of study in this paper is settled here. In general, no matter what narrates “listening to the bell”and is related to “listening to the bell” in religious,political, daily and aesthetic activities would belong to the poem of “listening to the bell”. According to “The Complete Collection of Tang Poems”(including “additional works”) records, there is 1206 poems and 280 poets extolling and describing the bell. The reason why the poem of listening to the bell in Tang Dynasty is so spectacular is not only the prosperity and development of economic,social,cultural,religious background, but also the changes and turns of life,the variety of aesthetic psychology and the personality of composing style.The creative environment of the poem of listening to the bell is vast and wide, involving almost all aspects of daily life and career life. In the fields of life, it includes making a sightseeing tour, promotion or exile,making friends and responds, sacrifice choirs and so on, making faithful records of journey of life.On the areas of geography,it ranges from the center of capital---- Chang’an to the south of Yangtze River, exotic desolate frontier, and the block Szechwan. So, the natural scenery and cultural customs are permanently fixed in the poet’s chant and the poem’s pieces, weaving a vivid picture of social customs and natural geography of Tang Dynasty.The emotional expression of the poem of listening to the bell is rich and implicit.Generally speaking, the emotion mainly is as follows: singing the flourishing age,praying God for safety,outward love,sentimental parting, natural love.Based on the rich emotional content, we cam reach the ancient Chinese sensitive and passionate,bold and confident spiritual world, feeling the breath,smiles,sorrow of the poets in Tang Dynasty.The cultural connotation of the poem of listening to the bell is multiple and diverse.The bell becomes a symbol of the spirit of ancient culture and its identity or role mainly are:First, carrier of rituals & music, it is called to be on-mission for political indoctrination. Second, language of religion, it enlightens the confused beings.Third,symbol of character, it represents the highest pursuit of Confucian personality. Fourth, appliance of festival, it shows the happy atmosphere of the folk festivals.The construction of poetry-conception of the poem of listening to the bell is characterized by auditory perception. Realizing the artistic imagination and spiritual moving induced by the sound in the poetic composition, the brilliant poets fully invokes the auditory perception and capture the subtle bell sound which is full of cultural meanings and religious connotation, creating an artistic state of co-exist of the virtual and real,combination of the dynamic and motionless,quiet and elegant,ancient and pure,solemn and respectful.An image of profound sound landscape,which is filled with Buddhist mood,surrounded by music moods and combined with seeing and hearing,time and space,is presented in the front of the readers. In accord with maximizing the function of auditory perception, the poem of listening to the bell mainly features in: sound evokes meditation of Zen Breakfast, voice provokes thoughts of time and space, integration of vision and audition.