Research On Guo Pu

This paper mainly studies Guo Pu,a scholar of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.In addition to the introduction,there are four chapters.The first chapter is a new examination for Guo Pu's life.In the early period of the Eastern Jin Dynasty,which was characterized by the Aristocrat politics,the contradiction between Emperor Yuan and the nobility was becoming increasingly prominent.This was the background of Guo Pu's experience in the latter part of his life.In the fourth year of Taixing era and the first year of Yongchang era,Guo Pu submitted three memorials in succession to the throne to advise Emperor Yuan to reduce penalties and be lenient.In these materials,Guo Pu showed a highly consistent political position with the Wang Clan,which was an important reason why Wang Dun called him.However,after working for Wang Dun,Guo Pu strived to dissuade Wang Dun's ambition to rebel against the imperial government and finally died for this.Guo Pu,who was of humble birth,was able to enter the central area of the regime by divination and work with a group of people who dominate the world.In this respect,he is a participant as well as a marginal person of the Aristocrat politics.The second chapter analyses Guo Pu's knowledge background and thought world.In Wei-Jin period,tide of metaphysics,which is brief and abstract,has replaced tide of erudition which is popular in Han dynasty.However,studying from the existing materials,Guo Pu was proficient in Yi-ology and numerology,and also in the knowledge of ancient Chinese characters,birds,beasts,insects,fish and history and so on.This kind of research method inherited the tradition of scholars of the Han Dynasty obviously,which was completely misplaced with prevalent academic thoughts.This kind of misplacement became one of the key reasons for his life experience.The third chapter analyses Guo Pu's poetry.Guo Pu is well-known for his poems about immortals,in which contains two different kinds of cultural purports.One purport is an expression of his ambition,and the other is a pursuit for immortality.These two kinds of purports are the characteristic of Guo Pu's immortal poems.Apart from the poems about immortals,there are another eleven poems remained today,which are useful for the restoration of Guo Pu's image.The fourth chapter analyses Guo Pu's prose.There are eleven proses remained today,which were created during different stages of Guo Pu's life.They can be roughly divided into four categories on the basis of the contents of the text,that is to describe the scenery to express emotion,to describe the object to express emotion,to record the route during the way to the South,and to express political ambition.By analyzing the ideological and emotional implications,we can grasp a better understanding of Guo Pu's image.