The Poems And Culture Of The Talented Scholars From The Ninth To Tenth Century

This article is taking the Cai-Diao-Ge-Shi selected by Wei Hu as the center.On this basis,a new poetic conception named "Cai-Diao-Ge-Shi" was put forward.Through the discussion of the reasons and background of Cai-Diao-Ge-Shi's generation,the poet genealogy of Cai-Diao-Ge-Shi,the characteristic of Cai-Diao-Ge-Shi,and the echo of Cai-Diao-Ge-Shi in the Ming and Qing Dynasty,the article will thoroughly explore the connotation of the poetry in the middle and late Tang Dynasty.Cai-Diao-Ge-Shi originated from Jinshi's culture.Its'flourish resulted from the evolvement of Jinshi's culture in the middle and late Tang Dynasty.The imperial civil examination system had been electing the most knowledge-able scholars every year for the Tang Empire.In the whole system,the Tang emperors thought highly of the examination of jinshi in particular,which mainly tested the scholars' gifts of writing poets.This examination just facilitated the social worship of the literary talent.During that time,the group of Jinshies who were famouse for the literary latent rose up,shining like stars.After the An Shi Rebellion,the culture of Jinshi had been changed under the evils of society.At that time,flirting with prostitutes and enjoying various banquets were prevalent in the group of jinshies.In the Xianzong Yuanhe period,a special poet group represented by Bai Juyi and Yuan Zhen had been forming.And the poetic style of Yuan-Bai were just conforming to the mainstream of Jinshi's culture from the middle Tang Dynasty.Their poets were leading Jinshi's frivolous to a powerful,dynamic,and far-reaching influenced poetic tide.Wei Hu's Cai-Diao Poetry took "Cai-Diao" as selection standard.The poets in it can give us an interesting clue to observe the Jinshi group from the middle Tang Dynasty.Wei Hu preferred to select the poems in the romantic style.Some poets' work accounts for a great proportion in The Cai-Diao Poetry,such as Bai Juyi,Yuan Zhen,Li Shangyin,Du Mu,Wen Tingyun and Wei Zhuang.Most of these poems focus on the romantic stuff.And the emotional expression of the poems is always graceful and restrained.Those poems restore the real character and spirit of the Jinshi group in the middle and late Tang Dynasty.And we call these poems "Cai-Diao-Ge-Shi".Although Bai Juyi and Yuan Zhen are regarded as the founders of Cai-Diao-Ge-Shi,and their poems are really typical,but their creations are not mature or perfect exactly.Under the influence of the times and Yuan-Bai's special official experience,their poems have strong secular and even vulgar colors.However,their self-flaowing of the status of talented scholar and their special experience with women,love,etc,played a crucial role in the formation of the basic characteristics of Cai-Diao-Ge-Shi.In the late Tang Dynasty,Li Shangyin,who was famous for writing love poems,and Du Mu,who was widely believed to be a libertine,gradually dispelled the plain,explicit emotional expression and some secular elements in Yuan-Bai's poems,and turned to the implicit and subtle style of writing to express feelings.After Li and Du,there cames Wen Tingyun and Wei Zhuang.Compared with the former two generations of poets,Wen and Wei had no longer paid attention to the expression of their real emotional experience in poets,but focused to the deepening of those artistic forms,such as the softness of rhetoric and the harmony of phonology.They usually adopted the forms of Gong-Ti and folk-song-styled poems,which also made Cai-Diao-Ge-Shi begin to show an obvious trend of transformation to the ci-poetry.The poems in Wei Hu's Cai-Diao poetry mostly belong to modern poetry,abundant in music sense and beautiful words.And the theme of the poems are almost all about women and love.In terms of the specific content of the poems,Wei Hu showed his strong interest in the romantic deeds of "the wit and beauty",and Cai-Diao-Ge-Shi"recorded the romantic love of uthe wit and the beauty" in the middle and late Tang Dynasty,taking the talented scholors and prostitutes as the prototype,forming a fragrant and romantic atmosphere.Also as a result,Cai-Diao-Ge-Shi often brings readers full of intuitive impression of "music","beauty" and "romance".And all of those just give the reader an unique and aesthetic experience of reading.During the development of the culture of ci-poetry from the ninth to tenth century,a wonderful artistic connection had been establishing between Cai-Diao-Ge-Shi and Hua-Jian ci.From the root of the creation of Cai-Diao-Ge-Shi and Hua-Jian ci,the two literary forms traced to the same origin.However,with the change of scholar's mental outlook since the late Tang Dynasty,the two forms had gradually gone their separate ways in the expression of emotion and desire.Wei Hu's Cai-Diao Poetry was created in the Later Shu period of the Five Dynasties.The poetry not only reflects Wei's acceptance of the culture of the Later Shu,but also reflects his introspection on the contemporary poetic circles as the identity of the literati in the Later Shu.Continuing his reflections and expectations on the poetic circles of the Five Dynasties,the style of Cai-Diao-Ge-Shi has been winning more and more recognitions of the scholars in later ages.