Discussion On Peony Poetry In Song Dynasty

In the Tang and Song dynasties,peony planting gradually became popular among people.At the same time,there were also many poems and essays coming up that warmly praised this kind of flower.For example,in the Complete Collection of Song Poetry that has a total collection of more than 250 thousand poems,there are nearly one thousand ones about peony.From the development and prosperity of the peony poetry in the Song Dynasty,we can easily see that there were many magnificent festivals for peony watching in that period,and also that they had developed advanced techniques in peony planting.In the meantime,such poetry prosperity demonstrates that this dynasty actually embraced great passion for peony literature and that the Song Dynasty was actually enjoying a kind of culture featuring peace and prosperity;it also reflects the psychological tendency of the literati during different periods in the Song Dynasty as well as the psychology of the age.The prosperity in creation of peony poetry in the Song Dynasty was in deed closely connected with such facts that the Song people in deed very much enjoyed watching peony and raising peony,which had in fact gradually become part of their daily life and customs.Well,the great passion of the Song people for peony viewing and peony literature definitely had its various social reasons and profound cultural significance as well.In the meanwhile,it is also related to the traditions and achievements in the peony gardening theories,the family history literature and peony painting in the Song Dynasty,as well as certain political significance that peonies were given under some certain historical situations.The first literary work that ever mentioned peony is The Book of Songs.However,the symbolic meaning of peony gradually changed and developed into different sorts as time went by.In the Chengping Period in the North Song Dynasty,peony was often used by the contemporary scholar-bureaucrats to symbolize the peaceful and prosperous society in their age,which thus shows their optimistic spirits,broad vision as well as brilliant reasoning.Quite on the contrary,the South Song literati,living in the fall of their Dynasty,tended to use peony poetry to imply their great will to fight the invaders as well as the grief for their motherland.The image of peony gradually became more and more elegant under such backgrounds of revitalization of morals,scholar-bureaucrats possessing a strong awareness for pursuing elegance and discipline,the thought of integrating three religions into one.Under such an atmosphere of an unprecedented popularity of peony watching and peony praising in the Song Dynasty,there emerged large numbers of peony poems,with multi-dimensional themes as well as wonderful writing techniques,which expressed such sorrows of departure,such grieving over time passage of the scholar-bureaucrats,their worries about being relegated as well as their grief for their country’s breaking apart.In the meantime,these peony poems which had developed some typical aesthetic features of their own,usually used such creative skills like image comparison,integration of imagination and reality as well as literary quotations,and thus demonstrated the unique styles in Song poetry creation.To sum up,the Song peony poetry is one important genre that cannot be neglected in the creation of Song poetry.It not only inherited the themes and artistic features of Tang peony poetry,but also involved such various elements including the social customs,gardening theories in the Song Dynasty,the psychology of the scholar-bureaucrats in that period,and the general historical context as well.All these aspects show that the Song peony poetry had reached a climax in Chinese ancient peony poetry.