A Comparative Study Of Meixi Ci And Zhushan Ci

Both Shi Dazu and Jiang Jie were Ci writers in the southern Song dynasty,with Shi Dazu period earlier than Jiang Jie and both of them fall into the Jiangkui’s Ci school.In the notes and comments on ci poetry in the past dynastie,there were many simultaneous mentions and comparisons between the two.people started to dig into their works in the modern and contemporary times,which have also led to various evaluation results.However,there is no study on their historical status.Thus this paper sets out to make a comparative study on the subject and content,artistic features and communication status of Meixi Ci and Zhushan Ci,and then analyze the changes in the writers’ historical status,aiming to come up with an objective evaluation on their historical status.Meixi Ci and Zhushan Ci In terms of subject and content both contain patriotism that in Meixi Ci contains an expectation that the home country can be restored,while in Zhushan Ci,there is a kind of helplessness of no turning back.In addition to patriotic theme,most of the object-chanting verses in Meixi Ci present deep and lingering emotions,while most that of Zhushan Ci show a sense of restrained sorrow.On the front of the wording and phrasing,there are relatively less desolation and solitude in Meixi Ci,whose overall presentation is more elegant and neat.In contrast,Zhushan Ci applied more words featuring coldness and desolation and colloquial expressions that are prone to the features of Yuan Qu,making it rather complicated to understand.From the perspective of the use of imagery,a variety of such common imagery as "wind" and "plum" can be seen in the both,but the imagery in Meixi Ci express a deep and soulful emotion,while those in Zhushan Ci are mostly about loneliness.Beside above factors,the formation of the style is also related to their inheritance of Jiang Kui’s ci and Xin Qiji’s ci,as well as of other writers and works of diverse types.Through the comparison and analysis of the two works,it can be concluded that both writers have their own artistic styles.Generally speaking,Meixi Ci is more of elegance and miserable coldness,while Zhushan Ci is more desireless and solitary.From the aspect of evaluation of the historical status,it can be found through quantitative analysis of research on their works that the dissemination and acceptance of the two varied in different historical backgrounds for different readership,which has posed certain influence on the judgment of their historical status.During the Yuan,Ming and Qing dynasties,the popularity and status of Meixi Ci was higher than that of Zhushan Ci,but the later also won a rising popularity in modern and contemporary studies.