Research On Zhu Xi’s Friendship Poems

Zhu Xi was the master of Neo-Confucianism in the Southern Song Dynasty.For a long time,his poetic reputation was concealed by the halo of Neo-Confucianism.But in fact his poetic achievements cannot be ignored.Zhu Xi’s existing poems are not only numerous,but also many of them are authentic literati poems,which are completely different from the Neo-Confucian poems we are familiar with.Furthermore,Zhu Xi’s friendship poems are not only numerous in number,but also rich in themes.In-depth study and development of Zhu Xi’s friendship poems will help us to restore and reproduce Zhu Xi’s historical world.The first chapter of this thesis points out the background of the Song Dynasty,when Neo-Confucianism and literature gradually converged,and gave birth to a group of Neo-Confucianism poets,among which Zhu Xi,who was good at both Neo-Confucianism and literature,was the outstanding one.Since then,the reputation of his poems has gradually been overshadowed by his academic achievements,and it was not until recent times that his poems gradually became concerned and valued by the academic circles.The second chapter outlines the basic situation of Zhu Xi’s friendship poems:Zhu Zi’s existing poems are more than 1,400,and his friendship poems are nearly 1,000,accounting for more than two-thirds of his total poems.Furthermore,his friendship poems are concentrated in the middle and late period,and the reasons are that Zhu Xi’s spiritual life turned to Neo-Confucianism.Finally,the sociability of his poems about plum is worth paying attention to,because Zhu Xi forged each other with his friends by singing plum poems.The third chapter,this paper points out that Zhu Zi’s friendship poems have a wide range of objects,covering all the groups in his life,including the teachers and friends of Liu’s family,relatives and friends of Wuyuan,academic teachers and friends,Literati friends,Official friends,disciples,Buddhists and Taoists and other seven groups.In the fourth chapter,this paper discusses the very rich themes presented in Zhu Xi’s friendship poems,including six categories:missing and farewell,mourning,discoursing on academic subjects,recompensing and sending,feast and reunion,and inscriptions.It shows the rich spiritual connotation of Zhu Zi’s friendship poems.