A Study On Luo Yin’s Imperial Examinations Poems

The imperial civil examination is an indispensable element in the literati’s life in the Tang Dynasty.And the poems relevant to it,as a theme of the Tang poetry,are endowed with abundant connotations and diversified emotions and are the best ways to understand the imperial examination experiences of the people in the Tang Dynasty.Luo Yin is a famous litterateur and ideologist in the late Tang Dynasty who studied diligently during his youth time and has an exquisite writing style.However,his official career was full of ups and downs.All of his more than 10 times of imperial examinations ended up with unsatisfactory results.Although he had been struggling in the examination field for many years and his aspiration to accomplish a feat was not achieved ultimately,he created a large amount of poems concerning the imperial examination experiences during this period,including the lyric poems expressing his sorrowful mood when he was resided in Chang’an or wandered outside,the lyric poems clarifying his helplessness and sadness for failing to pass the examinations,the Ganye poems that were meant to express personal aspirations and pursuits when currying favour with the influential so as to attend the examination,the poems written for his fellows to express his feelings about the official career,the satirical poems to criticize the politics and the imperial examination system in the late Tang Dynasty,the poems written in the provincial examination,etc.All of these types of poems are sorts of catharsis and expressions for his failings in the imperial examinations,and at the same time,they demonstrate his talents in writing poems and texts.Also,the poems reflect the imperial examination activities held by the literati in the late Tang Dynasty,which is of great value both for the study of the late Tang imperial examinations and literati life and for the study of Luo Yin himself and his poetry.The imperial examination poems created by the famous poet in the late Tang Dynasty Luo Yin are selected as the research subjects of this thesis.And the poems are analyzed and discussed systematically from four aspects of the background of the late Tang Dynasty,his imperial examination experiences,his mental states during the examination,and the content expressions as well as the creation features of the poems respectively.This thesis is divided into five chapters.The first chapter is an introduction,stating the research value and significance of this thesis,defining the concept of imperial examination poetry,filtering and classifying Luo Yin’s imperial examination poems in accordance with the concept,and giving an overview of the current research situation on the thesis content.The second chapter summarizes the imperial examination system of the Tang Dynasty and discusses the political and social background of the late Tang Dynasty and the examination system at that time from the imperial and folk perspectives.In the late Tang Dynasty,the eunuchs monopolized the power domineeringly by launching political struggles internally and colluding with the outlying prefectures externally,leading to a turbulent society,the domination of the outlying prefectures,and the political chaos in the late Tang Dynasty.Moreover,it was common for the offspring of the bureaucrats to attend the imperial examination at that time.And they would recommend themselves everywhere so as to become the scholars and pass the examination,encroaching on the space for the students from the poor families to start their official careers.Such political conjuncture and the stratum transformation of scholars and common people intensified the competition in the imperial examination and worsened the examination atmosphere.Therefore,many literati had to seek other opportunities due to their repeated failures in the examinations.Next,in the third chapter,the imperial examination experiences and the mental state of Luo Yin are illustrated and analyzed.First,more than ten experiences in attending the imperial examination of Luo Yin are recalled.Then,his material life and the spiritual world during the examination are studied based on his experiences and examination-related poems.During his thirty years experience in imperial examination,he was once stranded in Chang’an and also wandered far away.And he once searched for the recommendation from distinguished families and also felt depressed about his way out after failing the imperial examination.His insistence on entering the official career by participating the examination led to his repeated failures and retakes.But his resolution in personality as well as his showy characteristics led to his doomed failures in the imperial examination.And the fourth and the fifth chapter analyze the content and artistic features of Luo Yin’s poems.He depicted his depression of failures,the loneliness of wandering and isolation,the confusion about his own fate,the indignation at the unfairness of the imperial examinations,and the sympathy for his friends who have failed in the examinations.Simultaneously,his emotions are expressed through various techniques such as the common language,sharp and straightforward satire,and precise and clever allusions,forming a style unique to Luo Yin’s imperial examination poems.