A Study Of Wang Shiduo’s War Poems In The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom

Wang Shiduo(July 14,1802--August 3,1889)was well known as a historian and geographer in the late Qing Dynasty.Perhaps because of his outstanding achievements in history and geography,people often belies his literary identity.In fact,his literary achievements are no less impressive,especially many poems written during the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.From the perspective of content,he not only describes the real scenes of the war,but also adds many historical details.At the same time,he restores the mental course of ordinary people during the war.From the perspective of artistic form,The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was the turning point of Wang Shiduo’s life.The changes of poets’ ideas during the war led to the transformation of the content and style of poetry creation,and the artistic expression techniques were gradually perfected.In summary,Wang Shiduo’s Taiping Heavenly War poems not only have the value of literature appreciation,but also have the value of historical understanding,which has important reference significance for understanding the society of the late Qing Dynasty.This paper intends to take Wang Shiduo’s poems of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom as the research object,and apply the method of literature research,literature and history mutual evidence research,comparative research,etc.,in order to restore the writing of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in Wang Shiduo’s poems to the greatest extent,and further explore his poetry art that tends to mature during the war.The first chapter is "Wang Shiduo’s Life and Social Activities",which mainly introduces Wang Shiduo’s family academic atmosphere and the relationship between teachers and successors,as well as the influence of social intercourse and entry on his poetics.Wang Shiduo grew up in the traditional Confucian family,transferred to a lot of teachers,from Xu Rong,Chen Songyun,Cheng Enze,Hu Peihui and others to study the period,ancient poetry,scriptures,etc.,for his later literary creation laid a deep foundation,gradually formed the theoretical source of personal poetry creation and knowledge reserve.During the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom,Wang Shiduo made a wide range of friends throughout his life.During the Taiping Celestial Kingdom,he became the aids and stuff of Hu Linyi and Zeng Guofan successively and engaged in document compilation and proofreading activities.During this period,he got to know many friends,such as scholars Zhang Yuzhao and Hong Rukui.The second chapter,"Historical Record and Unique Writing",mainly stands on Wang Shiduo’s individual position,and analyzes the poet’s personal experiences and spiritual course in different periods of the war from the perspective of recording and restoring history.The general tone of Wang Shiduo’s war poems in Taiping Tianguo is sentimental.Whether it is the fall of Nanjing,the shelter of Jixi,or the invasion of Zeng and Hu,his poems all reflect the great pain in the heart while restoring the war scenes.Compared with before the war,the content of his poems has changed greatly,from reflecting the feeling of "self-injury" to reflecting the feeling of home and country.The third chapter of the thesis "Relatives Memorial and Personal Reflection"mainly explores the more profound connotation of Wang Shiduo’s war poetry.In the context of the war,Wang Shiduo created these poems not only to restore the history,but also to reflect the efforts made by the poet to rebuild the spiritual culture,including the commemoration of the martyrs and the reflection on the war.In this process,Wang Shiduo’s thought fluctuated greatly,showing a tendency to deviate from the traditional thought.His complex attitude towards the system of etiquette and law reflected the struggle and hesitation of the literati during the war.The fourth chapter of the thesis "The Mature Poetry Art in the War" is a summary of Wang Shiduo’s literary thought and poetry creation idea.Although the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom War brought great trauma to the poet’s body and mind,it also brought new thinking to the poet and injected fresh blood into his poetry creation.Compared with before the war,Wang Shiduo no longer simply imitated and learned other poets,or created some poems that lay emphasis on knowledge and reason while ignoring the content of poems.Instead,he began to pay attention to the unity of form and content,gradually established his own view of "poetic history",and at the same time applied the view of "economic and practical application" that he had always held to poetry creation.And eventually form a unique style of poetry "to the odd as the fashion".Wang Shiduo integrated his poetry creation ideas and techniques,which promoted the basic maturity of his poetry art.