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On the Poems Pitying Peasants in the Northern Song Dynasty(PDF)

《南京师大学报》(社会科学版)[ISSN:1006-6977/CN:61-1281/TN]

Issue:
2020年02期
Page:
127-138
Research Field:
语言文学研究
Publishing date:

Info

Title:
On the Poems Pitying Peasants in the Northern Song Dynasty
Author(s):
GAO Feng
Keywords:
Northern Song Dynasty poems of compassion for peasants dispute between the old and the new parties argumentative feature prose feature
PACS:
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DOI:
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Abstract:
The poems pitying peasants in the Northern Song Dynasty inherited the realistic tradition of peotic creation orginating in Shijing诗经(aka the Book of Songs)and the folk songs of yuefu乐府(literally music bureau)in the Han Dynasty, whose theme is captured by the saying “The hungry sing for food; the laborers sing for work. ” The later examples they followed are the realistic spirit embodied by Du Fu’s “sanli” 三吏(literally three officials)and “sanbie” 三别(literally three farewells)and Bai Juyi’s new yuefu movement advocating “Singing to make known people’s sufferings. ” By means of multiple comparative techniques, the poems of this type fully display the miserable fate of the peasants under the heavy pressure of the land, tax and labor systems in the Northern Song Dynasty, expose the social reality characterized by the extreme disparity between rich and poor and the sharp class conflicts, and express such complex feelings as compassion, hatred, and guilt held by the intellectuals at that time. Especially in the struggle between the old and the new, the poems embody the wise intellectuals’ courage to care about people’s misfortune and their determination to reform the bad governance system. Influenced by the social culture of the Song Dynasty, the poems pitying peasants also show some stylistic features of argumentative prose, and are thus different from their predecessors. This constitutes the unique artistic style of the poetry in the Song Dynasty.

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Last Update: 2020-03-15