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The poetic theory and practice of Huang Tingjian

University of British Columbia

Huang Tingjian [Chinese characters omitted] (1045-1105) is one of the most important poets of the Song Dynasty. He is often associated with his contemporary Su Shi [Chinese characters omitted], just as the Tang Dynasty's most important poets Du Fu [Chinese characters omitted] and Li Bai [Chinese characters omitted] are linked. Huang founded the Jiangxi School [Chinese characters omitted] which exerted 150 years of influence upon the creative theory and practice of succeeding generations of poets. Huang is also one of the most controversial poets in Chinese history. His position in poetic history and the controversy surrounding him, make it worthwhile to analyze his poetic theory and practice. This thesis attempts to summarize the main principles of Huang's poetic theory, the main content of his poetry, and the characteristics of his poetic techniques. I begin with a biographical sketch of Huang; it focuses on his political career, and the political affairs which influence his life. Chapter One presents an overview of Huang's poetic theory and the principles of his poetic technique. Therein, I mainly discuss his view of the content of poetry and its political criticism, and also provide a brief discussion of his ideas on poetic style. In discussing his ideas of poetic technique, I examine his method as an organic unit, and then after analyzing principles of his method. Chapter Two is an analysis of Huang's poetic content. Through a survey of Huang's poetry, I explore the chief topics of his poetry. By comparing Huang's general view of poetry with the content he selects, we will ascertain whether or not there is consistency between his poetic theory and practice. Chapter Three is a discussion of Huang's poetic technique. The discussion is dominated by what has been called by many critics Huang's "qi" [Chinese characters omitted] (strangeness). What may be properly understood as the principles of his technique provide the foundation for his outstanding originality. The aspects of this originality that is discussed are basically associated with his method which is explored in Chapter One. Therefore, this chapter can be seen as an examination of Huang's view on poetic technique from the perspective of poetic practice. This chapter concludes with a survey of Huang's poetic style which develops the discussion of style touched upon briefly in Chapter One. The summation of his poetic style is facilitated by the analyses of his poetic content and technique in the previous sections and chapters. The conclusion is a summation of Huang's poetic theory and practice. I summarize the relationship between his poetic theory and practice in general and his major contribution to Chinese classical poetry.

Text

2011-01-06

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/30542

Asian Studies

University of British Columbia

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