Confucian Scholars and Poetic Education: A Study on Pre-Qin Confucian Literary Thought

Author: Yu Zhihui
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-03-01
Features: This book systematically organizes Confucian linguistic thought and poetic education thought. With ample material evidence and meticulous textual analysis, it demonstrates that Confucian literary thought is, in fact, literary talent and educational thought. In other words, the ontology and theory of poetry, in fact, constitute the cultural and pedagogical aspects of poetry. This paradigm shift is of immense significance, as it allows for a renewed understanding of the origins of Chinese poetics, its major traditions, and a series of related issues. This book discusses pre-Qin Confucian literary thought, focusing on its linguistic and poetic education aspects. Beyond briefly covering what has already been extensively discussed, it is based on the following understanding: The great Confucian scholars such as Confucius and Mencius relatively concentratedly addressed issues related to language, which reflect their literary thought. These expressions later became recurring topics in Chinese literary theory and even guiding or principle-based propositions. When discussing their poetic education thought, the book takes the study of the use of poetry during the Spring and Autumn period as the background, because in the author's view, this study serves as both the theoretical backdrop for the aforementioned propositions—making it the most convenient way to seek their meaning—and is also close to the essence. Moreover, Confucian poetic thought, fundamentally speaking, resonates with the poetic wisdom and cultural spirit of our nation since the Western Zhou and Spring and Autumn periods.