History of Literary Thought in the Song Dynasty

Author: Zhang Yi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-07-01
Features: The history of literary thought should not only study the literary ideas of individuals but also explore literary thought trends. Sometimes, a literary thought tendency becomes an unstoppable force, driving the development of literature during a certain period. There are countless examples in history. The Jian'an period, where literature expressed personal emotions and pursued a strong style, became a trend of the time; the courtly poetry of the Liang and Chen dynasties; the retro trend in the poetic field during the Tang and Song dynasties; and the craze for romantic tales of scholars and beauties during the Ming and Qing dynasties are all well-known examples. Behind these trends in literary creation, what common literary thought dominates is precisely what the history of literary thought focuses on studying. Literary thought should not only examine the literary thought trends that shape an era but also explore the literary ideas of different literary schools. In the history of Chinese literary thought, we can observe an interesting phenomenon: in the early stages of literary development, the development of literary thought tends to be relatively singular, while later on, it becomes increasingly diverse, giving rise to different literary schools within the same socio-economic and cultural background.