Ye Jiaying said of Ruan Ji's Ode to My Thoughts

Author: Ye Jiaying
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-01-01
Features: The original title of this book is "Lecture Notes on Ruan Ji's Poems of Contemplation," which was originally a recording of lectures given by the author while teaching at a university in Taiwan during the 1960s for the Taiwan Education Radio. During the lecture period, the author had no intention of organizing the content into a book, so the recordings were not preserved at the time. Unexpectedly, more than thirty years later, the content was compiled and recorded into a book in mainland China. This was truly something the author had never anticipated. Reflecting on the past, from the author's acceptance of the lecture invitation to the present compilation into a book, there were actually quite a few coincidental opportunities involved. Now, the author will briefly describe these coincidental opportunities and express gratitude to the friends associated with them.
Among the 87 poems of Ruan Ji that have been passed down, 85 are titled "Poems of Contemplation," which reflect the sorrow of a poet in turbulent times. Ruan Ji was a poet of the Zhengshi literary era in Chinese literary history, following the Jian'an literary period. At that time, it was the transition period between the Wei and Jin dynasties, and a group of scholars in society appeared outwardly unrestrained, indulgent, carefree, and unbound by etiquette, while inwardly harboring deep sorrow and pain. Ruan Ji's poems are profound in meaning, with his ambition and spirit being unrestrained, free-spirited, subtle, deeply hidden, and richly allusive. In times of pain with no one to confide in, he expressed his scattered and sorrowful inner emotions through poetry.