LI Qingzhao's On Ci Poetry Observed From the Perspective of Ci Poetics in Song Dynasty

Li Qingzhao was one of the most renowned Ci poets in the Song Dynasty.On Ci Poetry is her only extant essay on Ci poetics.This essay expresses her viewpoints on Ci poetry by commenting on different Ci poets.The essay has brought about a lot of commentaries and analyses which vary considerably in views.This paper deals with Li's On Ci Poetry against a broad background of the development of Ci poetics in the Song Dynasty,attempting to reveal its implications and its place in the history of Ci poetics.In the Song Dynasty,the development of Ci poetry unfolded a process of refinement or poeticalization.But in this process,some Ci poets caused the tendency to go so much farther that their works alienated from the Ci status as a literary genre.Li Qingzhao,on the one hand,approved of the tendency of refinement in the writing of Ci poetry;on the other,she disapproved of the alienation from the original quality of Ci poetry.Li focused on the musical quality of Ci which is supposed to be sung and accord with the verse and music rules.As her essay covers the two dimensions mentioned above,Li's views concerning Ci poetry can not be merely summarized in terms of contrasting Wanyue gentle and restrained stylewith Haofang bold and free style.Lastly,the paper explores the cause why Zhou Bangyan,another famous Song Dynasty Ci poet,was overlooked by Li in her essay.Though Zhou's style is graceful and his works are strictly musical,yet his style still bears some vulgar quality.That is probably the reason for Li's omission of Zhou Bangyan in her essay.Her attitude towards Zhou demonstrates the consistency of her views of Ci poetry.