On the Inspiration of the “Records of the Historian” for the Poetic Drama in the Yuan Dynasty

The “Records of the Historian” not only pioneered the b iographical literature but also had profound effects on the poetic drama in the Yuan Dynasty, a form of narrative literature. Encouraged by the honesty Sima Qia n showed in the “Records of the Historian”, the writers of the poetic plays in the Yuan Dynasty put a brave face when they rebuked the dark reality. They embo died Sima Qian’s aesthetic view of “treasuring the peculiar” in the portrayal of “extraordinarily graceful” heroes and numbers of common people with peculi ar characters. In this way they broke away from Confucian beauty neutralization and created a magnifiscent tragic beauty. In addition, the poetic drama showed every sign of effects of the “Records of the Historian” in portrayal of characters, individualization of the character’s language and arrangement of dramastic plot.