The Hermeneutic Nature of Poetic History Theory in Song Dynasty

DU Fu's poems,reflecting social historical events around An-shi Rebellion,were called poetic history in Tang Dynasty.Song Dynasty poets accepted,deepened and interpreted the theory of poetic history from historical and political attributes and then practiced it in literature criticism and creation,which enlarged the connotation and extension of poetic history concept.This deepening and expanding should be attributed to Chinese ancient hermeneutic methods such as quoting out of context,interpreting by meaning instead of feeling,understanding and commenting a character by studying his specific situation,and being beyond thorough interpretation,etc.The theory of poetic history in Song Dynasty had a great influence on the following generations,for example,the point that poetry is non-history,proposed by Ming Dynasty poets,and that poetry and history prove each other,by Qing Dynasty scholars from the perspective of textual research.The differences between these viewpoints lied in their various hermeneutic focuses on literary,historical and political attributes of poetic history,thus resulted in different understanding and explanation of poetic history theory.