Abstract
Before the Song Dynasty, Ci-poetry was a form of ballad singing, often having an impromptu nature, and therefore it was regarded as a genre of lowbrow literature. Later, scholar-officials in the Northern Song Dynasty were attracted by the new form and tried to make it a literary form to entertain their taste and talent. During the process of legitimization and canonization, Liu Yong, as a representative popular Ci-poet in the Northern Song Dynasty, played a uniquely important role. Scholar-officials identified vulgarity as the characteristic of Liu's ci-poems as they mostly belonged to the popular lowbrow lyrics. The scholar-officials then benchmarked on Liu's work and constructed a style of ci-poetry with a refined taste. Hence, with the concept of refined ci-poetry established, scholar-officials entered the arena of ci-poetry without bothering about the lowbrow status. The negative evaluation of Liu's ci-poetry became an important moment for ci-poetry to evolve into a refined genre in Chinese literary history.
First Page
95
Last Page
102
Recommended Citation
Xu, Licheng. 2013. "The Construction of Refined-Vulgar Ci-Poetry System in the Northern Song Dynasty with Liu Yong as a Benchmark." Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art 33, (5): pp.95-102. https://tsla.researchcommons.org/journal/vol33/iss5/19
