Abstract
Confucius puts forward the idea that "poetry helps to inspire, to observe, to keep company, and to express grievances" (xing, guan, qun, yuan), which had a huge impact on Chinese poetics. Among numerous interpreters of this idea, Zhu Xi was the most important authority. While he argues that the interpretation of "guan" by scholars in the Song Dynasty was unreliable, his own interpretations of Confucius's words were not logically consistent, either. Situated in the context of his own educational ideas and practices, one would discover that Confucius's words are about neither the composition nor ontology of poetry, but its use. Confucius stresses that by studying The Book of Songs, "one's benevolence is inspired" and "merits and demerits observed", so that one "keeps company without being undiscriminating" and "expresses grievances without being indignant". In the end, one is able to appreciate the spirit of rites and music and improve his moral character. The inner logic of "xing, guan, qun, yuan" is that they all embody what Confucius upholds as "studying for the sake of self-improvement", which, undoubtedly, leads to "improvement of others", so as to reform households and society. In other words, it aims at "serving the father" and "serving the king" based on improved gentlemen character, which points to the ideal socio-political condition envisioned by the Confucian School. This is one of the many poetic theses in "xing, guan, qun, yuan".
First Page
114
Last Page
122
Recommended Citation
Wang, Qizhou. 2016. "A New Interpretation of "Xing, Guan, Qun, Yuan"." Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art 36, (6): pp.114-122. https://tsla.researchcommons.org/journal/vol36/iss6/3
