On the Implication of Spirituality Theory in Yuan Mei’s Poems

Abstract

As a representative poet and essayist in the Qianjia period of the Qing Dynasty, Yuan Mei who styled himself Zicai with Jianzhai as his courtesy name was a scholar at the beginning and had a good reputation in his official career. However, he resigned and lived in seclusion in the 14th year of the Qianlong period after witnessing some challenges. Advocating the “spirituality” (Spirituality theory is an idea of poetry inditement and comment in ancient Chinese poetics, which is advocated most strongly by Yuan Mei in Qing Dynasty. It is one of the four major schools of poetry theory in the early Qing Dynasty, together with verve theory, style theory, and texture theory) of poetry inditement, Yuan Mei paid attention to expressing the author’s true emotion and personality. “Spirituality” put forward by him attacked the popular retro-ism and formalism in poetry at that time, which was of progressive significance, although it had limitations due to its overemphasis on subjective emotion. This paper will analyze Yuan Mei’s spirituality theory from the image and emotion of Yuan Mei’s poetry inditement.