A Study of Ci (詞)—a Form of Lyric Chinese Poetry—mposed by Wu Zao

• Main Authors: Su-Hsiang Shen, 沈素香
• Other Authors: Chung-Wen Wang
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2007
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/67909189523590225435

碩士 === 國立臺南大學 === 國語文學系 === 95 === In this dissertation, “A Study of Ci Composed by Wu Zao”, two volumes of Wu Zao''s ci collections was explored in depth for the understanding of her well-praised written works, as well as of her thoughts and feelings. Wu Zao had been a well-known woman writer of ci whose personage spirit, wit and talent had been applauded, during the reigns of Emperor Jiaqing and Emperor Daoguang in the Qing dynasty. The styles of her works of ci and qu (曲) had been uniquely of their own, affected by certain circumstances in her life, such as her troubled marriage, her unrecognized talent and social changes. In many aspects, she had been what the general public would comment as a figure of a gifted woman. With “Qiao ying” (《喬影》), a work of zaju (雜劇), her name had resounded at the age of twenty something when just newly entering the field of literature; she henceforth had devoted herself to work on changduanju (長短句). “Hua lian ci” (《花簾詞》), her first ci collection and “Xian nan xue bei ci” (《香南雪北詞》), her second, had been completed and presented to the public in the 9th year (1829) and the 24th year (1844) of Daoguang respectively. She had however entered full heartedly into a spiritual practice in Daoism (道) while completely stopped writing ever since then. Her life and works of ci and qu had been enigmatically filled with sentimental affection and grief. To begin with this research, a biographical approach was taken as the first step to understand the insight of Wu Zao''s thinking and her personal background which had influenced her works. Secondly, four thematic categories were defined within Wu Zao''s works for the purpose of digging into the creative essentials and the motives, and they were “the lyrical works of ci expressing emotions and sentiments”, “the responding and the gifting for lengthened friendships”, “the allegorical works for insinuating her aspirations”, “the pure appreciations of enchanting sceneries from her meditative trips”. For sorting out her writing styles, her artistic expressions of language was examined in depth, in terms of imagery formation, allusive artifice and subtle application of rhetoric. Through this research, it was realized that the writing styles of Wu Zao''s works had been diverse, encompassing a great number of merits while fusing into a unique whole simultaneously. Her works had definitely brought forth undeniable meaning and impact to her time, whether it be revealing states of life, glorifying ethnic integrity or awakening of feminism.