| Summary: | 碩士 === 南華大學 === 文學系 === 105 === Yue Leifa, whose courtesy name was Shengyuan, was a Chinese poet of the Jianghu Poetry School at the end of the Southern Song dynasty. Yue was not a lauded master of Song poetry and was rarely discussed by critics. However, he refused to flatter scholar-officials or seek employment by visiting high-ranking government officials, differing himself from several of the School’s poets criticized and despised by late Song scholars such as Fang Hui. Yue was a widely read scholar with substantial knowledge of Confucian classics and history books, and was proficient at writing poems in Chinese prose. Although he failed to fulfill his dream of making a career in politics and instead retreated to the countryside, Yue was continually concerned about his country and people, remained passionate about national affairs, and organized lectures to recruit disciples and develop talent for the country, demonstrating a noble sense of patriotism. Contrary to most poets of the Jianghu Poetry School, who generally produced vulgar and unrefined works, Yue wrote poems with a magnificent style, passionate tone, and bright manner. Thus, he received positive reviews from the School, and became a representative poet. Therefore, this study explored Yue’s noble character and devout sense of patriotism through an examination of his poetry.
An in-depth elaboration of Yue’s personal and social life is provided herein, and the meaning, characteristics, and artistic skills of his writing is discussed in the subsequent chapters: Chapter 1 presents the research motivation, methodology, and literature review; Chapter 2 outlines Yue’s background, social life, and artistic inspiration; Chapter 3 divides Yue’s poems into three types (patriotic poems, poems on life, and nature poems), and thoroughly differentiates and analyzes them; Chapter 4 examines Yue’s artistic skill in poetry writing, and specifically his ability to allude to various previous works, write about the minute details of life, and arrange the poems in a neat antithesis; and finally, Chapter 5 concludes with a discussion on the meaning and historical value of Yue’s poems.
These five chapters provide a better understanding of this highly esteemed and patriotic poet, who after an unsuccessful political career, remained deeply concerned about national issues, resigned from the political scene, and retired to the countryside.
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