The Self Consciousness and Emotional Essence in Hsin Ch’i-Chi’s Landscape and Pastoral Tz’u Poetry

The main concern of the thesis is to explain that Hsin Ch’i-Chi’s landscape and pastoral tz’u poetry should not only be understood as part of the landscape and pastoral poetry tradition, but viewed under the genre of tz’u, and more attention should be paid to the characteristic of tz’u poetry, especially the emotional essence, which shown in these works. As far as I am concerned, Hsin Ch’i-Chi’s landscape and pastoral tz’u poetry echoes with the emotional essence of tz’u which was build by the Hua-Chien (花間) model.

This thesis consists of five chapters:

Chapter 1 is introduction. Based on current research on Hsin Ch’i-Chi’s landscape and pastoral tz’u poetry, I discovered that one aspect worth exploring: the importance of genre studies in the study of tz’u poetry. At the same time, this chapter will define the range of landscape and pastoral works, and shows the critical theory.

Chapter 2 focusing on the background of Hsin Ch’i-Chi’s time, the literary position of tz’u poetry in Southern Song Dynasty, the development of hermit ideas and the landscape and pastoral tz’u works, and Hsin Ch’i-Chi’s personal hermit experience will be covered.

Chapter 3 examines Hsin Ch’i-Chi’s self consciousness and its representation in his landscape and pastoral tz’u poetry, indicating his respect of “Ch’i”(氣) and the emotional pattern it leads to in his works.

Chapter 4 looks back on the genre of “tz’u”, discussing its establishment, the characteristics in lyric form, and the emotional essence which was brought out by “tz’u”. Finally, this chapter compares the emotional essence in Hua-Chien tradition and in Hsin Ch’i-Chi’s landscape and pastoral tz’u poetry, discovered that they have similar emotions, though shown in different expressions.