Abstract:

Ci poetry in the Tang and Song Dynasties can be roughly divided into two categories, that is, ci poetry with a grateful and restrained style(for instance, WEN Ting-yun's Pusaman) and that with a solemn and grave style(for instance, FAN Zhong-yan's Yujia'ao). The former category, which is usually about daily life and emotions, should be appreciated with literary imagination rather than be examined word by word through textual research. A good example is the expression of "small mountains" in WEN Ting-yun's verse of "small mountains are overlapping while the sunshine is flickering". However, some poems with a solemn and grave style, such as FAN Zhong-yan's Yujia'ao, are related to significant issues of that time, so that we should study word by word through textual research to exactly grasp their backgrounds and implications, which are not open to a quick reading.

Key words: ci poetry with a grateful and restrained style, ci poetry with a solemn and grave style, WEN Ting-yun, FAN Zhong-yan, imagination, textual research