Abstract
Taken from Shīpǐn, the term “Wénzhāng Zhōngxìng” denotes the literary periods since Tàikāng period of Western Jìn, where the poet circles rid themselves of the superficial poetic style predominant and prevalent ever since Zhèngshǐ period of Cáo Wèi, and then lead to the “revival” in the realm of writing. However, in terms of the History of Chinese Literature, except the brief 40 years from Zhèngshǐ (240) to Tàikāng (280), there is Eastern Jìn (317-420), the transitional and a more influential albeit also long being considered the lengthier and dark years of Chinese Literature, followed up by Liú Sòng, which concludes and ends “Wénzhāng Zhōngxìng”. Although various sources of ancient and modern would occasionally mention Liú Sòng’s “Wénzhāng Zhōngxìng”, they come to the points mostly from historical, geographical, or social perspectives; while such approaches could indicate the general direction of an overall discussion, it is difficult for us to detect the connection between the literary periods and the literary works of the time. Therefore, this thesis decides to shift the focus and intends to start with poems from each selected dynasties so as to discuss and contextualize Liú Sòng’s “Wénzhāng Zhōngxìng” in terms of the History of Chinese Poetry. This thesis would be divided into six chapters: it first begins with historical records, literary criticisms and anthologies to verify Liú Sòng’s “Wénzhāng Zhōngxìng” (Chapter 1); then, it discusses the common writing themes found within each time periods such as Jiàn'ān (Chapter 2), Western Jìn (Chapter 3), Eastern Jìn (Chapter 4), and induce the writing styles of each periods so as to clarify the differences between Eastern Jìn the dark period and the two flourishing periods, Jiàn'ān and Western Jìn; then, it discusses the literary heritages Liú Sòng Poetry receives and the poetic changes it achieves (Chapter 5); finally, in conclusion, it explains how the 100-year dark period of Chinese Literature finishes and how “Wénzhāng Zhōngxìng” is accomplished within Liú Sòng.