李白の樂府について

Abstract

The T'ang poet Li Po left a large body of poems composed in the yüeh-fu style, a style which had behind it a long tradition, developing originally from the songs of the common people. But, though he adopted this ancient style, he infused it with a new meaning, and it is the purpose of this study to discover, by comparing the yüeh-fu poems of Li Po with those of his predecessors, where this newness lies. We note, for example, that Li Po's treatment of the themes of the evanescence of life and the passing of time is different from that of the Six Dynasties poet Lu Chi 陸機. Li Po does not make these themes a subject for sorrow, but rather the occasion for a fulfillment of joy. In this study the yüeh-fu poems of Li Po have been compared with those of former poets such as Lu Chi, Pao Chao 鮑昭, and Hsieh T'iao 謝朓, and analyzed under the following four headings : 1. Awareness of the passing of time 2. Songs of the sorrow of women 3. The concept of immortals 4. Songs of happiness Through such an analysis, the poems of Li Po may be seen to illustrate one of the characteristic features of the heyday of T'ang poetry.