陳子昂「感遇」詩三十八首の世界

Abstract

The thirty-eight poems entitled "Kan yü", by Ch'ên Tzu-ang, can be seen as a medium through which the poet expressed his unique view of the world. In his view this phenomenal world is under the sway of an invisible Heaven (天道), which is beyond human understanding. This Heaven is merciless and cruel toward man, as human history well illustrates. The fact that no dynasty had been able to retain political power indefinitely is perhaps the most telling example, for Ch'ên, of man's vulnerability. Controlled by Heaven, everything is in the vortex of vicissitudes. In the long run all the efforts of man in such a world are in vain. We may ask what circumstances in the poet's life brought him to such despondent conclusions. He was an able government official, and honestly fulfilled his duties as such. But the result of his efforts did not satisfy him, and in fact broght him only disappointment. His disappointment was all the deeper because his ambitions were quite lofty. Filled with doubts, he searched relentlessly for truth beyond the phenomenal world, and it was through this that he discovered the above-mentioned Heaven. It can perhaps be said that his poetry represents an admission of his own defeat in resisting the forces of Heaven, and also an expression of his doubt and despair over the limitations imposed on man's earthly existence.