雨の情景 : 陳與義の詠雨詩と杜甫

Abstract

In classical Chinese literature, poems on the subject of rain started to appear during the Six-Dynasties period. Those poems were basically about farming and weather, and they can be broadly divided into two patterns; first, those that describe "suffering from rain" (ku yu 苦雨) and lament over long rains causing poor harvests, and second, those that describe "rejoicing over rain" (xi yu 喜雨) and cheer rain producing rich harvests. In the Tang period, Du Fu (712-770) brought several new dimensions to the descriptions of rain in poetry. First, Du Fu devoted himself to writing poems on the subject of rain, and he wrote far more poems on the subject than other contemporary poets. Second, Du Fu began to develop a new notion in poetics, namely that rain brings inspiration for poets, an idea that was adopted by other poets. The most notable feature of the poems that Du Fu wrote on rain, however, is that he took an interest in the serious problems facing society, such as wars and the suffering of the common people, while still adhering to the traditional two patterns of "suffering from rain" and "rejoicing over rain." Especially in his later works, the interior aspect of the poet and the outer world harmonized with each other, creating a symbolic world that integrates Du Fu's ironic self-presentation in the poetry into scenes of rain. A typical example is the poem "Rainy View from the Western Apartment" (Xige yuwang 西閣雨望). Later, in the period between the end of the Northern Song Dynasty and the beginning of the Southern Song Dynasty at the early twelfth century, the poet Chen Yuyi (1090-1138) also wrote many poems on rain, just as Du Fu did. During the first half of Chen's life, he was strongly influenced by the Jiangxi School 江西詩派 as evidenced by his use of techniques such as classical allusion, poetic diction, and couplet, and he was already skilled at imitating Du Fu's works by interweaving the predecessor poet's verses with his own. When the Jingkang Incident 靖康之變 broke out in 1126, leading to the collapse of the Northern Song Dynasty, Chen Yuyi roamed around South China to stay away from the war. In the second half of his life, Chen Yuyi realized the true value of Du Fu's late poetry after going through a bitter experience similar to what Du Fu had experienced in the An-Shi Rebellion 安史之亂, and he changed his poetry style. Chen Yuyi began to use extremely symbolic images in his poems on rain while also projecting in his scenes of rain the "patriotism" that he had inside him. However, Chen Yuyi describes his sorrow deeply and quietly, as seen in the poem "In the Rain" (Yuzhong 雨中), rather than the irony and self-mockery that Du Fu described.