Prosperity and Desolation: A Study of the Reception History of the Ci Poetry of Liu Yong and Zhou Bangyan

Liu Yong and Zhou Bangyan were two landmark poets in the history of Song lyric poetry. Both were gifted men of refined taste who understood music and knew how to compose songs. Their lyrics adhered to musical rules and expressed emotion, and their styles were graceful and restrained. Later generations often grouped them together as the "Liu and Zhou" school. Yet the debate over elegance and vulgarity in the nature of lyric poetry, which persisted throughout its development, led later readers to divide them sharply into poets representing two opposing styles: popular and refined. As a result, their standing among orthodox literati of the feudal era differed greatly. The similarities and differences between the two poets and their works merit an in-depth comparative study from the perspective of reader reception. Drawing on Western reception aesthetics, this book examines how their works were received throughout history, using as its main sources critiques of their poetry found in successive generations of discussions of lyric poetry and in scattered notes by literati.