KHẢO SÁT CÁCH THỨC XÂY DỰNG HÌNH TƯỢNG NGƯỜI VỢ TRONG SÁNG TÁC TỪ CỦA NAM TỪ NHÂN ĐỜI TỐNG

Abstract

Song Dynasty literature was profoundly shaped by Neo-Confucianism, which privileged moral instruction (转道) and philosophical contemplation while restricting the expression of human emotions. In response, male literati turned to the Ci poetic form as a means of emotional release. Inadvertently, they also contributed to the development of Ci’s distinctive traits, such as its lyrical romanticism (言情), performative nature (应歌之词), and ornate aesthetics (艳夸), while densely embedding images of the beloved in their compositions. Employing methods of textual analysis and thematic analysis using genre-specific aesthetic principles, such as the fusion of emotion and scene in which external scenery intensifies emotional expression, this study examines the construction of the wife’s imagery in the Ci poetry of male literati during the Song Dynasty. The analysis focuses on two major archetypes: the wife of a husband stationed at the frontier and the wife of a husband traveling afar. Through this framework, the paper elucidates the literati’s conceptualization of wives, as well as the emotional states and actions attributed to them in Song Ci and, more broadly, in the feudal society of the Song Dynasty.