First, this school of poetry is an ideological social gathering, not an actual gathering;
Second, from the perspective of style and inheritance, not from the perspective of geographical division, not all poets are from Jiangxi;
Thirdly, Jiangxi Poetry School is a part of Yuan You's academic field. It developed as the antithesis of Shao-Shu politics, and its rise and fall was closely related to the political situation at that time.
In addition to the characters in the sectarian map, Lv Benzhong, Zeng Yi and Zhao Fan are also considered to belong to this school. Although most poets in the Southern Song Dynasty formed their own school, they were influenced by Jiangxi poetic style in their early days. By the end of the Song Dynasty, Fang Hui called Du Fu the "ancestor" of Jiangxi Poetry School, while Huang Tingjian, Chen Weishi were the "Sect" of Jiangxi Poetry School, and put forward the theory of "one ancestor and three sects" of Jiangxi Poetry School.
In the process of choosing the tradition of poetry, Du Fu's poetry, as a model of morality and poetry art since the Qing Dynasty in the Northern Song Dynasty, was highly praised by Wang Anshi and Su Shi, and was further respected at this time. Huang Tingjian once said: "Although Lao Du was displaced from place to place, he never left the DPRK for a day, so he was good at current affairs and profound in every sentence, which was beyond the reach of ancient authors. The spirit of loyalty is natural. " "Loyalty" and "being good at telling current events" point out Du Fu's Confucian moral pursuit and the realistic spirit of poetry, and it can also be seen that Huang Tingjian's poems are not indifferent to reality. In fact, many of his early poems are full of realistic concern and critical spirit. With the increasing number of literary inquisitions, Huang Tingjian's concept of poetry has changed, and he advocates that poetry should chant emotion, but "it is also necessary to argue in court without remonstrating, to blame Tao, and to scold the seats by angering neighbors." This poetic attitude against the reality thorn was generally accepted by Jiangxi poets in the increasingly severe situation in the late Northern Song Dynasty. The evaluation of "profound syntax" reflects Huang Tingjian's obedience to the art of Du Fu's poetry. He has made many detailed analyses on Du Fu's artistic characteristics in refining words, making sentences and writing, as well as the artistic realm of Du Fu's poetry. In these analyses, we can often see his own aesthetic pursuit and the spirit of the times in the Song Dynasty. For example, his comments on Du Fu's poems, such as "There is no word to find" and "Pingchuan Mountain and Deep Water", actually reflect his own characteristics of attaching importance to reading, advocating innovation, pursuing insipid and profound aesthetic realm.
Huang Tingjian, with his distinctive poetic concept and outstanding poetic achievements, reflected the aesthetic style of Song poetry and attracted the attention of the poetic circles. Moreover, he provided specific creative paths for later poets, so that they had poetic methods to follow. Therefore, Huang Tingjian won the support of many poets. Chen Shidao burned his old works and transferred them to Huangshi. His creative achievements made him soon become the core of this poetry school together with Huang Tingjian.
Jiangxi Poetry School's admiration for Huang Tingjian mainly focuses on the skills and techniques of Huang's poetry creation, emphasizing the principle of following changes, advocating the principle of living understanding, and emphasizing "returning to nature". (Liu Xizai's "The Outline of Art") neglected Huang Tingjian's poetic thoughts, such as attaching importance to the preservation of mind and nature, and "seeking Tao through poetry".
Because Jiangxi Poetry School did not put forward any special ideas on the ideological content of poetry, their works have their own characteristics on the ideological content. The works of Huang Tingjian, Chen Shidao and others mainly describe personal life experiences and express the author's thoughts and feelings, with narrow content. Zeng Yi, Chen and others who experienced the "Jingkang Change" wrote patriotic poems reflecting the national struggle at that time. The main reason for the formation of Jiangxi poetry school is that these poets have similar views on poetry art, and the relationship between the members of the poetry school is to teach and learn poetry art.
The most famous ideas in Huang Tingjian's poetics are "taking the fetus as the bone" and "turning iron into gold". That is to say, a method of inheriting predecessors' words or meanings aims at "bringing forth the old and bringing forth the new" in poetry creation. Huang Tingjian used this method effectively in his creative practice and made some achievements. But this method ignores the only source of literary creation, that is, social life, so it also has great disadvantages. Later, some poets who lacked the spirit of innovation took this as a criterion, and unilaterally pursued "there is no word to find", but they could not "seek novelty", so they took wisdom from others and allusions, and their images dried up, forming the last stream of Jiangxi Poetry School. This is the main reason why Jiangxi Poetry School has been ridiculed for a long time.
However, "replacing bones with fetuses" and "turning iron into gold" are only one aspect of Huang Tingjian's poetry theory, which has not had a great influence on outstanding poets in Jiangxi poetry school. There is another side to Huang Tingjian's poetry theory, that is, the poet is required to strive to be "unique" on the basis of hard work and mastering artistic skills, get rid of the shackles of skills, and reach the highest artistic realm of "no axe and no chisel marks". Several important poets of Jiangxi Poetry School are deeply influenced by this. Chen Shidao takes "learning Tao to become immortal" as a metaphor, Han Ju takes "meditation" as a metaphor, and Lv Benzhong emphasizes "living method" in his poems, all of which contain the meanings of "learning and then realizing" and "seeking novelty". Because of this, although the members of Jiangxi Poetry School are closely related, their artistic style is not static.
Huang Tingjian's poems are innovative, thin and hard, and other poets also have their own characteristics: some poems are simple and clumsy, others are bright and smooth, the poems of the previous generation tend to be lively, and Chen's poems tend to be vigorous, without the shortcomings of "a thousand people have one side". Fu, Han Ju and others are relatively thin, but they are quite independent. Therefore, Jiangxi Poetry School is an important link in the development of China classical poetry. His works are an important part of the Song Dynasty.