Nine Arguments is another lyric poem after Li Sao, and it is Song Yu's masterpiece. Song Yu, the author, is a romantic poet of Chu State slightly later than Qu Yuan. He failed to develop his talents all his life, and as a result, he was unhappy. His thought and creation were deeply influenced by Qu Yuan, and Nine Arguments left obvious imitation traces.
However, the reason why the Nine Debates can occupy a place in the creation of Chu Ci is that it maintains the poet's distinctive personality characteristics and develops in the literati characteristics of poetry and the blending of scenes. Therefore, Ouyang Xiu, a great writer in the Song Dynasty, was praised by "Song Yusheng Qu Yuan, sometimes with the color of blue".
The Writing Characteristics of Nine Arguments
Nine Debates inherited Qu Yuan's characteristics of expressing emotion with poetry, recounting experiences and sighing suffering, and his feelings of being loyal to the country and his character of sticking to moral integrity also came down in one continuous line with Qu Yuan.
Nine Debates consists of nine chapters, the theme of which is mourning for autumn, and thinking of the monarch runs through it. Although Song Yu's sadness about autumn is caused by personal experience, it is also inseparable from the powerful catalytic role of the times. Therefore, although Song Yu's sadness belongs to him personally, the social situation and anxiety about current events reflected from it still have a strong sense of the times.