A study of Han Yu's eulogy = Han Yu ji wen yan jiu

Abstract

Han Yu (768-824) was a famous essayist in Tang Dynasty. He was one of the “Eight Great Prose Maters of the Tang and Song”（唐宋古文八大家）and had an important role in advocating the Classical Prose Movement（古文運動）. His prose writings had a great influence on literature at that time and this contributed to a rising number of proses. His strong opposition of parallel prose（駢文） motivated the other literati to imitate his styled writings. As a result, there was no doubt that Han Yu was honored as a great prose writer because of his achievement in literary reform.

A study of Han Yu and his proses have been a hot topic in literary research for years. Despite Han Yu’s prose, his poetry was another focus of scholarly research. Nevertheless, a specific, comprehensive research on his eulogy was not yet founded. In response to this finding, this research is therefore aimed at a thorough analysis of his eulogies and his various images which are shown in his work.

This thesis begins with an introduction of previous contribution and achievement of Han Yu’s scholarly researches. The second chapter indicates how Han Yu links his life experience with his family’s or friend’s death in a eulogy. The third chapter aims at revealing the friendship of Han Yu and his friends. The following chapter is writing to explore Han Yu’s various ideas of the politics, the Heaven and the self-blaming attempt. The last chapter is a concluding section of the findings in Han Yu’s eulogy from the previous chapter.