The Comparison and Exploration of the Subject Difference between Lamentations and Lament of Capital Ying

Abstract

Lamentations and lament of capital Ying are models of city lament in ancient Hebrew-and Chinese classical literary traditions respectively. A comparative study shows that there are significant subject difference between lamentations and lament of capital Ying . Lamentations is the collective works, and its compilation and inheritance function as emotional expression of sufferings of the past, present and future of the Jewish people, reflecting their infinite belief of transcendent God . In contrast, lament of capital Ying is the creation of Qu Yuan, and under the influence of the sage's commitment to the mandate of heaven by his individual virtue. The poetry expresses Qu Yuan’s personal grief through a special literary technique and its succession and experience in later generations are mainly individual. The subject difference of two poetry is a reflection of different development trajectories of the humans-transcendent relationship in Hebrew- and the Chinese civilizations of the Axial Age.