| Figure-Ground segregation is a theory based on the prominence principle, itorigins from psychology. The so-called prominence is the figure in the Figure-Groundtheory which is the more salient part in our cognitive process and can be perceived bypeople sooner than the ground. However, the ground is less prominent than the figureand is the reference point in cognition, not easily being perceived by readers. It isTalmy who firstly put the Figure-Ground theory into practical language research.Then more and more researchers and scholars are paying their attentions to the theoryand apply it into the explanation of language structure. In the end of20thcentury, therising of cognitive poetics that is represented by Stockwell consummate the poetrystudy. Cognitive poetics is a discipline that combines the cognitive linguistics withliterary critics and it attaches much more importance to the psychological mechanismand tries very best to apply the related language structures and theories into theappreciation of poetry.It is widely acknowledged that most traditional analysis of poems is based on themixture of literature, historical science and aesthetics. However, it is rare for theresearchers to analyze the poems from the cognitive perspective. Figure-Groundtheory, as an important part in cognitive linguistics, can be flexibly applied into theanalysis of poetry art and has strong explanatory power. The author starts with Tangpoems, selecting some classical poems as research corpus to deal with the function ofFigure-Ground theory in the analysis of artistic conception of Tang poems so as to letreaders have better understandings of the works. The thesis firstly introduces theFigure-Ground theory and related studies at home and abroad. Then the authordiscusses the cognitive principles of Figure-Ground theory, its application in theappreciation of poetry, after which the paper exhibits the images and artisticconception of Tang poetry and what is cognitive poetics and its employment. Sincethe Figure-Ground is a perceiving phenomenon of space reflected in human brain, italso can be roughly interpreted as spatial relationship or prominence relationship,therefore, the analysis of relationship between the artistic conception in Tang poemsand the Figure-Ground theory can be started from the spatial relationship or the prominence relationship between each other. Eventually, the author analyzes sometypical Tang poems. Through the whole process of poetry analysis, we believe it willprovide a totally new viewpoint in poetry appreciation and help to construct thecognitive process in it. |
