A Study On The Criticism Upon Xie Lingyun’s Poetry In The Early Qing Dynasty

In the context of a rapid progress of Chinese poetics during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Chen Zuoming, Wang Fuzhi and Wu Qi made a remarkable achievement respectively in both poetic theory and poetic criticism. Focusing on the poetry of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties (206 B.C.-589 A.D.), they all dedicated themselves to the study of Xie Lingyun’s landscape poetry. Taking "emotion" and "diction" as his aesthetic standards in Caishu House Ancient Poetry Anthology, Chen Zuoming criticized Xie’s poetry from wording, phrasing, text structuring, and the blending of feelings with natural setting, and thereby generalized their features as "beautiful" and "elegant". Under the guidance of a distinct philosophical view, Wang Fuzi applied the philosophical categories of "shen (spirit)" and "shi (tendency)" in fully interpreting Xie’s poetry, which in turn demonstrated his own view in poetry; moreover, on the basis of his predecessors, he further extended and developed the interrelation between feelings and natural setting. In Final Conclusion of Poetry Selection of Six Dynasties, by involving both Xie Lingyun’s poetry and life, Wu Qi faithfully revealed and discussed in-depth some emotions and aspirations of Xie when writing his poetry through the methods of "comment the man and the world" and "understanding by heart". With a direct comparison among the three’s views on Xie’s same poetry, this study demonstrated the difference in their aesthetic orientations.