A Study Of Lu Shiyong’s Poetry Theory And Critical Practice

Lu Shiyong was a poetry theorist of the late Ming period.His theory of poetry was based on the inheritance of his predecessors,took the essence and eliminated the dross,reflecting his spirit of non-attachment to schools and his admiration for the way of “feng ya”.To a certain extent,Lu Shiyong’s theory of poetry has critically absorbed the ideas of the former and later Seven-person School,the Kung-an School and the Jingling School.Lu Shiyong has compiled a review of Shi Jing based on the work of previous poetry theorists,which provides an in-depth explanation of “yun” from the perspective of how it is produce,its essential connotation and its composition.In the interpretation of “yun”,there are also categories such as “ge”,“qi”,“wei”,“se”.Lu Shiyong applied these concepts to poetry criticism,combining theory and practice and enriching the connotation of “yun”.In addition,Lu Shiyong also discusses the conditions required for the categories of “qu” and “lao” from the perspective of a novel poetry theory,further improving the aesthetic category system of ancient Chinese poetry theory.In the spirit of “feng ya”,Lu Shiyong also proposed four criteria of poetry criticism concerning talent,language,emotion,and landscape writing.In his Shi Jing Zong Lun,specifically refers to “Poetry does not worry about the absence of talent,but should be careful about the exposure of talent”;“Poetry does not worry about the fineness of language,but should be careful about the exhaustion of language”;“Poetry worries about the absence of emotional expression,but should be wary of the overflow of emotion”;“Poetry does not worry that there is nothing to write about,but should be careful to describe the landscape in complexity”.So,this thesis will therefore look to the Gu Shi Jing and Tang Shi Jing to find compatible critical theories to corroborate these four criteria.Finally,Lu Shiyong’s theory of poetry is not the same as that of the Ming Revivalists,who only revered the poetry of the Sheng Tang dynasty,but excelled in using traditional Chinese neutral thinking to assess the merits of each dynasty’s poetry.Lu Shiyong’s theory of Tang poetry differs markedly from the mainstream theory of Tang poetry in the Ming dynasty,and is a revision and supplement to the promotion of only Sheng Tang poetry,presenting us with a more comprehensive criticism of Tang poetry and reshaping the whole picture of the reception of Tang poetry in the Ming dynasty.Although there is a hypercorrection in Lu Shiyong’s poetic theory,his spirit of not going with the flow is rare in the intricate political environment of the Ming dynasty.Moreover,China needs such a poetic critic with objective and dialectical vision in order to make further improvements of the ancient literary system of China.