Welcome to Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art,

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art ›› 2018, Vol. 38 ›› Issue (1): 108-115.

• Classical Literary Theory and Criticism • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Refiguring "Philosophical Words": The Genesis Context and Classification of Wang Chuanshan's Theory "Integrating Philosophy into Emotions"

Yang Ningning   

  1. the School of Chinese Language and Literature, Yangzhou University
  • Online:2018-01-25 Published:2018-10-19
  • About author:Yang Ningning, Ph.D.,is a lecturer at the School of Chinese Language and Literature, Yangzhou University, with research interest in classical Chinese poetry.
  • Supported by:
    This article is funded by Yangzhou University humanities and social sciences research fund projeet (xjj2016-04).

Abstract: "Philosophical words" in poetry has always been an important issue in classical Chinese poetics. In its complicated development process, the poetic discourse of Wang Chuanshan played the role of clarification and remodeling. From the point of view of the source, some theories of poetry, such as "the law of things" in the Song dynasty, Yan Yu's ideas of "language, thought and image", "opposing reason in favor of emotion" put forth since the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, Hao Jing's idea of "the reason of poetry", Chen Baisha's idea of "using emotions to govern reason", became the context for the genesis of Chuanshan's poetic concepts. In terms of the process of discrimination, Chuanshan's poetic view was underlain by a classification mentality. He criticized using argumentation in poetry and considered such poetry's characteristics of "logic", "vituperation" and "messiness" a violation of poetry's conventional characteristics, such as "lyricism", "peace" and "purity". He acknowledged the necessity of "the law of things" in poetry, but he tended to focus more on the connotations of emotion behind the law. As for the metaphysical and moral words that explored the mysterious and philosophical problems of the world of poetry, Chuanshan also insisted on the principle of "integrating philosophy into emotions", and strongly highlighted poetic emotion's fundamental significance to poetic philosophy in terms of both theory and practice.

Key words: Wang Chuanshan, integrating philosophy into emotions, the law of things, the moral reason