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20 研Tang Kuo-wei's Poetic Criticism Chinese lnfluences With this prejudice against utilitarianism, didacticism, and mora1ism in the approach to philosophy and literature and with his very strong, positive feeling that literature should show genuineness in expression of emotions and verity in description of objects, it was natural for Wang Kuo-wei to find much in common with Chinese critics who stressed the intuitive approach to poetry. Of all the critics who shared this view, Yen Yü (戶. c. 1200), Wang Shih-chen (1634-1711) and Wang Fu-chih were probably the most important from the standpoint of Wang Kuo-wei's own development. Yen Yü's Ts'ang-lang shih-hua has long been considered one of the major works of literary criticism from the Sung period, not only for the ideas he developed in it but also for its influence on later critics. Part of Yen Yü's fame stems from his application of Ch'an (Zen) Buddhist ideas to poetic criticism. Examples can be seen in the images quoted in Comment 9 of the Jen-chien tz'u-hua to express the intangibility of spirit in a poem: the antelope hanging by its horns from a branch of a tree thus leaving no traces on the ground, sound in empty space, changing colour in the face, moon reflected in the water, or an image in a mirror. He meant by this that one does not learn to write good poetry solely by adhering strict1y to form and the rules laid down by previous versifiers. There is no trace in a good poem of conscious craftsmanship, yet the idea in the poet's mind shines out through the words. The reader sees it but he does not know how it is achieved. Yen Yü used all these images to clarify his stress on the concept of hsing-ch'ü as the necessary factor for good poetry. Both hsing and ch'ü contain the idea of an unconscious, spontaneous rousing of the senses, but a differentiation can be made. Hsing involves more the initial stimulation which inspires a particular fee1ing in the poet, while ch 站 carries him beyond that first intuitive stirring to a live and active interest which must be put into words. Without this rare and wonderful faculty of letting inspiration and interest guide one's work, the poet could be nothing more than a mere craftsman. 1t was this tendency toward craftsmanship alone on the part of poets of the Southern Sung that Yen Yü had in mind when he wrote his shih-hua. He decried their preoccupation with, on the one hand, excessive study of earlier models so that their own poetry became stereotyped and bogged down with allusion Chinese b伊uences 21 flow of any spontaneous thought. The greatness of the T'ang poets, and even more the poets of ear1ier generations, lay in their ability to pour forth their emotions in song as the spirit moved them. They did not fee1 bound by rigid rules of form that had to be copied from others; they did not fee1 compelled to use contemporary events or historical allusions to make their point. With a minimum use of words the meaning became totally c1ear. All this came about not because they struggled to achieve any particular effect, but because roused or inspired, their interest focused on some 。峙的， they could spontaneously express what lay in their hearts. The reader, in turn, could feel a similar stirring in his heart if he allowed his understanding to work intuitive1y. If he made a conscious effort to grasp the meaning of the poem he would find it just as di伍cult as reaching for the moon in the water. Yen Yü's contribution to literary criticism was not limited to the use of the term hsing-ch'ü. Shen 神， which 1 have translated as ‘spirit', or ‘spiritual',18 was also an important element in his thinking. In listing the various characteristics of good poetry, he ended up with the comment: There is one highest point of achievement in poetry, namely to enter the spiritual (ju shen 入神). If poetry can enter the spiritual it will be perfect, complete, and nothing more can be added.19 In this passage we can see a direct application of Buddhist and Neo-Taoist concepts to the realm of poetry. After listing the various qualities necessary for writing a good poem, Yen Yü states that the poet is then ready for the ultimate achievement, he can enter the realm...

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