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8 Chinese Literary Criticism young poets to use ‘substitute words' (tai-yü) , i.e., metaphors, in place of direct expression. Another short work was Chang Yen's (1248-1320) Tz'u yüan (Origins of tz'u). The first chüan describes the musical aspect of tz'u by giving the names and descriptions of the mode-keys used for singing them. The second chüan discusses the techniques and content of tz'u. Much more comprehensive in its discussion of technique and content, however, is Wei Ch'ing.chih's (戶. c. 1240) Shih-jen yü-hsieh (Jade fragments about poets), in twenty chüan. Under such headings 的 ‘Modes of expression' (chü-fa 句法) or ‘Use of words' (yung tzu 用字) and subheadings to these, he has gathered together quotations from a large number of sources to illustrate each topic. Even today, this work is valuable to scholars as a source book for comments on a wide range of topics dealing with prosody. The Shih-hua as a Form for Poetic Criticism Given the fact that poetic criticism was of such interest among Chinese intellectuals, we may well ask why so much of it was written in the informal medium of shih-hua and tz 'u-hua戶 Kuo Shao-yü gives much credit to Ou國yang Hsiu for paving the way只 He also argues that the form taken by this criticism became popular because it was so convenient. Scholars already had the tradition of writing commentaries on earlier works and had early formed the habit of making notes on a variety of subjects. It was a logical step to gather together notes dealing specifically with poetry and shape them into a book representing the 15 A collection of twenty-seven extant shih-hua and proto-shih-hua (it includes Chung Yung's Shih p'的， Chiao-jan's Shih sh品， and Ssu-k'ung T'u's Shih p'的) was made by Ho Wen-huan under the title Li-tai shih-hua (hereafter abbrev. LTSH). This was enlarged upon by Ting Fu-pao under the title Li-tai shihhua hsü-pien (hereafter abbrev. LTSHHP), containing twenty-eight works from the T'ang, Sung, Chin, Yüan, and Ming dynasties, starting with the Pen-sh晶 晶晶， most famous of the ‘background stories' form mentioned above. Ting Fupao also gathered together forty-four Ch'ing dynasty shih-hua under the title Ch'的!g shih-hua (hereafter abbrev. CSH). T'ang Kuei-chang made a collection of sixty tz'u-hua, Tz'u-hua ts'ung-pien (hereafter abbrev. THTP),which is helpful in that it brings together this great number of tz'u-hua from the Sung dynasty to the twentieth century. However, due to an inordinate number oftypographical errors it must be used with caution. Attention should also be called to an article by Chow Tse-tsung,‘Hsi-shih Chung hua' (A discussion 0/ the shih-hua /orm) , N帥-yang shang-pao, Jan. 1, 1966, in which he applies the shih闋的a technique to a criticism of Western poet叮﹒的 Kuo， Chung-kuo wen-hsüeh p'i-p'的!g shih, 1, 372-4. The Shih-hua as a Form for Poetic Criticism 9 author's gleanings from years of scholar1y endeavour and aesthetic appreciation.17 In addition to these reasons the popularity of shih-hua and tz'u-hua as a form of criticism reflects in some way the ‘man-centredness' of so much of Chinese criticism. Except for a relatively few works, such as Liu Hsieh's Wen-hsin tiao-lung, most of the discussions of abstract concepts of poetry are to be found not as separate works of literature but rather blended in with works of philosophy and ethics. This phenomenon occurs in the West too, of course, but individual works dealing with broad concepts of poetry, the character of poetry, its purpose and scope, are much more prevalent in the West, while Western works which could be cited as comparable to shih-hua and tz'u-hua in form are rare indeed. The most noteworthy example in the West is Coleridge's Table talk. Here gems of conversation on a variety of subjects were recorded by Coleridge's nephew over a period of time and eventually published by him. In this respect the book particularly resembles the yü-lu (records of discourse) so prevalent in Sung dynasty poetic discussions, as well as in the discussions on philosophical topics by Neo-Confucian thinkers. These consisted of notes of teachers' pronouncements taken down by...

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