Significant Structure Of Poetics

In this dissertation, the author conducts an analytical and interpretivestudy of Zhang Yan's (1248-1320?) poetics and focuses on his poetic conceptqingkong (transparency). Although scholars regard qingkong as a criticalnotion about writing technique and lyric style, the author considers thatqingkong is a poetic concept about the revival of the poetic ideal of elegance,and that qingkong is the central concept in Zhang Yan's poetics, consisting infour aspects: form, rhetoric, aesthetics, and conceptuality. Based on this study,the author proposes a critical concept "significant structure," whichdemonstrates that a literary work consists of four corresponding aspects,existing at four levels, namely, form, rhetoric, aesthetics, and conceptuality.The reason to conduct this study is found in the importance of ZhangYan's poetics in the history of Chinese poetry and poetic criticism, and in thelack of sufficient scholarly studies on his poetics. Framed by the explorationof the historical setting of Zhang Yan and his works, and by the examinationof the interactions between historical change and literary development inZhang Yan's time, as well as the context of the poetic criticism of SouthernSong, the main body of this dissertation is a study of Zhang Yan's poetics,supported by textual and contextual analyses of Zhang Yan's own song lyricsand the song lyrics by some of Zhang Yan's favourite poets.In Chapter One, "Introduction," a review of literature demonstrates thenecessity to approach qingkong from both extrinsic and intrinsic perspectives. In Chapter Two, an exploration of the background of Zhang Yan's time andhis life divulges that the historical change at the end of the Southern Song(1127-1279) conditioned Zhang Yan's poetics. In Chapter Three, the authorinterprets qingkong in the four aspects of diction, rhetoric, aesthetics, andconceptualization. In Chapter Four, the author investigates the relationshipbetween qingkong and elegance within the context of the trend of elegance inthe development of the song lyric. In Chapter Five, "Conclusion," byinvestigating Zhang Yan's influence, the author reaches the main thesis of thisdissertation: since Zhang Yan's advocacy of qingkong and his call for the lyricrefinement aimed at reviving the poetic ideal of elegance, the concept ofqingkong gains significance in embodying the historical trend of elegance inthe development of the song lyric. Hence the concept of"significant structure"comes into being.The scholarly value of this study is found in both the re-interpretation ofZhang Yan's poetics and the theorization of the literary and critical concept"significant structure."...