Ye Xie's Poetic Theory And The Poetic Turn In Mid-Qing Dynasty

Many successive,indistinct and complex links are encompassed in the development course of the Poetics of the Qing Dynasty from the early to the middle stage.As a whole,during the period of Shun,Kang,and Yong since the founding of Qing Dynasty,Wang Shizhen's Shenyun Theory,as the biggest convergence point in Poetics,pervaded the poetry circle,However,the reign of Emperor Qianlong and Empero Jiaqing of the mid Qing Dynasty saw a rapid expansion of Yuan Mei's Xinglin Theory.Shenyun Theory was on the wane after its period of prosperity in early Qing dynasty,however,Xinglin Theory took the place of the former's position in the middle stage,in which Ye Xie's poetics and its theoretical system played a major role,and which not only contributed to the transformation from Shenyun to Xinglin in Poetics of Qing Dynasty,from the“back to the ancients” ideology to innovationin poetics theory,and to some extent deconstructed the downside effects on the Controversy over Tang poetry and Song poetry;eventually,their own poetic style of Qing dynasty came into being.Mainly in the following respects Ye Xie's poetics theoretical system have had an important effect on the poetics transformation in Mid-Qing Dynasty.In the first place,his view of change and development of the history of poetry,and the idea that poetry sterms from emotion,have conquered many kinds of defects on the doctrine of “back to the ancients”and develops a correct methods on treating literary heritage.In the second place,his writing theory that“reason”,“event” and “emotion”,as objects of literary creation,combined with the subjective factors,such as “ talent” “courage”“insight” “ability” have enhanced the realistic character of poetic theory and poem creation,and poet's subjective consciousness.In the third place,by employing a series of relevant category on poetic theories,he analyzed many problems on poetry creation,and tried his best to find the essence hidden behind the complicated poetic phenomena.What's more,he also showed the correct way to learn and criticize poems,so as to promote healthy development of poem creation and criticism on poetic theory.The first two chapters of this paper focuses on Yexie' academic thinking and poetics theoretical system based on his times,family and life course,emphasizes the causal relationship between his study of the family tradition and his idea that poetry stems from emotion,as well as generalize the ideas of poetry history,writer theory,the thinking of de-emphasis upon methods,works comments,criticism theory,which came from Yexie's theoretical system of poetic and had great significance in poetic turn of Mid-Qing Dynasty,which is different from the Chinese traditional Shihua in its theory,with the characteristics of “positive balance” and construction.The latter four chapters of this paper,argues that Shenyun Theory with the beauty of hazy mood has some defects such as losing ego,being isolated from reality,in a way of the decline of Shenyun Theory.Nevertheless,Ye Xie's poetics could bridge the gaps,which regarded “reason,event and emotion”as objects of literary creation,and antirevivalism poetics system could overcome the defects of impracticality both in Shenyun Theory which attached importance to the beauty of hazy mood and thus was impractical,and in the doctrine of “back to the anicients”.Secondly,Yexie' poetic theoretical system which stems from emotion and innovation,and the idea of poetry history of inheritance and improvement,which is a prelude predicted the rise of Xinlin Theory in mid-Qing dynasty.Thirdly,the character that originated from Confucianism of Ye Xie's poetics,the writing comments that emphasis on personality,and the theory of creation represented by the thinking of de-emphasis upon methods,make great contributions to Shen deqian's theory of style.It was one of the important aspects on that Ye Xie's poetics have an effect in poetry in Mid-Qing dynasty.Finally,from the perspective of the change and development of the controversy on poems of Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty in the circles of poets of Qing Dynasty,this paper scrutinizes Ye Xie's discovery and summary about the history of poetic literature,and the essence of their debate.Besides,the paper combs both writers' views on the core concept of “talent” “courage”“insight” “ability” and a series of poetic categories,such as source and development,the basic essentials and the periphery,wax and wane,inheritance and reformation,causes and effects,and analyzes the controversy on poems of Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty so as to deconstruct the negative impacts of their debate and thus lay a significant foundation on the compromise in poetic style of Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty.After many detailed feasibility demonstrations,this paper comes to a conclusion that Ye Xie's poetics and its consummate and theoretical system played a major role in the transition and transformation in early and middle Qing dynasty from Shenyun to Xinglin,from classical to innovation,from the debate between Tang and Song to compatibility of Tang and Song,and moreover he made great contributions on the formation of Qing's own poetic style with the combination of Tang and Song.