| Combining some traditional concepts of poetics with western related literary notions, this thesis examines Xiao Gang's stylistic writings and poetic texts in detail from the perspective of comparative poetics. Interpretations to his specific works provide an in-depth analysis of the idiosyncrasy of Xiao Gang's writings, an evaluation of his verse and prose together with his thoughts on poetics throughout the veins of literary historical developments, and a judge of his gains and losses. Meanwhile, an exhaustive search of historical material that are related with Xiao Gang directly or indirectly has been done in hope to observe the writer himself and the causes and essence behind the happening of his writing. Hence, a better understanding, judge and master of the school of writing represented by Xiao Gang and the significance of the existence of its poetics in the particular context or a large one. Generally, Xiao Gang's literary reputation is closely tied to Gong-ti poems. Traditional critical practice usually criticizes these poems from moral angle while recent studies tend to give positive comments on Xiao Gang and the aesthetic value of Gong-ti poems from a holistic perspective of the development and constant changes during Six Dynasties.In the thesis, enormous texts and facts are cited to elaborate the point that the characteristic of Xiao Gang's poetic writings lies in the abandonment of the traditional 言志, i.e., the disappearance of the Subject. Thus poems turn to be word games. Apart from the lines, the poems do not point to broader contents, and the emotions involved also become pale and false, let alone substantialdescription of the female. Therefore, the fatal problem existing in Xiao Gang's poems is absolutely not of morality, but poetics.Likewise, Xiao Gang's stylistic writings manifest the same problem. He deliberately wrote prose in verse form, obscured the border between verse and prose, enlarged the scope of verse, and generalized it into the sphere of ordinary life. However, at that time, verse belonged to personal amateurish interest whereas prose emphasized the aspect of practical writing. Therefore, his prose writings somehow exhibit his practical competence, which has been overlooked by many scholars.Another important issue concerning Xiao Gang's thoughts on poetics is the connections of the poet himself and his writings with politics. In the thesis, massive historical material shows that, as a crown prince deeply involved in the vortex of politics, Xiao Gang's writing had kept a constant connection with politics. Many of his works were written simply for the sake of pleasing his father, Xiao Yan, the emperor of Liang Dynasty. His passion for literature also was a consequence of the current climate and advocation of the emperor. Thus, the thesis definitely disagrees with the opinion, which considers his work as an outcome of belletristic writing and liberal spirit. When it comes to the development of Chinese literature, the opposing and unified relationship between literature and politics should not escape from our attention.The thesis consists of an introduction and four chapters. The introduction includes the method, perspective and significance of this study. Chapter One expounds the facts that South Liang Dynasty eulogized verse composing and degraded military strength through findings from historical literature. Chapter Two reveals the influence of the climate in South Liang Dynasty upon Xiao Gang and the ignored essential aspect of his thoughts on poetics with historical evidence. Chapter Three analyzes the idiosyncrasy of his poetic works. Chapter Four draws a conclusion about issues mentioned above mainly from the perspective of poetics. In addition, the appendix contains a chronological list of Xiao Gang's life, including a brief introduction of his total works.
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