Criticizing Poetry With "Grudge"

Zhong Rong was an outstanding poetry theoretical critic in the period between the Qi Dynasty and the Liang Dynasty. Shi Pin, which is written by him, is the first monograph on poetry criticism in the ancient time. He commented on 123 schools of poets who wrote poems with five characters to a line. He researched their origin and development and passed judgment on them. The content and style are greatly unique and different from those of the previous time. From the aspect of Shi Pin's preface and the arrangement of the three parts of the main body, Chapter One analyzes that Shi Pin attaches much weight to poetry criticism with "grudge". It emphasizes "grudge" and its significance. Based on the idea that "grudge" is a concept of poetry criticism, Chapter Two traces the source of poetry with "grudge" and analyzes it. Meanwhile, it deals with the theories of poetry criticism with "grudge" from Confucius to Liu Xie. Combined with works, Chapter Three analyzes the works of various schools which Shi Pin criticizes them from the aspect of "grudge" (the synonyms are not considered here), such as the plaintive grudge of ancient poetry, Cao Zhi's refined grudge. In this way, we understand the rich connotations and the theoretical value of Zhong Rong's poetry criticism with "grudge".