The Theory Of Flavor And Ancient Poetry Teaching In Secondary School

Flavor was once generally used as a poetical concept by ancient Chinese critics for evaluating and describing the quality of a poem. In the history of Chinese literary criticism, the viewpoint of appreciating and evaluating poetry in terms of the concept "flavor" developed gradually into a poetical theory with Chinese characteristics——the theory of poetical flavor. From the angle this dissertationtries to probe into the subject on how to teach ancient poetry in secondary schools in accordance with the new standard of the curriculum. Having explained the contents, the causes and the features of the theory, the dissertation focuses on the significance and the strategy of taking advantage of the theory in ancient poetry teaching procedures so that we can be provided with something helpful to the current poetry teaching classrooms, and thus the classroom, with a flow of poetical flavor full and lively, will be expected to appear.Full text is mainly made up of six sections.The first section is an overview of the theory of flavor. The theory developed and matured gradually in a long course of history. It germinated in the Qin and Han Dynasties, formed in the Northern and Dynasties, and flourished in Tang and Song Dynasties. In the historical process, the contents of "flavor" changed from its initial meaning for diet to flavor for music, and later for language and literature. Eventually it became an important concept of poetry as well as an important concept of aesthetics. The ancient Chinese theory of poetical flavor, in essence, is a kind of aesthetic theory about poetry, which represents Chinese people's aesthetic preference.The second section accounts for the meaning and causes of poetical flavor. Poetical flavor is a combination consisting of many factors such as most creative words, carefully chosen images, fitness and beauty included deep in a poem. After repeatedly thinking and chewing, the reader will receive the sum of various aesthetic elements. Poetical flavor first comes from conception, followed by emotion and feelings as well as interest and charm, rhyme and rhythm, included in a poem altogether. Subtlety makes flavor; poetry eye coheres flavor; rhyme and rhythm add to flavor.Section three is about the characteristics of poetry flavor: aesthetics, sensibility, diversity, multi-tiered system, differences and other artistic features.Section four discusses the significance of making the most of the flavor theory in teaching poetry in secondary schools. This teaching strategy grasps the character of ancient poetry, reflecting the teaching aims. It is not only an important way of aesthetic education; it is also an approach to the improvement of students' imagination and comprehension. Poetical flavor can be considered as a starting-point as well as a destination in our ancient poetry teaching activities.Section five is a survey and an analysis on the present situation of teaching ancient poems in secondary schools. Ancient poetry teaching in secondary schools seems unsatisfactory. The reasons are as follows: Too much attention is paid to examination skills with very little notice taken of students' emotional experience; too much attention is paid to knowledge's transmission with students' practice ignored; too much attention is paid to explanation of literal meaning and sentence structure while the process of savoring and appreciating poetry is overlooked. To sum up, in our teaching we split or ruin the soul and charm of poetry, let go of poetry flavor which originally exists in poems.The last section highlights the strategy of teaching ancient poetry in secondary schools. First of all, we should select the best poems in which fine and delicate poetical flavor can be enjoyed. Then our students should be guided to change the image of the poem into a vivid picture in their mind while reading aloud with expressions and thinking about the language and conception. In addition, teachers should be good at instructing students to explore the implications between the lines for rich poetical flavor.