Li Ciming’s Poetic Thought And Poem Criticism Theory

Li Ciming who is called the Old Literature Tastes is a famous scholar in the lateQing Dynasty. He is learned and good at poem, ci and textual criticism. He wrote agreat quantity of works and occupies an important position in the Chinese history ofliterature. This paper, based on the Yuemantang Poem and Prose Collection, makes asystematic introduction of Li Ciming’s poetic thought and poem criticism theory.Li Ciming poetic thought is made up of three main areas. One is adopting theadvantages of others and forming his own distinctive style.Li advocated that poemcreation should take advantages of different poets in different times and pay greatattention to innovation. Second is developing poem noumenon based on theknowledge. Li paid more attention to studying of ancient books, considered thatreading is good for poetry, knowledge is the basis of poetry. He emphasized talentsand learning with leniency in poetry, and learning must headed by poetry, poet couldnot be regarded as showing a learning tool. The third is opposing imitation andadvocating poem origins from affection. Li believed the root reason of poetryinnovation is poem originating from affection.Li Ciming’s poetic criticism mainly focus on different poets in different timesafter Tang dynast. Li gave Tang poetry great positive assessment on the whole, but hisTang poetic criticism is highly distinctive. Li considered Qigu Orthodox is not Li Bai,but Du Fu. In Li’s heart, Du is the model of Tang poets. To the Song poetry and Mingpoetry, Li‘s evaluations are completely opposite to Tang poetry. Li believed thatoverall achievements of Song poetry are not high because of vulgar and crampednarrow which come from the Song poets learned wrong objects. Li believed that Mingdynasty poetry circle members everywhere, each with his style. By evaluating thepoet representatives of different periods of Ming, Li affirm Ming poetry frombeginning to end completely, and adheres to the "Ming poetry wins over Song poetry"position of poetics. Li’s Qing poetry criticism continued with his criticism of Mingpoetry. He highly praised the poets which considered Du as their ancestor and lived in early Qing dynasty, and severely criticized sectarian bias. Li did not appreciatedinnovation thought of poetry after Emperor Daoguang’s.Li Ciming’s poetic thought and poem criticism theory is an important part ofChinese modern poem development. However, many scholars only approve "school ofpoem revolution" represented by Huang Zunxian and Liang Qichao, but disapproveother poem schools. Therefore, it is necessary to make a discussion of Li Ciming’spoetic thought and poem criticism theory which is significance for a betterunderstanding of the peom creation in the late Qing Dynasty.