What does the theory of stratification in ancient literature generally contain?

1, China's ancient literary theory, as far as its origin is concerned, was first seen in the concept of "poetry expresses ambition, Song always speaks", and poetry is the earliest literary form, so it is natural that early literary theory appears in poetic theory. With the progress of culture, Chinese characters are gradually formed and widely used, and the concepts of "Wen" and "Wen" appear. Although this is a general term for works expressed in various languages, it also includes what we call "literature" today, that is, enriching the content of articles and the beauty of words. The concept of "tenderness" has been introduced into literary criticism. However, the concept of literature at that time was still a pan-literary concept, which was not close to the clearly defined concept of "literature" we use today. In the pre-Qin and Han dynasties, due to the formation of a variety of styles, the factions of poetry, literature and history became increasingly obvious. Therefore, the difference between artistic beauty and philosophy, history and other articles has been gradually recognized by people, which has produced what Mr. Lu Xun called the "consciousness" of literature in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.

2. All works belonging to literature always have their basic characteristics: vivid reflection of social real life, vivid expression of thoughts and feelings, and beautiful written expression. The writer's subjective creativity and personalized performance are its main characteristics. Of course, these concepts are our understanding now, but in our ancient literary theory, there have been different degrees of understanding and theoretical expression. Undoubtedly, they all belong to the category of ancient literary theory, which is why we regard Lu Ji's Wen Fu and Liu Xie's Wen Xin Diao Long as the representative works of China's ancient literary theory. As for Wen Fu, I think it is the earliest and relatively complete outline of literary theory in ancient China. I once said in "Several Problems of" Wen Fu "[1]:

Wen Fu is the only complete literary creation monograph before Liu Xie's Wen Xin Diao Long. ..... Some theories of Wen Fu reflect the products of the development of China literature in a certain historical stage, so they have distinct characteristics of the times. Mainly manifested in: 1. During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, people's understanding of literature made new progress, and literature began to be distinguished from academic works such as Confucian classics and history. The object of literary criticism and literary theory has gradually narrowed from literature in a broad sense (including all written works) to what we call "literature" today. ..... Second, as far as content is concerned, the prose especially emphasizes "fate" and "things", which is different from the literati's one-sided emphasis on expressing their aspirations and seeing the Tao before the Han Dynasty. Literary works are not academic works, but more full of emotional colors and specific image characteristics; "Emotion" and "thing" should be said to be important signs of people's understanding of literary characteristics at that time. Thirdly, due to a certain understanding of the artistic characteristics of literature, people also pay attention to the artistry and formal skills of literature and study them. ^/

As for the theoretical concepts elaborated in Wen Xin Diao Long, they are more clear, theoretical and systematic. What is worth mentioning here is the Selected Works and the Preface to the Selected Works edited by Prince Xiao Tong of Liang Zhaoming. The works selected in this anthology have clearly excluded classics, history, sub-works and other works. The selected works basically belong to the category of China ancient literature, which is the most obvious sign of the change of literary concept at that time. What is particularly rare is that the preface of Selected Works clearly shows their literary opinions: Lao and Zhuang's works, Guan and Meng's works are all based on opinions, not on the interpretation of the text, so they were not selected; As for those argumentative essays and yearbooks of the Department of Chronology, they are not selected. The selected works should meet the standards of "comprehensive choice of words", "error comparison with China culture" and "things are based on meditation, and the meaning belongs to profundity", especially "meditation" and "profundity", which can be said to be a high generalization of American literature in ancient China and a basic requirement for literary and artistic characteristics. If we take the concept of western literary theory as the frame of reference, we can see that they have something in common, but the theories of "contemplation" and "forbearance" are, after all, China's own theories with national characteristics, not the deduction of foreign theoretical models.