First of all, from the perspective of the creative subject, that is, the poet, there are "truth" theory and "wonderful enlightenment" theory.
From the beginning, Yan Yu put forward that "a poet should attach importance to learning, be accurate in entry and be ambitious", which shows that Yan Yu attaches importance to the poet's "learning". In my opinion, "true knowledge" is the ability to appreciate poetry. If a person wants to learn to write poetry, he must first learn to appreciate poetry and pick out the best to learn. Yan Yu rated the poems of the prosperous Tang Dynasty best, especially those of Li Bai and Du Fu. Yan Yu said that he could put them on the bedside and watch them at night. He would be familiar with the poems of famous poets in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. After a long time, he will naturally know how to write poetry. Yan Yu thinks that the poems in the prosperous Tang Dynasty are the best, and encourages poets to learn the formal skills of famous poets in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, especially Du Li's poems. When the formal skills of poetry master the poet's instinct and talent, good poetry will naturally come. From this point of view, Yan Yu thinks that Tang poetry is good as a whole, and it is better in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, which is a must-read for poetry learners. The theory of true knowledge requires poets to be "correct in entry and high in determination", and the poems in the prosperous Tang Dynasty are "correct" and "high" in Yan Yu's view.
Generally speaking, Zen is only in wonderful enlightenment, and poetry is also in wonderful enlightenment. Yan Yu put forward that "only understanding is the right way, and it is the true color." In Yan Yu's view, the lack of rich and meaningful aesthetic interest in Song poetry is rooted in the poet's lack of "understanding" of the beauty and reality of poetry. "Enlightenment" is a natural aesthetic intuitive thinking, and "wonderful enlightenment" is the best state of this psychological activity. Yan Yu put forward in Cang Shi Lang Dialect that "Xie Lingyun arrived in the prosperous Tang Dynasty with deep understanding". Yan Yu pointed out that the poems of poets in Tang Dynasty are: Shen Quanqi and Song Wenzhi; Four outstanding figures in the early Tang Dynasty; Chen Ziang; Kaiyuan and Tianbao; Li Bai and Du Fu; Ten talented people in Dali; Yuanhe poetry; The late Tang philosophers. Look at the above, you will find that Yan Yu's poems in the Tang Dynasty are the most detailed. It can be seen that these poems have entered Yan Yu's eyes and won his favor, which is enough to see the position of Tang poetry in Yan Yu's heart. It is particularly important for poets who study poetry to be familiar with it, and among the poems that Yan Yu thinks are worthy of familiarity, Tang poetry accounts for about two-thirds. Yan Yu praised Tang poetry from the poems that poets must learn, and commented on Tang poetry from the perspective of how to choose poems to learn.
After completing the analysis of the subject of poetry creation, Yan Yu immediately turned to the analysis of poetry itself. In Cang Hua, Yan Yu put forward the theories of "fun" and "forgetting me".
"Poetry has different materials, not books; Poetry has other interests and has nothing to do with reason. " Yan Yu's interest theory, one is chanting and the other is affection. As for chanting, Yan Yu said, "Those who don't care about the road, don't fall into words and go up." The language of poetry is not rational reasoning, not mundane, but superior and beautiful. Affection is the true feelings expressed by poets through poems. Yan Yu commented on the Tang poetry "only in interest, the antelope can't be found." Yan Yu feels that the emotions expressed by poets in the poems of the prosperous Tang Dynasty have become an organic whole with the poems themselves. Poems in the prosperous Tang Dynasty are not piled up by emotions, but poems blurted out by emotions. Yan Yu's highest evaluation of poetry in the prosperous Tang Dynasty is "endless words and endless meanings". For Li Bai alone, mentioning a poem in one fell swoop is Yan Yu's favorite poetry creation. Li Bai's poems and songs are in line with "the sound is in the air, the color is in the phase, the moon is in the water, like in the mirror". Yan Yu directly pointed out that the poems in the prosperous Tang Dynasty were completely in line with his own aesthetic standards. He even took the poet's feelings and interests expressed in the poems of the prosperous Tang Dynasty as his own criteria for evaluating good poems. He thinks that only when you do things, like a poet who didn't want to write poems in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, can you write good poems. He pointed out that "Tang people are interested in this." Yan Yu's praise of Tang poetry is his strong admiration for the natural expression of poetry's true feelings. The poems in the prosperous Tang Dynasty reflected the poetic emotion of the poet's agile life, which Yan Yu spoke highly of.
Li Bai's poems are elegant, while Du Fu's poems are gloomy. Their poetry styles are different, but they all achieve what Yan Yu said: forget yourself. It can be seen that Yan Yu's ecstasy theory, as the highest realm pursued by poetry creation, is not just a style in poetry. Yan Yu commented on this part in Pale Shi Lang Dialect, and especially put forward that "Du Li's righteousness is neither good nor bad, while Taibai has one or two beauties, which are unattainable; One or two beauties in Zimei are too white to be made. And explain in detail that differences between Du Li and his wife. Du Li and his wife are great poets in the field of poetry, and Yan Yu rated their poems as the ultimate, which also shows Yan Yu's love for poets in the prosperous Tang Dynasty.
Yan Yu's poetic ideas such as "truth", "interest", "wonderful understanding" and "fascination" in Cang Shi Lang Hua. Yan Yu extracted his own poetic thoughts from the poems of the prosperous Tang Dynasty. At the same time, Yan Yu commented on Tang poetry with her own poetic concept. Of course, he not only commented on Tang poetry from these four theories, but also the types of poetry. For example, "the good poems of the Tang people are mostly written by arguing, moving and leaving, which can often touch people's hearts and stimulate people's wishes." Especially in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, Yan Yu praised the poems of the prosperous Tang Dynasty so much, which also contributed to the prosperity of the prosperous Tang Dynasty. Yan Yu doesn't think all Tang poems are good poems, and Tang poems in their prime are good poems. "There were also two poets in the prosperous Tang Dynasty who originated in the late Tang Dynasty, and one or two poets in the late Tang Dynasty were able to enter the prosperous Tang Dynasty." It can be seen that Yan Yu's praise of poems in the prosperous Tang Dynasty does not mean that he appreciates every poet in the prosperous Tang Dynasty.
Yan Yu's poetics and his comments on Tang poetry complement each other. Yan Yu gave all the good aspects of his poetics to the prosperous Tang Dynasty, even to the perfection of Li Bai and Du Fu's poems. Of course, I think the poems of poets in the prosperous Tang Dynasty gave Yan Yu the confidence to highly evaluate the poems in the prosperous Tang Dynasty.