The essence of "Suiyuan Poetry" is the aesthetic thought of "Xingling Theory" it expounds. As Mr. Qian Zhongshu praised: "It is often straightforward, humorous and gratifying, which is not only the medicine of the time" , It is also sufficient for future generations to attack mistakes." ("Tan Yi Lu") Yuan Mei also commented on himself, "There is still room for expressing his own opinions and revealing his latent virtues" ("Yu Bi Zhi Fu"). Looking at the poetic theory of "Suiyuan Shihua", the main purpose is to emphasize the conditions that the creative subject should have, mainly the three elements of true feelings, personality, and poetic talent, and develop some specific views based on these three points, thus forming the theory of true feelings, The theory of personality and poetic talent are the connotations of the "Xingling Theory" poetic theory system. Here is a brief introduction:
1. Theory of true feelings. "Poetic Talk" believes that poets must first have true feelings when creating. It is said that "a poet must not lose his innocent heart". Only when a poet has true feelings can he have creative impulse: "When the love is overwhelming, the dense (yīnyūn) turns into poetry." Poetry. As a lyrical art, it is natural that it should "write its own temperament", and it is believed that "all the transmitters of poetry are spirits, regardless of stacking", and opposes the replacement of spirits with textual research. "Poetic Talk" particularly praised poetry for "expressing the feelings between men and women" in order to confront Shen Deqian's pseudo-Taoist views. In view of the fact that poems express true feelings, it is important to highlight the aesthetic function of poems: "The sage said: 'Poems can inspire', because they are the most touching." Emphasizing that "poems can enter the heart and mind, they are good poems", in order to oppose The concept of "Poetic Education" of "Movement and Comprehensive Education".
2. Personality theory. "Poetic Talk" also believes that poets need to have individuality in creation. It says that "when writing poetry, you cannot be without yourself" and believes that "someone without self is just a puppet." To highlight the "I" is to emphasize the role of the poet's unique nature, temperament, aesthetic ability and other factors in creation. Because there is "I", the artistic conception requires a spirit of originality. The so-called "careful operation and self-creation of new ideas" can express one's own spirit, "create new ideas and express opinions", and write outstanding works that are different from others. . Different poets have different personalities and naturally form different styles. "Shihua" advocates the diversity of styles, "Poems are like natural flowers, spring orchids and autumn chrysanthemums, each has its own beauty... doing nothing is first and second. ". Therefore, Wang Shizhen's verve poems neither praise nor criticize, pointing out that "it is just one verse in a poem" and "poems do not have to be like this every time, nor do they have to know this state." "Shihua" also focused on criticizing the ancient "style theory" from the Seventh Son of the Ming Dynasty to Shen Deqian and the late Song Dynasty School of Poetry: "The Seven Sons of the Ming Dynasty discussed poetry, but they were blinded by the past and did not know the present, and they had a rigid view." , then there is rhythm, and rhythm is not outside of temperament." "Deliberately taking the cold path of Song people is called begging to move."
3. Theory of poetic talent. "Xingling" refers to both temperament and "pen Xingling", which is characterized by quick thinking. "Poetic Talk" believes that "the art of poetry is all about talent, and a smart person can understand it with just one finger." Yuan Mei focused on poetic talent and talent, but did not abandon learning. Therefore, he pointed out that "it is important for a poet to read a lot, so he must have thousands of books in his mind." However, the purpose was not to replace spirituality with books, but "to help me feel spiritual and spiritual". For this reason, Yuan Mei objected to Weng Fanggang's "mistaking copying books for poetry" and criticized "the poems written by scholars are unpleasant to read". Based on the main themes of poetic talent and spirituality, "Shihua" attaches great importance to the inspirational phenomena of "inspiration" and "excitement" that arise when people of spiritual nature create ideas, and praises "the most wonderful sound of nature", that is, the natural and uncarved artistic expression. For this reason, I especially appreciate the song "A man is busy thinking about his wife, and a quiet and cunning child speaks out". But Yuan Mei is not opposed to human merit, especially in the literati poem "If human merit is not to the extreme, then the sound of nature will not come from there; even if the sound of nature is so great, it must be obtained by man." It is said that "a hundred refinements of hardness will turn into softness around the fingers." This theory is quite artistic dialectical. As for the artistic image of poetry, it advocates "vitality" or "life interest", that is, flexibility, vividness and touching, because "poetry has no life interest, like a wooden horse and a mud dragon, which only increases people's boredom". If you want to be "vibrant" and "interesting", your language must be vivid and expressive. "The words must always stand on the paper, not lie on the paper." The expressive technique is mainly white drawing, "blindly white drawing is vivid and vivid", and it is opposed to "filling in books". "The classics are full of dead energy, and my own pride overwhelms my knowledge", so as not to stifle the vitality and interest of the poem. However, if the allusion is used "without any filling marks" and is "appropriate", then it is not necessarily rejected.