A preliminary investigation into Yuan Haowen's theory of the taste of ci poetry

Abstract

In the realm of the theories of literary criticism of ancient China,there was a particular theory using 'taste' to criticize poetry.It was Yuan Hao-wen of the Jin period who started to employ this tool to appraise ci poetry.He used one ci written by Huang Ting-jian and two ci written by Chen Yu-yi as representatives of ci possessing 'taste'.After analyzing these three examples,the author of this paper concluded that Yuan Hao-wen’s theory of 'the taste of ci poetry' actually meant the deeper implications of the compositions.

我國古代文學理論批評中,有一個獨特的現象,就是以'味'論詩。以味論詞,始于金代元好問。元氏在《遺山自題樂府》中舉出黃庭堅的《漁夫詞》和陳與義的兩首《臨江仙》,作為有味詞的代表作。文章分析了這三首詞后,認為元氏所謂'詞味',指的是含蓄委婉地包含在詞中的深層意思。