袁枚「性靈説」及其與其他詩派的關係

Abstract

The Hsing-ling theory advocated by Yüan Mei as the touchstone of poetry comprises two aspects. The first aspect is his theory of Hsing-ch'ing 性情, which looks at poetry as a spontaneous product reflecting the emotions, disposition, and natural endowment of the poet. The second aspect, the theory of Chi-ling 機靈, demands that poetry be keenly perceptive and witty. He thus proposed that poetry should testify to the individual disposition of each poet. Bearing such an opinion, he favored lyrics and love poems, and was opposed to such devices as classical allusions, prescribed rhymes and other rigid regulations because they contradicted his notion of Hsing-ling. The origins of Yüan's Hsing-ling theory can actually be traced back to the theory of poetry advanced by Yang Wan-li 楊萬里 in the Sung 宋 dynasty. Although the late Ming 明 writer Yüan Hung-tao 袁宏道 and his two brothers' opinions about poetry could evidently be discerned in Yüan Mei's theories, he had never acknowledged this indebtedness because their works were banned in his day. To promote his poetics, Yuan Mei had attempted to criticise and discredit other contemporary schools of poetry which included the Shen-yün 神韻 (the flavor theory of poetry) poetics of Wang Shih-chen 王士禛, the Kê-tiao 格調 (stylistic theory) school of Shen Te-ch'ien 沈德潛, and the K'ao-chü 考據 (philology) school. While the Shen-yün school maintained that poetry embodied a mysterious spiritual harmony that laid beyond its words, Yüan Mei felt that poetry should be a matter of disposition and natural temperament and that poems possessing this harmony but not true emotions had not attained superb qualities. Moreover, he criticised Wang Shih-chen for his weaknesses in writing long poems and narrative verses. In attacking the Kê-tiao school, he quoted Yang Wan-li as saying that only poets whose talents for poetry were deficient took refuge in stylistic theory, and that this would hinder the spontaneous expression of emotion. Moreover, the theory of Wen-jou Tun-hou 溫柔敦厚 ("gentleness and seriousness") advocated by Shen Te-ch'ien rejected the kind of love poems that Yüan Mei acclaimed. Thus Yüan had written letters to Shen to dispute with him. He also argued that the poetry of the Sung and Yüan 元 dynasties was not as unworthy as Shen had said. Finally, Yüan Mei harshly criticised the K'ao-chu school which quoted extensively from classical texts and produced poetry that was very difficult to understand, which of course was incompatible with Yüan's poetics.