論王漁洋<秋柳>詩之朦朧美

Abstract

The meaning of the poem Ch'iu Liu, written by Wang Yü-yang at the age of twenty four, has aroused much debates among critics. No consensus has yet been reached as to what the intended meaning is. The complicated use of abundant literary allusions has made the poem so ambiguous to the extent that it becomes almost unintelligible. Yet at the same time the poet has embodied the poem in such tranquil imageries, harmonious color pattern, melodious rhythm and subtle sentiments that the poem is filled to the brim with a sense of feminine beauty. Such feminine quality, combined organically with its bewildering content, has resulted in giving the poem a sense of enigmatic beauty. Being indefinite and obscure, it has even greater power in arresting the attention of the readers than poems of more definable nature. Its ambiguity also increases its capacity to stimulate a variety of readings. This is probably a genuine characteristic of the richness of great poetry and it explains why readers from different backgrounds in the early days of the Ch'ing dynasty had such special fondness for this poem.