Abstract
Among literature on poetry during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) there was poetic treatise, which focuses on theoretical and systematic expounding on the basics of poetics. This type of writing evolved through three stages of emergence, improvement and maturation. Li Dongyang's Poetry Commentaries from the Foothill Studio and Xu Zhenqing's On the Art of Poetry were two key works in the first stage. Li's work presented a gradually strengthened emphasis on the systematicity of poetry criticism, while Xu's work substantially centered on poetry criticism, marking the formation of poetic treatise. In the second stage, Wang Shizhen's Rambles in the Garden of Art and Hu Yinglin's Treasure of Poetry developed clear cut and complete structures. With increasing concentration on poetry criticism, they raised key arguments and made detailed, systematic discussions. More poetic treatises with greater length sprang up in the last stage, such as Xu Xueyi's Probe into the Origin and Styles of Poetry and Zhao Yiguang's Notes on Elegance. Compared with previous poetic treatises, these two works took the perspectives usually adopted in historical studies, which helped to improve the works in terms of both disciplinary construction and theoretical framework.
First Page
56
Last Page
64
Recommended Citation
Zheng, Miaomiao. 2020. "The Emergence and Development of Poetic Treatises during the Ming Dynasty." Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art 40, (3): pp.56-64. https://tsla.researchcommons.org/journal/vol40/iss3/20
