神韵论滥觞于六朝美学并在明清诗话中蔚为大宗。王士祯的神韵诗说以诗话的评点方式综合了六朝以后历代画论以及司空图、严羽等人的诗歌理论。其核心是:诗歌应该用简省的笔墨传达含蓄不尽的韵味;以不说出、不写出显示说不出、写不出的情与意;达到这个境界的途径是凭借文字以求取言外之意。诗家针对语言表情达意的局限采取了两种语言策略:一是在有限中寻求最大限度,刻画人物,描摹声色、锻字造句力求神似;二是化局限为优势,以字句的言外之意与言内之意相汇合,最大可能地穷形尽相以表情达意,充分发挥语言的能量,将消极的克服发展为积极的征服和巧妙的利用。神韵论对第二种语言策略在中国诗歌史上的客观存在和运用方式作了理论总结,并涵盖了中国古代诗歌的重要美学特征:含蓄蕴藉。神韵诗论追求言外之意、言有尽而意无穷的宗旨,实际上是一切优秀诗作必备的品质,一种普遍有效的美学风格,它包含了一个中外古今共通的诗学技巧:词汇、意象的暗示和联想。
<<The verve theory of Chinese Poetics came into being in aesthetic studies of the Six Dynasties,and became prevailed in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. As a note on poets and poetry,Wang Shi-zhen’s theory of Poet Verve combined the painting theories after the Six Dynasties and the poetic theories of SIKONG Tu and YAN yu. The core of the verve theory of Chinese Poetics is:poetry should use brief words to convey implicit and limitless meaning and verve,and express emotion and idea that is unable to tell or write by telling and writing nothing. The way to reach this realm is to understand language implication from language itself. Facing the limitations of language in expressing emotion and idea,poets generally take two kinds of strategies:the first is to seek the maximum within the limitation,try one’s best to characterize people,trace their voice and appearances,and forge words and sentences,to approach the state of being alike in spirit;while the second is to transfer limitation into advantage,merge the implicit with explicit meaning of wording,characterize the vivid image as much as possible to express the writer’s emotion and ideas,it means to develop the energy of language sufficiently,to make progress from negative overcoming to positive conquest and appropriate application. The verve theory of Chinese poetics is a theoretical summary of the existence and work mode of the second strategy in Chinese poetry history,it covers an important aesthetic feature of Chinese ancient poets and poetry:implicitness. The verve theory of Chinese poetics pursues the meaning beyond words,and the target of expressing limitless meaning by limited words. In fact,it is a common and necessary characteristic of all excellent poets and poetry,a universally effective aesthetic style,it contains a poetic skill that is common in all over the world and from the ancient time to current:indication and association of vocabulary and image.
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