“意境说”小议

On the Theory of the“Poetic Worlds”

文学的高低优劣，视乎意境之深浅与有无。“境”绝不是“不可思议之境”，但美妙之意境却又是在“但见性情”，不事雕琢的美妙诗中。意境论者是要求不要“雕缋满眼”，有“弦外音”和“状飞动之趣”，而不是“重意轻言”、“重味轻象”和“重静轻动”。有人如是说，不过是皮相之谈。一种学说只要它道出了真理，应不计较它属佛，属道还是属于儒。

Good literature is determined by the profundity of the“poetic worlds”it creates.Here the“world”does not mean“a world beyond imagination,”but the remarkable world created by the poetry which aptly expresses the“emotion and nature”of the poet in plain and simple words.Theorists of the“poetic worlds”prefer“underlying meaning”and“vivid descriptions”to“affected and gaudy epithets.”They do not“emphasize the meaning at the cost of the speech,”or“emphasize the aestetic taste at the cost of the image.”Neither do they“emphasize quietude at the cost of liveliness.”Critics who cannot understand this point are superficial.If a theory tells the truth,it is not important whether it belongs to Buddhism,Taoism or Confucianism.