新批评诗学的“言意之辨”

Debate on the Relationship Between Language and Meaning:A New Criticism Approach to Poetry

同中国传统诗学的“言意之辨”相似,新批评的诗歌语义学也是围绕“言”与“意”的关系问题展开的,特别是着重考察了诗意之生成和诗意之特质。新批评理论家区分语词的辞典意义与第二意义,相应于中国诗学对言内之意与言外之意的区分。他们对言内之意如何通向言外之意即所谓“第二意义”的论述,对意象的隐喻价值的论述,与中国诗学的意与象应、情与景合的主张异曲同工。维姆萨特进一步在“喻体”“喻旨”之外提出“第三个类”,指出这是一种“无法用语言表达的新概念”,这与中国古代杨万里等人所强调的在“词”“意”之外的“味”,实有神趣相通之处。

Similar to traditional Chinese poetics,the poetic semantics of the New Criticism also emphasizes the“Debate on the Relationship Between Words and Meaning,”especially the formation of poetry and its characteristics.The theorists of the New Criticism distinguish the dictionary meaning and the second meaning of words,which corresponds to the distinction between the literal meaning and connotation in Chinese poetics.Their discussions on how the literal meaning leads to connotation,i.e.,“the second meaning,”and discussions on the metaphorical value of images,are similar to those in Chinese poetics,which hold that meaning and image,emo-tion and scene should be combined.Besides“tenor”and“vehicle”in a metaphor,W.K.Wimsatt further puts forward“the third class,”“a concept that cannot be expressed in language,”which has the same spirit as the“relish”besides“word”and“meaning”emphasized by Yang Wanli(杨万里)and others in traditional Chinese poetics.