Chinese Journal of Literary Criticism

No.1, 2024

Predicaments and Reflections on New Criticism’s Interpretation of Classical Chinese Poetry—Focusing on Yan Yuanshu’s Analysis of Spring Hope and Its Criticisms

(Abstract)

Liu Yabin

In applying New Criticism to localized practical criticism, Yan Yuanshu draws on Brooks’s paradoxical approach to interpret the contradictory structure of language, imagery and layout of Du Fu’s poem Spring Hope, and the relationship between their compound meanings, in order to unearth the richness of the poetic text, while also pointing out the shortcomings of the textual structure of the poem, which is called “rat’s tail.” To a certain extent, New Criticism’s interpretation of classical Chinese poetry is marked by inconsistencies and contradictions, ignoring the Confucian cultural structure and its poetic traditions on which Du Fu, as a representative poet, relies, and thus arriving at inappropriate conclusions.