Chinese Journal of Literary Criticism

No.3, 2020

On the Twofoldness of Imagery

(Abstract)

Peng Feng

Twofoldness is the theory used by Richard Wollheim to analyze the visual experience of painting. According to Wollheim, our visual experience of painting is composed of the consciousness of the object and that of the media. The object and media in painting mentioned by Wollheim are similar to the “verbal sense” and “vocal sense” proposed by Ye Lang. The charm of Chinese poetry lies in the imagery within verbal and vocal senses between the “sentiment of words” and the “sentiment of sounds”, as well as the artistic conception beyond them.