In recent years, “aesthetics of atmospheres,” a concept introduced from Western aesthetics, has emerged in aesthetic studies, offering a new perspective to examine ancient Chinese poetry. In poetry, atmospheric beauty is neither fixed nor rationalized; rather, it is pervasive and ubiquitous, much like a mist. Atmosphere is something spatial but primarily something emotional. Atmosphere creation is the products of a poet’s emotional expression evoked by external objects; thus, evocation (gan-xing) is a catalyst for creating atmospheres. At its core, evocation is the process by which a poet is emotionally stimulated at the sight of external objects and generates a desire to express such emotions. In this process, the poet is connected with the outside world through senses such as sight and hearing and is presented with abundant physical images. When these physical images are incorporated into poems, they become atmospheric agents. In poetry, atmospheres represent the unity of emotions and intentions. They are a poet’s situational aesthetic experiences. The statement, “If there is no self in poetry, how can we possibly have poetry” holds significant theoretical importance in aesthetics. Synesthesia plays a crucial role during the creation of atmospheric beauty in poetry. By employing synesthesia, a poet can greatly enhance the tension in poetic language, extending the poetic beauty beyond a singular sensory experience, and creating rich atmospheres that blend sensations such as sound, color, and taste.
In Western civilization, as exemplified by ancient Greece, the primitive imagery of plants ceased to appear in daily life. Nevertheless, in China, the primitive imagery of plants that originated and flourished in primitive times never ceased to prevail even after entering the civilized era. Merged with rationality, it gave rise to the humanistic concepts of “inspiring imagery” (xing-xiang) and “entrusting one’s thoughts and feelings to imagery” (ji-xiang), as represented by the depiction of plants in works like The Book of Odes and Odes of Chu. This was due to China’s unique civilization origin and early civilization development pattern. According to the concepts of “inspiring imagery” and “entrusting one’s thoughts and feelings to imagery” that emerged in the civilized and rational era, individual emotions and independent personalities can inspire or be entrusted to imagery, while imagery represents the racial collective consciousness rooted in the long-standing tradition and imbued with religious, ethical, and political connotations in the context of kinship-based governance. As typical artistic expressions formed during China’s Axial Age, “inspiring imagery” and “entrusting one’s thoughts and feelings to imagery” related to the depiction of plants have significantly contributed to shaping China’s distinctive aesthetic preferences, nourishing literary and artistic creations spanning over two millennia since the Qin and Han dynasties, and forging the cultural and psychological structures of the Chinese nation.
Xin Qiji’s lyrics are known for their innovative images. This is attributed to his exceptional writing talent and creativity. Through careful observation, emotional sensitivity, and a richly imaginative mind, he crafts images. By skillfully intertwining natural and social images, he links them closely, using each to enhance the other. In his lyrics, he forges an alliance with the egret, creating numerous poetic pieces centered on this image. Together, the poet and the egret deliver a “drama” that is both poetic and filled with philosophical insights. To create new images with social and natural implications, Xin Qiji makes bold attempts, adopting an approach of writing lyrics in the same way as writing prose. He draws inspiration from various literary forms, transforming lyrics from a medium primarily focused on expressing emotions stirred by scenery—a common practice in the Northern Song Dynasty—into a tool for narrating stories while depicting scenery. This shift has provided important insights into lyric creation in the Southern Song Dynasty and beyond.
The rhapsodies on the mind (xin-fu) is a major category of the rhapsody (fu) genre during the Wei and Jin dynasties. Those describing human sentimental psychology are known as the rhapsodies on thoughts (gan-fu). The rhapsodies on thoughts from this period embody a special proposition on how human aesthetic experience arises, which is termed as evocation (gan-xing). Evocation involves two dimensions: responding to objects (gan-wu) and responding to seasons (gan-shi). Together, they form the basic framework or mechanism that generates the abstract aesthetic experience in the rhapsodies on thoughts. More specifically, the rhapsodies on thoughts reveal five types of aesthetic experience generated: (1) aesthetic emotions triggered by natural sights; (2) philosophical insights triggered by natural sights; (3) aesthetic emotions triggered by social environments; (4) aesthetic experience triggered by natural sights and social environments; and (5) anti-evocation experience, namely an aesthetic response to the natural world triggered by specific scenes in life. These five evocation models broadly cover the aesthetic experience generated by the rhapsodies on thoughts from this period. First and foremost, evocation reveals the internal mechanism that generates aesthetic experience—external things evoke one’s inner feelings, thus creating aesthetic appreciation. Furthermore, it uncovers the normative significance of natural aesthetic appreciation as the prerequisite for artistic aesthetic appreciation: People are first moved by external objects in the realm of natural aesthetic appreciation before consciously developing the urge to express their emotions or feelings through natural images in the realm of artistic aesthetics. The rise of evocation, originating from the rhapsodies on thoughts of the Wei and Jin dynasties, signifies that Chinese aesthetic consciousness was attained during this period in relation to the mechanism of generating aesthetic experiences.
The composition of group poems based on evocation with miscellaneous themes (za-xing) first emerged in the Tang Dynasty, pioneered by Du Fu and Chu Guangxi, but an extraordinary outburst of group poems based on evocation with miscellaneous themes emerged in the the resurgence era of Southern Song Dynasty. This phenomenon was not only influenced by new ideas in poetics and the studies of Confucian classics in the Southern Song Dynasty but also directly stemmed from the resistance against the poetic system represented by the Jiangxi poetry school. The group poems based on evocation with miscellaneous themes of poets such as Lu You, Yang Wanli, and Fan Chengda exhibit a tendency opposite to the Jiangxi poetic style in terms of their overall characteristics. The rise of evocation with miscellaneous themes poems in the poetic circle of the the resurgence era of Southern Song Dynasty holds significant importance in the history of Song poetry. It represents a rebellious and rule-breaking force that fundamentally protests against the various rules and boundaries established by Song poetics, marking a revolution in the norms of Song poetry.