From Xing to Hen: The Lyrical Transformation in Wen Tingyun’s “Dreaming of the South”
Through a close reading of Wen Tingyun’s “Dreaming of the South,” this paper traces the late Tang shift in the lyrical paradigm of ci from xing (evocation) to hen (regret). The negative words buzhi (“does not know”) and kong (“in vain”) turn objects from arousers of feeling into indifferent “others,” dissolving the resonance (gantong) on which xing rested. This reflects the late Tang decline of belief in the resonance between Heaven and humanity (tianren ganying). In ci, hen thus becomes a structural lyrical category.
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