On Literary Thoughts of Yang Xiong

Yang Xiong,after Mencius and Xun Tzu,gave an explicit literary assertion of clarifying principles,laying down sages and the Confucian classics as the criterion,which promoted the literary thought of Confucianism.He illustrated the relation of form and essence,or content and formality,and emphasized on the viewpoint of beauty according with reality,fact conforming to diction.At first he commended Sima Xiangru for his poetic essays,and then he offered criticism on the problems exposed in the creation of Han Fu,in which he eulogized Qu Yuan and Sima Qian,and set forth different argument based on the classics as well.