Although the academia has laid a foundation in the study of Chen Zuoming’s The Selective Ancient Poems Written in the Cai Shu House, there still lacks accurate and systematic arrangement of “Examples” at the beginning of the book. Moreover, the myth about the objective of traditional selected works – “Outstanding works can be extracted after poor works are removed” always exists. Therefore, misunderstandings and contradictions usually exist in the investigations on Chen’ poetic ideas and specific poetry criticisms. Consequently, the unique poetic perspective of Six Dynasties in this book still is not understood by the world, and naturally cannot be evaluated in an authentic and reasonable manner. This selected works collected ancient poems from “the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty.” In general, most of the critics hold a positive attitude towards the overall evaluation of poems in the Hand and Wei Dynasties. However, the overall evaluation of poems from the Jin Dynasty to the Sui Dynasty steadily deteriorates. The style of time in poems in Liang and Chen Dynasties was severely criticized. The book, The Selective Ancient Poems Written in the Cai Shu House, attracts attention because the evaluations behind poems are frequently cited by subsequent critics. One of the important reasons that this selective works attraction attention is Chen’s evaluations of poems Six Dynasties, especially the aesthetic perspective of poems in the Liang and Chen Dynasties. However, what is the meaning of poetic perspective of Six Dynasties reflected in Chen’ The Selective Ancient Poems Written in the Cai Shu House? What kind of poetic theory system is it based on? The 2 questions mentioned above have been constantly investigated and discussed and the results also seem to be persuasive. For example, based on the results of proportions of poets and poems collected in this selected works, previous investigations reach a conclusion – Chen admire poets and poems in the Six Dynasties. Based on the descriptions “This selected works were made in an eclectic manner based on the ideas of two major schools of thought – Wang-Li and Chung-Tan after their cons are taken into consideration” in “Examples,” previous investigations reach a conclusion – Chen paid equal attention to affections and rhetoric. Based on the description of “Spirit, atmosphere, talent, and rules can be found in affections and rhetoric. As long as they are taken into account, outstanding works can be created” in “Examples,” previous investigations reach a conclusion – 4 elements, spirit, atmosphere, talent, and rules, are the bridge and pathway connecting subjective affections and form of aesthetic expression. Nevertheless, mutual contradictions and irregularities tend to be found in the integration of various conclusions. Moreover, Chen’ poetic ideas and poetic perspective of Six Dynasties tend to be misunderstood during the investigations.
To re-clarifying Chen’ selection attitude and guideline in “Examples” at the beginning of the book and concluding that the selection of works in The Selective Ancient Poems Written in the Cai Shu House is successful based on the breakthroughs made by the selection attitude and guideline in selection and compilation framework of traditional selected works, this study also focused on rearranging important texts associated with Chen’s poetic ideas and poetic perspective of Six Dynasties provided in the book and integrating them in a reasonable and systematic manner, including the “Examples” and poetic theories scattered in overall evaluation of poets and evaluations behind poems. Besides, this study also found out the poetic theory system on which Chen’s The Selective Ancient Poems Written in the Cai Shu House is based according to the specific criticisms on poets and poems. Furthermore, this study investigated what kind of unique poetic perspective of Six Dynasties will be developed to construct the new appearance of poems in Six Dynasties if this theory system is specifically embodied in the aesthetic criticisms of poems in Six Dynasties. Moreover, this study applied such poetic ideas and poetic perspective of Six Dynasties to the history of development of poetics in the Ming and Qin Dynasties and acceptance of poems in Six Dynasties to reflect how Chen’ poetic perspective, creative perspective, and aesthetic perspective overcome the restrictions of time. Although Chen’s unique and outstanding perspectives did not win recognition at the time and even were not specifically affirmed and admired by later generations, the poetic ideas and development of poetic criticisms in the Min and Qin Dynasties proved that his grand poetic perspectives are unique and can guide later generations with subtle aesthetic taste.