選出近代四家學者（徐復觀、陳世骧、葉嘉瑩、蔣年豐）對《詩經》「興」義的詮釋。其後，文章嘗試以更現代的視野，特別站在詩的創作狀態，挖掘「興」義的核心內涵：「興」「應」的思維狀態在現代詩語言的美感效果。縱觀臺灣詩壇，作者挑出最能表現「興應」模式的詩人夏宇（她卻被公認爲後現代詩之代表，文字風格影響年輕一代）。依其四冊詩集的藝術變化，分析出三種與《詩經》「興」義相關之特質：一、顛覆詩壇前輩的虛擬語言，遙應《詩經》的實物寓意傳統；二、詩內實物之興應關係，互相指涉的豐富性；三、「興應」關係的變體表現：不斷移動的真相。本文將二、三千年前的詩歌表述方式，轉化成一個現代評論觀念，而解出夏宇後期（《Salsa》詩集之後）詩藝迷宮，爲後現代詩學提供一個嶄新的角度。

After presenting several significations of xing developed by four contemporary theorists (Chen Shixiang, Yie Jiaying, Xu Fuiguan, Jiang Nianfeng), this essay is devoted to suggesting another interpretation more appropriate to a modem viewpoint. Focusing on the operation of the creative dimension, as appropriate to poetry, the notion of xing, from three thousand years ago, distinguishes itself by its particular "stimulus-response" construction, from which derives the vigorous effect of its language. After surveying the various styles of poets in Taiwan, the essay considers Xia Yu as the most representative of this language phenomenon. (Thus, she is also widely recognized as the central figure in post-modem writing, providing a formative influence for the younger generation.) Following the hierarchy of the poet's artistic concepts, established over four volumes, the essay attempts three conclusions about the nature of linguistic signs from the poetry of Xia Yu: 1. Obliteration of any sense of metaphor abundantly achieved by her previous grand masters. She revives this literary tradition from the Classic of Poetry: "realization of the inner image in ordinary, touchable objects." 2. Elements of objects in her poetry are intimately united; each recalls the other, becoming themselves dimensions of the multiplicity. 3. A fresh fabric of the notion xing has been reinvented. Its "stimulus-response" structure implicates a hyper-adaptive reality that is constantly in moving. On liberation from within the labyrinth of Xia Yu's poetry, the ancient notion of xing is transformed as a novel aesthetic view for post-modem criticism.