This literature critic was compiled by Liu Xie 劉勰 (d. 522), and it is the first literary critical work, dealing comprehensively the genres, subject-matter, forms and styles of all Chinese literature to the author's own period. According to Liu Xie, literary creation has to be an organic whole under the control of mind, thought and imagination, or with his own words, "the literary mind is that mind which strives after literary forms... Since time immemorial literary writings have always adopted an ornate style, and yet I am not implicating myself in the type of dragon carving style". Accordingly, the first part of his book consists of descriptions and critics of 34 different literary styles: 騷 sao elegic poetry of the South, 詩 shi lyric poetry, 樂府 yuefu songs of the Han Music bureau, 賦 fu rhapsody, 頌 song odes, 贊 zan pronouncements, 祝 zhu sacrificial prayer, 盟 meng oathes of agreement, 銘 ming inscriptions, 箴 zhen exhortations, 誄 lei elegies, 碑 bei epitaphs, 哀 ai laments, 吊 diao condolences, 雜文 zawen miscellaneous writings, 諧 xie humors, 隱 yin enigmas, 史傳 shizhuan historical writings, 諸子 zhuzi speculative writings of the Masters, 論 lun treatieses, 說 shuo discussions, 詔 zhao edicts, 策 ce scripts, 檄 xi war proclamations, 移 yi dispatches, 封禪 fengshan sacrifices to Heaven and Earth, 章 zhang memoranda, 表 biao memorials, 奏 zou presentations, 啟 qi "opening" communications, 議 yi discussions, 對 dui responses, 書 shu letters and 記 ji notes.

In the second half of the Wenxin diaolong, Liu Xie develops his own proposals for a good writing composition, talking about flexibility, choice of style, emotion and expression, musicalness, parallelism, metaphor and allegory, hyperbole, choice of words, literary flaws, organization, and so on.

Translated by Vincent Shih, encoding: Big-5

7.＜樂府＞

樂府者，「聲依永，律和聲」也．音聲推移，亦不一概矣．匹夫庶婦，謳吟土風，詩官採言，樂胥被律，志感絲篁，氣變金石．夫樂本 心 術 ，故響浹肌髓，先王慎焉，務塞淫濫．敷訓胄子，必歌九德，故能情感七始，化動八風．

暨武帝崇禮，始立樂府；總趙代之音，撮齊楚之氣．延年以曼聲協律，朱馬以騷體製歌．《桂華》雜曲，麗而不經；《赤雁》群篇，靡而非典．河間薦雅而罕御．

逮於晉世，則傅玄曉音，創定雅歌，以詠祖宗；張華新編，亦充庭萬。然杜夔調律，音奏舒雅，荀勖改懸，聲節哀急．故知詩為樂心，聲為樂體，樂體在聲，瞽師務調其器；樂心在詩，君子宜正其文．

若夫豔歌婉孌，怨志詄絕，淫辭在曲，正響焉生！然俗聽飛馳，職競新異，雅詠溫恭，必欠伸魚睨；奇辭切至，則拊髀雀躍，詩聲俱鄭，自此階矣．

贊曰：八音摛文，樹辭為體．謳吟坰野，金石雲陛．《韶》響難追，鄭聲易啟．豈惟觀樂，於焉識禮．

Musical Poetry

The yuefu may be described as tones prolonged according to rules of prosody and intervals chosen according to rules of harmony... There is no general rule for the development of musical patterns. Ordinary men and women express their feelings in local folk songs; these songs were gathered by official poetry collectors and set to music by music masters. These feelings set silk strings and bamboo reeds vibrating while the living spirit informed the brasses and stone bells... Music is originally related to one's moral nature. Its influence penetrates one's very fibres and marrow. Therefore, our early kings took great pains to check excesses in this realm. The education of noble sons included a requirement that they practice the singing of the Nine Virtues. Therefore they were able to respond emotionally to the seven beginnings, and their moral influence was capable of changing the Eight Winds of the empire...

At the time of Emperor Wu (r. 140-87 BC), who emphasized rituals, the yuefu was first established. Through that office songs of Zhao and Dai were collected, and the melodies of Qi and Chu were preserved. Li Yannian composed flowing tunes, and Zhu Maichen and Sima Xiangru wrote songs in the style of the sao elegy. The song Guihua "Cassia Flower" is a mixed tune; it is beautiful but not classical; and the Chiyan "Red Geese" and other pieces and high flown but not really elegant. The music introduced by Prince Xian is graceful but seldom employed...

In the Jin dynasty there appeared Fu Xuan with a profound understanding of music. He gave grace to the ritual songs he created, to be used in the ceremonies of ancestral worship. And Zhang Hua's new compositions were also used in court dances. Du Kui, by retuning the pitch pipes, imparted ease and grace to the music of the time, while Xun Xu altered the measurement of the standard pitch, as a result of which the traditional tone and rhythm were made, respectively, more sad and more rapid... this perfect accord we know that poetry is the mind of music and sound is its body. Since the body of music is sound, blind music masters tune the instruments; since the mind of music is poetry, superior man perfect literary forms...

As for love songs, tender and sentimental or mournful tunes expressing final and fateful decisions, they overflow with sensuous language. How, then, was it possible for proper music to emerge? However, the popular taste reveled in the new and strange. In the presence of classical music, which is mellow and full of dignity, people would stretch and yawn; but when they listened to an eccentric language, they would slap the thigh and begin to hop up like sparrows. This marked the first step toward a state of affairs in which both poetry and music were tinged by the influence of the music of the state of Zheng who is known for its love of sensuous pleasure in poetry and music.

The praise: The eight sounds (metal, stone, earthenware, leather, silk, wood, gourd and bamboo) introduce musical patterns into literary works, in which the words are implanted to express the form. Folk songs were sung in the wild, while melodies drawn metal and stone filled the steps of the court. It is difficult to recapture the spirit of the ancient music, but it is all too easy to encourage a taste for the sounds of Zheng. This is true not only for the appreciation of music, but also for our grasp of the principle of conduct.

16.＜史傳＞

開闢草昧，歲紀綿邈，居今識古，其載籍乎！軒轅之世，史有倉頡，主文之職，其來久矣。《曲禮》曰：「史載筆。」史者，使也。執筆左右，使者記也。古者，左史記事，右史記言。

秦并七王，而戰國有策。蓋錄而弗敘， 故即簡而為名也。

子長制度，雖殊古式，而得事序焉。爾其實錄無隱之旨，博雅弘辯之才，愛奇反經之尤，條例踳落之失。

及孝惠委機，呂后攝政，班史立紀，違經失實。何則？庖羲以來，未聞女帝者也。漢運所值，難為後法。「牝雞無晨。」武王首誓；「 婦無與國。」 齊桓著盟。

至於記編同時，時同多詭，雖定哀微辭，而世情利害。勳榮之家，雖庸夫而盡飾；迍敗之士，雖令德而常OOO；吹霜煦露，寒暑筆端，此又同時之柱，可為嘆息者也。

Historical writings

The beginning of human history lies so far back in time that it is shrouded in primitive darkness. For us who live in modern times, are no written records the only source of learning about the ancient world? During the time of Xuanyuan, the Yellow Emperor, lived Cang Jie, who served as a historian. So it has apparently been a practice since time immemorial to keep an office in charge of records. In the Book of Rites it is said: "Historians carry brushes in attendance on the king's left and right." Shi "historian" literally means "to keep records". In ancient times, the left-hand historian kept records of what was done, and the right-hand historian, of what was said... When the state of Qin unified the seven states, it was found that each of the warring states had its own ce "records". Since these were simple records without running commentaries, they used the term ce "bamboo slips" to designate them... Zichang (Sima Qian, the author of the Records of the Great Historian Shiji, created an) arrangement that, though differing the ancient form, serves to relate historical facts in neat order. His merits include his effort to create a factual record without evasion or omission, his comprehensiveness in covering the sources, his purity of style, his extensive observations, and his logical clarity; and his faults include his love for the strange, contrary to the spirit of the Classics, and the absence of order in his arrangement of certain materials.

When Emperor Xiao Hui (r. 194-188 BC) was gathered to his fathers, his mother, Empress Lü, acted as regent, and both Ban Gu (author of the History of Former Han Hanshu) and Sima Qian devoted a sovereign annal to her. This is contrary to the principle found in the Classics, and did not do justice to the actual fact. Why? Because since the time of Baoxi (the mythical ruler Fuxi), nobody has ever heard of a female ruler! The hard fate the Han met with should not be made a pattern for all later dynasties. It was king Wu of Zhou (11th century BC) who first swore that a hen should not herald the approach of morning; and duke Huan of Qi (r. 685-644), in a conference, stated that no woman should be allowed to interfere with the affairs of the state...

When we come to the treatment of contemporaries, many facts are often distorted. While Confucius' judgments concerning the periods of duke Ding (r. 510-495) and duke Ai (r. 495-467) of Lu are couched in subtle language, secular opinions are still influenced by selfish interests. If the subject is a family of great prestige and honor, he tends to be eloquently adorned, even though he may be a mediocrity. But should the subject be a frustrated scholar, all his virtue will not save him ridicule. This blowing on the already frostbitten and puffing at the already bedewed, or fabrication of hot and cold with the brush, is a common distortion involved in writing about a contemporary, and a thing to be deeply deplored.

27.＜體性＞

夫情動而言形，理發而文見，蓋沿隱以至顯，因內而符外者也。然才有庸俊，氣有剛柔，學有淺深，習有雅鄭。

典雅者，鎔式經誥，方軌儒門者也。遠奧者，複采曲文，經理玄宗者也。精約者，覆字省句，剖析毫厘者也。顯附者，辭直義暢，切理厭心者也。繁縟者，博喻醲采，煒燁枝派者也。

夫才有天資，學慎始習，斷梓染絲，功在初化，器成綵定，難可移。故童子雕琢，必先雅製，沿根討葉，思轉自圓。

Style and Nature

When the emotions are moved, they express themselves in words; and when reason is born, it emerges in a pattern. For we start with the imperceptible and follow through to the revealed, and on the basis on inner realities seek external realities in harmony with them. However, people differ in talent, in physical vitality, in scholarship, and in manner; in talent some are mediocre and some brilliant; in physical vitality some are strong and some delicate; in scholarship some are superficial and some profound; in manner some are graceful and some vulgar...

The style which is defined as elegant and graceful models itself after the classical forms and adopts the Confucian principles; the far-ranging and profound couches its content in cryptic phrases and obscure expressions, treating of truths deep-seated in the nature of things; the polished and concise has mastered the problem of diction and sentence structure, analyzing them down to the minutest details; the lucid and logical employs straightforward language to express clear ideas with reasoning so pertinent that is satisfies our minds; the profuse and flowery indulges in creating beautiful patterns through a wealth of metaphors, aiming at brightening and illuminating all branches and ramifications of its subject...

Talent is bestowed by Heaven, but in learning one must be very careful in choosing the first step in the course of his training. It is like carving or dyeing, in which the success depends on the first step of the process. When a vessel has been made, or a color printed, it is difficult to change. So when a child learns how to carve, he should first learn the graceful way. mastery of this root he may proceed to acquire the leaves; and in this way his thought will be perfectly comprehensive in itself.