论唐人绝句独创的时空写作

诗歌的美感有赖于在时间、空间两个轴线上展开的想象。谈到唐代绝句的审美特色，古今学者都用“以小见大”一言以蔽之，而对于诗人们如何达致这种审美效果却不予深究，可说是知其然不知其所以然。学界很少注意到，五、七言四句体之外其实还有另一种“小”，即不同题材自身所预设的时空制约，故很少从时空写作的角度来探究各类绝句以“小”呈现“大”的独特方式。在清楚认识各种题材内在时空预设的基础上，从山水、闺怨、宫怨、边塞、怀远、怀古、咏史七种题材选择 36 篇名作，进行深入的细读分析，展示唐代绝句名家如何为实现“以小见大”而各显神通，用奇特的时空想象来打破形式和题材固有的制约，创造出崭新的“大”时空世界和抒情空间，唤起丰富深远的审美感受。这种时空写作的比较分析还揭示，五言和七言绝句各有最能发挥其优势、最能凸显其局限的题材。这点在绝句艺术研究中也是不多被注意到的。

The aesthetic impact of poetry largely derives from the play of imagination along the axes of time and space. In describing the aesthetic character of Tang quatrains, both premodern and modern critics often use the phrase "Seeing the grand in the small" (以小见大). However, as to how Tang poets produced such aesthetic effect, there is a dearth of indepth research. The oft-cited statement“ Knowing how things are, but not knowing why things become what they are" (知其然不知其所以然) seems to aptly denote our current understanding of the art of Tang quatrains. In order to illuminate why in Tang quatrains we can "see the grand in the small," this article approaches Tang quatrains from both “the small” and "the grand" perspectives. While identifying the inherent temporal and spatial constraints in each thematically defined subgenre, it examines 36 quatrains selected from seven major subgenres and demonstrates how Tang masters ingeniously overcame these constraints and created "grand" temporal and spatial vistas as well as lyrical space. It ends with a reflection on the respective advantages-and disadvantages-of the pentasyllabic and heptasyllabic forms when employed in certain quatrain subgenres.