The Beauty and Subtlety of Language: Fenggu as an Aesthetic Genre in Poetry

As a mature aesthetic genre, fenggu took an important place in the field of literature. Significantly, it had played a big role in standardizing poetry writing and criticism. Just like fenggu in calligraphy and painting, the emergence and establishment of fenggu genre in literature were influenced by both physiognomy and character judgement. The latter had played an essential role which couldn’t be overlooked. Fenggu in calligraphy and painting theory appeared before fenggu in literary criticism. In calligraphy and painting criticism, the latter had been influenced by the former. Over time, calligraphy, painting, and poetry affected and complemented each other. Since the Song and Yuan dynasties, calligraphy, painting, and poetry had a significant influence on the construction of the moral character of scholars.