Abstract：In the 1930s and 1940s， the representative figures of Cambridge practical criticism I. A. Richards and William Empson came to China to teach successively， and their poetics gave new enlightenment to Chinese poets. Richards and Empson applied the methodology of semantic analysis to the practice of criticism of poetry. On this basis， they put forward the “ambiguity” poetics， studying poetry on itself from the semantic perspective. They believed that the essence of poetry was the polysemy of language， which was closely related to the complex psychology of poets. They also explored the relationship between poetry and experience， that is， how poets should use “synaesthesis” to achieve a balance between complex and conflicting experiences， and thus inspire readers. This was their value pursuit of modern poetry. During the Counter-Japanese War， the poets of Southwest Associated University absorbed and developed some viewpoints of Cambridge practical criticism in combination with the contemporary situation of Chinese poetry， which opened up new theoretical space for the poetic world in the 1940s.
2022, Vol. 61 
