「比興」這種詩歌表現方法與中國詩學的思維緊密相連，劉勰的「起情附理」，皎然的「取象取義」等，都涉及「情」與「理」、「象」與「義」之間的關係。此物我二元關係已開始觸及「比興」的詩學思維方式。明清學者進一步從「情」與「景」之角度去說「比興」，認為「情景合一」的關鍵在於「比興互陳」，將「比興」與「情景」聯繫在一起，企圖在比興說與情景論間架設起一座橋樑。
《清詩話》可以說是中國古代傳統詩歌理論的總結，從該書可略知歷代詩學觀念之流變以及當代詩歌審美觀。本文即以《清詩話》為本，擬探討如下之議題：比興觀意涵如何變遞？清代詩論家如何從詩歌創作內容、創作手法中去看「比興」？而「比興」又如何影響了詩人之創作？比興觀下的審美特徵為何？這都是本文所探討的重點。

Poetic expressions such as figures of speech and association were closely related to Chinese poetic thinking. For instance, Liu Xie’s “rise of emotions and later attachment to scenery” and Jao Zan’s “combination of scenery and the inner heart” reflected relations between inner feelings and scenery. Indeed, relationships between “things” and “me” touched upon figures of speech and association in poetic thinking. Scholars in Ming and Qing Dynasties discussed figures of speech and association from the perspective of feelings and scenery, regarding the combination of figures of speech and association as the key to putting scenery and the inner heart together, and attempting to bridge connections between figures of speech and association, and feelings and scenery.
Qing shihua summarized the theories of Chinese traditional poetry, with an introduction to change in poetic concepts in each dynasty and views on contemporary poetic aesthetics. This paper aimed to explore the following issues based on Qing shihua: 1. How did the concepts of figures of speech and association evolve? 2. How did the poetry theorists in Qing Dynasty look at figures of speech and association from the viewpoint of poetry content and creation techniques? 3. How did figures of speech and association influence poets’ creation? 4. What are the aesthetic characteristics from the perspective of figures of speech and association?