Communicating the affective dimension of Classical Chinese poetry

Emotion is often considered central to the creation and the experience of Classical Chinese poetry. However, unlike many mental states, emotional states are non-propositional. Using ‘Dreaming of Weizhi’ by the Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi as an example, this paper argues that certain features of an utterance can provide cues to ostension by activating experiential heuristics through which the reader may satisfy his expectations of relevance. Through this process, he comes to experience a certain emotion and attributes his experience to the poet’s intention by applying procedural constraints on utterance processing. The reader’s attention is directed toward specific aspects of the utterance, producing affective effects that supplement cognitive effects and enabling the reader to better assess the relevance of the stimulus. This process can be accounted for using a ‘dual-route’ model, which highlights the role of mental imagery in the communication of emotional states and other relevant mental states.