Wei T’ai: “Poetry presents the thing in order to convey the feeling.”

“Poetry presents the thing in order to convey the feeling. It should be precise about the thing and reticent about the feeling, for as soon as the mind responds and connects with the thing the feeling shows in the words; this is how poetry enters deeply into us. If the poet presents directly feelings which overwhelm him, and keeps nothing back to linger as an aftertaste, he stirs us superficially….”

—Poems of the Late T’ang by A.C. Graham (1965), quoting the 11th-century Chinese writer Wei T’ai.