The Writing Form and Stylistic Characteristics of Parallel Prose Criticism in Song and Yuan Dynasties

Under the influence of the "Ancient(-Style) Prose Movement", Song and Yuan parallel prose criticism took on a new look in terms of discourse, focus, and pattern of criticism. There are three most important literary genres: Four-and-six-character prose criticism, miscellanies, as well as prefaces, epilogues, and letters. They demonstrate their respective stylistic characteristics due to factors such as author groups and purposes of writing. Four-and-six-character prose criticism is a new type of parallel prose criticism born in the Song dynasty, and its appearance means that a specialized parallel prose criticism based on the concept of "application" has been established; the parallel prose criticism in the miscellanies is complex and varied, and in comparison, it has the characteristics of "discussing matters and incidentally rhetoric", negative contexts, and cross-genre criticism. As for the prefaces, epilogues, and letters, they tend to be more macroscopic in their thinking and expression, often involving more central and fundamental issues in the creation and criticism of parallel prose. Understanding the stylistic characteristics of these literary genres helps us to further clarify the characteristics and contributions of parallel prose criticism in the Song and Yuan dynasties.