The stream of
consciousness theory in psychology, philosophy and
literature originated in the West, and great achievements
have been made in stream of
consciousness novels. However, this type of writing also appears in classical Chinese poetry, either as a spiritual peculiarity of man himself or as a technique of literary creation. The stream of consciousness format was more readily adopted in lyrical poetry. The author analyses ancient Chinese literary works in the light of this modern theory and demonstrates that stream of consciousness writing not only existed in Chinese classical
literature, but also had its own exquisite, highly developed technique and form. The author divides stream of consciousness writing in Chinese classical poems into four types: the natural stream, the swirling stream, the centripetal stream, and the criss cross stream. Stream of consciousness works in the West and in China are identical——a reflection of the common nature of human thought and world literature.