漢賦與魏、晉以降的賦有別，自古人即能言之。駢句劇增、瑋詞銳減，以至篇幅短小等是常被提出、視為二者差異的表徵。但若認真逐項進行全面數量核計，上述的表徵似乎並不如粗略觀察下那麼明顯，使得過去的觀察及由此得出的論斷不免膚相之嫌。 曹丕說「詩、賦欲麗」，皇甫謐說「美麗之文，賦之作也」，不論詩人之賦，還是辭人之賦，兩漢迄魏、晉的學囿文林共通認定︰麗乃賦這種文體不容或缺的特質，然而彼此對「麗」的觀念將無異？本文嘗試從兩個時期賦作審美觀異動這點，來探討此疆彼域所在。這種異動在一般熟悉的賦作中不顯豁，倒是在東漢中葉以降某些冷門詠物賦中曲折反映出來。 　　為了支持本文的論點，在敘述完筆者的觀察和解釋後，花相當篇幅，一方面對可能的質疑提出答辯，以期顯示前此即使嘗出現近似題材的賦作，以文學流變的尺度而言，尚不具意義，而那些題材於此後出現頻率增加，也不應視為純屬舊題材飽和下的趨新之勢，或滑稽嘲謔風氣的延續及加厲。另方面試圖指出︰魏、晉時期，無論是生離、死別、士不遇等這些舊題材的賦作，或是以螻蟻、浮萍等那些新賦題詠物，儘管作者的藝術手法不盡圓熟，都無形反映彼時審美觀確有異動。這種文學上的新審美觀與當時哲學上新思考模式的萌生地區雖然頗重合，卻不宜將前者全盤化約為後者的影響。

Ever since Sung Dynasty scholars of classical Chinese literature have observed the fact that the rhapsodies of Han Dynasty differed from those of Wei-Chin Dynasties. The difference was conventionally explained as the result of the increase of parallel sentences, the decrease of rhyming and alliterative binomes, and so forth, in rhapsodies of Wei-Chin Dynasties. The explanation, however, not only seems quite superficial, but is unconvincing after carefully statistical rechecking the above-mentioned phenomena as revealed in the rhapsodies of Wei-Chin Dynasties. 　　It is my intention to approach the problem from the topics chosen by Wei-Chin rhapsodists to see if there were any changes of the aesthetic views directly or indirectly reflected in their works. I suggest this approach on the grounds of the common recognition shared by the literati of both periods that being beautiful was the substantial character of this specific literary genre and the major criterion to evaluate if any rhapsody was successful. It was very possible for writers of these two different periods to have different viewpoints regarding what could be counted as beautiful, which must have been the guideline in their writings of rhapsodies.