埴轮书话[超话] 中国古典文学作品阐释的两大方法“知人论世”和“以意逆志”皆出自《孟子·万章》，宇文所安对《孟子》原文的英译如下：
In explaining the poems of the Book of Songs, one must not permit the literary patterning （文）to affect adversely [the understanding of] the statement （辞）；and one must not permit [our understanding of] the statement to affect adversely [our understanding of] what was on the writer’s mind（志）. We use our understanding （意）to trace it back to what was [originally] in the writer’s mind （志）——this is how to grasp it. （故说诗者，不以文害辞，不以辞害志。以意逆志，是为得之。）
Yet is it acceptable to recite their poems and read their books without knowing what kind of persons they were? Therefore one considers the age in which they lived. This is “going on further to make friends”. （颂其诗，读其书，不知其人，可乎？是以论其世也。是尚友也。）
