酒作为中国古代文人的忠实伴侣，承载了遣怀、寄思、驱愁、抒恨、应酬等多种社会功能，是诗歌作品中的常客。酒杯作为盛酒的容器，一般只在诗句中被顺带提及，其功能也局限于盛装酒液。这种现象在唐宋之际的诗歌创作中出现了转向，诗人开始广泛书写进入酒杯中的自然万物，并最终凝定为诗中“杯中万象”的组合。这一模式中，酒杯不再仅仅是诗人笔下可有可无的附属品，盛装的也不仅仅是酒，而成为能够容纳自然界万象的重要容器。

“杯中象”的写作中，根据进入酒杯之象的虚实可分为“杯中实象”和“杯中虚象”。“杯中实象”书写较早流行于唐诗中，并主要运用在“杯中菊”的写作情境，后来逐渐引申到普遍意义的“杯中花”。“杯中虚象”虽然在唐末出现，但真正发扬光大却是在宋代。宋诗中“杯中虚象”写作在数量占比的扩大和写作模式的创新上都远超唐诗，全面深化了“视觉类”“触觉类”“嗅觉类”“听觉类”“心理类”等虚象进入酒杯的描写，并逐渐演化为“入杯”“落杯”“杯中”等形式，最终凝定成一种重要的书写范式。

“象”进入酒杯的模式分为客体化和人格化两类。前者更倾向于直观地呈现“杯中象”情境，后者则将“象”拟人化，刻画其进入酒杯的生动情态。两种模式折射出诗人多元的情感态度，也奠定了“杯中象”写作的不同风格。在以酒杯为媒介观察外物时，宋代诗人的视角发生了从杯前到杯中的转换。宋人积极地挖掘登高过程中能观察到“杯中象”的视野点，并将此作为评价建筑选址的标准之一，展现出宋人审视世界的新型眼光，体现出博大的纳物襟怀。宋人眼中的景象从杯外走向杯内，与宋诗逐步走向深沉内敛的品格气质暗合，以“杯中月”为代表的崭新形式的出现，反映出宋人纾解和超越悲哀的新思路。

在艺术世界里，“杯中象”并不是一个独立存在的系统，比对它与其他艺术媒介的异同，能更好地从三个维度揭示“杯中象”的文学审美思维。首先是“器”的连类，杯与镜、壶在很多方面有相似之处。宋诗中也出现过“镜中象”和“壶中象”两个较为典型的书写方式。较之前者，“杯中象”更能体现日常化和容纳性。较之后者，“杯中象”更具有开放性和联动性。其次是“觉”的占有，宋人借助杯将人体的“五觉”实体化并占有，使酒杯所容之物发生了由实向虚的转向，从而具有了超功利的审美意义。最后是“道”的相通，“杯中象”与宋代流行的小景画之间存在高度相似性，共同体现出“框”的剪裁思维。而超越载体有限性的“溢观”眼光，使“杯中象”和小景画都具有了以小容大、咫尺千里的放缩空间，具有与盆景、园林等宋代其他艺术形式高度一致的审美之道。

As a faithful companion of the ancient Chinese literati, wine carried a variety of social functions such as dispersing nostalgia, sending thoughts, driving away sorrow, expressing hatred and entertaining, and was therefore a frequent guest in classical Chinese poetries. The wine glass, as a container for wine, is generally mentioned only in passing in verse, and its function is limited to holding the liquid. This phenomenon took a turn for the worse in the poetry of the Tang and Song dynasties, when poets began to write extensively about the natural world in wine glasses, eventually crystallising into the paradigm of the "universe in a glass". In this paradigm, the wine glass is not just a dispensable accessory to the poet's writing, and it is not just wine that is contained, but an important container that can hold the universe of nature.

In the writing of the "universe in a glass", the universe that enter the glass can be divided into "real images in the glass" and "imaginary images in the glass", depending on the reality or falsity of the images. The "real image in the glass" was first used in Tang poetry, and was first used in the context of the "chrysanthemum in the glass", which was gradually and universally extended to the "flower in the glass". Although it emerged at the end of the Tang Dynasty, it was in the Song dynasty that it really took off. In Song poetry, the number of "imaginary images in glasses" had greatly expanded and the mode of writing became more innovative than in Tang poetry, deepening the "imaginary images in the glass" such as "Visual" "Olfactory" "Tactile" "Olfactory" "Auditory" "Psychological" and so on. " The descriptions of imaginary images entering the wine glass have gradually evolved into "entering the glass", "falling into the glass" and "being in the glass", and eventually crystallising into an important writing paradigm.

The mode of "universe" entering the glass is divided into two categories: being objectified or being personified. The former tends to visually present the situation of the "universe in the glass", while the latter anthropomorphizes the " universe " and portrays its vivid state of entering the glass. The two modes reflect the poet's diverse emotional attitudes and establish different styles of writing on the "universe in a glass". In using the wine glass as a medium to observe external objects, the Song poets' perspective shifted from "in front of the glass" to " in the glass ", and the Song poets actively explored the viewpoints where the "universe in the glass" could be observed during the process of ascending to the heights, showing the Song's new vision of the world and reflecting their broad-mindedness. The emergence of a new form represented by the "moon in a glass" reflects the Song people's new way of thinking to relieve and transcend their sorrow.

In the world of art, the "universe in a glass" is not an independent system. By comparing the similarities and differences with other art media, the literary and aesthetic thinking of   "universe in a glass" can be better revealed in three dimensions. First of all, there is a similarity between the "vessel", the glass, the mirror and the pot in many ways. In Song poetry, there are also two more typical ways of writing "the universe in the mirror" and "the universe in the pot". Compared with the former, the "universe in a glass" is more normalized and accommodating. Compared to the latter, the "universe in a glass" is more open and linked. Secondly, it is the possession of "Sensory perception", as the Song people materialized and possessed the "five senses" of the human body with the help of the glass, so that the objects contained in the glass took a turn from the real to the imaginary, thus have super-utilitarian aesthetic significance. Finally, there is a connection between the "Way" that between the "universe in a glass" and the popular miniature paintings of the Song Dynasty, which show the cut-out thinking of the "frame". The "overflowing-view" that transcends the finite nature of the carrier makes both the "universe in the glass" and the miniature painting have the space to expand and contract with a small size and a thousand miles, which is highly consistent with other art forms of the Song Dynasty such as miniascape and garden.