There are great differences between “chanting sentiment” and “chanting temperament” in Chinese poetic theory, which marks two kinds of poetics. The main connotation of “chanting sentiment” is “feeling”, which comes from “feeling things”, and has little relationship with “nature”. However, the main connotation of “chanting temperament” is “nature”, which comes from “emotion”. Early theories mostly propose chanting sentiment. Since Song and Ming Dynasty, they propose chanting temperament. The individual perceptual dimension of “emotion” in “the theory of sentiment” is obvious, while the “emotion” in the “theory of temperament” is prominent in its rational color. The shift of focus from “sentiment” to “temperament” shows the rationalization of value orientation of in Chinese poetry theory. Only with the dual vision of “sentiment” and “temperament” can we treat the “emotion” in ancient Chinese poetics more comprehensively. From this dual perspective, there will be different answers in examining China's “lyric tradition”.