138 t He siX Dy na s t i e s
simplicity— brought the two genres into close affiliation by synthesizing aspects
of both Tao and Xie in their examples of nature poetry.
Wendy Swartznotes- Tao Qian, “A Lament in the Chu Mode: To Show to Recorder Pang and Scribe Deng,” in Tao
Yuanming ji jiaojian (The Works of Tao Yuanmngi [TaoQian], with Collations and Notes), ed. Gong Bin
(Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1999), 98. - Most modern scholars have emended the text to read “thirteen years” (shisan nian), which
is based on the traditional belief that Tao entered officialdom in 393 and retired in 405. Some
scholars prefer to keep “thirty years” (sanshi nian), as it indicates the span of time covering Tao’s
preparation for and tenure in office, from the age of ten to forty. - The late Six Dynasties critic Zhong Rong cites this contemporary assessment in the entry
on Tao Qian in Shipin jizhu (Collected Annotations of the “Grading of Poets”), ed. Cao Xu (Shanghai:
Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1994), 260. - Ge Xiaoyin, Shanshui tianyuan shipai yanjiu (Research on Schools of Landscape and Farmstead
Poetry) (Shenyang: Liaoning daxue chubanshe, 1993), 80. - Wang Wei’s “At My Wang River Retreat, Presented to Candidate Pei Di,” contains the follow-
ing couplet: “At the ford lingers the setting sun, / From the small village rises one wisp of smoke”
(Quan Tang shi [Complete Shi Poetry of the Tang] [Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1960], 126.1266). The
visual dynamics created by the downward and upward movements of the setting sun and the rising
smoke against the horizontal planes of the river and the village indicate a concern with the balance
of forms that is an unmistakable mark of Wang Wei’s craftsmanship. - These three passages are (1) “The Great Way is not named; Great Discriminations are not
spoken” (“Discussion on Making All Things Equal”); (2) “Those who know do not speak; those
who speak do not know. Therefore the sage practices the teaching that has no words” (“Knowledge
Wandered North”); and (3) “Zhuangzi says, ‘Words exist because of meaning; once you’ve gotten
the meaning, you can forget the words’” (“External Things”) (The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu,
trans. Burton Watson [New York: Columbia University Press, 1968], 44, 235, 302). - Su Shi, “Ti Yuanming ‘Yinjiu shi’ hou” (On Yuanming’s “Poems on Drinking Wine”), in Su
Shi wenji (The Collected Prose of Su Shi) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1986), 67.2092. - Wang Guowei, Renjian cihua, Renjian ci zhuping (“Remarks on Lyrics in the Human World,
Lyrics in the Human World,” Annotated and Evaluated), ed. Chen Hongxiang (Nanjing: Jiangsu guji
chubanshe, 2002), 7. - Xiao Tong, “TaoYuanming ji xu” (Preface to the Collected Works of Tao Yuanming), in Quan
Liang wen (Complete Liang Prose), in Quan Shanggu Sandai Qin Han Sanguo Liuchao wen (Complete
Prose of the Three Ancient Dynasties, Qin, Han, Three Kingdoms, and Six Dynasties) (Beijing: Zhong-
hua shuju, 1958), 20.3067a. - According to Wang Yao, by the Wei dynasty drinking had become a means for the gentry
to escape from cruel political reality (Zhonggu wenxueshi lun [Essays on Medieval Literary History]
[Beijing: Beijing daxue chubanshe, 1998], 172–180). The transition from the Wei to the Jin was
marked by great instability, during which expressions of opinion or position were terribly un-
safe. Drinking and drunkenness were used most notably by the Seven Worthies of the Bamboo
Grove as a defensive guise, as well as anesthesia for their sorrow over the contemporary state of
affairs. - The Poetry of T’ao Ch’ien, trans. James R. Hightower (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970), 75.
- Liu Xie, Wenxin diaolong zhu shi (“The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons,” Annotated
and Explicated), ed. Zhou Zhenfu (Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 1998), 49. - Wang Yao, Zhonggu wenxueshi lun, 271.
- Wang Yao, Zhonggu wenxueshi lun, 272.