How to Read Chinese Poetry A Guided Anthology

Sh i P oe t ry oF t He m i ng anD q i ng Dy na s t i e s 357

for the military glory of the Tang and his present doubts by alluding to Guo Ziyi
(697–781), the Tang military commissioner of the Shuofang commandery where
the poet was at the time of the poem. Guo Ziyi was one of the leading loyalist
generals who helped defeat the rebellion started by An Lushan (d. 757) under the
Tang emperor Xuanzong (r. 712–756). He was enfeoffed as prince of the Fenyang
commandery for his efforts to save the Tang and was referred to as Guo Fenyang
in later periods. This poem is an esteemed emulation of Tang poetics.
In the Archaist desire to emulate Tang diction and imagery, the individual voice
of the poet is often suppressed, and the less successful efforts resulted in turgid
and uninspired formalistic pieces. Toward the end of the sixteenth century, a strong
opposition to Archaist practices arose, spearheaded by Yuan Hongdao (1568–1610)
and his two brothers—Yuan Zongdao (1570–1626) and Yuan Zhongdao (1560–
1600)—that came to be known as the Gong’an school after their native district in
Hubei. Yuan Hongdao emphasized individual expression and the use of natural
and simple language. He famously pronounced that poetry should “only express
one’s natural sensibility [xingling] and not be restricted by conventional form.”10 In
emphasizing the expression of genuine feelings in simple language, Yuan Hong-
dao valorized folk songs and village ditties. He also commended Song poetry,
anathema to the Archaist school. The poetic language he adopted tends toward the
colloquial and easy, the diction being less formal and allusive. The heptasyllabic
regulated poem he sent to a friend exemplifies these characteristics:

C 1 7. 2

Composed at Random: Sent to Master Fang

With a flask, a bamboo hat, and a cape of straw,
2 I am skilled at playing Wu melodies and Chu songs.
The wild crane’s clearheaded because its bones are aged,
4 Mandarin ducks gray together because their love is deep.
Pendants worn at the waist are antiques a thousand years old,
6 The topsy-turvy script written when drunk are waves ten yards long.
Recently in making verse I have become more attentive,
8 When it comes to long lines every time I study Dongpo.
[YHDJJJ 2.540]

偶作贈方子

(ŏu zuò zèng fāng zĭ)

one flask one bamboo hat one [measure word] straw raincoat 一瓶一笠一條蓑
(yì píng yí lì yì tiáo suō)
good at play Wu sound and Chu song 善操吳音與楚歌
(shàn cāo wú yīn yŭ chŭ gē)
wild crane spirit clear because bone old 野鶴神清因骨老
(yě hè shén qīng yīn gŭ lăo)