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 359

the concept of shenyun (spirit and resonance), which combines the evocation of
intuitive perception with a personal tone and placid imagery, as exemplified in the
following heptasyllabic quatrain, the first in a series of fourteen:

C 1 7. 3

Qinhuai: Miscellaneous Poems

In past years heartbroken on the Moling boat,

Dreams encircle pavilions by the Qinhuai River.

After ten days of drizzling rain and wisps of wind,

The misty scene of lush spring seems like remnants of autumn.

[YYJHLJS 1.226–227]

秦淮雜詩 (Qín huái zá shī)

year come intestine break Mo- ling boat 年來腸斷秣陵舟 (nián lái cháng duàn Mò líng zhōu)
dream encircle Qin- huai water above pavilion 夢繞秦淮水上樓 (mèng rào Qín huái shuĭ shàng lóu)
ten day rain silk wind wisp inside 十日雨絲風片裏 (shí rì yŭ sī fēng piàn lĭ)
dense spring mist scene like remnant autumn 濃春煙景似殘秋 (nóng chūn yān jĭng sì cán qiū)
[Tonal pattern Ia, see p. 171]

On his visit in 1661, the poet paints a wistful spring scene of the Qinhuai River
district, once the magnificent pleasure quarters of the Ming southern capital, Nan-
jing, where talented scholars and beautiful courtesans shared in the splendor of
late Ming culture. In the opening line, the poet creates a sense of distance and
history by using the ancient name Moling to refer to the ill-fated city. However,
immediately in line 2 the dreams that encircle suggest emotional attachment, an
inability to let go of the painful truth of dynastic transition. Even if the pavilions
still stand, they seem to be remnants of a vanished past that the poet clings to in a
dream. This site of romance was destroyed by the invading Manchus, but the nos-
talgia for the lost world remains, barely articulated, pervading the scene like fine
mist transforming the spring, normally a time of renewal and hope, into the wilted
remains of late autumn. Nature, in Wang Shizhen’s poetic construct, resonates
with human emotion.
The last poem we read by a major poet-critic is a heptasyllabic quatrain by Yuan
Mei (1716–1798), the prolific poet who promoted expressing one’s “natural sensi-
bility” (xingling) in poetry and who wrote more than 4,400 poems in his long life.
Disagreeing with the orthodox critic Shen Deqian (1673–1769), who emphasized
the moral, didactic function of poetry and Tang poetic models, Yuan Mei advocated
naturalness and personal expression in writing poetry above learning and formal
and ethical concerns. To him, what one writes should be true to one’s feelings and
character, one’s “native sensibility.” Thus, recalling Yuan Hongdao of the Gong’an
school, Yuan Mei also appreciated simple folk songs and natural, unadorned dic-
tion. He encouraged women to write and publish their poetry, famously taking on
scores of female students, to the disapproval of more conservative critics. Accord-