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 355

field, this chapter aims to show Ming–Qing poetry as a multifaceted cultural prac-
tice by taking a two-part approach. First, I will discuss poems written by lead-
ing exponents of particular theories to illustrate schematically some of the major
poetic trends in the Ming and Qing. Second, because the diversity and pervasive-
ness of poetry writing went beyond the elitist theoretical discourse on the art of
poetry in this period, I will introduce important contexts for reading poetry as a
commonplace, diurnal practice in the lives of men and women. These include the
meaningful organization of individual poetic collections and the significance of
the material conditions and historical specificities informing poetic production.
The selections emphasize the fundamental function of poetry to inscribe life ex-
periences in three categories of poems with contrasting but overlapping personal,
social, and political contexts in the late imperial period: poems written during the
disorder of the Ming–Qing dynastic transition in the mid-seventeenth century,6
poems that exemplify the pervasive autobiographical impulse in the poetic act, and
poems that demonstrate the interest in recording personal experiences in every-
day life. These contexts of poetic production foreground the sense of subjectivity
and agency of the writers. We will see how, through poetry, men and women em-
power themselves with a capacity for action, even if that action may be limited to
self-expression and the act of recording.

P o e t iC t h e o r y a nD P o e t iC P r aC t i C e

The first important literary movement to arise in the Ming was the Archaist school
represented by the Former Seven and Latter Seven Masters, many of whom were
scholar-officials in government. Its influence dominated the poetic scene in the
sixteenth century, particularly in the capital, Beijing. The Archaist poets advo-
cated emulation of poetic models from the past, specifically the Tang. The best-
known leader, Li Mengyang (1475–1531), one of the Former Seven Masters stated
famously that when it came to ideal models, “prose must be that of the Qin and
Han, and poetry must be that of the High Tang.”7 They rejected Song poetry for
its discursiveness and sought to imitate the grand, expansive vision, affective in-
tensity, and perceptual qualities embodied in the allusive diction and powerful
imagery of Tang verse, particularly those found in the poetry of Du Fu (712–770).
The following widely anthologized heptasyllabic regulated poem by Li Mengyang
exemplifies these characteristics:

C 1 7. 1

Autumn Gaze

The Yellow River winds around the Han frontier walls,
2 Over the river in the autumn wind, a few lines of wild geese.
The attackers crossing trenches pursue on wild horses,
4 The general with his bow case and arrow shoots at the Heavenly Wolf.
Yellow dust by the ancient ford confuses the swift chariots,
6 White moonbeam across the void chills the battleground.