Abstract
Among the Tang poetry anthologies in the Ming dynasty, Lu Shiyong's Tang shi jing is one of the rare anthologies that praises Li Bai more than Du Fu. However, the reasons Lu Shiyong praises Li Bai's poems are rarely discussed. This article focuses on Lu's comments on the ancient style poetry (gu feng) of Li Bai. Lu Shiyong emphasizes the "spiritual resonance" (shenyun) of the poems, and holds that poetry should leave room for the readers'own imagination. Lu Shiyong criticizes Du Fu's poetry for being overly narrative, while Li Bai was good at improvisation and letting people think beyond the words. Li Bai's creative approach is apparent in two features of his poems. One is the yadaoshicun, which shows melody and emotion in the characters. Another is "thoughts that surprise the reader" (xiang luo yiwai), which manifests Li Bai's bold generosity and momentum. This article also finds that Lu Shiyong paid special attention to Li Bai's yuefu poetry. Whereas most Ming and Qing anthologies did not create an independent category for yuefu, Lu Shiyong categorized Li Bai's yuefu as an independent group, apart from his other ancient style verse. This approach has two poetic implications. First, Lu lets the readers see that yuefu poetry is a genre of special importance for the appreciation of Li Bai's poetry. Second, emphasizing yuefu serves to highlight "spiritual resonance", the theory of poetry espoused by Lu. Going against the critical trends of one's time is not an easy task, but Lu Shiyong subtly used Li Bai for this purpose.
Translated title of the contribution | The Selection of and Comments on Li Bai's Ancient Style Poetry in Lu Shiyong's Tang shi jing |
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Original language | Chinese (Traditional) |
Pages (from-to) | 1-37 |
Number of pages | 37 |
Journal | 中國文哲研究集刊 = Bulletin of the Institute of Chinese Literature and Philosophy |
Issue number | 51 |
Publication status | Published - 2017 |