Liú Suízhōu jí 劉隨州集
Collected Works of Liú of Suí-zhōu (Liú Cháng-qīng) by 劉長卿 (撰)
About the work
Liú Suízhōu jí 劉隨州集 in 11 juǎn — also transmitted as Liú Suízhōu shī jí 劉隨州詩集 (the SBCK title) — is the surviving collection of Liú Chángqīng 劉長卿 (ca. 718–790; zì Wénfáng 文房), the Sùzōng / Dàizōng / Dézōng-period poet whose name comes from his last office Suízhōu cìshǐ 隨州刺史 (in modern Suízhōu, Húběi). The catalog meta dates his birth to 733; CBDB reports a death year of 790 with no fixed birth, but the standard scholarly bracket is ca. 718–790. The collection contains gǔshī, lǜshī, juéjù, xíng, and a smaller body of prose.
Tiyao
No tíyào in source. The KR4c0032 file is the SBCK base, which preserves a Míng xù on the qíng (feeling) function of poetry but no Sìkù tíyào. The Sìkù WYG 11-juǎn tíyào (V1072.1) survives in the Zinbun digital Sìkù tíyào.
Abstract
The Sòng Tángshū yìwén zhì records Liú Chángqīng wén jí 劉長卿文集 in 10 juǎn. The transmitted 11-juǎn text is a slight expansion incorporating supplementary recovery from Wén yuàn yīng huá. Liú is conventionally counted as one of the Dàlì shí cáizǐ 大曆十才子 (“Ten Talented Men of the Dàlì period”), but he is older than most of the group and his career bridges the Tiānbǎo and Dàlì generations: jìnshì of Kāiyuán 21 (733) by some sources, of Tiānbǎo 14 (755) by others (the Sòng catalogs disagree on this); his demotions following the An Lùshān rebellion took him through Pòzhōu sīmǎ 鄱州司馬 to Suízhōu cìshǐ; he died in Zhēnyuán 6 (790) at Suízhōu.
His poetry is dense with the post-rebellion atmosphere of dispossessed officialdom — Wilkinson (§28.7.3) cites him as a representative voice of the Dàlì exilic mood. Lyrics like Sòng Língshàngrén 送靈上人 and Féng Xuě sù Fúróngshān zhǔ 逢雪宿芙蓉山主人 (“Caught by Snow, Lodging at the Lotus-Mountain Host’s”) are among the most-anthologized of the Dàlì generation. The Sòng critic Yán Yǔ 嚴羽 in Cāngláng shīhuà gave him the epithet Wǔyán chángchéng 五言長城 (“Long-Wall of the Five-Character Verse”).
CBDB cbdbId 33566 records death year 790 with floruit 757–779; the Sòng-era jìnshì date and birth year remain disputed.
Translations and research
- Stephen Owen. 2006. The Late Tang. Harvard. Substantial discussion of Liú as a transitional figure.
- Lin Wenyue 林文月. 1989. Dà-lì shí cái-zǐ 大歷十才子. Wén-jīn. Substantial monograph.
- Yáng Shì-míng 楊世明, ed. 1999. Liú Cháng-qīng jí biān nián jiào-zhù 劉長卿集編年校注. Rénmín wén-xué. Modern annotated edition.
- Jiang Yin 蔣寅. 1995. Dà-lì shī rén yán-jiū 大歷詩人研究. Bei-jing dáxué.
- Stephen Owen. 1981. The Great Age of Chinese Poetry: The High T’ang. Yale UP.
Other points of interest
The famous Féng Xuě sù Fúróngshān zhǔ 逢雪宿芙蓉山主人 — only 20 characters — is one of the most-anthologized Tang quatrains in the modern Chinese reading curriculum, with its closing line fēng xuě yè guī rén 風雪夜歸人 (“the wind-and-snow night returner”) functioning as a free-floating literary phrase.
Links
- Liu Changqing (Wikipedia)
- Liu Changqing (Wikidata Q706255)
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §54 (Tang literature); §28.7.3 (Dàlì period).