Wéi Sūzhōu jí 韋蘇州集
Collected Works of Wéi of Sū-zhōu (Wéi Yìng-wù) by 韋應物 (撰)
About the work
Wéi Sūzhōu jí 韋蘇州集 in 10 juǎn — also widely transmitted as Wéi cìshǐ shī jí 韋刺史詩集 (the SBCK title) and Wéi Jiāngzhōu jí 韋江州集 — is the surviving collection of Wéi Yìngwù 韋應物 (737–ca. 791), the Dàlì / Zhēnyuán-period poet conventionally paired with Táo Qián 陶潛 in the TáoWéi 陶韋 couplet (Sū Shì 蘇軾’s coinage), and one of the principal post-Wáng-Wéi inheritors of the shānshuǐ tiányuán 山水田園 contemplative-landscape tradition. The titles Sūzhōu and Jiāngzhōu come from his successive cìshǐ postings; he is most often called Wéi Sūzhōu (or Wéi cìshǐ) after his last and best-known office.
Tiyao
No tíyào in source. The KR4c0033 file is the SBCK base, which preserves a substantial Míng-period preface engaging with the TáoWéi tradition but no Sìkù tíyào. The Sìkù WYG 10-juǎn tíyào (V1072.2) survives in the Zinbun digital Sìkù tíyào.
Abstract
The Sòng Tángshū yìwén zhì records Wéi Yìngwù shī jí in 12 juǎn; the Sòng catalogs (Chóngwén zǒngmù, Zhízhāi shūlù jiětí) record 10 juǎn. The transmitted Sòng-print SBCK version is in 10 juǎn, with various SòngYuán expansions to 14 or 16 juǎn in non-SBCK transmission lines. The collection contains gǔshī, lǜshī, juéjù, and a smaller body of prose (biǎo, xù, jì).
Wéi Yìngwù (737–ca. 791; CBDB cbdbId 32822 confirms birth 737 with floruit 774–789) was a Chángān 京兆 native of the powerful Wéi clan; in his youth he served in Xuánzōng’s Sānwèi 三衛 imperial guard, the basis of his early dissolute-young-aristocrat persona that he later repudiated in the famous self-castigatory Yǔ Lú Fǔyī èrshí èr yùn 與盧弗一二十二韻. He turned to study after the An Lùshān rebellion forced him out of the court; jìnshì (or míngjīng) entry by Tiānbǎo’s end. Successive provincial cìshǐ posts: Húzhōu cìshǐ 滁州刺史 (ca. 781), Jiāngzhōu cìshǐ 江州刺史 (783), and finally Sūzhōu cìshǐ 蘇州刺史 (788–791) — whence Wéi Sūzhōu. Died in office at Sūzhōu or shortly after his retirement ca. 791, aged about 55.
The poetry — particularly the Sūzhōu period — is the canonical example of post-rebellion Jiāngnán contemplative landscape verse: the Chúzhōu xī jiàn 滁州西澗 (“West Stream of Chúzhōu”), the Qiū yè jì Qiū yuánwài 秋夜寄丘員外 (“Autumn Night, Sent to Vice-Director Qiū”), the Yù dāng zhāo zhī shǎo nián xíng are among the most-cited. His friendship with the Wúxìng monk-poet Jiǎorán 釋皎然 during the Sūzhōu governorship is the principal documented mid-Tang lay-monastic literary connection.
Translations and research
- Stephen Owen. 2013. The Poetry of the High Tang. Library of Chinese Humanities. Includes substantial Wéi Yìng-wù selections.
- Red Pine [Bill Porter], tr. 2009. In Such Hard Times: The Poetry of Wei Ying-wu. Copper Canyon. The first complete English translation.
- Sun Wang 孫望, ed. 1980. Wéi Yìng-wù shī jí jiào-zhù 韋應物詩集校注. Shànghǎi gǔjí. Standard modern annotated edition.
- Jiang Yin 蔣寅. 1995. Dà-lì shī rén yán-jiū 大歷詩人研究. Bei-jing dáxué.
- Tao Min 陶敏 and Wang Youqing 王友勝, eds. 1998. Wéi Yìng-wù jí jiào-zhù 韋應物集校注. Shànghǎi gǔjí. Comprehensive modern variorum.
Other points of interest
The TáoWéi (Táo Qián 陶潛 + Wéi Yìngwù) pairing — coined by Sū Shì 蘇軾 in the Sū Shì wén jí — became the canonical Sòng evaluation of Wéi: not merely a shānshuǐ poet but the principal post-Hàn / pre-Sòng inheritor of Táo’s mode of píng dàn 平淡 (plainness and simplicity). Sū’s own poetry style, particularly the Huìzhōu 惠州 and Hǎinán 海南 phases, is in conscious imitation of this tradition.
Links
- Wei Yingwu (Wikipedia)
- Wei Yingwu (Wikidata Q713121)
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §54 (Tang literature).