Lǐ Qúnyù shī jí 李羣玉詩集
The Verse Collection of Lǐ Qún-yù by 李羣玉 (撰)
About the work
Verse collection in 3 juǎn + hòují 5 juǎn of Lǐ Qúnyù 李羣玉 李羣玉 (fl. 847; zì Wénshān 文山), a Lǐzhōu 灃州 (modern Húnán Lǐxiàn) native who in Dàzhōng 8 (854) presented his verse to the Xuānzōng court via Lìnghú Tāo’s recommendation, was awarded the post of Hóngwén guǎn jiàoshūláng (Editor at the Hóngwén Academy). The catalog meta gives “fl. 847”; the Sìkù dating from the presentation (the present catalog has “854”). Lǐ was, per Zhāng Wèi’s Zhǔkè tú, the shàng rùshì (top-ranked disciple) of Bào Róng 鮑溶 (= KR4c0071)‘s bójiě hóngbá school. The collection’s headmatter preserves three documents: Lǐ’s own Jìn shī biǎo, Lìnghú Tāo’s recommendation memorial, and the imperial decree (composed by Zhèng Chùyuē 鄭處約).
Tiyao
Lǐ Qúnyù jí 3 juǎn, hòují 5 — by Lǐ Qúnyù of the Táng. Qúnyù zì Wénshān, of Lǐzhōu; Dàzhōng 8 went to court to present verse, awarded Hóngwén guǎn jiàoshūláng. Collection opens with Qúnyù’s Jìn shī biǎo, Lìnghú Tāo’s recommendation memorial, Zhèng Chùyuē’s imperial decree. Biǎo says: “gēxíng gǔtǐ + jīntǐ qīyán + jīntǐ wǔyán, four tōng (units) total 300 poems.” Liú Yǔxī’s Liǔ Zōngyuán jí xù uses 32 tōng (case-note: present text has 45 tōng — later modification). So in Tang times one tōng = one juǎn. Present 3 juǎn — already disagrees with the biǎo. Total said 300 pieces; present main collection only 135; wàijí only 113; combined less than 300. Juǎn 2 closing has a Chū Chūnmíngmén poem with self-note “at this time requesting leave to return home” — so this collection, while still divided into gēxíng gǔtǐ jīntǐ qīyán jīntǐ wǔyán, also includes post-appointment poems — no longer the original presentation copy.
Tàipíng guǎngjì records Qúnyù’s encounter with the Xiāngjūn (Xiāng-river goddess) — bizarre. The relevant poems are in the hòují juǎn 3. The first is a lament for antiquity, no lewd intent; the second describes contemporary boatwomen, irrelevant to the Two Consorts. Qúnyù was fàngdàn fēngliú (free-and-bohemian), but how could he fabricate words to insult the gods and slander the ancients? Probably his verse was popular and xiǎoshuō-makers fabricated this story to fit. Luòshén misread as gǎn Zhēn even reached Lǐ Shàn’s Wénxuǎn zhù; vernacular dānqīng (popular interpretation) often goes this way; cannot be taken as true record.
Abstract
Lǐ Qúnyù was a successful court poet of the Dàzhōng period, sponsored by Lìnghú Tāo. His verse — celebrated by Bào Róng and identified by Zhāng Wèi’s Zhǔkè tú as the leading disciple of Bào’s school — drew heavily on Xiāng (Xiāng-river) regional landscape and goddess motifs, generating a posthumous xiǎoshuō (the Tàipíng guǎngjì anecdote of his sexual encounter with the Xiāng-river goddess) that the Sìkù tíyào dismisses as fabrication. The 3 + 5 juǎn form preserves perhaps 80% of the original 300-poem corpus. CBDB has no matching entry; standard reference works (Xīn Tángshū yìwénzhì, Quán Táng wén) place him in Dàzhōng-period Húnán literary circles.
Translations and research
- 羊春秋 Yáng Chūn-qiū. 1987. Lǐ Qún-yù shī jí 李羣玉詩集 (annotated). Yuè-lù shū-shè.
- No substantial Western-language secondary literature located.
Other points of interest
The Tàipíng guǎngjì anecdote of Lǐ Qúnyù’s encounter with the Xiāng-river goddess (the Xiāngjūn, daughter of Yáo and consort of Shùn) — including her descent in dreams, the exchange of erotic verse, and Lǐ’s eventual death from her supernatural attentions — became a stock motif in Sòng cí and Yuán drama. The tíyào’s patient demolition of the anecdote on internal-textual grounds is a model of Qīng critical method.