Sòng Zhīwèn jí 宋之問集
The Collection of Sòng Zhī-wèn by 宋之問 (撰), 張元濟 (撰校勘記)
About the work
The Sìbù cóngkān (二編 èrbiān) SBCK reprint, in 2 juǎn, of the verse collection of Sòng Zhīwèn 宋之問 宋之問 (656–712, zì Yánqīng 延清), one of the great early-Táng court poets of the WǔHòu / Zhōngzōng / Ruìzōng / Xuánzōng transition, paired with Shěn Quánqī 沈佺期 in the canonical ShěnSòng 沈宋 partnership that perfected the jìntǐ (regulated verse) form. Curiously placed in KR4c (which catalogs late-Táng authors); his actual literary period is c. 670s–710s, much earlier than the surrounding entries.
Sòng’s career was politically catastrophic: a courtier of Empress Wǔ Zétiān 武則天, then of her sons Zhōngzōng and Ruìzōng, with multiple banishments for political alignments and personal enmities; finally executed in Xiāntiān 1 (712) under Xuánzōng on charges of having served the Emperor’s enemies. Despite his moral disgrace, Sòng’s technical mastery of lǜshī — particularly the qīlǜ (seven-character regulated form) — made him canonical: Yán Yǔ’s Cānglàng shīhuà singled out ShěnSòng as the perfecters of the form. The Dùjiā shān ér jiā xióngshī couplet “lǐngwài yīnshū jué / jīngdōng fù lì chūn” is among the most-anthologized early-Táng lines.
The collection includes Zhāng Yuánjì’s 張元濟 張元濟 jiàokānjì (collation notes) — the SBCK editorial supplement standard for the SBCK 二編 series.
Prefaces
The SBCK 上卷 base text opens with two fù (rhapsodies): the Qiūlián fù 秋蓮賦 (Autumn-Lotus Rhapsody, with preface) and a second fù; followed by 39 5-character gǔshī and 16 7-character gǔshī. The Qiūlián fù preface dates the piece to Tiānshòu 1 (690), when Sòng was on duty at the imperial palace alongside Yáng Jiǒng 楊炯 — confirming Sòng’s Wǔzhōu-period tenure.
Abstract
Sòng Zhīwèn’s collection is a key document of the formative period of Chinese regulated verse. The ShěnSòng pair codified the tonal-pattern rules and structural conventions that became the canonical jìntǐ shape, which then governed the ShèngTáng (high-Tang) practice of Lǐ Bái, Dù Fǔ, Wáng Wéi, and the rest. CBDB id 31560 gives 656–712. Sòng’s verse, despite his moral disgrace, has remained continuously canonical from Cānglàng shīhuà through to modern critical editions.
The placement of this early-Táng poet in KR4c (alongside WǎnTáng and Wǔdài authors) is anomalous — the catalog appears to follow the SBCK’s own organizational sequence rather than chronological order.
Translations and research
- Owen, Stephen. 1977. The Poetry of the Early T’ang. Yale UP. Treats Shěn Quán-qī and Sòng Zhī-wèn as central pair.
- 陶敏 Táo Mǐn. 2001. Shěn Quán-qī Sòng Zhī-wèn jí jiào-zhù 沈佺期宋之問集校注. Zhōng-huá.
Other points of interest
The placement of an early-Táng poet (656–712) among WǎnTáng and Wǔdài collections in this KR4c sequence is best explained by the SBCK editorial sequence (the èrbiān recovered earlier-Táng minor collections that had been omitted from the chūbiān) being followed by KR cataloguers regardless of chronology. Sòng Zhīwèn’s actual literary-historical position is much earlier — adjacent to KR4c0001-style collections of the ChūTáng generation.