Méngyǐn jí 蒙隱集
The Méng-yǐn (Hidden-in-Mist) Collection by 陳棣 (撰)
About the work
Méngyǐn jí 蒙隱集 in 2 juǎn is the surviving recension of the poetry collection of Chén Dì 陳棣 (zì Èfù 鄂父, fl. Shàoxīng-era). His father Chén Rǔxī 陳汝錫 (zì Shīyǔ 師予, jìnshì 1097, ended as Zhèdōng ānfǔshǐ) was a poet appreciated by Huáng Tíngjiān 黃庭堅 (the Yuányòu line). Chén Dì entered office through fùrèn (paternal-merit) and held a tōngpàn of Tánzhōu post (per Líng Dízhī’s Wànxìng tǒngpǔ); the collection’s Shígǒuqǐjú shī xù says he held office at Tóngchuān — perhaps initially a Tóngchuān yuán (functionary), later ending at Tánzhōu. Chén Dì has no separate biographical record. CBDB id 3064 (no dates).
Tiyao
The Sìkù tíyào: the Méngyǐn jí in 2 juǎn was composed by Chén Dì of the Sòng. Chén Dì’s beginning-and-end is not recorded in the various books. Only Líng Dízhī’s Wànxìng tǒngpǔ records: Chén Rǔxī, zì Shīyǔ, Shàoshèng 4 (1097) jìnshì, held office to Zhèdōng ānfǔshǐ; son Dì, zì Èfù, by paternal-merit ended as Tōngpàn Tánzhōu. Now examining the collection’s Zhījūn Liúgōng wǎncí third piece self-note saying “Shàoxīng chū xiānzǐ shuài Yuè”, with [Liú]‘s timing-and-rank both matching, this should be the man.
Only the genealogy says Tōngpàn Tánzhōu — but the collection’s Shígǒuqǐjú shī preface says “Pú guān Tóngchuān”; further has the line “Wǒ jīn zuò yuàn cháng kǔ jī” — slightly inconsistent. Perhaps initially served as Tóngchuān yuán (functionary), later eventually transferred to Tánzhōu?
The collection has a Jiǎzǐ chúxī poem; jiǎzǐ is Shàoxīng 14 (1144) — so he is a Gāozōng era person.
The Kuòcāng huìjì records that Rǔxī once had the line “Xián chóu mò làng qiǎn / Liú wéi tòngyǐn zī” — appreciated by Huáng Tíngjiān. So the family-learning’s source comes from the Yuányòu. Chén Dì’s poetry then, at the start of the southern crossing, already pre-led the Sòng-end Jiānghú school. Probably his foot-trail traveled no more than several jùn, no famous mountains or great rivers to expand his heart-and-bowels; and those he sang-with were no more than fellow-officials chéngbù — several persons mutually weeping-old and lamenting-low; further few elders or substantial-Rú to open and develop his learning-and-knowledge — his poetic biānfú is somewhat narrow, his bǐxìng somewhat shallow — surely the situation thus.
But considering the various styles together, although lacking grand-pieces, [his work] genuinely differs from wěitǐ (false-style); largely peaceful-and-easy, close to feeling, not failing the wind-purport; compared with those who use shēngyìng huìsè (raw-and-hard, dark-and-tortuous) as remarkable-magnificent, or use bǐlǐ wúzá (vulgar-and-jumbled) as authentic — its rank certainly has a difference. Sòng-era surviving pieces are daily transmitted-and-fewer; recording and preserving — to let tányìjiā (artistic-discussers) see-the-not-yet-seen — is also not to be discarded by jīgǔzhě (those-who-investigate-antiquity).
From Míng onward, the Sòng-poetry-selectors have not reached him; Lì È in composing Sòngshī jìshì — searching broadly — also does not record his name; so the original collection’s loss is long; its juǎnzhì number is no longer recoverable. The poems are only one piece dated jiǎzǐ; the year-and-month order are also unascertainable. We respectfully follow the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn-recorded contents, by genre-division, edited as upper and lower 2 juǎn, to preserve a sketch of the outline. Qiánlóng 46 (1781), 9th month, respectfully collated.
Abstract
Chén Dì is a minor mid-Shàoxīng-era poet whose principal interest is genealogical-poetic: his father Chén Rǔxī’s verse was admired by Huáng Tíngjiān (the founder of the Jiāngxī school). Chén Dì himself, however, was an early herald of the late-Sòng Jiānghú school (the post-Cheng-Zhū popular-poetry school of the regional poetic circles), which the Sìkù editors detect in the verse. He served as a Tóngchuān yuán (functionary) and later ended as Tōngpàn Tánzhōu (per the Wànxìng tǒngpǔ).
The collection was lost completely after Yuán; the original juǎn-count is unknown. The Sìkù editors recovered the present 2 juǎn from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn. The single internally-dated piece — Jiǎzǐ chúxī (1144 New Year’s Eve) — is the only firm anchor for the collection’s chronology.
The dating bracket: 1130 (a conservative notBefore, since the Shàoxīng chū parental-mention places Chén Dì’s adulthood in the early 1130s) through 1170 (a conservative notAfter).
Translations and research
No substantial Western-language secondary literature located.
Other points of interest
Chén Dì’s collection is one of the earliest poetic witnesses to the late-Sòng Jiānghú school’s prefigurative roots, predating the school’s named consolidation by 50–80 years. His father’s tribute by Huáng Tíngjiān is a tantalizing trace of the Yuányòu / Jiāngxī line’s southern-and-late survival.
Links
No substantial external biographical resources located beyond the Wànxìng tǒngpǔ citation in the Sìkù tíyào.