Cáo Wénzhēn gōng shījí 曹文貞公詩集
The Poetry-Collection of Master Cáo “Wén-zhēn” [Bó-qǐ] by 曹伯啟 (撰)
About the work
The ten-juàn (plus 1-juàn hòulù) poetic collection of Cáo Bóqǐ 曹伯啟 (CBDB 35398, 1255–1333), zì Shìkāi 士開, native of Dàngshān 碭山 (Sūzhōu region). In Zhì-yuán-era recommended as Jìzhōu jiàoshòu; under Tiānlì rose to Shǎnxī zhūdào xíngtái yùshǐ zhōngchéng. Posthumous shì Wénzhēn 文貞. The collection’s alternative title is Hànquán màngǎo 漢泉漫藁. The Zhìyuán wùyín (1338) bá by the Quán-zhēn-master Wú Quánjié 吳全節 records that Cáo’s son Cáo Fùhēng 曹復亨 (Jiāngnán zhūdào xíngtái guǎngōu) commissioned the guózǐ shēng student Hú Yì 胡益 to compile and arrange the collection in 10 juàn. The original prefaces by Zhāng Mèngchén 張夢臣, Ōuyáng Yuángōng (Ōuyáng Xuán 歐陽玄), Sū Bóxiū (Sū Tiānjué 蘇天爵), and Lǚ Zhòngshí 呂仲實 were originally listed in the table-of-contents but are now lost. The Hòulù (1 juàn) was composed by Cáo Jiàn 曹鑑 on imperial commission and contains the Yùshǐtái zīwén, Tàichángbóshì shìyì, xiàngzàn, jìwén, āicí, and wǎnzhāng.
Tiyao
The Cáo Wénzhēn gōng shījí, 10 juàn, hòulù 1 juàn, by Cáo Bóqǐ of the Yuán. Bóqǐ, zì Shìkāi, [was] a Dàngshān man. [In the] Zhìyuán [era he was] recommended [and] appointed Jìzhōu jiàoshòu; [in the] Tiānlì [era beginning] his office reached Shǎnxī zhūdào xíngtái yùshǐ zhōngchéng; died; shì Wénzhēn. The collection has one alternative-name Hànquán màngǎo; following [the volume] there is a Zhìyuán wùyín (1338) bá by Wú Quánjié, calling [that] for his son the Jiāngnán zhūdào xíngtái guǎngōu [Cáo] Fùhēng who classified-it-sequentially-[and] the Guózǐ shēng Hú Yì compiled it as 10 juàn. Also called [that] there were Zhāng Mèngchén, Ōuyáng Yuángōng, Sū Bóxiū, [and] Lǚ Zhòngshí — four prefaces. This base all does not contain [them]. The zǒngmù before the four prefaces is again listed [with] the Yùshǐtái zīwén [and the] Tàichángbóshì shìyì — also all having “record” but no book. Likely transmission-and-copying lost [them].
The Hòulù, 1 juàn, is for Cáo Jiàn on imperial-commission composed bēi and xiàngzàn, jìwén, āicí, wǎnzhāng; while the zǒngmù — tídiào jiàokān, téngxiě xìngmíng — one item — also is not contained [therein]. So later persons cut [it from the volume].
[Cáo] Bóqǐ [was] born at end-Sòng beginning-Yuán; and [his] family-generations [were] in the Jiāngběi (north-of-the-Yangtze) [region]: [he] did not [become] tainted [by] the Jiānghú end-faction; also did not follow the Yùzhāng (Jiāngxī) leftover-wave [poetic style]. What [he] composed thereupon rather approaches Yuányòu gé (Yuányòu era style — i.e. the great Northern-Sòng Yuányòu literary period of Sū Shì, Huáng Tíngjiān, Sīmǎ Guāng, etc.). Only the 5-character ancient poems [are] rather inclined to róngtà (redundant-overlay) [defect]; the others all [are] chōngróng xiányǎ (harmonious-vast, leisurely-and-refined) — féngféng hū hépíng zhī yīn (vast-and-vast, the sound of harmony-and-peace). Although [he] cannot horn-and-stand-and-vie-with Yú, Yáng, Fàn, Jiē [the four great mid-Yuán poets — Yú Jí, Yáng Zài, Fàn Pèng, Jiē Xīsī] in claiming-eminence, yet [his] zhíshū xiōngyì (straightforwardly-pouring-out chest-meaning), naturally xié gōngzhǐ (harmonizing the gōngzhǐ musical-modes) — [he is] also indeed not without being a Central-Plains elegant-tune.
Respectfully collated, tenth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781). Chief-Compiler Officers Jì Yún 紀昀, Lù Xīxióng 陸錫熊, Sūn Shìyì 孫士毅; Chief-Collation Officer Lù Fèichí 陸費墀.
Abstract
The poetic collection of Cáo Bóqǐ (CBDB 35398, 1255–1333), a senior Yuán Censorate official who rose to Shǎnxī zhūdào xíngtái yùshǐ zhōngchéng (Vice-Censor-in-Chief at the Shǎnxī Mobile Censorate). Native of Dàngshān in the Jiāngběi (north-of-the-Yangtze) region — significant because the Sìkù editors situate Cáo as a “Central-Plains elegant-tune” poet free of the Southern-Sòng Jiānghú and Yùzhāng (Jiāngxī) school habits dominant in late-Sòng-and-early-Yuán southern verse. Cáo’s poetic style approximates the Northern-Sòng Yuányòu era (1086–1094) style of Sū Shì and Huáng Tíngjiān — chōngróng xiányǎ (harmonious-vast, leisurely-and-refined). Cáo cannot match the four mid-Yuán giants (Yú Jí, Yáng Zài, Fàn Pèng, Jiē Xīsī) but his “Central-Plains elegant-tune” represents the substantial northern non-elite poetic tradition.
The collection was edited by Cáo’s son Cáo Fùhēng (Jiāngnán zhūdào xíngtái guǎngōu) with the assistance of the Guózǐjiān student Hú Yì and prefaced (originally) by Zhāng Mèngchén, Ōuyáng Xuán 歐陽玄 KR4d0504, Sū Tiānjué 蘇天爵, and Lǚ Zhòngshí. Wú Quánjié 吳全節 (the senior Quánzhēn Daoist master) supplied the Zhìyuán wùyín (1338) bá — five years after Cáo’s death — completing the compilation. The Hòulù (1 juàn) was Cáo Jiàn’s imperially-commissioned biographical-memorial supplement.
Composition window: from Cáo’s adult literary activity (after c. 1280) through his death in 1333.
Translations and research
- Yuán-shǐ j. 176 (Cáo Bó-qǐ biography).
- See standard Yuán-poetry reference works.
Other points of interest
The Wú Quánjié 1338 bá preserves the lineage of editorial care: father Cáo Bóqǐ → son Cáo Fùhēng (an active Yuán Censorate official) → student-collator Hú Yì → senior-prefaces (Ōuyáng Xuán, Sū Tiānjué, Lǚ Zhòngshí, Zhāng Mèngchén) → Wú Quánjié’s authorizing bá. This family-school-and-network pattern is typical of how Yuán-era jīnshì official collections were preserved.
Links
- WYG SKQS V1202.2, p475.
- CBDB person 35398 (Cáo Bóqǐ)
- Yuánshǐ j. 176