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楊仲弘集

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Text ID
KR4d0495
Date
1290–1323
Dynasty
元

Yáng Zhònghóng jí 楊仲弘集

The Yáng Zhòng-hóng Collection (SBCK title: 翰林楊仲弘詩集 Hànlín Yáng Zhònghóng shījí — The Hànlín Yáng Zhònghóng Poetry Collection) by 楊載 (撰)

About the work

The 8-juàn poetic collection of Yáng Zài 楊載 (1271–1323; the catalog meta gives the author-name as 楊戴 Yáng Dài, but this is a clear miswriting / typographical confusion for 楊載 Yáng Zài — Yáng Zhònghóng’s standard name; preserved as “Yáng Dài” in the catalog is a typographical slip), zì Zhònghóng 仲弘. Native of Pǔchéng 浦城 (Fújiàn). Member of the mid-Yuán four-master quartet (YúYángFànJiē) — Yú Jí 虞集, Yáng Zài, Fàn Pèng KR4d0496, Jiē Xīsī KR4d0497. Held office as Hànlín xiūzhuàn. The SBCK base derives from the Jiājìng bǐngshēn (1536) re-cut at the Bówéntáng 博文堂 by Méinán wēng Yuánhuì 梅南翁原匯 (a Jiā-jìng-era Fújiàn scholar) — a re-cut from an old recension whose text had been substantially worn-and-erased.

The SBCK base preserves multiple prefaces:

  1. Jiājìng bǐngshēn (1536) preface by Méinán wēng Yuánhuì at Bówéntáng — records his discovery of an old recension in a box and his decision to re-cut and disseminate the work, comparing Yáng Zài’s poetry to Yán Yǔ’s Cānglàng shīhuà tradition
  2. Zhìdà 2 (1309) preface by Péi Yǔ 裴庾 (zì Jìchāng 季昌) — Yáng Zài was particularly identified as the principal recent representative of Yányǔ Cānglàng (Sòng Cāng-làng-school) poetic principles
  3. Dà-dé-era preface by Yáng Zài’s friend (probable late-Sòng Pǔchéng connection) — records first meeting Yáng in Pǔchéng, mutual literary admiration, and Yáng’s poetic apprenticeship-program (yòng gōng èrshí yú nián — twenty years of dedicated training)

Yáng Zài’s poetic method: “Yòng gōng èrshí yú nián, shǐ néng huì zhūfǎ ér dé qí yī èr” (engaged in dedicated study twenty-plus years, finally able to harmonize the various-methods and obtain one or two of them). His method-system became canonical for late-Yuán and early-Míng poetic instruction.

Abstract

The poetic collection of Yáng Zài (1271–1323), second member of the mid-Yuán four-master quartet (YúYángFànJiē) and the principal Yuán-period theoretician of poetic-method as systematic technique. Native of Pǔchéng (Fújiàn). Best known for his Shīfǎ jiāshù 詩法家數 and his connection to the Cānglàng 滄浪 (Yán Yǔ 嚴羽) school of Sòng poetic criticism.

Yáng Zài’s poetic theory: “Tángshī zhǔ yú dá xìngqíng, gù yú Sānbǎipiān wèi jìn; Sòngshī zhǔ yú lì yìlùn, gù yú Sānbǎipiān wèi yuǎn” (Táng poetry [principally] aims at expressing nature-and-feeling, therefore [is] near to the Three-Hundred-Pieces / Shījīng; Sòng poetry [principally] aims at establishing argument, therefore [is] far from the Three-Hundred-Pieces). Quoted by Péi Yǔ in his 1309 preface — establishes Yáng Zài as the Yuán-era principal advocate of the Sòng-poetic-reform-via-Táng-restoration doctrine, alongside fellow Yuán theorists Yáng Wàn-lǐ-influenced commentators.

SBCK base transmission. The Jiājìng bǐngshēn (1536) Bówéntáng re-cut by Méinán wēng Yuánhuì of Fújiàn — recovered from an old worn-and-erased recension. This is the principal surviving recension. The original transmission line is otherwise sparse.

The catalog meta gives the author as 楊戴 “Yáng Dài” — this is a typographical miswriting (戴 dài ≠ 載 zài) — the actual author is 楊載 Yáng Zài, zì Zhònghóng, 1271–1323. The SBCK title Hànlín Yáng Zhònghóng shījí confirms the identity. (Preserving the catalog-typo per the project convention while flagging it explicitly.)

Composition window: from Yáng Zài’s earliest preserved poetic activity (after c. 1290) through 1323.

Translations and research

  • Yuán-shǐ j. 190 (Yáng Zài biography).
  • Stephen Owen, Traditional Chinese Poetry and Poetics: Omen of the World — context on the Cāng-làng school in Yuán reception.
  • Anne Birrell, Chinese Mythology: An Introduction — context on Yán Yǔ’s poetic criticism.
  • Numerous Yuán-poetic theory studies — Yáng Zài’s Shī-fǎ jiā-shù is a foundational text.

Other points of interest

The Yáng Zài / Yán Yǔ connection — established by Péi Yǔ’s 1309 preface and reaffirmed by Méinán wēng Yuánhuì’s 1536 preface — places Yáng Zài as the Yuán-era principal inheritor of the Southern-Sòng Yán Yǔ Cānglàng school of poetic criticism. The Cānglàng school’s Tang-restoration doctrine (taking HànWèiTáng as principal models and rejecting Sòng-period over-discursivity) becomes the canonical YuánMíng poetic-theoretical orthodoxy through Yáng Zài’s mediation.

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