Cuìhán jí 翠寒集
The Verdant-Cold Collection by 宋無 (撰)
About the work
A single-juǎn poetic collection by Sòng Wú 宋無 (1260–1340), zì Zǐxū 子虛, a Sūzhōu recluse-poet whose family had fled the Jìnlíng war to Wú under an adopted Zhū surname. Sòng declined a Màocái recommendation and remained outside the bureaucracy. The collection carries three prefaces — a self-preface, a Yuánzhēn yǐwèi (1295) preface by Zhào Mèngfǔ 趙孟頫, and a Yányòu gēngshēn (1320) preface by Féng Zǐzhèn 馮子振. The latter, modeled on Lǐ Zhōng’s 李中 Bìyúnjí xù 碧雲集序, anthologizes Sòng’s best couplets. The Sìkù assessment, derived from the appended Zhào Mèngfǔ autograph poem at the end of the juǎn, identifies the present recension as Sòng’s late-life self-edited collection; the Zhào preface (referring to earlier work) was preserved at the head for prestige.
Tiyao
Cuìhán jí, 1 juǎn. By Sòng Wú of the Yuán. Wú’s zì was Zǐxū, a man of Sūzhōu. He was once recommended for Màocái but declined office. The collection has a self-preface at the front and also a Yuánzhēn yǐwèi (1295) preface by Zhào Mèngfǔ and a Yányòu gēngshēn (1320) preface by Féng Zǐzhèn. However, at the end of the juǎn is a ZhàoMèngfǔ autograph poem-mss. — therefore the Zhào preface ought not stand here. From the self-preface it can be inferred that this recension is Wú’s late-life self-edited text; Féng Zǐzhèn wrote the preface and had it cut; Zhào’s preface was for an early-life work, but Zhào’s name carried weight and so was still placed at the head. Féng Zǐzhèn’s preface, modeling itself on Lǐ Zhōng’s Bìyúnjí xù, selects out Wú’s choice couplets very fully. Of those he cites, such as the Gǔyàngē’s “shénWā tà yún qù bǔ tiān, liúxià yītuán jiāohēi yān” 神媧蹋雲去補天, 留下一團焦黒煙 — this is rather rough and barely makes a verse-line. Or “yángliǔ hūnhuáng wǎn xīyuè, líhuā míngbái yè dōngfēng” 楊柳昏黄晚西月, 梨花明白夜東風 — this too loses naturalness. But Féng’s other choices are by and large precisely apposite. Overall, in qīyán gǔtǐ Wú’s verse is pure imitation of Lǐ Hè 李賀 and Wēn Tíngyún 溫庭筠, with occasional fine phrases; in yuèfǔ short pieces he often strives for fresh meaning but ends up over-fine; he is most accomplished in wǔyán lǜshī and wǔyán chánglǜ, less so in qīyán juéjù, less still in qīyán lǜshī. For wǔyán gǔshī the collection has only one piece — the Jiànyè huáigǔ — which is in nature like a ǎotǐ lǜshī (a lǜshī with disordered prosody): each couplet is paired but the píngzè tones do not fit. This must be because the wǔyán gǔ manner was not within his talent, and so he avoided it — and may be said to have well concealed his weakness. Respectfully collated, sixth month of Qiánlóng 45 (1780).
Abstract
Cuìhán jí is the principal poetic record of Sòng Wú’s career as an unsalaried Wú-region poet. The collection’s three prefaces document a 25-year arc: Zhào Mèngfǔ’s 1295 preface attests Sòng’s recognition by the leading literary figure of the early Yuán; Féng Zǐzhèn’s 1320 preface (with its selective anthology of Sòng’s best couplets in the Lǐ Hè / Wēn Tíngyún manner) marks the consolidation of his late style. The Sìkù tíyào reasonably treats the Yuánzhēn 1295 Cuìhán jí and the Yányòu 1320 Cuìhán jí as different editorial layers. Sòng’s late-Táng affinities — the surreal imagery of Lǐ Hè, the ornate ornament of Wēn Tíngyún — make him an unusual figure in early-Yuán poetics, which generally favored HànWèiTáng restoration over late-Táng decadence. Composition window: from Sòng’s earliest documented compositions (c. 1280) through the 1320 Féng preface to the Cuìhán recension.
Translations and research
- Yuán-shī xuǎn (Gù Sì-lì) — Sòng Wú’s verse is anthologized at length.
- Yáng Lián 楊鐮. 2003. Yuán-shī shǐ. Rénmín wénxué chūbǎnshè.
- Studies of Yuán late-Táng-revival poetics (e.g., scholarship on the Mèng-shān shī-huà 夢山詩話 tradition) routinely treat Sòng Wú.
Other points of interest
The unusual catalog naming convention — Wú 無 (“Non-being”) as personal name — is itself remarked on in Zhào Mèngfǔ’s 1295 preface: “from cosmic antiquity no surname has been paired with the name ‘Non-being’; the man of Wú Sòng Zǐxū has used Non-being as his name — this naming begins with Zǐxū.” Sòng’s adopted Zhū surname (ér mào Zhū xìng yún) is also recorded in the same preface, dating the family flight to 晉陵兵難 (the SòngYuán transition).
Links
- WYG SKQS V1208.4, p303.
- Wikipedia, 宋無