Sūmén jí 蘇門集
Sū-mén Collection by 高叔嗣 (撰)
About the work
The literary collection of Gāo Shūsì 高叔嗣 (1501–1537), zì Zǐyè 子業, hào Sūmén 蘇門, of Xiángfú 祥符 (Kāifēng, Hénán). Gāo was a Jiājìng 2 (1523) jìnshì, Hànlín, who rose to HúGuǎng ànchá shǐ but died at 37 sui of illness in office. The 8-juǎn WYG recension comprises 310 poems and 51 prose pieces, self-edited by Gāo before his death and prefaced by his close friend Chén Shù 陳束**. The collection’s literary-historical importance is far out of proportion to its slim size: Gāo is the principal early-Jiā-jìng counter-voice to the Qián Qī Zǐ (Former Seven Masters) Lǐ Mèngyáng / Hé Jǐngmíng HànWèi / shèngTáng archaist program. In Lǐ Kāixiān 李開先’s famous summing-up: “Hé Lǐ though seeming the greater houses, are still far from Táng; Sūmén though small attainment, is close to Táng.” Wáng Shìzhēn’s Yìyuàn zhīyán praises Gāo’s chōngdàn qīngyú (full-light, crisp-rich) as having an unspeakable mystery.
Tiyao
The Sìkù tíyào (early portion missing from the source file; available portion translated): “…year he self-edited his poetry-and-prose as Sūmén jí — Chén Shù prefaced and circulated it. At the Zhèngdé–Jiājìng turn, Mèngyáng used poetry-learning to lead the within-the-seas; the learners all cóngfēng pīmí (followed-the-wind and were-flattened-by-it). Shūsì alone took qīnghé wǎnyuē (“crisp-harmonious, tenderly-restrained”) as ancestor — mìyǒng tiányín (secretly-chanting, contented-humming) — independently raising the xīnyǐng (new-and-distinguished). Although he never openly raised a banner against Mèngyáng, the whole of the chāixǐ tūnbāo (“dismantle-and-wash, swallow-and-strip”, i.e. archaist parroting) affliction was emptied in one stroke. Lǐ Kāixiān said: ‘Hé Lǐ though seeming the greater houses, are still far from Táng; Sūmén though small attainment, is close to Táng.’ Wáng Shìměi also said: ‘LǐHé still have rise-and-fall; Xú Gāo must have no broken-echo.’ This is at the height of Běidì (Lǐ Mèngyáng) sway, yet shēnshí zhī shì (deep-knowledge gentlemen) all already trusted that he would bì chuán (must transmit). To this day, drawing-and-reading the surviving pieces — his chōngdàn qīngyú (full-light, crisp-rich) — there is truly an unspeakable wonder. Wáng Shìzhēn’s Yìyuàn zhīyán commented on Shūsì’s poetry as ‘like a high-mountain striking the qín — deep thought suddenly arrives — leaves all fall — stone-spirit naturally green’ — sayers think him good at describing. He also raised Yáng Fú’s (‘zī qīng yǐ huà, chéng qì yǐ fēi; yù xiàng néng xiān; jí jié chéng huī’ — “drawn-on the crisp to transform, riding the qi to fly — meeting form, can be fresh — once cleansed, complete radiance”) four-sentence as a zàn (praise) of his poetry. People also approve it as dǔlùn (substantial-judgement). Indeed, at that time zuòzhě rúlín (composers were like a forest), yet in discussion of fēngyǎ zhī zhèngshēng (the upright sound of the Airs-and-Elegantiae), one must take Sūmén as chēngshǒu (the foremost named) — surely not what those yánliú zhúbō (along-the-stream chasing-the-waves) could be compared with.” Compiled and presented in the third month of Qiánlóng 43 (1778). Compilers as usual.
Abstract
Gāo Shūsì of Xiángfú is the most often cited early-Jiā-jìng counter-voice to the Qián Qī Zǐ archaist program — even though he never openly raised a sectarian banner. He died young (37 sui) in 1537, and his collection — only 310 poems and 51 prose pieces in 8 juǎn — was self-edited shortly before his death and prefaced by Chén Shù 陳束. The Sìkù tíyào’s framing is positioned at the height of literary controversy: although Běidì (Lǐ Mèngyáng) was at his height of influence, even at that time deep-knowledge gentlemen were already convinced of the long-term survival of Gāo’s quieter manner. The two contemporary judgments most quoted are Lǐ Kāixiān’s — “Hé Lǐ though seeming great houses, are far from Táng; Sūmén though small attainment, is close to Táng” — and Wáng Shìzhēn’s Yìyuàn zhīyán image of “high-mountain qín-striking, leaves all fall, stone-spirit self-green.”
Date bracket: 1523 (Jiājìng 2 jìnshì) — 1537 (death). Catalog meta and CBDB 34697 agree on 1501–1537.
The original preface by Chén Shù, preserved in the WYG _000.txt, dates from the third month after Gāo’s death — “the year 丁酉 (1537)… Sūmén Gāo died ten and more days [after the illness onset]” — Chén Shù prefacing the self-edited 8-juǎn.
Translations and research
- Míng shǐ j. 287 — Gāo Shū-sì Wén-yuàn biography.
- Daniel Bryant, The Great Recreation: Ho Ching-ming (1483–1521) and His World (Leiden: Brill, 2008) — frames Gāo within the post–Hé Jǐng-míng inflection of the Qī Zǐ archaist program.
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds., Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976: entry on Gāo Shū-sì.
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28 (Míng bié-jí).
Other points of interest
Gāo is often grouped with Xú Zhēnqīng 徐禎卿 as the two “early Jiājìng” voices for whom Wáng Shìměi’s judgement — “Lǐ Hé still have rise-and-fall; Xú Gāo must have no broken-echo” — predicted lasting transmission. The Chén Shù preface, preserved in the source, is itself a substantial mid-Míng shīxù document mapping the Hóngwǔ–Jiājìng poetic history (高楊 → 李謝 → 李何 → 初唐) before introducing Gāo’s distinct xíngshì outside the archaist mainstream.