Gǔyīn 谷音
Voices from the Valley by 杜本
About the work
A 2-juǎn Yuán-period anthology of Sòngyímín poetry compiled by Dù Běn (杜本, 1276–1350, zì Bóyuán, sobriquet Qīngbì 清碧), the recluse-polymath of Qīngjiāng (Jiāngxī). Best known as the editor of the foundational tongue-diagnostic Áoshì shānghán jīnjìng lù KR3eb051, Dù Běn here turns from medicine to literary memorialisation, assembling fugitive verse by the Sòngyímín generation that survived into the Yuán. Juǎn 1 contains 10 poets, 50 poems; juǎn 2 contains 15 poets (5 of them anonymous), 51 poems — total 30 men (4 or 5 anonymous), 100 or 101 poems. The Sìkù count differs slightly from Zhāng Jǔ 張榘’s colophon (one juǎn, 23 men, 4 anonymous, 100 poems) and from Máo Jìn 毛晉’s colophon (2 juǎn, 29 men, 100 poems) — the discrepancy reflecting later editorial reshuffling. Each poet has a brief biographical sketch (xiǎozhuàn) — except where two members of the same family are joined in a single sketch (the Kē Zhī 柯芝 / Kē Màoqiān 柯茂謙 father-and-son, and the Yáng Yìngdēng 楊應登 / Yáng Líng 楊零 grandfather-and-grandson). The collection includes a number of late-Jīn and Yuán-Sòng-transition figures whose Sòng-loyalist credentials are loose (e.g. Wáng Huì 王澮, Chéng Zìxiū 程自修, Rǎn Xiù 冉琇, Yuán Jí 元吉, Mèng Gěng 孟鯁 — all Jīn-Yuán-transition figures); Máo Jìn’s identification of these as “Sòng yímín” is approximate. The verse, by contrast with Dù Běn’s own Qīngjiāng bìzhàng jí (judged thin by the Sìkù), is 古直悲涼, gǔzhí bēiliáng (“antique-direct, sorrowful-and-bleak”), with bone-rugged style and none of the late-Sòng Jiānghú wòchuò (loose-grimy) habit. Wáng Shìzhēn’s famous Lùnshī juéjù line Shéi sì qièzhōng bīngxuě jù, Gǔyīn yī juǎn dú zhēngzhēng (“Who can equal the ice-and-snow lines in the box? — The Gǔyīn’s one juǎn rings out alone”) canonised the collection.
Tiyao
(Adapted from the Kyoto Zinbun Sìkù tíyào, since this text appears in the SBCK rather than the WYG recension.)
Your servants respectfully submit: the Gǔyīn — the Yuán Dù Běn compiled it. Běn has the Qīngjiāng bìzhàng jí already on record. The book has the end-colophon by Zhāng Jǔ stating: “These poems in 1 juǎn, total 23 men, 4 anonymous, 100 poems”. The Míng Máo Jìn’s colophon says: “Gǔyīn in 2 juǎn, Sòng-end yìmín poetry, total 29 men, 100 poems”. The present text in juǎn 1 — 10 men, 50 poems; in juǎn 2 — 15 men, of which 5 anonymous, 51 poems — should be 30 men, 101 poems — not agreeing with the two colophons. As for its dividing into 2 juǎn — also not known by whom started.
Each man has his small biography recorded — only Kē Zhī and Kē Màoqiān father-and-son together share one; Yáng Yìngdēng and Yáng Líng grandfather-and-grandson share one — total 28 xiǎozhuàn. Among them Wáng Huì, Chéng Zìxiū, Rǎn Xiù, Yuán Jí, Mèng Gěng — all Jīn-Yuán-period men. Zhāng Huáng 張璜 died in battle by yábīng (yamen-troops). Wāng Yá 汪涯 was killed by Jiǎ Sìdào for not drafting a victory-dispatch. Máo Jìn took them all as Sòng yímín — also a yuēluè dàgài (approximate-rough) generalisation only.
Dù Běn’s own Qīngjiāng bìzhàng jí is rough-and-shallow in word-and-meaning — not living up to his name. But this collection’s pieces are all antique-direct, sorrowful-and-bleak; fēnggé qiúshàng (bone-style robust-and-rising) — without the late-Sòng Jiānghú wòchuò (loose-grimy) habit. The men too are all zhàngjié shǒuyì zhī shì (sticking-to-integrity and guarding-righteousness gentlemen) — sufficient to give the poems weight. Wáng Shìzhēn’s Lùnshī juéjù says: “Shéi sì qièzhōng bīngxuě jù, Gǔyīn yī juǎn dú zhēngzhēng”. His evaluation is appropriate.
Abstract
Date. The compilation is early-to-mid fourteenth century, within Dù Běn’s life-span (1276–1350). The verse it contains is from the SòngYuán transition period (c. 1275–1300) and the early-Yuán yímín generation. The transmitted text descends through the Máo Jìn Jígǔgé print of the early Qīng.
Significance. (1) Sòngyímín verse repository. Gǔyīn is the principal short anthology — alongside the larger LiǎngSòng míngxián xiǎojí KR4h0067, the Yuèquán yínshè record KR4h0060, and the Tiāndì jiān jí of 謝翱 — of late-Sòng-transition verse. Its bone-rugged register (gǔzhí) makes it the highest-quality of these in literary terms.
(2) Loose definitional boundary. The inclusion of late-Jīn and Yuán-period figures stretches “Sòng yímín” to include all of the Sòng-Yuán-transition’s hard-pressed scholars, regardless of which dynasty they had served. The category is moral-stance more than political-allegiance.
(3) Documentary preservation. Many of the 30 poets are otherwise unknown; the Gǔyīn is the only literary trace of figures like Hóng Fā 洪發, Shī Yán 師嚴, Póyáng bùyī 番易布衣 (anonymous), Mǐnqīng yěrén 閩清野人 (anonymous).
Translations and research
- Jennifer W. Jay, A Change in Dynasties (Bellingham, 1991).
- 方勇 Fāng Yǒng, Nán-Sòng yí-mín shī-rén qún-tǐ yán-jiū — sociology of yí-mín poetic networks.
- 蕭啟慶 Xiāo Qǐ-qìng, Yuán-dài shǐ xīn-tàn — for the cultural-historical context.
Other points of interest
The high critical reputation of the Gǔyīn — concentrated on its bleak-bone aesthetic — is the textbook case of how a small thirty-poet anthology can outrank vast contemporaneous compilations on grounds of literary quality. Wáng Shìzhēn’s canonical assessment (Lùnshī juéjù) elevated the Gǔyīn in the post-Míng critical canon.
Links
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §31.4.
- ctext