Yán Yánzhī 顏延之 (384–456), zì Yánnián 延年, was a major LiúSòng 劉宋 poet, courtier, and literary critic. A native of Línyí 臨沂 (modern Shāndōng), he was of the same Lángyé Yán lineage that produced (much later) Yán Zhītuī 顏之推 of the Jiāxùn and Yán Zhēnqīng 顏真卿 of the Táng. His biography is in Sòng shū 宋書 j. 73 and Nán shǐ 南史 j. 34; the dates 384–456 follow these biographies. He served at the courts of Liú Yù 劉裕 (Sòng Wǔdì), Liú Yìfú (Shàodì), Wéndì 文帝, and Xiào Wǔdì 孝武帝, holding successive posts including zhōngshū lìng 中書令-rank offices and Director of the Imperial Library.
He is principally remembered as the senior figure (with Xiè Língyùn 謝靈運) of the early LiúSòng Yuánjiā tǐ 元嘉體 literary style. His poetry is collected in Wén xuǎn 文選 (which preserves the largest single ancient anthology of his work) and in the Yán Guānglù jí 顏光祿集. His five-character poems on Imperial outings and his ceremonial fù set the tone for early Southern Dynasties court literature; his polemical letters to Tāo Qián 陶潛’s defenders and his eulogy of Tāo himself are foundational documents in the reception of Tāo. In the Kanripo corpus he is the attributed author of KR3a0132 Tíng gào 庭誥 — the jiāxùn tradition’s most influential predecessor to Yán Zhītuī’s Yánshì jiāxùn. CBDB has no entry.