Title

Yingkui Lüsui and the Reconstruction of the Jiangxi School of Poetry

Author

Ling Chung Wing

Genre

Article

Pages

49-85

Download

PDF

Language

Chinese

Key words

Fang Hui 方回, Yingkui lüsui 瀛奎律髓, Jiangxi School of Poetry 江西詩派, reconstruction

Abstract

    In the middle of the Song dynasty, some poets united as a group and called themselves zongpai 宗派. The group is also known as the Jiangxi School of Poetry 江西詩派. As a member of the group, Lü Benzhong 呂本中 even wrote a document called Jiangxi shishe zongpai tu 江西詩社宗派圖, which showed the structure of the group in detail. In the history of classic poetry, this phenomenon had never happened before.

    During the late Song and early Yuan, hoping to stop the waning of the Jiangxi School, Fang Hui 方回 published a collection of poems titled Yingkui lüsui 瀛奎律髓. In this book, it is obvious that Fang did not simply repeat his predecessors’ ideas. Responding to the criticisms raised in the Southern Song period, he adjusted many literary tenets of the group. For example, he suggested a concept called ‘one progenitor and three ancestors’ (一祖三宗). This concept completely changed Lü Benzhong’s original conceptualization and placed the Jiangxi School into a trend that connected it to many great poets in the Tang and Song dynasties. The reconstruction even rewrote the history of classical poetry in accordance with Fang’s standpoint. Simply speaking, Fang took advantage of the power of literary history by publishing Yingkui Lüsui at the beginning of a new dynasty.