Song Poetry Anthology and Notes

Author: Qian Zhongshu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1985-09-29
Features: As a master of Chinese classics, Mr. Qian Zhongshu has long been dedicated to the study of Song Dynasty poetry. In his book Talks on Art written in the 1940s, his comments on Song poetry already contained many original insights. During the 1950s, when selecting and annotating Song poems, he further elaborated on the characteristics and achievements of Song poetry, as well as on the evaluation of poets and poetic schools, and on annotations in ways that others had not previously done, proposing a series of enlightening perspectives that garnered widespread response both in China and abroad. Regarding the main changes and schools of Song Dynasty poetry, some insights are shared in the brief evaluations of the selected poets; regarding the historical context reflected in the poems, some explanations are also provided in the annotations of the selected works. There is no need to repeat them here, only a few additional points are added.
The Song Dynasty restored the chaotic and fragmented state of the late Tang and Five Dynasties periods, achieving a relatively long period of unity and stability, which led to the saying in the Yuan Dynasty that the Han, Tang, and Song formed the "later three dynasties." However, the Song Dynasty's power was far inferior to that of the Han and Tang. This is evident from the title of a poem by Lu You: Midnight on the Eleventh of May, in a dream I followed the imperial army in a personal campaign to reclaim the former Han and Tang territories.
Below, The Farmer's Words by Mei Yaojun and Poverty of the Woman from Rufu are selected, with annotations citing Sima Guang's Reply to His Son on the to illustrate the miserable conditions of the archers drafted at the time. This is an example of a reflective approach. Below, The Bridge at Zhouzhou by Fan Chengda is selected, with annotations citing records by Fan Chengda himself, Lou Yao, and Han Yuji to explain that the events described in the poem did not actually happen at the time and perhaps would not have occurred.