Tiger Bridge Miscellaneous Poems

Author: Zhou Zuoren
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2002-01-01
Features: Zhou Zuoren had two periods in his life when he wrote classical verse in a more substantial scale. The first was from 1937 to 1945, when his works were compiled into two groups: one titled The Lute-Studio Slapstick Poems, consisting of twenty-four poems, which was later included in Before Spring; the other titled Supplementary Slapstick Poems of the Lute-Studio, consisting of twenty poems. The second period was from 1946 to 1949, primarily written during his imprisonment in Tiger Bridge Prison in Nanjing, hence the title Tiger Bridge Miscellaneous Poems.
Zhou Zuoren had two periods in his life when he wrote classical verse in a more substantial scale. The first was from 1937 to 1945, when his works were compiled into two groups: one titled The Lute-Studio Slapstick Poems, consisting of twenty-four poems, which was later included in Before Spring; the other titled Supplementary Slapstick Poems of the Lute-Studio, consisting of twenty poems. The second period was from 1946 to 1949, primarily written during his imprisonment in Tiger Bridge Prison in Nanjing, hence the title Tiger Bridge Miscellaneous Poems. On July 20, 1947, he wrote A Preface to Miscellaneous Poems, suggesting that an anthology was already being compiled. If so, it should include the already completed Poems from the Artillery Bureau, Poems from the Loyal Residence, Bygone Days, Late Winter Poems of the Year Bingxu, Summer Poems of the Year Dinghai, and the two parts of Children’s Miscellaneous Poems along with the preface. The preface states: “The collection includes over one hundred sixty poems.” The aforementioned groups total one hundred fifty-two poems, which largely aligns with this description.
Afterward, he wrote an additional poem titled Poems for Cold and Heat following the preface, the second part of Children’s Miscellaneous Poems, and the first fifty-four poems of Poems on Paintings, as well as Imitating a Wall Inscription, with the last one written on the day of his release. During his time living in Shanghai, he wrote five additional poems titled Poems for Tang Lingyuan, following Poems on Paintings. These poems were gradually added to Tiger Bridge Miscellaneous Poems.
Later, several revisions were made, including changing the title to Zhitang’s Miscellaneous Poems, but only fragments from the early 1960s, such as A Preface to Tiger Bridge Miscellaneous Poems and A Preface to Zhitang’s Miscellaneous Poems, along with two handwritten catalogs, have been preserved, which provide some insight into the additions and deletions of poems. However, the final version remains uncertain. Among the works from Tiger Bridge, only Children’s Miscellaneous Poems survives in manuscript form, published by Hong Kong Shongwen Book Company (1973), Cultural and Art Press (1991), and Zhonghua Book Company (1999) through photolithography. The rest are in manuscript form, with two known versions: one is Zheng Ziyu’s copy of Zhitang’s Miscellaneous Poems, said to be based on manuscripts sent by the author in the late 1950s, though the original has never been shown. In January 1987, Yue Lu Book Society published Zhitang’s Miscellaneous Poems based on this manuscript, incorporating adjustments and additions. The other is the copy of Tiger Bridge Miscellaneous Poems by Cha Lin, transcribed from manuscripts borrowed by Zhou Zuoren from Sun Fuyuan in the 1960s. The two manuscript versions differ significantly. The former includes more The Lute-Studio Slapstick Poems and Supplementary Slapstick Poems of the Lute-Studio but lacks thirteen poems from Poems from the Artillery Bureau, replaces Poems from the Loyal Residence with Supplementary Slapstick Poems of the Lute-Studio (missing nine poems), combines Late Winter Poems of the Year Bingxu and Summer Poems of the Year Dinghai into Miscellaneous Poems of Bingxu and Dinghai (missing eleven poems), and omits the postscripts after both sets of poems. Poems on Paintings includes Plum Blossoms and Peonies but lacks four Landscape poems, the preface is missing the final over 1,800 characters, and the annotations within the poems also vary.
In Zhitang’s Recollections of the Past: Prison Life, Zhou Zuoren discussed his poetic influences: “These were indeed heretical poems—seven-character quatrains followed the style of Niushan Zhiming, while five-character ancient poems drew inspiration from Hanshan, though perhaps even more weary and listless.” The former refers to Poems from the Loyal Residence, while the latter includes Bygone Days, Late Winter Poems of the Year Bingxu, and Summer Poems of the Year Dinghai, which are written in an ancient and robust style, straightforward and sincere. However, he clarified that his style differs from Zhiming and Hanshan, as stated in the preface: “They are closer to Buddhist aphorisms, while mine remain closer to poetry. Though their intentions are sincere, one preaches the Dharma, while the other merely expresses the private views of ordinary people.” In essence, he adopted certain forms (including avoiding the traditional artistic connotations of classical poetry) but diverged in purpose. While others sought liberation, embodying Zen aesthetics, Zhou Zuoren, as a Confucian, expressed his thoughts, drawing closer to The Nineteen Ancient Poems and Tao Yuanming’s poetry. The Lute-Studio Slapstick Poems also mentions: “There is also Shao Kangjie among them,” referring to this. Alternatively, Zhou Zuoren followed Zhiming and Hanshan in breaking away from conventional poetry, but his innovation also involved establishing something new. Thus, he stated: “Though titled ‘slapstick poems,’ their content is not mere play. The language may seem humorous, but the meaning is quite serious” (The Lute-Studio Slapstick Poems).
Children’s Miscellaneous Poems follows a different path, as he wrote: “I happened to read the humorous poems of Edward Lear, whose words are naturally gifted and beyond compare. I drew inspiration from his style,” and also called it “essentially a variant of the Zhuzhi Ci,” again not adhering to orthodox traditions, yet full of vitality, as if from the heavens. However, he still emphasized: “This volume of poems I call poetry is merely a variation of an essay on children.” The preface also highlights a unique strength of “miscellaneous poems”: “If written in prose or vernacular poetry, it could not be expressed so well, or perhaps not at all. If written in other rhyming forms, it would certainly lack this power. If attempted in prose, it would be utterly impossible.” There are a few lines in the text that are too incisive, unsuitable for prose or vernacular poetry, but perfectly suited for classical poetry, allowing him to fully leverage this feature. The five groups of poems following Poems from the Artillery Bureau reflect on his life and express his inner thoughts, their depth unmatched by other works (including later Zhitang’s Recollections of the Past), making them particularly noteworthy.
This edition is based on the manuscript of Tiger Bridge Miscellaneous Poems by Gu Lin, its first publication. The original manuscript consists of ninety-eight pages, with no preface listed in the table of contents and Poems from the Artillery Bureau at the end. In the main text, the preface appears before Children’s Miscellaneous Poems. According to Zhou Zuoren’s handwritten table of contents, the collection is titled Zhitang’s Miscellaneous Poems, with The Lute-Studio Slapstick Poems and Supplementary Slapstick Poems of the Lute-Studio listed first; if titled Tiger Bridge Miscellaneous Poems, these two groups are appended at the end. Here, The Lute-Studio Slapstick Poems and Supplementary Slapstick Poems of the Lute-Studio are listed as Appendix I, and A Preface to Tiger Bridge Miscellaneous Poems and A Preface to Zhitang’s Miscellaneous Poems as Appendix II. The above four are excerpted from Yue Lu Book Society’s January 1987 edition of Zhitang’s Miscellaneous Poems. The Lute-Studio Slapstick Poems is cross-referenced with the version included in Before Spring, while Children’s Miscellaneous Poems is cross-referenced with the photolithographic edition by Cultural and Art Press (the Zhonghua Book Company edition is a reprint based on this version, with identical content).