Jiangxi School of poetry

Overview

During the 1070's Su Shi created a group of young writers who associated themselves with him. This group included Huang Tingjian, Qin Guan, Chao Buzhi, Zhang lei, and Chen Shidao. From this small group two figures emerged that left a very distinct stamp on Chinese poetry. Huang Tingjian and Chen Shidao unexpectedly formed what came to be known as the Jiangxi School of poetry. While the Jinagzi School seems to have some roots with writers like Wang Anshi or Ouyang Xiu, Chen Shidao and Huang Tingjian are the ones given credit for really bringing this type of poetry into the limelight.

The Jiangxi school is named after the area that it is most often associated with, but in total only a handful of poets who wrote int he Jiangxi style were actually from the Jiangxi area. As stated before the Jiangxi school was not created on purpose. "there is little evidence that the men credited with starting it had any intention of creating a poetic school. It is only in retrospect that critics and later poets, eager to give a name to the new approach to poetry ... posited the existence of this school" (Owen 419). Although the main creators did die the influence of this style of poetry lasted as long as into the end of the Song dynasty.

Although the Jinagxi School style lasted for some time and was quite popular as well, there eventually came a time when the general populace became bored with the Jinagxi style of poetry. "doubts began to be ecpressed over the excesses of the Jiangxi style, which insluded a determination to be nocel to the point of strangeness, an overabundance of allusions, and a self-conscious crafting of language that often showed through and compromised the feeling of natural expression. On by one, the major poets of the early Southern Song would annouce themselves to be dissatisfied with the Jiangxi School style and develop new directions" (Owen 419).

Lu Benzhong, who actually coined the term "Jiangxi School of poetry" liked the poetry of Huang Tingjian, expressed his dislike of later Jiangxi School style poets, "Poems like Cao Zhi's "Seven Laments" are broad, vast, deep, and distant and are not something which we composers can attain. This is because they never directed their intention toward their language. Although the Jiangxi scholars of recent times take compass in one hand and right-angle in the other and expend all their effort, they mostly do not know [that they should] go beyond this. They have climbed a hundred-foot pole but cannot advance another inch and have failed to understand Huang Tingjian's intent" (Owen 504). This quote shows partly why the Jiangxi style waned in popularity. It seems that critics believed that Huang Tingjian had done right when it came to the writing of Jiangxi School poetry and as time went on, more writers in attempt to emulate the style, failed and created poems that were similar in nature, but far from true to the original style.

Lu Benzhong eventually came to dislike even Huang Tingjian's style of poetry and regretted composing a work titled "The Genealogy of the Jiangxi Poetry Society" and in a preface to a collection he claimed, "One must learn the method of liveliness when studying to write poetry. What is meant by the method of liveliness is that tone should be equipped with knowledge of the rules and yet be able to go beyond them, and be able to change in an unpredictable way without going against them" (Owen 520). This goes to show the even bigger downfall of the Jingxi School style when critics who had not previously criticized Huang Tingjian eventually did so.

The Jiangxi style of poetry did actually gain some form of renown later on when Fang Hui praised it in it's former glory. When criticizing the late the Four Lings and the Rivers and Lakes poets. Fang Hui wanted to bring back the past style and get rid of the current one, which he considered vulgar and overly refined. He even wrote about his attempts to write in the Jiangxi School style, "I was twenty when I started studying poetry, and now I am seventy six. As for seven syllable line verse, I certainly did practice the style of Xu Hun but I unrealistically looked toward [the standard set by] Huang Tingjian, Chen Shidao, Yuyi, and old Du; my energies were no math for theirs, so I withdrew to write in the style of Bai Juyi and Zhang Lei...As for five-syllable line verse. I envied Chen Shidao," (Owen 580). This also shows that even if the popularity of the Jiangxi school had waned over time, it still got some important attention from a gifted writer later on in history.

Huang Tingjian

Huang Tingjian is probably the most recognizable figure when it comes to the Jiangxi School of poetry. Regarded as on of the founders of the style, he created some of the best Jiangxi School style poetry there is to offer.

Picture of Huang Tingjian located on the wikimedia commons .

While Huang Tingjian and Su Shi are often coupled together as writers, ti becomes quickly noticeable that the two have incredibly different styles of writing. The reason for this is that the men lived at the same time and had a close relationship in which they often read and commented on each others writing.

A defining feature of Tingjian's poetry noticeable when realizing that his poetry was made of incredibly dense language that had to be closely examined to truly understand. Tingjian generally used very specific allusions and symbolism in his poems, and to understand them readers needed to have a very deep understanding of earlier writings and Chinese culture to get a strong understanding of his poems. Huang Tinjgian also used what would initially seemed like cliche verses of poetry in ways that yielded far more meaning and symbolism than on a first glance. Huang Tingjian also gave more attention to regulated verse including the seven syllable line. "To be able to write in the more restrictive forms and yet be true to the new preferences of the age was Huang's special accomplishment" (Owen 422).

Another picture of Huang Tingjian located on the wikimedia commons.

Huang Tingjian also held an important role beyond his poetry role. He spent a lot of time and effort writing about other peoples poetry. Through letter writing and other things Huang Tingjian set forth his view on the many aspects of writing poetry. He made it known to many people how to compose and evaluate poetry. Through this kind of writing he also gave advice to many young aspiring young writers. He had many interesting sayings about poetry including, "'Take the commonplace and make it elegant, take the old and make it new'; 'touch iron and transform it into gold'; Not a single word lacks literary provenance'; 'Change the bones and steal away the embryo;'develop an appreciation for ancient models and then express yourself in new and original ways'" (Owen 422).

Huang Tingjian also wrote importantly about the actual act of writing poetry. Claiming that the act of writing was like staging a play in the way that you put everything in its place and plan it out before you actually execute. He often praised people for having things structured in new and interesting ways. While Huang Tingjian was not the first writer to be emphasizing the importance of how to write poetry, it is important to note that one thing of importance involving the writing of poetry is to be well read. He often let his young student-like writers know that they had to be reading more for their poetry to flourish. He believed that a well read poet had far more poetic abilities than the ones who wrote poetry with lack of previous reading.

Another interesting thing about Huang Tingjian is his dislike towards works at the time being mass printed and distributed. Huang Tingjian grew up in a time where the books that he owned were hand copied during after hours of work and that his appreciation for those texts was greater than those whose texts were printed by someone else. He believed that the use of printed material had a detrimental effect to the ability of people to memorize, recite, and respect that writers held for written word. He felt that the result of students having many books available to them was that they left them at their sides tied shut for the majority of their days.

Calligraphy writing done by Huang Tingjian found on the wikimedia commons.

Huang Tingjian was an amazing poet, and while his particular style of poetry greatly changed in popularity, he still created some very interesting and influential poetry that survived in some way or another after his death.

Other notable writers

Chen Shidao- Upon discovering the writing of Huang Tingjian, Chen reportedly went home and burned all of his poetry in attempt to become a student of Huang Tingjian and refine his style.

Qin Guan- poet

Chao Buzhi- poet

Zhang Lei- poet

Excerpts

From Huang Tingjian's collection

"The viscount of Tube City does not have the appearance of eating meat, Brother Square Hole has written a letter breaking off relations." (420).

The first line of this poem alludes to a biography Han Yu had written about the writing bush, while the second line holds allusion to actual money because Chinese coins literally had square holes in the middle of them.

"I live on the northern sea, you on the southern, Too far apart even to entrust letters to wild geese to carry. Peach and pear in spring wind, a single cup of wine, Rivers and lakes in night rains, ten years by lamplight" (421).

While no specific literary allusions are found here this poem holds a lot of significance, "the line evokes an enjoyable setting, in which [Huang Tingjian and his friend] sat outside beneath flowering fruit trees and enjoyed a single cup of wine. Why a "single cup"? Probably to show the intimacy of the two friends, or perhaps also their impovershiment, which did not detract from their enjoyment of each other's company. The following line describes, in dismal terms, the life each has had in the ten intervening years, traveling from one dreary provincial appointment to another, plying the rivers and lakes. 'Night rains; is particularly effective, because the phrase is usually used in descriptions of reunions between friends or loved ones, who stay up talking late into the night while it is raining outside. But in Huang's usage there is no comfort or consolation to be found in the 'night rains,' and the staying up late, suggested by the mention of the lamp, is a sign of unrelieved loneliness. this couplet as been much praised by critics through the ages for its use of such ordinary language to convey such depth of meaning and emotion" (Owen 421).

Commentary

While the Jiangxi School of poetry eventually became ridiculed after it's time, it is clear that the style of poetry had a big effect on poetry when it was written. It is also clear that it holds importance in modern day as people are still writing and talking about it. I think it is some of the more important poetry that was written in Chinese history because of it's use of literary allusion and symbolism.

The literary allusion aspect of Jiangxi School of poetry is important because of the role that it played for readers and writers alike. It placed importance on previous works in a way that Chinese culture had not exactly done previously. While Chinese history shows that huge value was place on a writers knowledge of previous Chinese texts was important, as evidenced through the exams needed to be passed, I think that other Chinese historical texts relied on literary allusion in different ways. Generally writers mentioned other literary texts only in comparison, commentary, or other very specific modes of citation. Writers like Huang Tiangjian chose instead to refer to other texts in more subtle ways. Huang Tiangjian and other Jiangxi writers chose to use literary allusions in their poetry that were subtle enough that readers needed to either be well read for comprehension, or seek out the alluded texts as a means of creating understanding. This could have possibly created a more involved and thoughtful reading process instead of people being able to use only basic understanding of the classics or their own personal experience to relate to texts. The Jiangxi School of poetry helped along the idea of referencing other texts in ways that were not too obvious to the general audience. This created a complexity to their works that, while not exactly convenient or eventually popular, created an entirely new reading experience in some important aspects of writing at the time.

Another concept concerning the Jiangxi school of poetry was the use of heavier symbolism. When reading the poem by Huang Tiangjian that was mentioned in the earlier excerpts, it becomes clear that Huang had a talent for hiding deeper symbolism in writings that only seemed vaguely or easily symbolic. Huang and other Jiangxi School style writers were probably capable of layering the symbolism in a poem together in a way that, once again, created more active interaction with a text for people at the time it was written, as well as for people reading it in modern day. This type of symbolism had been present in previous writings, but the Jiangxi School style seems to have taken it to a bigger and better level. This dense unpacking of symbolism is in part what lead to the downfall of the Jiangxi School style of poetry. It seems that the general public found the symbolism a little too dense and abstract for the liking or understanding and seemingly shunned it. While it is true that poetry can become too dense I believe that the Jiangxi School was still doing something that was very fascinating and had a powerful affect on many poets and poetry for a long time to come as well as in modern day.

Looking at it historically the Jiangxi School of poetry was a very short lived phenomenon, but it is clear that there are ideas and concepts surrounding the style that has stuck with people until modern day. We would not be writing and talking about it if it were not important and it is clear that it made some interesting and important strides in the world of Chinese literature and things would not be the same with out it and its interesting uses of literary allusions and symbolism.

References

The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature Volume 1 - Kang-I Sun and Stephen Owen

Powerpoint

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