Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/230

 deprived of all his ranks and offices. This was his forty-fifth year in official life, and he was seventy-one (sui). Though he might have cleared himself and remained in office, he took the opportunity to retire, living quietly at his home for the remaining seven years of his life. But half a year before his death his former titles were restored to him by special decree. According to, Wang was not accorded any posthumous honors because Emperor Shêngtsu did not approve of his close relations with the one-time Heir Apparent,. Not until fifty-four years after Wang's death did Emperor Kao-tsung, in recognition of his standing as the foremost poet of the Dynasty, confer on him the posthumous name, Wên-chien 文簡. After 1722 the third character of his name (禛) was written 正 chêng, to avoid the personal name of Emperor Shih-tsung, but early in 1775 Emperor Kao-tsung ordered it to be written in 禎 chên, which differs only slightly from the original writing.

Wang Shih-chên was a prolific writer, having to his credit, as author or editor, about a hundred titles. He is best remembered, however, for his poems which appeared in about twenty collections printed during his lifetime, and in various anthologies. Shortly before his death he edited a complete collection of his poems and essays, under the title 帶經堂集 Tai-ching t'ang chi, 92 chüan, printed in 1711 by his disciple, Ch'êng Chê 程哲. But the most popular collection is the 漁洋山人精華錄 Yü-yang shan-jên ching-hua lu, 10 chüan, edited by himself. It was copied by hand by and printed in facsimile about the year 1700 at Yangchow. There are a number of editions of this work, with annotations by various scholars, but the one most prized was printed in the 1720s and reprinted in 1767, with annotations by.

Wang also edited a number of anthologies of poetry, among them the following: 古詩選 Ku-Shih hsüan, 32 chüan, printed in 1697 (also known as 五七言詩鈔 Wu-ch'i-yen-shih ch'ao); 唐賢三昧集 T'ang-hsien san-mei chi, 3 chüan, printed in 1688; Yü-yang shan-jên kan-chiu chi (感舊集), 16 chüan, printed in 1752 by and Ma Yüeh-lu (see under ); and 倚聲初集 I-shêng ch'u-chi, 24 chüan, printed in 1660. The last mentioned is an anthology of verse in irregular metre (known as tz'ŭ), in which Wang was interested carly in his career.

Wang Shih-chên was one of the noted critics of poetry in his day; his views on this subject appearing, among others, in the following collections: Yü-yang shih-hua (詩話), 3 chüan (1710) and Wu-tai (五代) shih-hua, 12 chüan, both edited by. The most complete collection of his criticisms of earlier and contemporary poets is one edited by Chang Tsung-nan 張宗柟 with the title, Tai-ching t'ang shih-hua, 30 chüan, printed in 1760. Several short works on the technique of writing poetry are attributed to Wang, four of them containing notes taken down by his disciples. They are: 詩問 Shih-wên, 4 chüan (1676); 燃燈紀聞 Jan-têng chi-wên; 律詩定體 Lü-shih ting-t'i; and 古詩平仄論 Ku-shih p'ing-tsê lun. These were reprinted in 1793, with annotations by, and can be found in the latter's Hsiao-shih-fan t'ing chu-lu. Wang's poetic theories are also recorded in the writings of his critic,.

According to Wang Shih-chên, the essence of poetry is a mysterious spiritual harmony (called by him shên-yün 神韻) which lies behind and beyond the words. By this he apparently meant that the appeal of poetry is to the imagination and the feelings rather than to the reason. Some critics attempted to dispute the view that he originated the theory, maintaining that earlier writers had advanced it as part of the conception of sudden enlightenment held by Ch'an Buddhists. As to the technique of writing poetry, Wang laid down, in the introduction to a collection of his poems (written about 1661), the following four basic principles: (1) 典 tien, employing words and expressions which have previously appeared in classical works; (2) 遠 yüan, choosing words, not with a view to asserting explicitly the meaning of the poem, but to suggest it "from a distance"; (3) 諧音律 hsieh yin-lü, composing the poem with special regard to rhythm and rhyme; and (4) 麗以則 li i-tsê, bringing out all the beauty that is possible within the bounds of convention. These principles are well illustrated in a poem of four stanzas, entitled 秋柳 Ch'iu-liu (Willows in Autumn), which Wang composed at a gathering of poets in Tsinan, Shantung, in 1657. The poem won him immediate nation-wide recognition and soon became a popular piece for recitation. It is safe to say, however, that most of those who profess to enjoy it really enjoy its musical effect, for though the phrases and idioms allude to willows, the references are meaningless without extensive research. There are at least six works annotating the words 832