10 27 The Latter Wei And The Western Jin

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司馬

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The old and powerful clan of the Wei dynasty, declaring the end to the Wei and founded the Jin in 265.

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晉

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The dynasty founded in 265 by deposing the last Wei emperor. The Western Jin lasted from 265 to 317 (the fall of the north). The Prince of Langye reestablished the dynasty in the old Wu capital at Jiankang, beginning the Eastern Jin.

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阮籍
Ruan Ji

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(Sizon 嗣宗, 210-263)
1. The son of Ruan Yu, one of the “Seven Masters of the Jian’an.”
one of 竹林七贤, also one of the 正始 writers
2. He served under Sima Yi and his son Sima Shi. Although hated by some in court, he was protected by Sima Zhao.
3. His poetry has often been taken as a veiled expression of his loyalty to the Wei and criticism of the Sima’s.
4. Wrote “The Great Man,” Daren xiansheng zhuan 大人先生傳; poems preserved collectively as “Singing My Feelings,” Yonghuai 詠懷 (85 poems)

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詠懷
Yong Huai

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By Ruan Ji, 82 poems in the five syllable line and 3 poems in the four syllable line.
Like many of the unclassified poems, “Singing My Feelings” are non occasional and typological. They are genuinely elliptical as if something essential were not mentioned.
Later critics often attempt to determine the particular historical situations.
Imitated by Yu Xin served as a model for Chen Zi’ang’s 陳子昂 感遇and Li Bai’s李白 古風.

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興寄

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Being stirred by something in public life and investing such concerns in a poem.

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顏延之Yan Yanzhi and 沈約 Shen Yue

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Yan (384-456), Shen (441-513). Their commentaries to Ruan’ Ji’s 詠懷詩 were preserved in the Li Shan commentary to Wen Xuan. However, Yan admitted that the particular referents of Ruan’s poems were uncertain.

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嵇康

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223-262.
1. He was executed after having been denounced to the throne.
2. Among 60 of his extant poems, 20 are four syllable line. Many of his other poems treat occult and “philosophical” topics using Daoist catch-phrases, which perhaps led to the “arcane discourse”玄言 of the Eastern Jin.

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王弼
Wang Bi

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226-249, the philosopher and author of famous commentaries on the Laozi and Classic of Changes.

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傅玄
Fu Xuan

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Born in the Jian’an period and passed his prime in the Wei.
Known for his poetic expositions and prose, including a long political and philosophical treatise called the Fuzi 傅子. His poetry was widely read in the Southern Dynasties but poorly represented in Wen Xuan. However, his poetry gives us a clear link between the poetry of Cao Zhi and that of the Western Jin weiters of the next generations.

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四愁詩

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Originally written by Zhang Heng and imitated by Fu Xuan, in order to make it more literary by raising the level of the diction.

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傅咸
Fu Xian

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239-294, the son of Fu Xuan 傅玄. His poetic exposition continues the familiar topics of the Jian’an and add new variations. For example, he has poetic exposition on 喜雨，and 感涼。

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皇甫謐
Huangfu Mi

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215-282. his most famous literary works were a preface to the “Three Capitals” of Zuo Si 左思, and “The Biographies of High-minded Gentlemen” 高士傳 in six juan.

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成公綏
Chenggong Sui

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231-273, a good representative of the generation of the 230s. His poetic expositions represents a desire for novelty, which appears commonly in Western Jin literature.

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嘯賦

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By Chenggong Sui (3rd Century). “Whistling” is clearly in the tradition of poetic exposition on music. Here whistling is represented as the music produced from the human body without the aid of artificial instruments.

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三張二陸兩潘一左

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Zhong Rong summed up the poetry of the Western Jin in this convenient phrase.
張華 (232-300)
張載 (fl. 281) and his brother張協 (d. 307)
陸機 (261-303) and his brother陸雲 (262-303)
潘岳 (247-300) and his nephew 潘尼 (d. ca. 310)
左思 (ca. 250-305)

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張華
Zhang Hua

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(字茂先，232-300) he was an eminent minister and a patron of the younger generation, including 潘岳, 左思, 陸機, 陸雲 and 石崇. His taste greatly influenced the forming of the Western Jin style.
Zhong Rong ranked him in the middle category, accusing him of “excessive ornamentation”.

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張協
Zhang Xie

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(景陽d. 307)
Being placed in the top category by Zhong Rong.
His “unclassified poems” are fine example of Jin poetic diction; some are very close to the “old poems”, but their stylistic elaboration gives old themes new poetic value.

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張協詠史詩

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On the topic of the Two Shus, Shu Guang疏廣 and Shu Shou疏受, from the Western Han, who retired at the height og their career.

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張載
Zhang Zai

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Best remembered for a pair of poems “Seven Sorrows”, 七哀詩, in which he laments the ruin of the Han imperial tombs outside Luoyang; and an inscription on Jian’ge劍閣in 281, the steep mountain in the Shu region.

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陸機
Lu Ji

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(陸平原, 261-303)
A native of Wu who went to Luoyang in 289 and won the admiration of 張華
Zhong Rong considered him the best poet of his age.
Most remembered for a set of imitations of the old yuefu and the “old poems” as well as 文赋 wen fu

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文賦

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“Fu on literature”, Lu Ji’s best known work, on a topic without precedent in the poetic exposition. It shows the capacity of the genre for analysis as well as rhetorical celebration.

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擬
ni

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Stylistic elaboration rather than simply reworking poetic material. In Lu Ji’s case, the imitator Lu Ji canonized the works he imitated.

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陸雲
Lu Yun

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(262-303)
He preferred the four syllable line, which was less appreciated than his brother’s poetry. His extant works also include poetic expositions, imitation of the Chuci, and a long series of familiar letters to his brother, which is his best works.

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潘岳
Pan Yue

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(安仁, 247-300)
1.legendary good look
2.famous for his works in elegiac genres, especially three laments for his wife, 悼亡.

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閒居賦

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“Fu on Living in Leisure”, 潘岳’s finest poetic exposition, a suburban version of the theme of withdrawal and the joys of private life.

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左思

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(太沖, ca. 250-305)
Zhong Rong characterized him as “rustic”野.
His sister 左棻(d. 300) was a concubine of Jin Wudi晉武帝
His famous works are: 8 “poems on history”詠史詩，2 “calling to the recluse”招隱詩，and “dear daughters”嬌女詩, “three capitals”三都賦

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左棻
Zuo Fen

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(d. 300)
She was respected in the harem for her literary talent, and was often commissioned to write fu on tribute items of on other occasions.

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三都賦

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A fu on the capitals of Chu, Wu, and Wei, which had taken Zuo Si a decade of work. 皇甫謐wrote a preface for it; 張載 and 劉逵 both wrote commentaries on different part; it was also praised by 張華。

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石崇

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(季倫,249-300), famous as a wealthy host and patron, as well as a writer.
The host of the Golden Valley.

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金谷

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Golden Valley, 石崇’s (249-300) estate where he held parties, gathering literary talents and notables of the period.

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金谷詩序

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The preface to a collection of banquet poems at the Golden Valley, became the model of the banquet preface.

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正始
Zhengshi

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A period of the Latter Wei, lasted from 240-49. this was the age of the “Seven Worthies of the Bamboo Grove”, and an intellectual culture of withdrawal from public life and stylized eccentricity.

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竹林七賢

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Seven Worthies of the Bamboo Grove, including Shan Tao 山濤 (205-283)，阮籍 (210-263), 向秀 (ca. 221-300), 嵇康 (223-263), 劉伶 (fl. 265) 王戎 (234-305) and 阮咸 (Ruan Ji’s nephew.

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質

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質
Substance; vigor; public seriousness and personal engagement

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文

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文
Ornamentation; light

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招隱詩

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“calling to the Recluse”, on of the new poetic topic during Western Jin. The poet sought out a recluse, praise the natural environment in which he lived, and resolved to join him.

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遊仙詩

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Wandering Immortals was a poetic topic that had strong precedents in the Jian’an and Wei, but became fully established in the Western Jin.

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詠史詩

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Another general type of poems during Western Jin. 招隱，遊仙，詠史詩 are all poems on ethical topics.

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摯虞
Zhi Yu

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(d. ca. 312)
One of the earliest anthologists. His Collection of Divergent Traditions of Literaty Works文章流別集 had long been lost; fragments of its critical introductions, 文章流別論, give important early examples of literary historical consciousness in generic traditions.

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劉琨
Liu Kun

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(271-317/8) bearing witness to the collapse of the dynasty. His “Song of Fufeng” was felt to convey a “heroic manner”.

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二十四友

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The 24 friends, a a clique formed around Jia Mi during the brief period of Empress Jia (d.300) and her nephew Jia Mi 賈謐(d.300), including 潘岳，陸機，陸雲，摯虞，左思，石崇，劉琨，歐陽建。

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文章流別集

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Collection of Divergent Traditions of Literary Works, by Zhi Yu (d. ca. 312). In 60 juan, it has been long lost, though fragments of its critical introductions, known as Wenzhang liubie lun 文章流別論, have been preserved in encyclopedia sources, giving important early examples of literary historical consciousness in generic traditions.

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扶風歌

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By Liu Kun 劉琨 (271-317/8). This poem, though with typical Jin poetic mannerism, was felt to convey a “heroic” manner. In general, however, poetry had not yet developed the range to represent large historical events such as the collapse of the Western Jin.

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傅子

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Long philosophical treatise by Fu Xuan, many fragments survive.

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古風

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Poems by Li Bai, influenced by Ruan Ji's Yonghuai.

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魏明帝
Wei Mingdi

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Cao Rui, (r. 227-239). From his reign on, the Cao emperors increasingly became puppets of the old and powerful Sima 司馬* clan, who eventually declared an end to the Wei and founded the Jin 晉* in 265. There are poems attributed to Wei Mingdi as well.

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悼亡

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Pan Yue's three laments for his wife. Although the term daowang simply means “lament for the dead,” it became so strongly associated with Pan Yue’s poems that thereafter it became a standard term for a lament for the death of one’s wife.