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VI. Translation, Supplement
- Hong Kong University Press, HKU
- Chapter
- Additional Information
VI Translation, Supplement 1121 Concerning [Huang-fu Sung's] tz'u,Huang Sheng praised his two tz'u to the tune of ‘Che te hsin'2 as displaying keen insight.3 1 feel they cannot be compared with his two tz'u to the tune of ‘Yi Chiang-nan',4 which have a fee1ing and flavour both deep and lingering; and 1 place them above the tz'u in that tune written by PO Chü-yi and Liu Y位-hsi.5 113 Wei Chuang's tz'u show depth of emotion and artistry in diction. Though the overall pattern may not come up to that of Li Yü and Feng Yen-ssu, he must be placed above Wen T'ing-y垃n. This can best be understood by referring to the discussion of the ancients on the relative merits of Yen Yen-chih and Hsieh Ling-y垃n.6 114 [Mao Wen-hsi's] tz'u cannot be compared favourably with those of such writers as Niu Ch'iao and Hsüeh Chao-yün. Yeh Meng-te says: ‘Wen-hsi considered a basic, direct [style best for] expressing his feelings fully,without realizing at all that this could become too trite and obvious. Those critics commenting on ordinary low-c1ass tz'u might easily 1 Comments 112 to 120 were taken from colophons in Wang Kuo-wei's T'ang Wu-tai erh-shih-yi chia tz'u chi. 2 See HCCC, pp. 39-40. 3 This remark, as recorded in Ku-chin tz'u-hua, tz'u p'的!g, A/5a, reads: ‘The poet of Hua-an (Huang Sheng) said,“Huang-fu Sung was a son-in-law of Niu Seng-ju. He became well known for his tz'u to the tune of ‘T'ien hsien tzu' but they cannot compare with his two tz'u to the tune of ‘Che te hsin' for having keen insight." , (Ku-chin tz'u-hua mistakenly writes 達官 for 達觀 4 See HCCC, p. 40. The tz'u is given in its alternate title ‘民tleng Chiang-nan'. 5 For PO Chü-yi's three 缸'u to the tune of ‘Yi Chiang-nan' see PO Hsiang-shan shih chi, hou chi, 3/12b. Liu Yü-hsi's tz'u in the same pattern are in Liu Meng-te wen chi, 切ai chi, 4/223a. For a detailed discussion of these tz'u, see Glen Baxter,‘Metrical origins of the tz'u', pp. 136-41 and Hu Shih,‘Tz'u ti ch'i-yüan' (Origins of the tz'u), pp. 7-8. 6 There is a passage in the Nan sh的, 34/3b: ‘[Yen] Yen-chih once asked Pao Chao how he would assess the relative merits of himself as compared with [Hsiehl Ling-yün. Chao replied,“Hsieh's five-word-line verse is like a freshly opened hibiscus, its naturalness is just 80 lovable. Your poetry is like a well- Supplement 89 say,“This resembles Mao Wen-hsi's ‘Tsan ch'eng kung'7 but is slightly inferior. . . ." '8 115 As a tz'u writer, [Wei Ch'eng-pa吋 must yield place to Hsüeh Chao-yün and Niu Ch'iao but is superior to Mao Wen-hsi. However, none of them can equal Wang Yen. Among the tz'u writers of the Five Dynasties period, the emperors and kings must be rated the most ski1led. Is this not perhaps because they made no conscious effort to achieve that ski1l? 116 1 would rank Ku Hsiung's tz'u somewhere between Niu Ch'iao and Mao Wen-hsi. His [first] tz'u to the tune of ‘Huan ch'i sha',that begins ‘Driven crazy by lustful spring',9 is also to be found in Yang-ch'un lu.10 It together with his several poems to the tunes of ‘Ho ch'u徊, and ‘Su chung ch'ing' comprise the cream of his works.l1 117 Chou Mi's Ch'i tung yeh圖yü says [Mao Hsi-chen's] tz'u are ‘fresh and striking and not at all artful or insipid [in the treatment of emotions].'12 1 particularly like his tz'u to the tune of ‘Hou t'ing hua只3 Not only is the meaning excellent, but the tune pattern is also unusual and c1earcut. Compared with him, Mao Wen-hsi is not worth mentioning. 118 Of [Yen Hs垃an's] tz'u only the second tz'u to the tune of ‘Lin chiang hsien'14 has a...