The Study On The History Of Poetry Acceptance Of Best Ten Talents In Dali Period Before Ming Dynasty

“Best Ten talents in Dali period”(BTDP for short)is a wellknown group of poets whose works show significant popularity in Dali period.Their poems are characterised as delightful,passionate and well-delineated.Poems written in later period reveal evidence of some remarkable impacts of these features on later poetry style.People pay less attention on BTDP after Tang and Wudai period,but then their importance is valued again by the world of poetry.This paper contributes to a better understanding on poems of BTDP and on the history of acceptance of Tang poetry by conducting a research on the status of acceptance of BTDP's poem before Ming dynasty from the perspective of reception aesthetics.The paper consists of seven sections:The preface firstly introduces the origin of BTDP followed by a survey of contemporary studies of BTDP's poems and research description.The first chapter emphasises on the organisation and diffusion of anthologies of BTDP's poems before Ming dynasty.Records in Chongwenzongmu published in the Northern Song dynasty generally matches with the content of Xintangshu·yiwenzhi,which is continuously used in later days.Yibaitangxiaoji mainly discusses the various versions of Qi Qian's anthology.What described in Tongzhi·yiwenlue published in the Southern Song dynasty is consistent with information provided by Xintangshu·yiwenzhi.Information about anthologies of Tong Cui and Zhongfu Ji can be hardly found in other publications,and the number of volumes of Kongshu Si's anthology is missing in Junzhaidushuzhi,also Suichutangshumu does not take the information of Lun Lu's anthology into account.The amount of volumes of anthologies of these scholars is the same as the amount described in Xintangshuyiwenzhi except for the record of Qi Qian.Additionally,the existence of difference of versions of Qi Qian and Kongshu Si's anthologies is merely mentioned in Zhizhaishulujieti which is a part of the Song and Yuan books.Tangcaizizhuan published in Jin dynasty shows that the number of volumes of Qi Qian's anthology is identical to the one mentioned in Zhizhaishulujieti.Moreover,noticeable relation between the quantity of volumes of other scholars and Xintangshu·yiwenzhi can be found in this publication.Xintangshu·yiwenzhi and Zhizhaishulujieti may be referred to for the number of volumes of BTDP's anthologies described in Wenxiantongkao.Records related to Qi Qian,Kongshu Si and Wei Geng in Songshi diverge far from records in other publications as the very beginning of it probably refers to four Guoshi·yiwenzhi in Song dynasty.Status of collection of BTDP's poems is covered in chapter 2.The five anthologies of poetry published in Tang and Wudai period include a vast amount of BTDP's poems with the exception of Caidiaoji.The Tang and Wudai is a period during which BTDP's poems receive the most attention.Following the preference of anthologies of poetry in Tang and Wudai dynasty,Wenyuanyinghua and Tangbaijiashixuan published in Northern Song dynasty largely include poems written in late period of Tang dynasty,therefore,the amount of BTDP's poems is still considerable.Tangwencui which is definitely a unique anthology at that time includes only three BTDP's poems as it only includes poems written in ancient style in order to make sure the anthology is of classic elegant.During Southern Song dynasty,poems written in late period of Tang dynasty are adored by Zhongmiaoji in which the poems imitate those of Dao Jia and He Yao,whose works imitate BTDP's poems,the percentage of BTDP's poems is therefore about 17.1% which is the largest portion during Song and Yuan dynasties.The principle of Santitangshi is combination of fiction and reality,it merely focuses on master pieces and includes 5.89% of BTDP's poems.Qianjiashixuan which primarily concentrates on Song dynasty poems includes only four poems from BTDP.In Jin and Yuan dynasty,anthologies have lowest proportion of BTDP's poems,only an extremely small amount of BTDP's poems are selected by Tangshiguchui and Yingkuilvsui.People's favour to include BTDP's poems in anthologies does not increase until Tangyin has been published.The last section of this chapter evaluates the dual properties and confusion of anthologies of BTDP's poems before Ming dynasty.Critiques of BTDP's poems are analysed in chapter 3.The chapter starts with a section that introduces the poem-writing abilities of BTDP described in Tang dynasty literature sketches and legends,which elevate celebrities of BTDP and increase the popularity of their poems based on poetical stories.Then the second,third and fourth sections discuss the critiques of BTDP's poems from Zhongxingjianqiji,Shishi and Ernanmizhi respectively.Zhongxingjianqiji simply reviews Qi Qian,Tong Cui and Gong Han as well as their outstanding work and their distinctive and personal styles.Shishi selects 13 poems from Qi Qian and one from Gong Han,the majority of selected poems are relevant to the depiction of quiet,peace and solitary places.Dao Jia who values BTDP's works cites their poems six times in Ernanmizhi.Critiques from other publications in Tang and Wudai dynasty are studied in the fifth section.Critics in this period commonly appreciate and praise BTDP's poems rather than criticise them.Chapter 4 describes critiques in Song dynasty.The first section analyses Shirenyuxie's appreciation of syntax,and discussion is made from three perspectives of 1)themes,contents;2)atmosphere,styles and 3)writing skills.The second and third section analyse critiques of Qian and Lu's poems in Song dynasty publications respectively.Quzhongrenbujian,jiangshangshufengqing are the most popular ones amongst Qi Qian's poem.In Song dynasty,Qi Qian's high status in poetry is affirmed by comparisons between Qi Qian and Shiyuan Lang and other as well as his outstanding works.The senses of caducity and sorrow from Lun Lu's works draw Song people's attention to his Wuyan poem,scene-describing and sensibility-describing poems.Section 4 analyses critiques of BTDP and other scholars in Song dynasty publications.Instead of blindly worshipping BTDP's poems,more skeptical views on BTDP's poems in Song dynasty indicate more reasonable and rational thinking and a deeper understanding on BTDP's poems.Chapter 5 states critiques in Jin and Yuan dynasties.Yingkuilvsui demonstrates a narrow understanding and a limited interpretation on BTDP's poems,since it only selects and considers beautiful and graceful lines in poems and makes evaluation according to a single poem.The critiques in Tangcaizizhuan combines references to some Tang dynasty publications and Wenfang Xin's exclusive reviews which provide distinct thoughts on BTDP's poems in a perspective that is different to the one in Song dynasty.There is no much more reviews on BTDP's poems than these two can be found in Jin and Yuan dynasties.Comparing to critiques in Tang and Song dynasties,their lack of novelty in poetic criticism is exposed.A discussion of relationship between BTDP's poems and the best age of Tang dynasty is made in the last section.Parts of people in Song and Yuan dynasties think that BTDP's poems belong to the thriving of Tang dynasty,while other parts of people think that BTDP's poems is the turning point of prosperity and the decline of the thriving Tang dynasty or the troughs between Zhenyuan and Yuanhe two peaks.In conclusion,an overview of acceptance of BTDP's poems before Ming dynasty is given.