| Yan Yanzhi (384-456) holds a place in history as a prominent scholarliteratus of the Liu Song dynasty (420-479). Without family connections, he entered the political world and maintained various offices in that sphere until the end of his natural life, despite difficulties with powerful ministers at court.; He was lauded by contemporaries as well as those living in the succeeding two centuries as a master of the ornate and dense poetic style of the Yuanjia (424-454) era, paired in greatness with Xie Lingyun (385-433). As the literary styles changed, however, he fell into relative obscurity. Few modern scholars have attempted any deep study of this man or the literature which drew him so much acclaim. His shi poems, as well as his other writings, have all but been discarded by modern scholars, seen as too difficult filled with dense allusions and ornate diction. This thesis provides translation and explication of the Yan Yanzhi's lyric shi poems with particular attention given to the literary, philosophical and historical allusions contained therein, set in the framework of relevant historical background. Important in assessing Yan Yanzhi's poems are Zhong Rong's (ca. 465-518) comments from the Shipin regarding of Yan Yanzhi's shi poetry. The poems are divided thematically into yuefu poems, presentation and response poems, travel poems, and court commissioned occasional poems. His poetry draws on a variety of texts; notable among those texts are the Shi jing, the Li ji, the Yijing , and the Chuci. |
