| Zeng Guofan and Wang Ding’an were both representatives of the Tongcheng school,and their joint efforts to compile and select the Thirty Poets’ Anthology is quite distinctive among the ancient poetry anthologies of the Qing Dynasty.A systematic examination of the writing process and compilation purpose of the Thirty Poets’ Anthology can reveal not only its borrowings from previous selections,but also discover the poetic views contained in this anthology of Five-character poetry from the Wei,Jin and North-South Dynasties,and of course,we can also glimpse its shortcomings in compilation and commentary.The thesis is divided into five chapters below the introduction.The introductory part summarizes the research status and research methods of the Thirty Poets’ Anthology.The first chapter briefly discusses the compilers of the Thirty Poets’ Anthology and the circumstances under which the book was written.Zeng Guofan and Wang Ding’an were both figures in the late Tongcheng school,and their friendship was the premise for the creation of this anthology.The compilation process of the Thirty Poets’ Anthology was not achieved overnight,but Wang Ding’an added twenty-four poets to the six poems selected by Zeng Guofan during the Han,Wei,and Six Dynasties periods and commented on them.Through reading the family letters and diaries in the Complete Works of Zeng Guofan,and analyzing the preface and examples of the Thirty Poets’ Anthology,we can get a glimpse of the motive of this anthology.The Thirty Poets’ Anthology was produced by Zeng Guofan and Wang Ding’an for the purpose of exemplifying elegance,providing a model,and enjoying themselves.The second chapter analyzes the references of the Thirty Poets’ Anthology to other anthologies of ancient poetry.In its selective articles,Thirty Poets’ Anthology clearly refers to Xiao Tong’s Zhaoming Antholog,Guo Maoqian’s Yue Fu Poems,Feng Weine’s Gu Shi Ji and Chen Hang’s Shi Bi Xing Jian of the Qing Dynasty,and quotes and draws on the commentaries of these ancient poetry anthologies while selecting the writers’ works.Comparing the annotations in this book with those of the previous anthology,we can more intuitively see the influence of the former sages on the Thirty Poets’ Anthology.The third chapter explores the relationship between the Thirty Poets’ Anthology and the poetics of Tongcheng.Both Zeng Guofan and Wang Ding’an were figures of the late Tongcheng school,and their poetic ideas are inextricably linked to Tongcheng poetics.On the one hand,the two important poetic theories of poetry,namely,the theory of poetry by ancient literary method and the image of ancient poetry,are fully embodied in the Thirty Poets’ Anthology.On the other hand,The Thirty Poets’ Anthology presents the development of five-line poetry in the Wei,Jin and North and South Dynasties with dots and faces,outlines the changes in poetic style during the Wei,Jin and North and South Dynasties with prefaces and examples,evaluates the poets of the Six Dynasties with commentaries,and reveals the poetic-historical view of the selected family by the number of poems copied from the poets.The fourth chapter attempts to reveal the poetic value of the Thirty Poems and to explore its shortcomings.The Thirty Poets’ Anthology has poetic value,literary historical value and documentary value,but there are also some shortcomings in annotation and selection,such as the lack of attribution of the annotations and the unclear deletion of selected poems. |
