Wei Qingzhi: Poet's Jade Splinters translated by Tony Barnstone and Chou Ping

American Poetry Review, The, Nov 1995 by Wei Qingzhi

Poets' Jade Splinters is an extraordinary Song Dynasty collection of aphoristic prescriptions, humorous anecdotes about poetry and poets, epigrammatic commentaries, and rules for composing literature. It is considered the finest collection of its type, which reflects the excellent taste of its editor, Wei Qingzhi. Wei was a native of Fuzhou City, Fujian Province. Very little is known about him. We don't know when he was born or died and not much is known of his life except that despite indications of great talent he eschewed the path of the scholar official. We also know that he was a great lover of chrysanthemum bushes--so great that he planted a thousand of them!

Wei's twenty-volume anthology brings together a superlative collection of a form of brief jottings called shi hua, which translates as "poetry talk," or "comments on poetry." Though Wei's dates are unknown, we do know that Huang Sheng's preface to the book was written in 1244, so the book must have been compiled before then. It is a compilation of earlier works, some of them dating from the Tang dynasty or earlier, though the actual genre of "poetry talk" is considered to have originated in the Song dynasty with Ouyang Xiu's (1007-1072) much-imitated collection of twenty-eight literary commentaries that he titled simply Comments on Poetry (though it later took the name Mr. Six-One's Comments on Poetry). In fact many of Ouyang's comments are included in Jade Splinters, though in expanded, contracted, and otherwise adapted forms With one exception, therefore, we've chosen to separate out Ouyang's comments, translate them from more authoritative sources, and append them at the end. Ouyang's modest goal in his work was to make a collection that would "aid casual conversation," and while later authors and compilers continued to value casually pithy and humorous comments, they also set more serious goals of distinguishing genres, recording virtue, and systematizing the writing of literature. Taoist, Buddhist, and Confucian elements run throughout the selections included in Jade Splinters, and the title itself alludes to a Taoist alchemical medicine said to grant immortality. It may also metaphorically refer to the process of writing poetry as one of cutting gems. These critical jottings are like jade dust and splinters, a beautiful byproduct.

The poetic advice that Jade Splinter's many authors give will sound familiar to teachers of creative writing today: all cliches must go; be specific; don't try too hard; ruthlessly discard whatever doesn't work; simplicity is hard to achieve; you can't be a writer if you're too lazy to read. When wrapped in a tale, a joke, a fascinating metaphor, or in an apt example, such poetic medicine goes down very easily. Like the aphorisms of Nietzsche or Matthew Arnold, the literary humor of Oscar Wilde or the letters and prose jottings of Rainer Maria Rilke, these brief wonders skewer and explode pomposity, nail down essential truths, and record the literary musings of great minds in concentrated form.

Tony Barnstone and Chou Ping

Comments on poetry are like doctors' prescriptions: if they are not accurate they are useless, as a bad prescription has no medical value. So, only a good doctor can judge if the prescription is effective or not and only a good poet can know if the comments are right or not. This compilation is no easy job.

from the preface by Huang Sheng

Burning Poetry: Whenever I see my old work I want to burn the poems I hate. Mei Yaochen congratulates me: "You have made progress."

from Notes by Song Zijing

Don 't Walk Behind Others: For your work to pass through the generations you must have your own distinctive style. If you always use a compass to draw a circle and a ruler to draw a square you will always remain a slave. As the ancients say: you can't build a house inside a house. Lu Ji says: avoid the morning flower in full blossom and gather instead evening buds which are not yet open. Han Yu says: all cliches must go; this is the essence of prose. The Book of the Hermit Fisherman of Zhao River comments that this is also true of poetry. If you just repeat cliches and imitate old works without any change or original ideas, how can you become a famous poet? Huang Luzhi writes that if you follow someone you will always be behind. The first taboo in writing is to walk behind others.

from Notes by Song Zijing

Don't Beat the Ducks! Lu Shilong, the governor of Xuan State, used to enjoy caning the women registered as courtesans, the "Government Prostitutes" who served the officials. These singing girls all tried to escape, but they couldn't get away from him. Then, a Hangzhou courtesan arrived in Xuan State. Because of her beauty and talent Shilong grew very fond of her, and wouldn't allow her to depart. One day a local courtesan committed a minor offense, and when Shilong was about to cane her again, she pleaded in tears, "I don't want to deny my guilt. I'm just afraid that this beating will make the lady from Hangzhou scared." So Shilong pardoned her and let her depart. Because of this incident, Mei Yaochen wrote the following poem: