Abstract:

The phenomenon of Tang poets’ “utilizing” poem titles from Wenxuan (Selections of Refined Literature), which is mentioned in Ming poet Sun Nengchuan’s Notes in Shanxi and in Jiao Heng’s Jiao’s Collected Works, has not yet been systematically examined. With textual comparison, this thesis explores how Tang poets “utilized” poem titles from Wenxuan. It reveals that, on the level of poem titles, there are patterns such as direct adoption/expansion of titles, use of similar phrasing, and “digesting into my own words”; on the level of poetic lines, there are two dimensions, that is, “utilizing poem titles” and “adopting expressions and words”. Tang poetry may either incorporate an entire title from Wenxuan along with its associated allusion context, or selectively borrow some words from such a title and achieve a creative transformation. The reason why Tang poets could so seamlessly utilize poem titles from Wenxuan is partly due to the relevance of factors such as human affairs and geography, and partly because of the alignment between Tang literary contexts and those of the Han, Wei, and Six Dynasties. Meanwhile, these two internal approaches are grounded in the poetic laws inherent in poem titles from Wenxuan. This study reconsiders the issue of the “allusions in poem titles” in the collation and annotation of Tang poetry: we should not only pay attention to “ancient allusions” and “contemporary” allusions in Tang poetry, but also to the “allusions in poem titles”, observing how poem titles in the Tang dynasty were influenced by those before.

Key words: Tang poetry, Wenxuan, “utilization”, poem titles