評Xiaoshan Yang, Wang Anshi and Song Poetic Culture

Xiaoshan Yang, Wang Anshi and Song Poetic Culture

Wang Anshi 王安石 (1021-1086) is a crafty poet whose quest for novelty at all costs resulted in preposterous lines that led his readers into uncertain moral territory and verged on the traitorous toward sovereign and country alike. Wang Anshi is a skilled poet whose works were grounded in careful study of the classics of Tang dynasty poetry, yet still broke new ground and projected profound meaning, especially his exquisite quatrains that all consider to best reflect his “late style.” Between these two assessments, which one captures the true Wang Anshi? The answer suggested by the new book Wang Anshi and Song Poetic Culture written by Xiaoshan Yang and published by the Harvard University Asia Center is essentially “both and neither at the same time.”