Poets on this site without biographical entries elsewhere include the following. Many of their relevant poems are Yuefu Shiji lyrics.

1. 鮑溶 Bao Rong (fl. ca. 820)
   Bao Rong (ICTCL, p.53) was a late Tang "master of the lyric and lofty"
   Lyrics for Xiangfei Lienü Cao

2. 鮑照 Bao Zhao (ca. 414 - 466)
   Bao Zhao is discussed in QSCB, 4B. ICTCL, p.649, says: "the most important yuefu poet of the Six Dynasties (another name for the Northern and Southern Dynasties) and one of the most famous masters of yuefu in the whole of Chinese literary history."

   The YFSJ index includes 37 titles under his name (in 24 of the folios: 24, 27, 28, 29, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 44, 51, 55, 57, 58, 61, 63, 64, 65, 66, 68, 70, 76, 84 and 86).

   Lyrics for Bie Gu Cao
   Youlan Cao (four short lyrics)
   Zhi Zhao Fei Cao

3. 岑參 Cen Shen (715 - 770)
   Cen Shen (ICTCL, p.798), also called Cen Can, was a scholar official who traveled with 高仙芝 Gao Xianzhi on his military campaigns to Central Asia. Though best known for his ballads describing the rugged and harsh conditions in Central Asia, he also wrote many on more standard topics. His poem Fisherman (Sunflower Splendor, p.44) captures nicely the mood of Yu Ge. Those that specifically mention qin include:
   - On an Autumn Evening Listening to Mountain Recluse Luo Play Sanxia Liu Quan
   - The Qin Terrace of Fu Zijian (Preface, and three poems)

4. 陳羽 Chen Yu (fl. ca.800)
   Chen Yu (Bio/1330)
   Lyrics for Xiangfei Yuan

5. 崔顥 Cui Hao (d.754)
   Cui Hao (d. 754; Bio/2169), from 州汴 Bianzhou
   Lyrics for Huo Jiangjun, Melody of Ms. Lu

6. 崔塗 Cui Tu (9th/10th c.)
   Cui Tu (Bio/2163), style name 禮山 Lishan; from 江南 Jiangnan
   Lyrics for You Lan

7. 傅玄 Fu Xuan (217 - 278)
   Fu Xuan was "the preeminent Confucian theorist of the Western Jin period," and "his poetry is notable for its influence on later major poets." (ICTCL, pp.391/2). QSCM includes his 琴敘 Qin Xu, but it survives only through later quotes. He is also said to have written a 琴賦 Qin Fu
   His lyrics called 豔歌行 Yan Ge Xing concern the Luofu story (see Moshang Sang)

8. 顧況 Gu Kuang (c.725 - c.814)
   Gu Kuang (ICTCL p.486) was a painter, poet and calligrapher from Suzhou whose sarcastic wit led him to his early retirement from public office; he then lived out his life at 茅山 Maoshan, a famous Daoist center; references here include:
   Cai Shi Wunong
   Wu Ye Ti
   Long Gong Cao (lyrics)
   Qin Ge (lyrics)
   QSDQ, 20A, #23 and #24
   QSDQ, 20B, #14 and #15

9. 顧野王 Gu Yewang (6th c. CE)
   44649.201 顧野王字希馮 Gu Yewang, style name Xifeng, from 吳 Wu, lived during the 梁 Liang (505-557) and 陳 Chen (557-588) dynasties.
   Lyrics for Yang Chun Qu

10. 貫休 Guan Xiu (832 - 912)
    Guan Xiu, Buddhist monk (ICTCL p.509)
    Lyrics for Bai Xue
    see also QSDQ, Folio 19B, #20 and Folio 20B, #48,

11. 郭震 Guo Zhen (656-713)
    Guo Zhen (40338.343), 字元振 literary name Yuanzhen, was (Giles:) a handsome man who married a daughter of 張嘉貞 Zhang Jiazheng (later Minister of State) by picking her out from behind a screen. Zhang went to Turfan on a mission from Empress Wu, then served also as a minister of state. He has four entries in YFSJ, none in the qin section but two connect to qin titles.
    Chun Jiang Qu (uses his lyrics; they are in Folio 77)
    Wang Zhaojun (Folio 29, p. 429 has his lyrics, but Zhaojun Yuan does not use them)

12. 胡銓 Hu Quan (1102 - 1180)
    Hu Quan, nickname 胡澹菴 Hu Dan'an (ICTCL p.110)
    Qin-related poems are in QSCM, Folio 18, #27, Folio 19B, #150 and #151, and Folio 18, #117 to 119

13. 江洪 Jiang Hong (6th c.)
    Jiang Hong (Bio/xxx; 17496.179/2 梁，濟陽人 Liang dynasty, from Jiyang)
    Lyrics for Caishi Wu Nong, Qiu Feng

14. 僧皎然 Jiaoran the Monk (730-799)
    Monk Jiaoran (23241.9/3 皎然) was the Buddhist name of the poet-monk 謝晝 Xie Zhou.
    See Nienhauser, Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature, pp.270-2; also Li Ye, below.
    Lyrics in Yuefu Shiji (Folio 60, #7) for Feng Ru Song Ge

15. 郎士元 Lang Shiyuan (8th c)
    Lang Shiyuan (ICTCL, p.277)
    Lyrics for Xiang Fei

16. 李賀 Li He (791 - 817)
    Li He (ICTCL, p.536)
    Lyrics for Xiang Fei
    Lyrics for Lushui Ci (applied to Section 4 of the qin melody Caishi Wu Nong)
    a poem in QSDQ, Folio 19B, #118, praises the Reverand Ying

17. 李冶 Li Ye (d.784 CE)
    Li Ye was a highly regarded courtesan-poet (some say Daoist nun) also called 李季蘭 Li Jilan (Bio/988). See Idema and Grant (pp. 176 - 182), and Chang and Saussy (pp. 56 - 59). In the latter, Stephen Owen writes that she "seems to have been well-known among the poetic groups of the Lower Yangzi region in the 760s and 770s (a poem by the poet-monk Jiaoran suggests that she made romantic as well as literary advances)....Of her eighteen extant poems, two are clearly spurious; however, twelve of the remaining sixteen were preserved in Tang anthologies, which is a good indication of her popularity." Idema and Grant translate nine of her poems, Owen translates four. Both books translate two poems that mention qin:
    - A Song on Listening to a Playing of Sanxia Liuquan (the original is in both YFSJ [Folio 60, #6] and Qinshu Daquan [Folio 19B]).
    - Reproach from Mutual Love (the lyrics are later echoed in Xiangfei Yuan, see footnote there)

18. 梁，簡文帝 Liang Emperor Jianwen (503 - 551; r. 550 - 551)
    Details under his birth name, 蕭綱 Xiao Gang

19. 柳辯 Liu Bian (Sui dynasty)
    "Bian" is actually written 柳^巧_言, but 36236 says this is a form of 辯 created during the 北齊 Northern Qi period (just before Sui). 15002.161 says Liu Bian was a grandson of 柳惔 Liu Yan, and that his style name was 顧言 Guyan. YFSJ calls him 柳顧言 Liu Guyan
    Lyrics for Yang Chun Qu

20. 劉基 Liu Ji (1311 - 1375)
    Liu Ji (ICTCL, pp. 574-6), style name 伯溫 Bowen, nickname 郁離子 Youlizi, "born into a family noted for military...and scholarly achievements", was himself a noted essayist and poet. His essays include one describing a qin that is "unheeded until he ornaments it and buries it so that it is thought to be an 'ancient' piece". He worked for the Yuan dynasty, but also criticized them.
    See Kechuang Yehua, Daming Yitong and Chun Yu, but all the connections are tenuous.
    Not to be confused with 劉籍 Liu Ji

21. 劉孝威 Liu Xiaowei (496 - 549)
    Liu Xiaowei (Bio/677), from 彭城 Pengcheng, during 梁 Liang
    See Si Gui Yin

22. 劉禹錫 Liu Yuxi (772 - 842)
    Liu Yuxi (2270.583; ICTCL) , style name 夢得 Mengde, was from 徐州 Xuzhou (now in Jiangsu). After attaining his jinshi degree he became Censor in Chang'an, but because of "his participation in the Legalist-reform faction led by Wang Shuwen which sought to restrain the power of the eunuchs, local army commanders, and aristocratic families," he was sent into exile for 10 years in Hunan, then later again in Guangdong. He was important as an essayist as well as a poet. His poetry is said to have been influenced by his life amon non-Han minorities. YFSJ has his lyrics for the qin songs Fei Yuan Cao and Qiu Feng Yin, but no melodies survive. On the other hand, there are various qin settings for his poem Loushi Ming. The biography of Cui Caochang quotes one of his poems. And his poem Listening to a Qin is translated in HJAS 57, Ronald Egan, Music, Sadness and the Qin, p. 47.

23. 劉長卿 Liu Zhangqing (c.710-after 787)
    Liu Zhangqing (ICTCL, p.572; also: Liu Changqing)
    Lyrics for Xiang Fei
    - other poems: QSDQ, Folio 19B, #65, Folio 20A, #12, and Folio 20B, #9
    - another one is 「彈琴」: 泠泠七弦上，靜廳宋聲寒。古調雖自愛，今人多不彈。

24. 盧照鄰 Lu Zhaolin ()
    Lu Zhaolin ()
    Lyrics for Mingyue Yin

25. 邵雍 Shao Yong (1011 - 1077)
    Bio/1398; "one of the five masters of the Neo-Confucian Learning of the Way" (DeBary, Sources, Vol. 1, p. 678).
    Poems about qin are in QSDQ, Folio 19A, #22 and Folio 19B, #8
    He is also connected to Yu Qiao Wenda

26. 沈佺期 Shen Quanqi (c.650-713)
    Nienhauser, Companion, p.677, pairs him with 宋之問 Song Zhiwen (d. 712), who wrote a poem about Wangzi Qiao (see Yao Tian Sheng He).
    Lyrics for Pili Yin

27. 沈約 Shen Yue (441 - 513)
    Shen Yue, style name 休文 Xiuwen, "is probably best known as the originator of the first deliberately applied rules of tonal euphony in the history of Chinese prosody, though many have disputed this self-made claim." (ICTCL, p.680). YFSJ has over 50 entries under his name, but only two are in the qin section, Xiang Fei and Zhen Nü Yin. See also Yang Chun Qu, a Qiu Hong poem, Yu Yan, Xiao Yan and qin schools.

28. 石崇 Shi Chong (249 - 300)
    Shi Chong (24574.619) of 晉 Jin was (ICTCL, p.962) part of a narrative tradition "telling stories of the ancient days in a language which is fairly ornate but lacks originality." He was a wealthy man with a villa in 金谷 Jin Gu (41049.281, a valley on the northwest side of Loyang). Prominent people would gather here for elegant feasts involving music, art and poetry. In 300 a certain Sun Xiu accused Shi Chong of political intrigue and he was executed. Supposedly Sun Xiu had demanded Shi Chong's wife but Shi Chong refused; after his death the wife committed suicide there. As a result Jin Gu was used as an allusion to tenuous nature of wealth. See David Knechtges (trans.) Wen Xuan, III, p.202. Also ICTCL p. 962.
    Gu Yuan has an allusion to the story above.
    Preface and lyrics for Si Gui Yin
    Chu Fei Tan (YFSJ, p.435)

29. 檀約 Tan Yue (5th c.?)
    15975.xxx; Diao: 約 27858.xxx. Bio/2564-5xxx (has one Tan with a qin connection: 檀翥 Tan Zhu). No further information (YFSJ has only this one poem); if 齊 means Qi dynasty then he lived during 479-501.
    Lyrics for Yang Chun Qu

30. 湯惠休 Tang Huixiu ()
    Tang Huixiu ()
    Lyrics for Qiu Feng, Chu Mingfei

31. 王僧孺 Wang Sengru (465 - 522)
    Wang Sengru (ICTCL p. 944)
    Lyrics for Xiang Furen

32. 吳均 Wu Jun (469 - 520
    Wu Jun of 梁 Liang (Bio/1031), style name 叔庠 Shuxiang, was a well-known writer and poet from Zhejiang. He held official positions under the Qi and Liang dynasties, based in Nanjing. 玉臺新詠 (see Birrell, Jade Terrace), has 26 of his poems. Birrell's biographical note on Wu Jun says, "He did some editorial work on the Annals of the Qi Dynasty, but was dismissed for inaccuracies." Annals of Qi is 齊春秋 Qi Chunqiu. His Continuation of All Writings of the Qi dynasty (28646.85 續齊諧記 Xu Qi Jieji) is quoted in two references below. And he is also considered to have been one of the compilers of Xijing Zaji.

    Wu Jun wrote several books and poems mentioned on this site.

    1. Xu Qi Jieji; quoted for Wang Jingbo
    2. Bie Gu Cao (a poem on this theme)
    3. Cai Shi Wunong (sets a poem of his to lyrics)
    4. Tiantai Yin (also quotes Xu Qi Jieji)
    5. Zhi Zhao Fei

33. 吳邁遠 Wu Maiyuan (5th c. CE)
    Wu Maiyuan (Bio/1056) lived under the Liu Song
    Lyrics for Chu Chao Qu,
    Yang Chun Ge

34. 蕭愨 Xiao Que (6th c. CE)
    Xiao Que (32667.xxx; 11312.xxx; Bio/xxx; compare 32667.557 Bio/2105 蕭懿 Xiao Yi, d. 500 CE) has four entries in YFSJ, but I haven't found any biographical information yet. One of the poems is 飛龍吟 Fei Long Yin. His poem Listening to a Qin is translated in Ronald Egan, Music, Sadness and the Qin (HJAS 57, p. 42).

35. 辛德源 Xin Deyuan (6th c. CE)
    Xin Deyuan (39495.111), a minor poet of the Sui dynasty; 8 poems in YFSJ
    Lyrics for Pili Yin, Yi Lan Cao, Cheng Lian

36. 徐孝嗣 Xu Xiaosi (453 - 499)
    Xu Xiaosi (Bio/1951)
    Lyrics for Bai Xue Ge

37. 閻朝隱 Yan Zhaoyin (Chaoyin?) ()
    Yan Zhaoyin ()
    Lyrics for Mingyue Ge

38. 閻朝隱 Yang Juyuan (born 755)
    Yang Juyuan (Bio/863)
    Lyrics for Biegu Cao

39. 虞集 Yu Ji (1272-1348)
    Yu Ji (Bio/2404; 33531.130; ICTCL p.111, etc), style name 伯生 Bosheng, nickname 邵菴 (邵庵?), death name 虞文靖 Yu Wenjing, was a member of the Hanlin Academy as well as a well-known essayist and poet. Some sources say he composed the melody Chun Jiang Qu. QSDQ poems by him connected to the qin are in Folio 18, #50 and Folio 19A, #34 and #110). See also under Guanghan Qiu.

40. 庾信 Yu Xin (513 - 581)
    Yu Xin (Bio/2187)， 字子山 style name Zishan, also known as 庾開府 . ICTCL p.942 says, "His poetry marked a culmination of the richly innovative Six Dynasties and served as a harbinger for the flowering of verse under the Tang." References include: poems about hearing a string break, playing qin and Qiu Sai Yin, Wu Ye Ti lyrics, a comment about Cao Man, his qin named Qing Ying, and a quotation regarding qin se.

41. 張祜 Zhang Hu
    Zhang Hu (Bio/1227 has three 張祐 Zhang You and one Zhang Hu, a Tang writer "sometimes mistakenly written Zhang You")
    Zhi Zhao Fei Cao
    Si Gui Yin
    Zhaojun Yuan / Longshuo Cao
    Intoning a Sima Xiangru Qin Song (see Sima Xiangru Qin Ge)

42. 張籍 Zhang Ji (778 - ca.829)
    Zhang Ji (Bio/); YFSJ has 53 entries. These include
    Bie Ge Cao, Chun Jiang Qu and Wu Ye Ti Yin
    See also Qiu Jiang Yebo

43. 張仲素 Zhang Zhongsu (d. 819/20)
    Zhang Zhongsu (10026.322; Bio/1272), style name 繪之 or 繢之 Huizhi, was a Hanlin scholar and accomplished poet; YFSJ has 11 entries, including Chun Jiang Qu

44. 鄭允端 Zheng Yunduan (ca. 1327 - 56)
    Zheng Yunduan (Bio/xxx; 40513.xxx), style name 正淑 Zhengshu (16611.xxx), was from a prominent family in Suzhu. Women Writers, p. 131, introduces her. Pages 136-7 translate her poem 廳琴 Listening to the Qin. In it the narrator is entranced by listening to a song three times. This may suggest an aesthetic concerning short melodies or songs.

45. 朱靜庵 Zhu Jing'an (fl. 1450)
    Zhu Jing'an, also known as 朱令文 Zhu Lingwen, was originally 朱仲嫻 Zhu Zhongxian (Bio/; ) was from 海寧 Haining, northeast of Hangzhou. Her poem 染甲 Ran Jia Coloring My Fingernails (Women Writers, p. 156) mentions se, not qin (because of the rhyme).

46. 朱孝廉 Zhu Xiaolian
    Zhu Xiaolian (Bio/xxx; YFSJ has only this one entry)
    Lyrics for Bai Xue Ge

47. 莊南傑 Zhuang Nanjie (Tang dynasty)
    31795.xxx; 2798.xxx; Bio/610xxx; no further info (but there are 5 YFSJ poems)
    Lyrics for Yang Chun Qu

48. 鄒紹先 Zou Shaoxian
    (Bio/xxx)
    Lyrics for Xiang Furen

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. The plan is eventually to include all poets here. As of 2005 I was adding names from Yuefu Shiji. (Return)

2. (Return)

Return to Qin Poetry and Song or to the Guqin ToC.