Yuan Zhen’s New Music Bureau Poetry by Tan, Mei Ah;

Short description:

This book is the first comprehensive study of Yuan Zhen’s (779–831) twelve New Music Bureau poems in comparison with those of Bai Juyi (772–846). It argues that Yuan’s poems are logically connected by music, ritual, and benevolence, and that he uses them as memorial to revive the Western Zhou order.

Long description:

This book is the first comprehensive study of the twelve New Music Bureau poems by the influential poet-official Yuan Zhen 元稹 (779–831) in comparison with the response poems of Bai Juyi 白居易 (772–846). Its new perspective on music and ritual reveals connections between Yuan’s poems that otherwise appear to have no logical relation. While Bai’s poems are celebrated for their simple and direct style, those by Yuan are criticized for being abstruse and overloaded with historical and literary allusions. This study uncovers the inner mechanism of Yuan’s poems, his role in both the revival of Confucianism and the so-called “New Music Bureau Movement” in the Mid-Tang, his vision of the significance of music and ritual in securing lasting order after decades of military conflict and political upheaval, and his innovative use of New Music Bureau poetry as memorial.

Table of Contents:

Acknowledgments

Permissions

List of Abbreviations

Chapter I         Introduction

Chapter II        Literary and Political Background

Chapter III      Music and Ritual as Means of Governance

Chapter IV      On Musical Instruments

Chapter V        On Dances with Accompaniment

Chapter VI      On the Imperial Transgression of Ritual

Chapter VII     On the Transgression of Subjects

Chapter VIII    On Benevolence 

Chapter IX      Conclusion

Appendix          Prosody of New Music Bureau Poetry

Bibliography

Index