The Textual and Imaginary World of Ho Kyongbon (1563-1589) Young

Home , Chen Zilong, Classical Chinese poetry, Occasional poetry, Qing poetry, Tang poetry, Wang Jian (poet)

The Textual and Imaginary World of Ho Kyongbon (1563-1589)

Young Kweon

Department of East Asian Studies McGill University Montreal, Canada May 2003

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts

My sincerest thanks go to my supervisor Professor Grace S. Fong for her guidance and invaluable comments on this thesis. I am greatly indebted to her for opening my eyes to the world of women's Classical Chinese literature. Without her time and efforts put into my study at McGill, it would have been impossible for me to finish this thesis.

I am also honored and grateful to Professor Stephen Owen, who gave me insightful comments on Ho Kyongbon's poetry in the text reading session held at McGill

University. His extensive knowledge on Tang poetry and scholarly interpretation of Ho's poetry expanded my understanding of it.

My sincere thanks also go to Professor Yi Chang-u at Yongnam University for his encouragement and scholarly comments. He has been a model of a devoted and exceptional scholar to many of us who had a chance to know him.

I would like to thank some of my fellow graduate students who took the graduate courses with me. Their comments in translating Ho Kyongbon's poems were indispensable. I am also extremely grateful to Jim Bonk who put so much effort into reading my thesis, carefully editing it. Without his help, my journey would have been prolonged.

Finally, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my family members. My mother has been the most stanch supporter for my pursuit at McGill. Her devotion and encouragement has given me the strength to finish it. I also would like to thank my husband Eric for his presence and patience. I am truly grateful for his support and devotion. Abstract This thesis is a study of the Korean woman poet Ho Kyongbon (1563-1589) and her poetry. In it, I investigate Ho's two brothers' active involvement in her literary life, particularly her younger brother Ho Kyun's publication of her poetry collection, the Nansorhon chip and promotion of her literary works to Chinese scholars. I also examine late Ming and Qing anthologies which include Ho's poetry to disclose how late Ming and Qing scholars evaluated her poetry and represented her life. I argue that the attention these critics paid to Ho's literary works and talent reflected a blossoming of women's literary culture and a rapid growth in the anthologizing of women's poetry. I also undertake an analysis of Ho's poetry, with particular emphasis on the influence of Tang poetry on her poetic practice. This analysis is accompanied by a discussion of Ho's relationship to the "Tang revival movement" in which her two brothers were fervently engaged. This relationship provides a context through which to better understand not only Ho's particular interest in emulating Tang poetry, but also the very textual qualities of her poetry.

Resume Cette these est une etude de la poetesse coreenne Ho Kyongbon et de sa poesie. J'examine, dans le cadre de cette recherche, le role actif de ses deux freres dans sa vie litteraire, particulierement celui de son frere cadet en ce qui a trait a la publication de ses poemes, le Nansorhon chip et la promotion de ses ceuvres litteraires aux erudits chinois. J'examine aussi les publications anthologiques de la fin de Ming et Qing qui ont inclus les poemes de Ho afin de determiner la facon dont ces erudits ont evalue et represente sa vie. Ma discussion cherche a demontrer que l'attention des critiques face a son ceuvre litteraire et son talent reflete un epanouissement d'une culture litteraire feminine et d'un accroissement rapide d'anthologies d'ceuvres provenant d'auteurs feminins. J'entreprends aussi une analyse de la poesie de Ho. Cette analyse porte une attention particuliere a l'influence de la poesie de Tang sur sa pratique litteraire et est accompagnee d'une discussion sur sa relation avec le «mouvement de renaissance Tang» dans lequel elle et ses freres etaient impliques fervemment. Cette these fournit un contexte dans lequel l'interet particulier de Ho a emuler la poesie Tang et les qualites litteraires de sa poesie peuvent mieux etre compris. Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Chapter 1

The Literary Life of Ho Kyongbon 15

Chapter 2

The Publication of Nansorhon chip and the Influence of Ho Kyongbon's Poetry 33

Chapter 3

Textual Imitation in Ho Kyongbon's Poetry 64

Conclusion 106

Appendix 109

Notes 110

Bibliography 142 Introduction

My thesis is a study of Ho Kyongbon jfrMHI: (pinyin: Xu Jingfan, style name Nansorhon fiJ!|$T- [Lanxuexuan]; 1563-1589), the most well-known woman writer in Korean literary history. Ho lived in the Choson dynasty §Bft£ (1392-1910), during the reign of

King Sonjo (r. 1567-1608). She was born into a prominent scholarly family and, unlike most women of the time, was educated to read and write Classical Chinese. As a result of her devotion to the study of poetry and the Chinese classics, she became erudite and, over her short lifetime, produced a considerable amount of Classical Chinese poetry and prose.

After her death, Ho Kyongbon's younger brother, Ho Kyun fr"$S (style name

Kyosan ^clJj; 1569-1618) collected and edited her works and presented them to a group of Chinese official envoys visiting Choson.' These official envoys brought her works back to China and made them available to Chinese scholars.2 As her literary works began to receive favorable attention and recognition in China, a number of prominent Ming and

Qing scholars included her poems and essays in their poetry and prose anthologies and, in their commentaries, praised Ho for her brilliant literary talent. Following this very positive reception in China, the collection of Ho's poetry was published in Korea under the title ofNansorhon chip jifjigffljl (Collected Works of Nansorhon).3

Because of her significant position in Korean literary history, both Ho

Kyongbon's life and her literary works have been the topic of numerous critical studies by Korean scholars. In order to understand the focus and perspectives of these studies and to locate my own study within current scholarship, I will summarize below some of the most important recent critical studies of Ho's life and works. In the 1960s and 1970s, a substantial number of critical studies on Ho

Kyongbon's life and poetry were produced. Some of these studies focused particularly on Ho Kyongbon's life. Mun Kyong-hyon's article, "Ho Nansorhon yongu" (Research on Ho Nansorhon), is among the most important. In this article, Mun attempts to explore

Ho Kyongbon's lineage and to give information on important family members who directly or indirectly influenced her literary activities. Mun's article not only provides the reader with a deeper historical understanding of Ho Kyongbon's life and family background, but also helps the reader to understand Ho's literary works within a historical and familial context. In his analysis of Ho Kyongbon's poetry, Mun argues that

Ho Kyongbon's poetry is characterized by distinctive feminine qualities that could not be attributed to her brother, Ho Kyun.4 This argument undermines the rumors crediting Ho

Kyun with the authorship of Ho Kyongbon's poems. Mun further argues that Ho

Kyongbon's works are distinctively sorrowful and sensitive because of her unhappy married life. He goes on to claim that Ho Kyongbon's poems "Boudoir Lament" §§£§,

"Song of Colouring Nails with Touch-me-not Balsam" ^JHJE1UI7£1K, and "Crying for

My Children" y^- are archetypical examples of female poetry.5 While he offers some useful information, Mun's analysis is problematic for two reasons. First, he provides no exploration of the poetic tradition behind the styles and themes of Ho Kyongbon's poems. Instead, he simply analyzes her poems as biographical sources. Second, his statement that Ho's poetry is "archetypical female poetry" (Kor. chonhyongjoginyosong si) is debatable. The concepts of "masculinity" and "femininity," just as the definition of

"gender" itself, are socially constructed and vary throughout different cultures, historical periods, and social groups. Mun Kyong-hyon, however, uses "female" as an absolute category, making the rather broad assertion that Ho Kyongbon's poems can be taken as representative of the poetry of women.

While Mun's article focuses on Ho's life, some scholars focus instead on those of

Ho Kyongbon's poems that deal with Daoist themes. Yi Chong-un, in his doctoral dissertation entitled "Han'guk munhaksang ui Togyo sasang yongu" (Research on Daoist

Thought in Korean Literature), demonstrates how Ho Kyongbon's poetry was closely linked to Korean Daoism and its poetic expressions of immortality. Focusing on Ho

Kyongbon's eighty-seven "Lyrics of Wandering Immortals" jfilfllllSJ, he provides critical commentary from a Korean Daoist perspective. In the conclusion of his dissertation, he places Ho Kyongbon's poetry among the best of Korean Daoist literature.6 His study, while excellent in its discussion of the religious aspects of Ho's poetry, lacks an analysis of the textual characteristics which came from Ho's emulation of specific Chinese poets such as Guo Pu %^ (276-324) and Li Bai ^Q (701-762).

Kim Sok-ha's "Ho Ch'o-hui ui 'Yusonsa' e nat'anan 'son' hyongsang" (The

Image of Immortalities in Ho Kyongbon's "Lyrics of Wandering Immortals") is also a study of Ho Kyongbon's Daoist poems. His focus, however, is on the analysis of the concept of son f[i] (immortal or immortality) manifested in Ho Kyongbon's poems. He concludes that Ho Kyongbon tried to escape the miserable realities of her world, particularly the restraints imposed on her as a Korean woman, by pursuing an imaginary world, the world of immortality.7

In the eighties, women scholars began to be increasingly interested in Ho

Kyongbon's life and works. One of these scholars, Ho Mi-ja, undertook a comprehensive study that provides both information on Ho Kyongbon's life and critical comments on her works. Her book, Ho Nansorhon yongu (Research on Ho Nansorhon) includes a diversity of topics ranging from biographical information and poetry analysis, to an investigation of traditional sources related to Ho's life and works. Unfortunately, her analysis of Ho Kyongbon's poetry reveals a deficient understanding of the Chinese poetic tradition. Particularly problematic are her attempts to read Ho's yuefu poems as biographical sources. For example, Ho Mi-ja reads Ho Kyongbon's "Song of Plucking

Lotus" $R^ft as an occasional poem, taking the persona, a woman who is picking lotus flowers, to be Ho Kyongbon.8 This interpretation seems entirely arbitrary - the poem provides no information regarding its occasion of composition and there are no specific references in the poem which might allow us to read it as the poet's actual experience.

Furthermore, this mode of reading disregards the fact that in yuefu poems the poet generally speaks in the voice of a fictional persona. As Stephen Owen states:

The yiieh-fu was the form most strongly divorced from occasion, though

they too were often used in occasional situations. Yiieh-fu was a literary

experience that was repeatable in a way that occasional poetry was not.

Yiieh-fu's referents were general; it was not bound to the circumstances of

its composition; and usually the personality and biography of the author

were not the primary contexts for understanding. It was a form with

whose fictional personae the reader could identify by the various forms of

transference that occur in fictional modes.9

In analyzing several poems in the series " Written to Express My Thoughts" jftPI, Ho

Mi-ja simply comments that they demonstrate Ho Kyongbon's desire to be loved and to meet an ideal partner.10 She states that Ho Kyongbon, living in an oppressive society, expresses her desire (what she refers to as the "Lover complex" [Kor. nim compuleksu]) through these poems.'' The poems, however, show no specific references that might lead us to read the poems as an expression of her desire to be loved.

Kim Myong-hui's book, Ho Nansorhon ui munhak (Literature of Ho Nansorhon) is another comprehensive study of Ho Kyongbon. While her book covers many issues regarding Ho's life and poetry that had been raised in earlier studies, Kim's analysis of the poems is noteworthy for its emphasis on literary contexts and tradition. Her analysis of Ho Kyongbon's poetry demonstrates careful attention to the textual aspects of the poems. For example, she provides the reader with an explanation of themes and images that appear in Ho Kyongbon's poems in relation to the Chinese poetic tradition.

However, like many other Korean scholars, she often interprets the poems as biographical sources, even when there is no clear indication that Ho Kyongbon is referring to herself.

For instance, many of Ho Kyongbon's poems entitled "Stirred by My Experiences" ^iH have no reference to any particular occasion, and yet Kim Myong-hiii tries to link these poems to events that took place in Ho Kyongbon's life.12 This biographical approach, despite its problematic nature, has been adopted by many Korean scholars including Ho

Mi-ja, Kim S6k-ha and Mun Kyong-hyon, whose studies I have discussed above.

In Western academia, very little research on Ho Kyongbon has been produced so far. Only a handful of Ho Kyongbon's poems have been translated into English. Since

1984, Choe-Wall Yang-hi's doctoral dissertation and her article on Ho Kyongbon have begun to address this lack.13

Choe-Wall's doctoral dissertation, "Ho Nansorhon and Her Hansi," is very comprehensive in scope. This work not only provides an explanation of the social and cultural context in which Ho Kyongbon lived, it also examines the literary trends and literary schools of the Choson dynasty. In terms of the social context in which Ho lived,

Choe-Wall provides introductory information on Neo-Confucianism during the Choson period and also examines the status of women and the concept of class stratification in

Choson society. In explaining literary trends of the time, she discusses the different literary schools of the Choson - "Literature of Bureaucrats", "Literature of Recluse", and

"Literature of Outsiders" - using a system of classification of literary schools of the

Choson period that appeared first in Im Hyong-t'aek and Cho Tong-il's studies of Korean literature.14 Choe-Wall's attempt to summarize both the complex socio-cultural phenomenon and the political thought of the Choson period is important for its provision of introductory information to Western readers who are often unfamiliar with the historical context of the Choson. As a result, however, the breadth of her study makes for a certain lack in depth. For instance, in Chapter 1 of her dissertation, "Neo-Confucianism and Women in the Yi Dynasty," Choe-Wall ignores the social changes imposed through laws and social practices mandated by the Choson government during the fifteenth and sixteenth century. Instead, she discusses general social differences between women and men, focusing particularly on the physical restrictions of women's movement and on gender-specific roles of women and men in Choson society. In fact, the status of women in Choson society was deeply affected by laws intended to deprive women of economic power and to lower their status in a patriarchal system. As I will further discuss in

Chapter 1, these changes implemented in the early Choson (1392-1567) ultimately altered women's reality throughout the later Choson period. 7

In Chapter 3 of her dissertation ("The Hansi or Sino-Korean Poetic Tradition of the Late Sixteenth Century"), Choe-Wall focuses on what she terms "Literature of

Outsiders." Her arguments in this chapter are perplexing for a number of reasons. First, she defines "Literature of Outsiders" as the literature coming from "a group of poets whose works had moved away from traditional Confucian values." She further explains that "outsiders," although they had talent and produced many fine works, were denied the opportunity to participate in careers as scholars and officials. In her words, "outsiders" were a "socially-deprived class."16 From this marginal position they were able to openly challenge Confucian ethics. As the chapter progresses, she links Samdang siin jEiJif |#A

(the "Three Tang Talents of Korea") to the "Literature of Outsiders," stating that they shared a common ideal in the sense that both groups argued "poetry should serve as an

17 unrestrained expression of human feelings." Later, she asserts directly that the poetry of the "Three Tang Talents of Korea" was the most highly regarded among the

"Literature of Outsiders."18 While the poetry of both the "Literature of Outsiders" and the "Three Tang Talents of Korea" express dissatisfaction and disillusionment with life, she does not explain in what ways the poetry of the "Three Tang Talents of Korea"

"moved away from traditional Confucian values." Of special note is the absence of an explanation for how the poems of Ch'oe Kyong-ch'ang H?!j|l(1539-1583),19 one of the

"Three Tang Talents of Korea" who worked in a relatively high official position for a long period and never openly challenged Confucian ethics, or Paek Kwang-hun QitW]

(1537-1582),20 who was offered an official career, and was a member of a prominent lineage could possibly be described as belonging to the "Literature of Outsiders." Choe-

Wall goes on to say that Ho Kyongbon's poetry can be classed with the "Literature of 8

Outsiders" because she, as a woman, belonged to a socially suppressed group, expressed dissatisfaction with society, and turned to the world of immortals in poetry. However, in Ho Ky6ngbon's poetry, there is no indication of any intention to move away from traditional Confucian values, nor does her poetry raise any challenge to Confucian ethics.

While Choe-Wall's discussion of literary trends in the Choson dynasty addresses many new issues, her claims remain generally tentative and require further investigation.

In her analysis of Ho Kyongbon's poetry, Choe-Wall provides translations of over fifty poems (including many poems with yuefu titles) which are arranged according to poetic forms. Her analysis demonstrates a careful study of the relationship between the

Chinese poetic tradition and Ho's poetry. Choe-Wall not only provides detailed discussions of the specific genres used by Ho Kyongbon, she also includes useful annotations explaining difficult allusions and terms in the poems. Furthermore, she analyzes the technical aspects of Ho's poetry such as tonal patterns and poetic structures.

However, Choe-Wall's analysis of Ho Kyongbon's poetry contains certain arguments that are either problematic or ambiguous. In Part 2 of Chapter 4, "Study of

Her Poetic Thought," Choe-Wall states that Ho Kyongbon wrote many poems under old yuefu titles. This practice, in her view, creates suspicion in the mind of readers as to the authenticity of her poems. However, this suspicion, and the criticisms raised by several scholars regarding her lack of originality did not, as Choe-Wall argues, result from her composition of poems -with, yuefu titles. Instead, the criticism was aimed at Ho's borrowing of lines from the poems of Chinese poets. As I will show in Chapter 3, some of her poems are a clever reworking of their poems, while in other cases she borrowed lines word-for-word from their poems. Choe-Wall's dissertation on Ho Kyongbon focuses on the social and literary context of the Choson period. Like other leading scholars such as Kim Myong-hui and

Ho Mi-ja, Choe-Wall depicts Ho Kyongbon as a superb poet who was, nonetheless, a

"victim" of Choson Neo-Confucian society and the restrictions it imposed on women. Of course, despite these restrictions, Ho Kyongbon eventually became very well known in

Korea, a fact which most of these scholars attribute to the earlier reception of her works in China. However, apart from this passing reference to the poems' positive reception in

China, these scholars largely ignore the Chinese social and literary contexts in which her works first became known to the world. Addressing this deficiency, my thesis will explore the literary trends of the late Ming and Qing in which her works received great attention. As I will show, Ho Kyongbon's poetry was included in many late Ming and

Qing poetry anthologies such as Mingyuan shigui 4=i#§lNr1if (Selection of Poems by

Famous Ladies, ca. 1626), Mingyuan shiwei ^^f#f$ (The Longitudinal Canon of

Poetry by Women of Note, 1667), Guochao guixiu zhengshiji WhWiWi^j IE#p^l (Correct

Beginnings: Poems by the Flower of Womanhood of Our Dynasty, 1831), Mingyuan shihua ^^jf^frt (Remarks on Poetry of Notable Women, 1847), among others.23

These poetry anthologies have recently gained notice in the West because of the rising attention paid to Ming and Qing women's writings in Western historical and literary scholarship.24 They are, however, still unknown to most Korean scholars. Not surprisingly, given this lack of knowledge, no comprehensive study has yet been done on the relationship between the reception and reputation of Ho Kyongbon's poetry and Ming and Qing women's poetry anthologies. In order to delineate this relationship, my 10 analysis will focus on the discussion of Ho's poetry and life as represented in the biographical entries included with her poetry in the anthologies.

Many scholars in Korean academia argue that Ho Kyongbon's gender is the key

to understanding her poetry. These scholars state that her poetry has intrinsic female

Oft

characteristics and that she achieved the highest level of "female literature." Yet, by

focusing exclusively on gender, these scholars have often failed to address the fact that

her literary works were produced within the dominant literary tradition of the time. The

themes, moods, and even personae in her poems were, to a large degree, constructed

within the parameters of the Chinese poetic tradition. Furthermore, apart from a few

occasional poems, most poems written by Ho Kyongbon provide no clue to the writer's

personal experience or to her life as a woman. Looking into existing analyses of Ho

Kyongbon's poetry, it is evident that most of her poems have been interpreted on the

basis of her gender and treated primarily as biographical sources. This approach often

blinds us to the essentially conventional nature of Ho Kyongbon's poetry and to her

deliberate emulation of Chinese poets. Ho Kyongbon has even been viewed as a

"feminist" who fought for freedom and attempted to remove the restraints imposed on

Choson women. Scholars holding this view state that Ho Kyongbon expressed

dissatisfaction in her literary works by means of protest against Choson's patriarchal

society.27 This view and Choe-wall's interpretation of Ho Kyongbon's poetry as part of

the "Literature of Outsiders" stem from a reading of Ho Kyongbon's poetry based on her

gender, a woman who was a victim of Choson society.

My analysis of Ho Kyongbon's poetry will focus instead on how she

demonstrated a deep knowledge of Chinese poetic conventions in her manipulation of the 11 characteristics of the subgenres in which she worked. I have chosen specifically three major poetic subgenres in which a significant number of her poems were written:

"Frontier Poems" (Chusai qu £Blg|ft and Rusai qu Airlift), "Palace Lyrics" (Gongci

^|i|), and her poems imitating Tang fugu tH"^ (return to antiquity) poetry ("Ganyu"

^M. and "Qianxing" jjtft). In my analysis of these poems, unless a specific occasion is indicated directly in the title of the poem itself, I will not attempt to link the poem to events in her life. That is, while I acknowledge that an understanding of her life in the social and cultural context of the time is crucial to understanding her poetic thoughts in a more constructive way, this does not mean that we should understand her poetry only as biographical sources or as reflections of the condition of women in Choson society. As is evidenced by her conscientious emulation of specific Chinese poets, the context for her poetic writing was the promotion and valorization of Tang poetry of her day. It is in this literary context that we can best understand the characteristics of her poetry.

To understand the context in which Ho Kyongbon produced her literary works, it is important to mention the radically different attitudes toward women's poetry in the late

Ming and Qing and Choson society. While late Ming and Qing China witnessed an explosion in women's poetic production, in Choson society, women's poetry continued to be virtually invisible. This difference was also reflected in the presence or absence of structures that could support the growth of women's poetry. In China, a number of women during this period supported each other's writing activities and, in some cases, grouped together in a variety of poetry clubs and societies. As Dorothy Ko has pointed out, women's inner chambers became a space in which "women's culture" flourished.28

Writing in Choson society, Ho Kyongbon's circumstances were very different. She 12 seems to have had no female peers. Instead, her literary activities depended solely on her readings of the Chinese Classics and poetry collections, and the manipulation of the themes, styles, and vocabularies garnered from these readings. Since gentry women in the Choson dynasty were strictly prohibited from leaving their boudoir for travel or sightseeing (even visits to close family members were rare), Ho Kyongbon's physical and social boundaries were quite constricted. As a result, her poetry is primarily textual and imaginary. These are all important factors in understanding the general qualities of her poetry.

Recent studies of women's poetry in late imperial China have shown both the strong individual voices expressed in poetry, and the different textual strategies adopted by women poets.29 I believe that Ho Kyongbon's poetry, being highly textual and

"conventional" with little evidence of a strong individual voice, adds another dimension to our study of women's poetry of late imperial China and the Choson dynasty. To understand the stylistic qualities and thematic range of any poetry, we need to understand each individual poet as a historical subject situated in a specific time and writing within

/against particular literary traditions. My approach to Ho Kyongbon's poetry is to locate it within the larger context of Ming and Qing cultural and literary phenomena. In this way, I believe that my study will both deepen the understanding of Ho Kyongbon's poetry and contribute more broadly to the study of women's poetry.

My thesis is comprised of three chapters. Chapter 1 provides a reconstruction of

Ho Kyongbon's life based on information gathered from both traditional sources and contemporary studies. Some important occasional poems are translated and discussed along with my analysis of traditional Choson sources. My discussion focuses on a 13

Choson literary trend, the "Tang revival movement," in which a number of influential literati scholars, including Ho Kyongbon's two brothers Ho Pong fF|^(1551-1588) and

Ho Kyun, were fervently engaged. An understanding of this trend is important given the significance of the older brother Ho Pong's influence on Ho Kyongbon's literary development. This chapter will also examine Ho Pong's views on contemporary poetics and the important Chinese poetry anthologies that might have shaped his views. By examining H6 Pong's views, we will understand more fully the immediate context of Ho

Kyongbdn's poetry, and will gain important insight into her practice of emulating Tang poetry.

Chapter 2 is a discussion of Nansorhon chip, Ho Kyongbon's collected works compiled and published by her younger brother Ho Kyun. I will investigate how Ho

Kyun actively circulated his sister's poetry among Chinese envoys to Korea in order to make his sister's poetic talent known in China. Due to his enormous effort and careful planning, Ho Kyongbon's literary works became available in China and eventually brought her recognition as a poetic genius. I attempt to examine major late Ming and

Qing literary anthologies that include Ho's poetry, along with their comments on her life and works. My focus will be on the anthologies compiled by Ming and Qing women poets to show how these women poets evaluated Ho's literary works and represented Ho in biographical entries. My investigation will show that the positive and often enthusiastic reception of Ho Kyongbdn's poetry by these Chinese scholars can be best understood within the literary and social trends of the late Ming and Qing, a time during which the increasing attention given to women's literary production was accompanied by an explosive growth in the publication of women's writings. 14

In Chapter 3,1 provide an analysis of a selection of poems from Nansorhon chip.

The poems are divided into three groups according to poetic subgenres: "Frontier

Poems" (Chusai qu tBllEft and Rusai qu AUrti), "Palace Lyrics" (Gongci I^PI), and poems written in imitation of Tang/wgw poetry ("Ganyu" ^jg and "Qianxing" jmfl poems). The focus of my analysis will be on her emulation of some specific Tang poets and their poems. Therefore I will include their poems in my discussion for comparison.

In each section, I will show how H6 Kyongbon used specific poetic themes well known to earlier Chinese poets, particularly the Tang poets whom Ho chose as her poetic models. Ho masterfully handled these themes by employing poetic mood, diction, and subject matter in keeping with the subgeneric divisions. The poems that I discuss will show that Ho Kyongbon endeavored to produce poems thematically and stylistically identical to Tang poems. By doing so, she achieved her own desire to become a participant in a prominent Choson literary trend, the valorization of Tang poetry. By demonstrating a vast knowledge of Chinese literary tradition and an ability to accommodate this tradition in her poetry, she further achieved her desire to be recognized as a talented poet. 15

Chapter 1

The Literary Life of Ho Kyongbon

In this chapter, I will attempt to provide a reconstruction of Ho Kyongbon's family background and the important events in her life. In this reconstruction, I am particularly interested in examining the active involvement of Ho's two brothers in her literary life.

As I will show in this chapter, the admiration and encouragement of her brothers played a crucial role in developing her literary talent and constructing her views on poetry writing.

Focusing on this aspect of Ho's life, I will discuss in detail Ho's older brother, Ho Pong's guidance in her literary practice and his own critical judgment of contemporary poetics.

In addition, I will provide Ho Kyun, Ho's younger brother's evaluation of Ho's poetry as recorded in his own works.

Ho Kyongbon's own writings provide very little information regarding her life.

This is primarily due to the fact that the only useful sources are a few extant occasional poems, almost all of which were written to her older brother Ho Pong. Primary Choson sources, however, provide much more substantial information. Particularly valuable are her younger brother Ho Kyun's writings as recorded in his book of poetic anecdotes,

Haksan cho 'dam |]§|JL|#1§& (Stories of the Woodcutter of Crane Mountain), and his literary collection, Songsopubugo 1firffl§R&$l (Songso's Manuscript for Covering Jars).

Not only do these writings provide a record of Ho Kyongbon's childhood environment, they also provide extensive information on Ho Kyun and Ho Pong's critical views of contemporary poetics and poetry writing. Other traditional sources written by Choson scholars also illuminate certain aspects of Ho Kyongbon's life, particularly her unhappy 16 marriage and the painful loss of her children, tragic events that may have contributed to her early death. In addition, these traditional sources help to deepen our understanding of the larger context in which Ho Kyongbon pursued her literary production, and the reactions of traditional scholars to her life and literary works.1

Ho Kyongbon was born into a prominent political and scholarly clan, Ho of

Yangch'on £§j 11. Her father, Ho Yop fW (style name Ch'odang ^aT; 1517-1580), occupied a number of prominent government positions.2 In addition to his government involvement, Ho Yop was well connected with the scholarly community. He was a disciple of So Kyong-dok ^f^ti( 1489-1546) and Yi Hwang ^p( 1501 -1570), two leading Neo-Confucian scholars of the Choson dynasty. Furthermore, he maintained a close relationship with No Su-sin SAf'\M (1515-1590), a famous poet and expert on the

Tang poet Du Fu ttW- Ho Yop's first wife, Madame Han jj§|, gave birth to three children: Lady Wu Sdng-jon £|tfe^, Lady Pak Sun-won #^7C, and Ho Song f^ j^

(1548-1612). Following the death of his first wife, Ho Yop remarried Lady Kim ^, a woman from a distinguished political clan of Kangnung £E§t, the Kim lineage. It was

Lady Kim who gave birth to Ho Kyongbon and her two brothers, Ho Pong and Ho Kyun.

Very little information on Ho Kyongbon's relationship with her parents is known.

However, it is generally believed that neither her father nor mother made any significant contribution to her education.3 Despite the lack of active parental support, Ho

Kyongbon's literary practice was accepted and encouraged by her two talented and liberal brothers. Ho Kyongbon's older brother, Ho Pong was both a politician and one of the most celebrated poets of the Choson dynasty. At the age of fifteen, he passed the

Minor Examination with the highest distinction.4 Twelve (or thirteen) years her senior, 17 he was not only an affectionate older brother, he was also a staunch supporter of Ho

Kyongbon's literary pursuits. Ho Pong's poem below, although not dated, was likely written to Ho Kyongbon when she was still a child, and reveals his concern for her literary development. The poem, entitled "Sending a Brush to My Younger Sister," reads:

Sending a Brush to My Younger Sister

A long time ago, Immortal Cao presented me a "friend of the study."

I now send it to your autumn boudoir so you can amuse yourself with the

remaining scenery.

Looking at wutong trees, you should sketch the moon's colour,

4 Following the lamplight, you can concentrate on Chongyu style.6

Notes

1/ "Friends of the study" refer to the four treasures of the scholar's study: writing brush, inkstone, ink stick, and writing paper. 4/ Chongyu ("insects and fish") seems to refer to a style of writing, Chongyu zhuan M>MM- See Hanyu da cidian, vol. 8, 964.

Another piece of writing by Ho Pong was composed on the occasion of his presenting a copy of Du lii (Du Fu's Regulated Verse) to Ho Ky6ngbon.

Written on the Back of Du lii and Presented to My Sister

Nansorhon

Du lit, in one volume, was copied by Mr. Shao Bao.7 Compared to the

annotation by Yu, it is especially concise and easy to read.8 In the year 18

Jiashu of Wanli (1574), I received the order to bring seasonal greetings [to

the Chinese emperor]. While staying at Tongzhou during my trip [in

China], I happened to meet the Provincial Graduate Wang Zhifu from

Shaanxi province. We talked to each other for a whole day. As we parted,

he presented me with this book and I have kept it like a treasure in a case

for over a year. Now, I mend it and offer it like a piece of jade so you can

read through it. I hope you will not fail my sincere encouragement to

study hard, so that Du Fu's rare voice can reemerge from Ban Zhao's

hands. In the spring of the year of Renwu of Wanli (1582), written by

Heguzi.10

rfjwr^, <%*&& &-«, ±%MM.mmzm, n'mmmmim

Ho Pong wrote this note on the back of the Du lii and sent it as a gift to Ho Kyongbon.

At that time, Ho Kyongbon was nineteen and already married to Kim Song-nip ^M,iL

(style name Sodang ®^; 1562-1592). This note is an unambiguous illustration both of

Ho Pong's confidence in his sister's poetic ability and of his high expectations for her future literary development. Ho Pong's comparison of his sister to Ban Zhao JEBp (ca.

49-ca.l20), the famous Han woman scholar who completed her brother Ban Gu's MM

(39-92) unfinished work, the Honshu WkrWt, is evidence of his high regard for Ho

Kyongbon.'l This comparison, with its reference to a sister completing her brother's 19 work, could also be interpreted as a playful recognition of the fact that Ho Kyongbon's literary talent may be superior even to Ho Pong's own. On the other hand, the reference to Ban Zhao, one of the most elevated female talents in Chinese history, was probably also intended to serve as both motivation and model for his sister's literary activity.

As a child prodigy, Ho Kyongbon demonstrated remarkable literary talent at a very young age. It is assumed that Ho composed her well-known prose piece "Essay on the Rafter of White Jade Tower in the Kwanghan Palace" j^jgfi3£$LL#gX at the age of seven. To promote her exceptional literary talent, it is said that Ho Pong asked Yi

Tal $^ (1561-1618?), his friend and Ho Kyun's teacher, to give private tutoring to Ho

Kyongbon.12

Ho Kyongbon's life before her marriage seems to have been characterized by contentment and happiness. During this time she received great attention and recognition from her brothers, and had much time to compose poetry. However, her marriage marked a sharp turning point from this relatively untroubled life. It is uncertain at what age Ho Kyongbon was married to Kim Song-nip. However, considering common marriage practices of the time, she was likely married at the age of fourteen or fifteen.

Her husband, even though born into a clan well known for its literary and political achievements, was not particularly talented, and the marriage seems to have been doomed to fail.13

A number of traditional sources testify that Ho Kyongbon suffered a great deal from an unhappy and even disastrous marriage. For example, in "Hwebyok sa" §£§jltWf

(Song of Broken Jade), an essay written infu form, Ho Kyun expresses his profound sorrow for the loss of his sister and provides an account of her unhappy marriage. He 20 writes, "My late sister was a virtuous lady, possessed with exceptional literary talent.

She, however, was unable to win over her mother-in-law. She also lost both of her children. Consequently, she died with harbored resentment." ^tA^KM^yCm,

Not only was the relationship with her mother-in-law less than harmonious, Ho's marriage with Kim Song-nip was often described as strained and incompatible. In his brief summary of Ho Kyongbon's life in Chibongyusol ^MMM, Yi Su-gwang $S?7TJ

(1563-1628), a famous literary critic and contemporary of Ho, described Ho Kyongbon's relationship with her husband as disharmonious and troublesome (^QA^WAfiWi)- Yi argues that her poetry, as a result, became predominantly "sorrowful and melancholic"

G&Jg).15

While enduring an unhappy marriage, Ho Kyongbon also suffered the deaths of her two children. These deaths seem to have led to a psychological and physical deterioration that ultimately culminated in her death. In the poem entitled "Crying for

My Children" z^-f-, she expresses the deep pain caused by her loss. The poem reads:

Crying for My Children

Last year I buried my beloved daughter.

This year I buried my beloved son.

Mournful is the earth at Guangling

4 Where their paired graves face one another.

The white poplars sough in the wind,

Will-o-the-wisps illuminate the evergreens.

With paper money I summon your souls, 21

8 With "dark wine" I venerate your grave mounds.

Your sibling spirits

Must play together every evening.

Even if I were to conceive other children,

12 How could I count on their living to adulthood?

As I chant "The Song of the Yellow Terrace"

I shed tears of blood, but stifle my mournful sounds.1

Notes

3/ "Guangling" (Kor. Kwangnung) is in present-day Kwangju-gwn (Kwangju city) in Kyonggi province where Ho Kyongbon's two children were buried.17

y?Al-

(Nansorhon chip: 2b)

The poem begins by narrating the children's deaths over two consecutive years. The descriptive images in the poem, "paired graves," "poplars soughing in the wind," and

"illuminating will-o-the-wisps" all serve to evoke a desolate and eerie scene. The fourth couplet, with its descriptions of the burning of paper to summon the children's souls, and the pouring of wine on their graves, produces a dramatic effect that embodies the 22 enormous pain and grief endured by a mother who has lost her children. While in emotional turmoil as a result of her children's deaths, Ho still, as suggested in the fifth couplet, seems to have been concerned about whether she could produce an heir. In the final couplet this concern is further developed through her reference to the poem the

"Song of the Yellow Terrace Melons" written by the Tang prince Li Xian ^Jf, the sixth son of Emperor Gaozong MT^ (649-83).18 As the story goes, Li Xian wrote this poem out of his concern that he might face the same tragic death as Prince Hong who was assassinated by Empress Wu ^10^ (625-705).19 Li Xian's poem depicts yellow melons becoming fewer and fewer as they are picked, likely alluding to subsequent assassinations that would result in the extinction of the emperor's lineage.

Ho Kyongbon's loss of both her children along with her troubled relationship with her husband and mother-in-law could only have resulted in enormous social pressure. In the Choson patriarchal system, bearing a son who could carry on the family line and perform the ancestral sacrifice was the primary duty of the principal wife. Confucian codes of conduct written during the Choson dynasty explicitly address this duty. For example, the failure to bear a son is placed among "The Seven Evils for Expelling a

Wife" -\z£;£M. (Ch 'ilgo chiak), one of the primary conduct codes during the Choson.20

Understanding this social context, losing children, not to mention the son who is to carry on the lineage, was the most fearful accident that could occur to a woman.

This fear was only one of many sources of social pressure for women in Choson society. As I mentioned in the Introduction, Neo-Confucianism, the official ideology of the Choson, brought about fundamental changes in virtually every aspect of people's 23 lives. Peter Lee, in his book Sources of Korean Tradition, gives a succinct summary of this Confucianization of Korean culture and society. He states:

With a firm conviction that the fundamental principles of Neo-

Confucianism are absolute and valid at all times and in all places, Choson

Neo-Confucianists zealously pursued policies promising the realization of

the ideals of Confucian sages by remolding the Choson state and society to

conform to Confucian norms. All other beliefs, customs, and traditions

0 1

that did not comply with Confucian teachings were rejected as heretical.

Women were deeply, and often negatively, affected by these social changes. In the early

Choson period (1392-1567), a series of Confucian reforms were implemented in an attempt to bring about conformity to Confucian norms and rid Korea of all vestiges remaining from the "decadent" Koryo MM (918-1392) dynasty. Among the laws and regulations put in place during this period, several were specifically designed to deprive women of the rights that they had enjoyed in the previous dynasty. Several changes were especially significant. First, a woman's share in the family inheritance dropped substantially. Until the early Choson period, women inherited property equally with their brothers and shared the responsibility of performing the chesa ceremony (ancestor memorial services). However, soon after the end of the early Choson, the inheritance that women could receive was decreased to only one-third of their brothers' share and they were no longer allowed the responsibility of performing the chesa ceremony.22 Second, along with the abrogation of equal inheritance laws, the declining status of women was further indicated by a change in the order of names in family registries. Before the reforms, the names of children had been listed according to the order of their births. 24

However, the new policy stipulated that sons' names be placed ahead of daughters' names regardless of their order of birth.23 Third, new policies emphasizing women's chastity began to gain momentum. The prohibition against the remarriage of women was clearly indicated in the official record, Songjong sillok JJX^ICI^ (Authentic Records of

King Song). The code in this document that bars the sons and grandsons of remarried women from taking the civil service examination exemplifies the significant ideological and legal deterrents to remarriage that were created during the Choson.

While Ho Kyongbon was trapped in an unhappy marriage under the restrictive laws of the Choson, her natal family was also entering a tragic period. First, due to factional strife, Ho Kyongbon's father was ousted from his high position in the court and transferred to the post of Inspector of Kyongsang province. He died in 1580 during Ho

Kyongbon's second or third year of marriage. This event was followed in 1583 by Ho

Pong's exile to Chongsong and subsequent transfer to Kapsan, an area in northern Korea notorious for its harsh climate. Ho Pong's exile came as a result of his criticism of Yi I

^B? (1536-1584), a prominent politician and the head of the "Westerners," one of the two major factions within Choson officialdom. Since he was Ho Kyongbon's mentor and an active supporter of her literary practice, seeing him off must have been very painful. On the occasion of Ho Pong's departure, Ho Kyongbon wrote a poem expressing deep sorrow for her brother's exile and bitterness over the contemporary political situation.

Sending off Hagok to Kapsan in Exile

A traveler banished to faraway Kapsan

Was hurrying in his journey to Hamwon. 25

As a subject you are the same as Grand Tutor Jia.

4 But could the Lord be a King Huai of Chu?

The river's water is level with the autumn bank,

Clouds over the pass will turn into sunset.

A wild goose blown away by the frosty wind,

8 Broken in the middle, there is no longer a row.

(Nansorhon chip: 7b-8a)

Notes

2/Hamwon refers to the region where Kapsan is located. Ham refers to South Hamgyong province and won refers to Kaema Plateau. 3/Grand Tutor Jia is Jia Yi HBI, who was a tutor to the prince during the reign of Wenti (r. 179 B.C.-157 B.C.) of the Former Han dynasty. He was later exiled to Changsha. 4/King Huai of Chu sent the loyal minister and talented poet, Qu Yuan jgJK (343? B.C.- 278 B.C.) into exile, which according to legend resulted in his suicide.

mm^ih^ j&KfT&tt

The poem is written in a five-character regulated verse form with the two middle couplets each forming syntactic parallels. The first couplet, clearly referring to Ho Pong, describes a traveler leaving for distant Kapsan. Following the king's order, he is in a hurry to arrive at the location of his exile. In the second couplet, the poet bursts out with direct resentment towards the king who sent her brother into exile. Her criticism of King

Sonjo Tfetfl. (1567-1608) is terse yet incisive. In this parallel couplet, she alludes to

Chinese history both to defend Ho Pong's loyalty toward the king and to point out the 26 king's inability to recognize ajunzi, a true gentleman. In this allusion, Ho Pong is compared to the great Han official and writer Jia Yi ff ft (fl. 2nd century B.C.), who died on his way to exile. Although Ho Pong's unwavering loyalty to the king is as truthful as that of Qu Yuan, King Sonjo is as blind to this trustworthiness as the King of

Chu. With images of autumn and sunset, the poem projects a sense of decline and sorrow: as hardship increases with the arrival of winter, so too will Ho Pong's life become increasingly difficult with his journey into exile. The seasonal imagery may also aim to convey the cyclical return characteristic of nature in contrast to the uncertainty of human existence. This uncertainty undoubtedly weighed heavily on Ho Kyongbon's mind as her family's fortunes, like her own, were in a period of rapid decline.

After her brother's departure, Ho Kyongbon wrote another poem lamenting their separation.

Sent to Hagok

By the dark window, the silver candle flickers.

Fireflies flow past the lofty chamber.

Bitter chill in the depth of night,

4 Mournful sound of falling autumn leaves.

From the river pass, news comes rarely,

My anxiety cannot be relieved.

Thinking of Green Lotus Palace faraway,

8 The mountain is empty, bright moon shining through the vines.

(Nansorhon chip: 3b) 27

tfm&m wmcm

Notes

7/"Qingliangong" (Green Lotus Palace) is associated with Li Bai's style name "Qinglian jushi" WSSlt (Green Lotus recluse).

The setting of the poem, as suggested in the first couplet, is Ho Kyongbon's boudoir.

The gradual expansion of her vision, from the slowly burning candle at the window to the lofty chamber, sets a tone of emptiness and loneliness. In the second couplet, the mood of solitude is escalated by the images of falling leaves and a deep, chilly night. In the third couplet, the poet brings forth her emotions, the unresolved worries and anxiety caused by her ignorance of Ho Pong's situation. In her imagination, she envisions her brother in exile in Green Lotus Palace, a name unmistakably associated with the High

Tang Poet Li Bai, popularly known as the "Banished Immortal." In the last couplet, the poet unfolds the imaginary vision of "empty mountain" and "bright moon," denoting a sense of the great physical distance separating Ho Kyongbon and Ho Pong, and of the desire for union and sharing through the moon that is visible to both.

Witnessing the decline of her natal family following her father's death and Ho

Pong's exile, Ho Kyongbon's disappointment must have been great. The once great reputation and prominence of the family had been destroyed by the factionalism prevalent in the Choson court. After three years of exile, Ho Pong was pardoned, but his political disillusionment led him to retreat from official life, and he died of illness in 1588, a year before Ho Kyongbon's own death. Despite his political misfortune, Ho Pong's literary 28 production continued throughout this period and his achievements were widely recognized by his contemporaries. For example, Hong Man-jong $£$STF; (1643-1725) in

Sohwa sip 'yong /J\ljlj?#fP (Poetry Criticism of Sohwa), a well-known work of poetry

criticism of the Choson dynasty, praises Ho Pong's poetry and his poetic talent. Hong

Man-jong also includes similar praise by Chang Yu ^tfft (style name Kyegok ^£K

1587-1638) and Yang Kyong-u %^MM. (style name Cheho WM; 1568-1623) two

prominent poets and critics of the Choson dynasty: "Kyegok says that among poets of

the Eastern Country Hagok [Ho Pong] is the best. Cheho also says [that Hagok is] a

poetic gemus of the age." ^fglfflftA^^r^SS, S^^Hlgftft^.26

Considering the critical role Ho Pong played in Ho Kyongbon's literary life, his

views and judgments of contemporary poetics are essential in understanding Ho

Kyongbon's writings. A significant aspect of Ho Pong's influence on Ho Kyongbon's

poetic development and production is the shift in his poetic preference from Song to Tang

poetry. In Haksan ch 'odam, Ho Kyun notes that Ho Pong, like many of his

contemporaries, first studied the poetry of the Song poet Su Shi Mffi (1037-1101).

However, he later chose to take the Ming anthology Tangshi pinhui j^f^pa^ (A Graded

Compendium of Tang Poetry) as his poetic model; and, finally, during his exile, he

became proficient in the poetic style of the Tang poet Li Bai.

Judging from Ho Kyun's remarks on the changes in Ho Pong's poetic practice, I

assume that the archaist movement (tUl4^ fugu) that arose in the Ming dynasty

influenced Ho Pong and Ho Kyun, as well as others in their literary circle. During most

of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in China, the archaist movement dominated the

literary landscape. Centered around the qianhou qizi ffp^-fc;^ (Former and Latter 29

Seven Masters), it promulgated the valorization of Tang poetry and contributed to the canonization of Tang poetry. Li Mengyang's $1£R§ (1472-1529) dictum best characterizes the archaist view on literary composition: "prose (wen) must be like that of the Ch'in (221-207 B.C) or the Han (206 B.C-A.D. 220), and poetry (shih) must be like that of the High T'ang."28 In Haksan ch 'odam and Songso pubugo, Ho Kyun extols the poetry of Li Mengyang, He Jingming HiS^ (1483-1521), Li Panlong ^PH (1514-

1570), Wang Shizhen (ilM 1526-1590), and others of the Former and Latter Seven

Masters.29 He also provides significant information on Ho Pong and Yi Tal's views on

Ming poetry: "Among the poetry of Ming poets, Yi Songok ~^WAA$ [Yi Tal] regards He

Zhongmo's poetry fqJj^iTv [He Jingming] as the best. My elder brother [Ho Pong] thinks of poetry of Li Xianji ?£itn [Yi Mengyang] as the best. Yun Woljong ^"^JfT considers the poetry of Li Yulin ^^IH [Li Panlong] as surpassing the first two Former

Masters...." BJAf# ^J^Hf+Sttt^, fW»tegft, ^^fTJ^^TiWK fu-l-P....30

According to Ho Kyun's record, as I mentioned earlier, Ho Pong first studied

Song poetry, as represented by Su Shi, but later followed the Tang poetic models found in Tangshipinhui. This poetry anthology was compiled by Gao Bing rUffl (1350-1423).

As Richard Lynn notes in his study of Ming poetic theories, Gao Bing belonged to the literary circle called the "Ten Talents of Fujian," a circle of poets dedicated to re establishing the golden age of the Tang dynasty.31 According to Lynn, Gao's intention in compiling and publishing the Tangshi pinhui was to promote the Tang poetic style. He writes, "Kao's anthology, with its classified selections headed by critical introductions, was compiled as a practical, illustrated guide to what he considered the 'true' T'ang style 30

- it is his attempt to put together an anthology which illustrates, in concrete examples, the

critical assertions made by Yen Yu."32 It is not surprising that Ho Pong would cherish

and study the anthology that was the archaists' practical guidebook to the "essence" of

the "true" Tang style.

Ho Pong's preference for Tang poetry is also well represented by his insistence on

studying Tang y in Hfil1 (Sounds of the Tang; completed in 1344), a work that played a

critical role in the development of the archaist movement during the Ming. Compiled

by the Yuan scholar Yang Shihong Wfrzh^L, Tangyin reflects Yang's absolute views on

High Tang poetry. Pauline Yu, in her study "Canon Formation in Late Imperial China,"

argues that Tang yin demonstrates Yang's exclusive valorization of the Tang, and that the

volume was rigorously studied during the early Ming, when new and expanded editions

were prepared.34

However, Ho Pong's emphasis on the study of Tang poetry was still relatively

uncommon during the early Choson. Song, rather than Tang poetry, was the preferred

model from the Koryo dynasty until the end of the early Choson (1392-1567). The

elevation and emulation of Tang poetry was a literary trend that began to gain momentum

in Korea during the reign of King Chungjong 4^(1506-1544).35 However, it was Ho

Kydngbon's younger brother, Ho Kyun, who fully established this movement as a full-

fledged literary trend. Especially influential were his extensive volumes of poetic

anecdotes and his poetry criticism in which he evaluated contemporary poets according to

Tang standards.

Ho Kyun was five years younger than Ho Kyongbon. He studied under Yu Song-

nyong #PJ^H (1542-1607) who later wrote a colophon to Nansorhon chip. He also 31 received literary guidance from his older brother Ho Pong and from Yi Tal who, as discussed earlier, is said to have also served as Ho Kyongbon's tutor. In his writings, Ho

Kyun expresses a great interest in Buddhism, Taoism, and even Catholic theology, which had been first introduced into Korea by Yi Su-gwang in the late sixteenth century. Ho

Kyun occupied several high government positions but was eventually implicated in an attempted coup and executed. Despite his deep involvement in the government, he has become best known for his outstanding poetry criticism. His astute criticisms of Choson poetry and comments on the history of Korean literature have been among the most quoted sources in studies of Korean literary criticism. Both his contemporaries and modern scholars have acknowledged that he was the foremost literary critic of the age.36

As a prolific writer, he produced a great number of essays, poems, and anecdotes, works that became extremely valuable in later attempts to understand the literary trends of the

Choson period. These works, many of which contain information concerning Ho

Kyongbon's life and writings, are also of great value in the study of Ho Kyongbon.

While Ho Pong was a literary mentor and guide for his sister, Ho Kyun was responsible for the widespread recognition of and acclaim for Ho Kyongbon's poetry.

Below I translate some remarks on Ho Kyongbon's poetry by Ho Kyun to show how he evaluated and represented her literary works.

"My elder sister's poetry is exceptionally pure, vigorous, lofty, and beautiful. Her

best poems come from those of the Kaiyuan H7C (713-741) and Dali AH (766-

779) periods. Her fame has spread to China. Scholars and officials all circulate

and admire her poetry." W&MstmNteM, grfftfilftPiTGA/l, £8WH, wm±wmnz™ 32

"My deceased older brother's gexing ffcfx (songs) are similar to Li Bai's and my

sister's poetry perfectly fits into the High Tang." HtfttKfr, ftsUcfi, &fcf£f#, 1£A».39

His favorable comparison of Ho Kyongbon's poetry to Tang poetry demonstrates his attempt to elevate his sister's poetry. However, he was not alone in these views. As I will discuss in detail in the following chapters, Ho Kyun's remark that his sister attained the distinctive poetic styles of the Tang is reflected in the views of many late Ming and

Qing literary critics.

Although exceptionally talented, Ho Kyongbon's life after marriage appears to have been bitterly painful. After a series of tragic events, including the deaths of her two children and her brother Ho Pong, she died at the age of twenty-six (or seven). Despite her short life, she was extremely productive. While the burning of many of her poems makes it impossible to provide a conclusive estimate of her total literary output, her extant poetry collection, Nansorhon chip, still contains two hundred and nine poems and three essays, confirming the prolific nature of her literary production and her devotion to poetry composition. Her poetic gift and literary achievement, although largely ignored during her lifetime, were eventually recognized and brought her unprecedented fame and honor. Behind this fame lay Ho Kyun's tremendous efforts to make Ho Kyongbon's talent known. I will discuss this aspect further in the next chapter. 33

Chapter 2

The Publication of Nansorhon chip and the Influence of Ho Kyongbon's Poetry

This Chapter is comprised of two parts. In the first, I examine the historical context in

which Ho Kyongbon's collected works, Nansorhon chip, was compiled, published, and

distributed. My investigation will highlight Ho Kyun's enormous efforts and persistent

plans to make his sister's literary talent recognized. The second part is my attempt to

illustrate the critical reception of Ho's poetry by late Ming and Qing scholars. I have

chosen eight Ming and Qing publications, mostly poetry anthologies, to illustrate how

these Chinese scholars perceived and represented Ho' life and poetry. These works

include: Mingyuan shigui ^M.^W (Selection of Poems by Famous Ladies, ca. 1626),

Gujin niishi ~iJE[^7~£C'$l (Female Scribes, Ancient and Modern, 1628), Liechao shiji

^'J^OlNf^l (Collection of Poetry from the Former [Ming] Dynasty, ca. 1649), Ming shi

zong BMW%& (Collection of Ming Poetry, 1705), Mingyuan shiwei ^^^f# (The

Longitudinal Canon of Poetry by Women of Note, completed 1664, printed 1667), Guixiu

ji M3%M (Anthology of Talents of the Women's Quarters, preface dated 1652), Guo

chao guixiu zhengshiji S^iH^IE^p^ (Correct Beginning: Poems by the Flower of

Womanhood of Our Dynasty, 1831), and Mingyuan shihua ^^jf#|§ (Remarks on

Poetry of Notable Women, 1847).

Although most modern Korean scholars have expressed an awareness of the wide

circulation and critical reception of Ho's poetry in China, their research in this regard has

been primarily based on their examination of only two Chinese poetry anthologies, Ming 34 shi zong and Liechao shiji. Recent Western scholarship in Ming and Qing women's culture and literature has allowed me to broaden the scope of these previous studies to include in my examination other Ming and Qing sources containing Ho's poems and the critical responses of late imperial Chinese scholars. By examining these responses to

Ho's poetry and the biographical information provided in these works, we can begin to explore why some Chinese scholars during this era paid significant attention to Ho's poetry, and particularly how Ho's gender affected the incorporation of her poetry into these literary projects.

1. Publication of Nansorhon chip

Following Ho Kyongbon's death, her brother, Ho Kyun, gathered her literary works and published them in a collection entitled Nansorhon chip jfffi|

Four editions of Ho's collection have survived in Korea. According to Yi Suk- hui's study of the various editions of Nansorhon chip, the content of Nansorhon chip, regardless of the edition, shows no significant differences. The differences that do exist are generally related to the omission or inclusion of Ho Kyun's colophon or to variant characters in several poems.3 The organization and content of the Nansorhon chip is as follows.

Title: Nansorhon chip 35

Preface by Zhu Zhifan %:AlM

Preface by Liang Younian '^W^

Wuyan gushi (jEH"T^fi# five-character ancient-style verse, 15 poems)

Qiyan gushi (-tflTj4^jfvf seven-character ancient-verse, 8 poems)

Wuyan liishi ( jrUgfi^KF five-character regulated-verse, 8 poems)

Qiyan liishi (-\zWWI& seven-character regulated-verse, 13 poems)

Wuyan jueju (£"BI§/PJ five-character quatrain, 24 poems)

Qiyan jueju (-bltlii'nj seven-character quatrain, 142 poems)

Fulu (Pft^ Appendix, 3 prose essays)

Colophon by Ho Kyun

As I stated earlier, the publication of Nansorhon chip was a project that Ho Kyun carefully planned and pursued as a commemoration of his sister's death and a celebration of her poetic talent. In the colophon to Nansorhon chip, he provides some details concerning the publication of Nansorhon chip:

Madame's family name is Ho; she gave herself the style name Nansorhon.

She is the third elder sister of Ho Kyun. She was married to the Editorial

Director Hf^HP Kim Song-nip.4 But she died young without any heir.

During her life, she wrote copiously. However, according to her wish, all

her writings were burned.5 As a result, her extant works are few and the

works in the collection come from the pieces I (Ho Kyun) noted down. I

am afraid that with time more will be forgotten and lost. Therefore, I have

had them carved in printing blocks in order to circulate them widely. 36

In the first ten days of early summer, the thirty-sixth year of Wanli reign

(1608) written by younger brother Ho Kyun (courtesy name Tanbo iffij^f)

attheP'ihyangHall. ^A tm& gMWfF nmmm^w mmmm^m^L ^ mm ¥*mm a® mftxmz. mm^M &\mmmu &m

B# wmsjtz^-tt ^M.±M immm w^tm^. As this colophon indicates, Ho Kyongbon's writings were burned after her death according to her request. Several studies of women's writings in late imperial China have suggested that instances of women burning their own writings or requesting that they be burnt after their death occurred rather commonly.6 Clara Wing-chung Ho's article, "The Cultivation of Female Talent," informs us that some women poets in the

Qing felt an uneasiness regarding their own writing activities and some burnt their poetry before their death or ordered their offspring to do so. By destroying their own works, these women attempted to avoid the accusation that they were showing off their talents or seeking to attain improper fame. Although Ho Kyun provides no explanation for why his sister desired that her writings be burned, we can assume that Ho Kyongbon, like other women writers, perceived that the survival of her writings could be hazardous, potentially leading to a misreading of her character. As I will discuss later in this chapter, it is likely that negative social perceptions of women's writings during Choson provided sufficient

g motivation for her act.

In 1590, a year after Ho Kyongbon's death, Ho Kyun finished compiling the poems and prepared a manuscript of the collection which he entitled Nansorhon ko 37

JsgiffT-^l (Manuscript of Nans&rhon). In the same year, he asked Yu Song-nyong

$Pj3%rfl (1542-1607), his former teacher and Ho Pong's close friend to write a colophon to Nansorhon ko. Yu's comments in the colophon are noteworthy. He writes:

My friend Ho Mi-suk f^H^ (Ho Pong) was a brilliant talent unequalled

by contemporaries, yet unfortunately he died young. When I read his

extant writings, I would hit my knees in amazement and appreciation.

One day, Mi-suk's younger brother, Tanbo (Ho Kyun), brought his elder

sister's writing, Manuscript of Nansorhon, and showed it to me. I said

with surprise, 'How extraordinary! They are not the words of a woman.

How many are the unusual talents in the Ho's family!' 10 m^tm wmm* ^we mnm-% **^ng««

Yu Song-nyong's reaction to Ho Kyongbon's poetry suggests that, during Ho

Kyongbon's lifetime, Yu did not know of Ho Kyongbon's poetic gift and had not seen her writings. The fact that Ho's writings were not circulated even in Ho Pong and

Kyun's closest literary circles makes it evident that her writings were also inaccessible to the public during her lifetime.

Ho Kyun's primary role in the publication and circulation of his sister's literary collection illustrates the importance of male support in women's publication in both traditional Korea and late Ming and Qing China.11 As several studies in the field of Ming and Qing women's culture and literature have shown, many distinguished literary women in this era were to a great extent assisted and supported by men. Clara Wing-chung Ho 38 summarizes the crucial role of male support in women's literary activities. She states,

"most women writers were, to a large extent, financially supported, or at least,

10 intellectually elevated by individual male scholars in the promotion of their works." By the same token, Ellen Widmer points out the importance of male support for "creative women" in the seventeenth century. She argues that the support of male patrons, particularly as financial contributors, was crucial for women interested in organizing poetry societies or publishing literary works.13 Like these late Ming and Qing male scholars who lent their support to women's literary activities, Ho Kyun was a proponent of women's writing activities and an appreciator of their literary talent. In his work

Haksan ch 'odam, Ho Kyun praises "boudoir talents" (guixiu M^r) of the Tang for their superb poetry and exceptional talent. In the same work, he goes on to say that woman's literary practice should be encouraged and the literary achievement of contemporary

Choson women should be acknowledged as "a grand affair of our country."14

In the colophon that Ho Kyun wrote to Nansorhon chip, he indicates that the primary purpose of publishing his sister's poetry was to prevent her works from being lost. Yet, his ambition seems to have extended beyond mere preservation - he wanted to make his sister's poetic gift and superb poetry widely known to the world. To this end, he took full advantage of the benefits of his official position, particularly the opportunities this position granted him to both visit China and receive foreign diplomats to Korea.

Several examples of Ho Kyun's "exercise" of his official position in this connection are noteworthy. The first of these is Ho Kyun's encounter with Wu Mingji

£&Ml& (fl. 1600), a Chinese scholar who visited Choson in 1598. Wu's interest in 39 collecting Korean poetry led him to compile an anthology entitled Chaoxian shixuan

^$^f#j!§ (Poetry Anthology of Choson), the first comprehensive Korean poetry collection published by a Chinese. According to Pak Hyon-gyu's study, this anthology contains fifty-eight poems by Ho Kyongbon.15 In the process of compiling this anthology, Wu Mingji clearly received a great deal of assistance from Ho Kyun. Wu's comments in the preface to Chaoxian shixuan are indicative of this; here he remarks on

Ho Kyun's exceptional intelligence and records the occasion on which Ho Kyun provided him with Ho Kyongbon's two hundred poems.16 Ho Kyun's writing of the postscript

(FSrf-) to this anthology and his seal on the back of the volume are further suggestions of his involvement in the publication of the work.17

The second example involves Ho Kyun's meetings in 1606 with Zhu Zhifan

/fcZM (fl. 1595), a Chinese envoy dispatched by the Ming court to Korea, and Yang

Younian W^^E-, a deputy accompanying Zhu.18 After presenting his sister's literary works to Zhu, Ho Kyun inquired whether Zhu could write a preface to the soon-to-be- published Nansorhon chip, and then asked Yang Younian to write an inscription (Hi?) for the work (Ho Kyun received this inscription the following year). Zhu Zhifan published the Nansorhon chip soon after his return to China. Since this edition is not extant, very little is known about the details of its publication and dissemination.

Nonetheless, the little information available is worth noting. According to the information provided in "Runji" in Liechao shiji, Zhu's publication of Ho's works circulated within literary circles in China and soon received glowing reviews from

Chinese literati.19 Accounts in Mingyun shigui, and Mingyuan shiwei provide further

Of) confirmation that this collection was widely circulated in China. 40

2. The Inclusion of Ho Kyongbon's Poetry in Late Ming and Qing Anthologies

As Ho Kyongbon's poetry became increasingly popular within Chinese literary circles, a number of late Ming and Qing Chinese scholars became interested in her poetry and showed an eagerness to include her poems in their anthologies. To a large extent, the attention given to Ho's literary works can be linked to the vibrant literary practice and increasing visibility of women writers in the late Ming and Qing. Recent scholarship has shown that this period experienced a flowering of women's literary production - as

Kang-i Sun Chang succinctly describes, "No nation has produced more anthologies or collections of women's poetry than late imperial China."21 From a socio-historical perspective, women's increasingly dynamic participation in literary activities was a product of several significant factors. Among the most important were a dramatic increase in women's literacy, a booming publishing industry, the rise of urban culture, and the development of a commercial economy. Dorothy Ko argues that the booming publishing industry was particularly instrumental in the birth of the woman reader-writer and in the emergence of a reading public. As women's literacy and writing production increased, a number of Ming and Qing women began to compile anthologies of women's writings (mostly poetry) based on their own selection criteria. The active role of women as editors and critics is important evidence both of women poets' growing confidence in their writing ability, and of their increasing desire to adopt the more authoritative position of critic.23 41

Among numerous women poet critics, Wang Duanshu 3E^'M (1621- ca. 1706), Ji

Xian ^ Jfg (1614-1683), Liu Rushi UJP#nM (16187-1664), Wanyan Yun Zhu %&fflfc

(1771-1833), and Shen Shanbao ;ft#f| (1808-1862) are exceptional.24 Not only did these talented female writers produce fine poetry, they also edited and published anthologies of women's writings. For these gifted and motivated women, anthologizing women's poetry was both a means of literary promotion and a forum for the critical evaluation of women's poetry.25 The phenomenon of anthologizing women's poetry was, however, not only confined to women scholars. Male scholars such as Zhong Xing

M1i(l574-1624), Zhao Shijie &£iH:*=(17th century), and Yuan Mei ^#[(1716-98), were also actively involved in anthologizing women's writings. These scholars and poets, male and female alike, acknowledged the importance of both transmitting and preserving women's works. Significantly, many of these people devoted themselves to making

"separate" anthologies (poetry anthologies consisting exclusively of women's poetry) with the purpose of justifying women's writings and praising their talents. Ho

Kyongbon's poetry appears most commonly in these Chinese anthologies devoted to women's writings.

In the following sections, I will discuss eight Ming and Qing anthologies that provide critical information regarding the evaluation and perception of Ho Kyongbon's poetry and literary talent by late Ming and Qing scholars. My discussion will include a detailed examination of the comments on Ho's poetry and the biographical notes provided in each of these anthologies. Through this examination, we will arrive at a better understanding both of how Ho's gender affected the incorporation of her poetry 42 into these literary works and the significance of the inclusion of Ho's poetry into each of these anthologies.

A. Ho's Poetry in Late Ming Literary Anthologies by Male Scholars.

1) Mingyuan shigui i^^f#0f (Selection of Poems by Famous Ladies, ca. 1626).

Mingyuan shigui is believed to have been compiled and edited by Zhong Xing UttM

(1574-1624), a late Ming scholar. It is known for its extensive selection of women writers of the Ming (juan 25-36). The preface to Mingyuan shigui, as Kang-i Sun Chang points out, is an excellent example of how late Ming male scholars perceived women's

Of, poetry/ In it, Zhong Xing argues that women can write ideal poetry because of their

"purity" (qing /jf ).27 He further suggests that women have the potential to be better poets than men because they are less corrupted by tradition. According to Zhong Xing, the absence of tradition allows these women writers a higher degree of freedom in imagining and constructing their version of reality, making for poetry that is more "natural," and therefore, ideal, than that of men.28 Zhong Xing's views on women's inherent attributes and the superior quality of their poetry can be read as an encouragement of women's literary practice.

Most importantly in the context of this thesis, Mingyuan shigui is one of the earliest Chinese anthologies of women's poetry to include Ho Kyonbon's poetry. The number of Ho's poems included in Mingyuan shigui is substantial: sixty-eight poems, or almost one third of the poems in Nansorhon chip29 For each of the poems, the editor offers terse critical comments in response to individual lines or to the poems in their 43 entirety. At the beginning of the section on Ho, the editor provides a brief biographical sketch. This entry is an important example of how the earliest Chinese sources represent

Ho Kyongbon:

Xu Jingfan, style name Lanxue, was a native of Chaoxian. At the age of

eight, she wrote "Essay on the Rafter of Jade Tower in the Guanghan

Palace." When she grew up, she married the JinshiJin Chengli. After Jin

died as a martyr for his country, Xu became a Daoist nun.30 Her talent and

reputation are as remarkable as those of her brothers. Her elder brother

Xu Feng was a zhuangyuan, her second eldest brother Xu Yun was

Principal Gentleman JJ£g|3.31 When Grand Scribe Zhu Lanyu (Zhu Zhifan)

of Jinling jk$t (Nanjing) went on a mission to Korea, he obtained her

collection and published it for circulation.32

This biographical information from Mingyuan shigui contains a substantial amount of incorrect information about Ho Kyongbon. First, the statement that Ho Kyongbon became a Daoist Nun is incorrect (although she does show a preference for Daoist themes in her poetry, particularly the Daoist idea of immortality). Second, Ho Kyongbdn did not die after her husband, Kim Song-nip. Rather, her death occurred in 1589 before Kim

Songnip died during Hideyoshi's first invasion of Korea from 1592 to 1593. Third, Ho

Pong and Ho Kyun are both referred to as Ho Kyongbon's older brothers, yet Ho Kyun was, in fact, her younger brother. This inaccurate information reappears in later publications such as Gujin ntishi "j^Hcjfe (1628), Liechao shiji ^lj^§^^ (completed

1649; printed 1652?), Mingyuan shiwei ^%^l&%$. (completed 1664; printed 1667),

Zhengshiji jE#nil (1831), and Mingyuan shihua ^M&ff&i (1847), suggesting that these 44 later publications incorporated information garnered from earlier anthologies such as

Mingyuan shigui.

2) Gujin niishi ~£j^-~£c$l (Female Scribes, Ancient and Modern, 1628)

After the Mingyuan shigui, the next poetry anthology I will discuss is Gujin niishi

~£A5'^C$., a work compiled by the late Ming Scholar, Zhao Shijie jHIS^ (seventeenth century). According to Pak Hyon-gyu, Choson women's poems in Gujin niishi were selected from the poems in Gujin mingyuan huishi l^^^^ilirKf (Poetry Anthologies of

Notable Ancient and Modern Ladies, dated 1620) compiled by Zheng Wen'ang Jtp^tlp

(fl. 1610). Zheng's anthology includes forty-one of Ho's poems arranged according to poetic forms along with the poems of other Ming women writers.34 These forty-one poems, as Pak points out, are virtually identical to the forty-one poems included in Gujin niishi. Pak further observes that, apart from "Ji nuban" (^^C# Sent to My Female

Friend), differences between the poems of these two anthologies are very minor, with only several variants between the poems.35 Pak also undertakes a comparison of Ho's poems in Zheng's Gujin mingyuan huishi and those with the same titles in Wu Mingji's

Chaoxian shixuan, a major source for late Ming and Qing scholars who commented on or compiled Ho's poetry. Pak observes that the poems in these two anthologies have a substantial number of different characters, and therefore speculates that Ho's poems in

Gujin mingyuan huishi come from a source other than Wu Mingji's Chaoxian shixuan.36

While examining Zheng's Gujin mingyuan huishi, I learned that one of the prefaces to Gujin mingyuan huishi was written by Zhu Zhifan, the Chinese envoy who obtained Nansorhon chip from Ho Kyun and published it in China. Considering Zhu 45

Zhifan's involvement in Zheng Wen'ang's Gujin mingyuan huishi, it is very likely that

Zheng Wen'ang selected Ho's poems based on the Nansorhon chip that Zhu Zhifan

published in China. Most significantly, since the edition of Ho's collection that Zhu

Zhifan published in China is not extant, the poems in Gujin mingyuan huishi become a

potentially valuable source for a comparison between Wu Mingji's Chaoxian shixuan and

Zhu's Nansorhon chip, the two earliest sources that late Ming and Qing scholars utilized

when anthologizing or evaluating Ho's poetry.37

While reproducing Ho's poems that appear in Zheng's Gujin mingyuan huishi,

Zhao Shijie paid significant attention to Ho's brilliant literary talent by including three

late Ming scholars' comments on Ho Kyongbon and her poetry:

Tang Ruoshi W&± (Tang Xianzu ItHffi [1550-1617]) said: "Jingfan,

whose childhood name was Cui'e WWi, was the younger sister of the

zhuangyuan Xu Yun. As a young child, she was skilled in the Classics

and Histories, and she understood the "Six Arts" All- She is not far

behind "Seven Paces" (Cao Zhi IfM [192-232]) in her ability to dash off

fine writings.39 At twenty, she became a widow. Her reputation is as

prominent as her older brothers. While I was in the capital region, I

happened to obtain one volume of her literary collection. When I read it,

my eyes were dazzled. I never expected that a girl from a foreign country

could have such pure qualities." Zhao Wenqi MPolnf said: "She writes

about the wonders of Heaven and competes with the beauty of roseate

clouds. Pondering with her brush and ink, she is no less than roaming in

spirit on White Jade Tower." Zhu Yanru 7fcff#n said: "Her unworldly 46

marvel will make Li Bai retreat, the beauty of her writing will make Jiang

Yan zJjffii; (444-505) leave his seat in embarrassment. Her writing

surpasses that of the Qin and Han."40

Of greatest significance in Tang Hairuo's comment is, first of all, the suggestion that Ho

Kyongbon's poetry collection was circulated in the Beijing area, and secondly, the favourable comparison of Ho Kyongbon's poetic talent to that of Cao Zhi, one of the greatest poets of the pre-Tang and a representative poet of the Jian'an era (196-220).

Like Tang Hairuo il$g^ (Tang Ruoshi), both Zhao Shijie rlgtfefc (Zhao Wenqi) and

Zhu Xilun T^i^g (Zhu Yanru) emphasize Ho's exceptional literary talent. Zhao Shijie remarks on the supernatural beauty of Ho's compositions. For Zhu Xilun, Ho's poetry is so exceptional that even the great poetic genius Li Bai and the talented Jiang Yan of the

Southern Dynasties would feel intimidated and ashamed in comparison.

3) Ming shi zong 8J3f££n (Collection of Ming Poetry, 1705)

This comprehensive anthology of Ming poetry was compiled by Zhu Yizun 7fc##

(1629-1709), one of the most well known poets and scholars in the early Qing. It includes poems by over ninety Korean poets under the sections entitled "Gaoli" MM and

"Chaoxian D§$£" itijuan 95. In this anthology, Ho's five poems are listed in the section

"Chaoxian xia" ^§,f£ ~f42 Before listing Ho's poems, Zhu Yizun provides a brief biographical sketch of Ho and also records his own criticism of Ho's poetry.43

Ch'en Wo-tzu ffiBkif- said that Miss Ho was taught by Mr. Li [Yi Tal

i^H] and both of their verses are expressed in the High T'ang style.44

The fact that a woman of a foreign country is so well versed shows that 47

the teaching of the country's literature is indeed far-reaching. Criticism of

the poetry, however, reveals that many of this woman's poems lack

authenticity.... When I [Zhu Yizun] read Ky6ngbon's (Nansorhon) poems

her poetic syntax was in the same style as that of the Seven Masters of the

Chia-ching period. There have never been examples, like this, of cultural

contacts between the two countries. How could the similarity be like this

(without such contact)? I cannot but suspect that it may be forgery.44

Chen Zilong's comments, as quoted by Zhu, reflect two major perceived features of Ho's poetry: the strong influence of Tang poetry and the lack of originality. Chen's comments begin with a reference to the fact that Ho studied under the tutelage of Yi Tal, a brilliant poet who was apparently a teacher of Ho Kyun.45 Zhu then proceeds with his own evaluation of Ho's poetry in which he suspects the poetry as forgery, arguing that the poetic syntax of Ho's poetry is in the same style as the Seven Masters of the Jiajing reign j^j/lf (1522-1566), a group of archaists who advocated Tang poetry as a "classic model."46

Since Zhu's brief commentary provides no further explanations or proof for his speculation of forgery, it is difficult to ascertain the validity, or even meaning, of his claim. Nonetheless this accusation does raise some important questions. Did Zhu believe that producing "conventional" poetry was an act of forgery? Was his accusation based on the fact that Ho was a foreign woman?

Judging from his comments, his argument seems to be based on the assumption that Ho Kyongbon, as a Korean woman, could not attain a poetic style so closely identical to that of Chinese poets. The modern Chinese scholar Peng Guodong j^g]^ in 48 his Zhonghan shishi i^fitf#3£l challenges Zhu's view of Ho's poetry.47 Peng argues that

Zhu's supposition stems from an unawareness of the degree to which the poetry of the

Former and Latter Seven Masters (qianhou qizi) was emulated by Choson scholars.

Peng's observation regarding the popularity of the poetry of the Former and Latter Seven

Masters in Choson is substantiated by Ho Kyun's writings which I discussed in

Chapter 1.

4) Liechao shiji ^lj|g§^|f| (Collection of Poetry from the Former [Ming]

Dynasty; ca. 1649).

Liechao shiji is an extensive anthology of Ming poetry compiled and edited by Qian

Qianyi Uli^ (1582-1664), an acclaimed literary figure and politician of the late Ming

period. Qian listed the poems of over forty Korean poets in this anthology under the

heading of "Chaoxian" in juan 6 of "Runji" |Mj||§ (Intercalary collection). This section

also includes poems by Ho's two brothers, Ho Pong and Ho Kyun along with poems by

Yi Tal, the man Chen Zilong regarded as Ho Kyongbon's teacher. In the biographical

note on Ho Kyun, Qian Qianyi quotes the postscript that Ho Kyun wrote to Wu Mingji's

Chaoxian shixuan, suggesting that Qian might have used this anthology in selecting and

editing the Korean poems in the "Chaoxian" section. This speculation is further

confirmed by Liu Rushi's comment that she relied on poems acquired from Chaoxian

shixuan when evaluating Ho Kyongbon's poetry (see below). Among the Korean poetry

included in "Runji," the nineteen poems written by Ho Kyongbon comprise the second

largest number of poems by a single author after the thirty-six poems by Yi Tal.49 49

Several Korean scholars have undertaken studies of Ho's poetry in Liechao shiji, among these Yi Suk-hui's detailed study deserves the most attention. Through a careful comparison of Ho's poems in Liechao shiji and Nansorhon chip, Yi brings to light a considerable number of differences between the characters used in the two groups of poems. She also points out that some of Ho's poems in Liechao shiji are mistakenly accredited to other Choson women poets.51

Of greatest interest in Liechao shiji are the comments on Ho's poetry written by

Qian Qianyi's concubine Liu Rushi (16187-64) who is believed to have been the primary editor of a section on women poets (juan 4 of "Runji"). Her critical comments on Ho's poetry are recorded under "Xu meishi" Wcffi&k in "Chaoxian" in juan 6 of "Runji."52

Liu Rushi's long passage begins with her acknowledgment that Ho's poetry gained great popularity in late Ming literary circles. She states, "The poems of the young woman Xu are highly ornate and extremely popular" fF^ftft ifcM£il it^AP-53 Liu then proceeds with a careful analysis, comparing Ho's poems with the poems of seven

Chinese poets, mostly Tang, and disclosing a controversial aspect of Ho's poetry- the fact that some lines in Ho's poems are identical or similar to those in the poems by

Chinese poets. She argues that Ho's eighty-one "Wandering Immortals" poems, which she acquired from Wu Mingji's manuscript of Chaoxian shixuan, show further evidence of plagiarism, and that many of Ho's other poems, such as "Saishang" (At the Frontier),

"Yangliuzhi" (Willow Branches), and "Zhuzhi" (Bamboo Branches), provide confirmation of Ho's lack of originality. In concluding her comments, Liu speculates that people in Korea plagiarized Chinese poems because they thought that the Chinese books of poetry that reached them were "little known to the world."54 She further 50 literati whose interest in exotic foreign poetry led them to speak highly of Ho's poems without questioning their origin.

While Liu Rushi's critique of Ho's poetry is overwhelmingly negative, many of her contemporaries, as well as later Qing scholars such as Wang Duanshu, Zhao Shijie and Yun Zhu, praised Ho's excellent poetry and brilliant poetic talent. In reviewing these contrasting responses to Ho's poetry, I have encountered some complex questions. First of all, in regards to the issue of plagiarism, Liu's criticism is grounded on significant evidence. As I will demonstrate in Chapter 3, some lines in Ho's poems were taken directly from Chinese poems. The poems that Liu Rushi believed were partly plagiarized are included, without any reference to plagiarism, in other anthologies such as Mingyuan shigui, Mingyuan shiwei, Zhengshiji and others. Were these anthologists simply ignorant of the fact that Ho had taken lines from the poems of such well-known poets as

Wang Jian and Li Bai? If they were aware of the fact yet disregarded it, was their notion of "plagiarism" different from that of Liu Rushi?

My second question is related to the anthologizing practice in late Ming and Qing

China. Writers who included Ho's poems in their women's poetry anthologies seem to have relied mainly on information provided by earlier publications. Did these writers simply adopt the views of earlier anthologists, without any critical evaluation of Ho's poetry? If so, why did Qing anthologists ignore Liu Rushi's comments on Ho's poetry?

Was this due to the fact that Liechao shiji was banned in the eighteenth century? Most importantly, what is the significance of the inclusion of Ho's poems in these anthologies if many of her poems were believed to be forgeries? These questions are extremely difficult to answer without a knowledge of the specific contexts in which Ho's poetry was 51 selected by the individual anthologists, and the traditional sources that I gathered for my research do not provide any conclusive evidence that might resolve some of these issues.

Nonetheless, in the subsequent section, I will attempt to explore the critical responses to

Ho's poetry by Liu's female contemporaries and by women scholars of the Qing dynasty.

By doing so, I hope to provide a deeper understanding of the significant attention many women critics paid to Ho's literary talent, and the motivation for the inclusion of Ho's poetry in their literary projects.

B. Ho's Poetry in Late Ming and Qing Publications by Women Scholars.

1) Mingyuan shiwei if5^f#f# (The Longitudinal Canon of Poetry by Women of

Note, completed 1664; printed 1667).

Wang Duanshu 3i3ffij$^ (1621- ca. 1706) is one of the most respected and celebrated women poets in late imperial China. She was a daughter of the prominent late Ming scholar Wang Siren HL^ffE (1575-1646) and demonstrated extraordinary literary talent even as a child. Her education and literary development were actively encouraged and supported by her father. Not only was she a prolific writer and a professional teacher, she was also the editor and compiler of Mingyuan shiwei, one of the most comprehensive poetry anthologies in the seventeenth century. This anthology is ambitious in scope with forty-two/wan covering the works of over one thousand women poets.54

As she did for every poet in her anthology, Wang Duanshu included her own commentary along with seven poems by Ho Kyongbon.55 Ho's poems appear in the

"Waiji" ^fjft (The Outer Collection) in juan twenty-eight ofMingyuan shiwei. This 52 section includes over twenty-five poems by eight other Korean women, without regard to their social status, and by some lowborn Chinese women such as an exorcist and a courtesan.

Wang Duanshu begins her critical comments by comparing Ho's poetic style to the styles of two eminent figures in Chinese literary history, Guo Pu |$5=| (276-324) and

Li Bai ^fi (701-762). She then notes that Ho's "Gubie Ii" -&fyM (Separation: Ancient

Mode) attains the same poetic quality of shuzhuan shenyuan ^I^^JS (complexity and depth) as the "Shaonian xing" 'p^-fj (Song of Youth) by Meng Jiao ^$5 (751-814).56

In her comment on Ho Kyongbon's "Xiage" MMK (Summer Song), she says that the poem is so superb that it would cause Li Shangyin ^j^f|5j| (8137-858) and Wen Tingyun

$mfl£§ (8127-870) to be agitated enough to give up writing. However, these poems that

Wang Duanshu comments on are not included in her selection of Ho poems in Mingyuan shiwei. The selected poems are all in a jueju form with yuefu titles and five out of the seven poems are the ones Liu Rushi accused Ho of plagiarizing.

If we examine Wang Duanshu's observations on Ho's poems, an important perception of Ho's poetry emerges. Wang suggests that the poetic qualities of Ho's poetry can be favourably compared to those of Tang poets. Wang's suggestion is evidently similar to that of many other critics. In the section on "Ho Kyongbon" in Lidai funii zhuzuokao, Hu Wenkai quotes the responses of other traditional critics, many of which make similar comparisons to Tang poetry. For example, a comment from Shi

Biandi &fpft]& states that Ho Kyongbon's distinctive poetic styles derive from Wen

Tingyun l[^MM and Li Shangyin ^j§^.57 Likewise, from the Yujingyangqiu 53

EEMMfX there is a suggestion that Li He $g (790-816) would respond in amazement

58 if he read Ho's "Essay on the Rafter of White Jade Tower in the Guanghan Palace."

2) Guixiu ji W^M (Anthology of Talents of the Women's Quarters, preface

dated 1652)59

Ji Xian «p$

Guixiu ji !|j5§ll, Ji Xian compiled poems by seventy-nine Ming and Qing women poets.

This work includes twenty-two of Ho Kyongbon's poems grouped according to poetic form: yuefu, five-character regulated and ancient-style verse, seven-character regulated and ancient-style verse, and five-and seven-character quatrain.61 As Grace Fong points out, Ji Xian's organization of the poems according to generic categories was part of an attempt to both call attention to her high aesthetic considerations as a critic and to

ftO encourage readers to pay attention to the stylistic and formal qualities of the poems. Ji

Xian's emphasis on the aesthetic qualities of the poems can be substantiated by her brief critical remarks following several of Ho's poems. For example, on the poem entitled

"Rhyming with My Older Brother's Poem 'At the Plateau Overlooking the High

Terrace,'" Ifci&RMJMMMMM, Ji Xian notes: "This is mature and \m\€\gaolao xiongjian M^&W^A)63' The total number of Ho's poems included in Guixiu ji is quite substantial. Her poems outnumber even the poems of Lu Qingzi IrtlUHf1 (fl. 1590), one of the most celebrated women poets of the Ming dynasty. 54

3) Guochao guixiu zhengshiji l^H^lBinlfl (The Correct Beginning:

Collected Women's Poetry of Our Dynasty, 1831)

One of the largest anthology projects during the Qing dynasty was undertaken by Yun

Zhu (1771-1833), a Han Chinese who had married into a Manchu family. Her ambitious project consists of over 1,500 late Ming and Qing women poets and over 3,000 shi poems.64 Guochao guixiu zhengshiji includes five poems by Ho Kyongbon. Her poems are included in the "Appendix" (fulu Ifyjliffc) of the Zhengshiji along with those of other

Korean women poets.65 A short biographical entry in Zhengshiji shows us how Yun Zhu

%0jWM- (1771-1833), a conservative gentry woman of the Qing dynasty, perceived Ho

Kyongbon and her poetry:

Xu Jingfan, style name Lanxue, was a native of Chaoxian. She was the

wife of the jinshi Jin Chengli. Lanxue's two brothers, Feng and Yun, both

succeeded in winning the zhuangyuan in Chaoxian and served as

Academician (or Chancellor) ^zh in the Hongwenguan.66 Lanxue was

able to compose poems at the age of seven. Although she excelled in

poetic talent, she was not appreciated by her husband Jin. When Jin met

his death in battle, Lanxue became a Daoist nun. She remained a chaste

widow until her death. The Koreans regard her highly. She once wrote

"Essay on the Rafter of Jade Tower in the Guanghan Palace," which

circulated in China. You Tong JtM (1618-1704) once wrote "Chaoxian

Zhuzhi ci" D§fi^frt£i5j (Korean Lyrics of Bamboo Branch).67 It contains

the lines: "What I think of the most is the Daoist nun Feiqiong/ The upper

rafter once reached Guanghan Palace." 1(kW£M3M~k7$ti:, 55

IM&MMB'g. In Yishijiyu P5PJSI&, Lu Ciyun WMM of Qiantang

W$% 68 said that Lanxuexuan's talent and reputation were equal to that of

Xie Daoyun and of the younger sister of the Su family. This is not empty

praise.

Yun Zhu's introduction to Ho Kyongbon begins with a review of Ho's elite family background, marked especially by the official achievements of her two brothers. She goes on to mention Ho's lack of appreciation by her husband, and the fact that Ho was a child prodigy. Yun's remark on Ho Kyongbon becoming a Daoist nun and keeping her chastity after her husband's death is perhaps a reflection of orthodox Confucian concerns.70 Important to Yun Zhu's perspective, Ho Kyongbon was a talented woman who was also exceptionally virtuous.

4) Mingyuan shihua i£j$ii#!f§ (Remarks on Poetry of Notable Women, 1847)71

During the Qing dynasty, talented and learned women continued to collect and evaluate the poetry of other women. Shen Shanbao #C#ff (1808-1862), a gifted woman literatus, collected more than six-hundred poems of over five-hundred Ming and Qing women poets and published them in a collection entitled Mingyuan shihua. Because of the work's generic designation as shihua (critical remarks on poetry), as Grace Fong points out, Shen Shanbao was free to not only provide poems but also to offer her comments on specific lines, poems, and even poets in matters of style and execution.72 Mingyuan shihua contains three poems by Ho Kyongbon. Like many other Chinese critics, Shen

Shanbao provides a brief biographical note about Ho Kyongbon that seems to be based on information appearing in Yun Zhu's Guochao guixiu zhengshiji. As in Yun Zhu's 56 description, Shen Shanbao represents Ho as a talented woman unappreciated by her husband (^MilR&^k).73 Shen Shanbao places Ho's poems in juan twelve, the last juan of the collection. This juan is comprised of the works of marginal or miscellaneous categories such as courtesans, nuns, Korean women, and immortals.

Reviewing the biographical notes included in the late Ming and Qing publications discussed above, we begin to understand how scholars of the late Ming and Qing perceived and represented Ho Kyongbon and her poetry. Several important aspects of

Ho's life and poetry overlap and are emphasized in their works. First, the fact that Ho came from a distinguished family is often mentioned, and is illustrated by the literary and political achievement of her two brothers. Second, reflecting a wish to underscore Ho's virtue, there is frequent reference to her status as a chaste widow. Apart from these repeated references, the biographical notes are characterized by a celebration of Ho's exceptional literary talent, embodying the view of female talent as something positive and praiseworthy.

For the majority of traditional Choson critics, however, the recognition that Ho achieved in Chinese literary circles was more to be regretted than worthy of celebration.

As Choson scholars' writings attest, her visibility provoked uneasiness regarding women's writing activities and visible female talent. Some anecdotal evidence is illustrative of how Ho Kyongbon's public visibility was at the core of the issue of women's talent and virtue. Here, I will quote a passage from Pak Chi-won's well-known

nf* work Yorha ilgi:

Ho Pong's younger sister, Ms Ho has a style name Nansorhon. According

to her biography, she was a Daoist nun. My country, however, has no 57

Daoist temples or Daoist nuns. It also records her style name as

Kyongbondang, which is an even worse mistake. Ms Ho married Kim

Song-nip. Since Kim's appearance was ugly, his friends teased him

saying that his wife admired Fanchuan [Du Mu]. Generally speaking, it is

not a good thing for a lady to write poetry, and then to be known as

77 Kyongbon [Jingfan], how wrong can it be!

Pak Chi-won points out that the story commonly reported in Chinese records of Ho

Kyongbon becoming a Daoist nun was a groundless rumour. In his commentary, he attempts to correct the widespread rumour that Ho Kyongbon admired Du Mu's ifjrjfc

(803-852) talent and handsome appearance and therefore named herself Kyongbon by combining/wg T§| "to admire" with the first character Fan ^ of Du Mu's style name

Fanchuan ^J11. Responding to the problem of Ho Kyongbon's visibility, he also wrote:

Generally speaking, it is not a good thing for a lady to write poetry. It is a

great honour for a woman from a foreign country to be known in China.

However, no Korean woman has ever been known in our country by her

name or courtesy name. Her style name of Nansol is certainly excessive.

Even so, her name was recognized as Kyongbon and recorded everywhere.

It will be difficult to rectify it for a thousand years.78 How can this not be

a mirror of warning to women of talent?79 58

Pak Chi-won's admonition reflects one of the many strict conduct codes for Choson women: that a woman's name should not be made known to the public. As we have seen in the case of Ho Kyongbon's stepsisters and mother, women were either referred to by the surname suffixed with -ssi, or granted honorary titles that accorded with their husband's ranks. Pak Chi-won argues that Ho Kyongbon's literary talent was the cause of all the groundless rumours that had risen up and persisted in China and Korea; therefore, she should be regarded as a negative example for other women.

The low view of Ho Kyongbon's writing in Korea fits with the overwhelmingly negative view of women's writing during the Choson period. Pak Chi-won's (1737-

1805) statement embodies the common view of woman's poetry and writings during this period. Yi Ik ^?H (style name Songho !§.$§; 1681-1763), a famous and much-respected scholar of the Silhak movement (Practical Learning), also articulated a similar view on women's learning: "Reading and learning are the domains of men. For a woman it is enough if she knows the Confucian virtues of diligence, frugality, and chastity. If a

Q 1 woman disobeys these virtues, she will bring disgrace to the family." This concern was also expressed in one of the seven rules of appropriate behaviour for a married woman:

"She should not indulge in study or literature because they were considered improper for a woman."82 Even Korean women perceived writing as a controversial and risky activity that could bring unexpected gossip and disgrace to the family.83 In Choson society, it is said that the absence of learning was thought to be conducive to the development of a 59 woman's virtue.84 Women of marked intelligence and artistic talent, on the other hand, were thought to be ill-fated.85 As a result, most women either remained uneducated or pursued their writing in a very discrete manner. When we take this social context into consideration, Ho Kyongbon's literary achievement is extraordinary. The extant works by Ho Kyongbon in Nansorhon chip are quite substantial in number (two hundred and nine poems under forty-nine titles and three essays), and rank her as the most prolific woman poet in Korean literary history.86 Moreover, as I have shown, she was both the most anthologized Korean poet in the Ming and Qing, and the most well known Korean poet - man or women - to many Chinese literati.

It is important to consider why Ho Kyongbon's poetry was so frequently included in the late Ming and Qing women's poetry anthologies. Was her visibility linked to her gender? As I discussed earlier, most of the anthologies including Ho Kyongbon's poetry are exclusively devoted to women's poetry. In fact, the late Ming and Qing eras witnessed a golden age in the production of women's anthologies and individual collections. As Kang-i Sun Chang points out, more than 3,000 women's anthologies and

87 collections were produced during this period. This increase in the number of anthologies and collections was paralleled by an increase in women's literary production in general. Owing to the rise of women's literacy and developments in printing technology, women of the late Ming and Qing wrote and published more than women in any previous dynasty.

Anthologists likely differed in their reasons for compiling these anthologies.

Women anthologists, for example, may have used the anthologizing of other women's writings as a means by which to bring their own literary works into the public sphere.88 60

However, all compilers of women's writings shared at least two fundamental goals: the preservation of women's poetry and the justification and promotion of women's writing.

These goals are generally stated quite explicitly in the prefaces to these anthologies.

Many prefaces indicate that the intended purpose of the anthologies was the transmission and preservation of women's writings, writings which otherwise might be lost. The expressed goals of transmission and preservation also indicate that these anthologists were interested in legitimizing women's writings and drawing attention to their literary talents.

The legitimization of women's writings was also achieved through the frequent association of the anthologizing of women's poetry with the Shijing (the Book of Songs), one of the Five Confucian classics. Believed to have been compiled by Confucius, the

"Guofeng" section of Shijing was thought to consist primarily of women's writings. By associating Shijing with women's writings in their anthologies, the anthologists achieved two goals. First, they elevated and legitimized women's writings in general, and second, they indicated that their role as compilers of poetry was similar to that of Confucius who

on compiled these poems for moral edification. Given the increasing importance of these women's anthologies in the late Ming and Qing, there is no doubt that Ho Kyongbon's gender played an imperative role in making her poetry known.

I would like to propose some potential reasons why these Chinese scholars, especially women anthologists, were eager to incorporate Ho Kyongbon's poetry into their literary projects. For Wang Duanshu, the compiler of Mingyuan shiwei, the inclusion of Ho Kyongbon's poetry was a way to expand the scope of her poetry anthology. As is well known, Wang Duanshu attempted to produce an anthology of 61 women's poetry that was as comprehensive as possible. Apparently, she invited contemporary poets and readers to send as many poems as they could in order to increase the size of her anthology.90 In the same manner, Yun Zhu, in her Zhengshiji, included

91 poems from Korean poets and even from women living at the edges of the empire.

However, there is another possible reason why Ho Kyongbon's poetry received so much attention from these Chinese anthologists: the fact that Ho Kyongbon, as a Korean woman, was able to compose superb poetry in classical Chinese provided the evidence of the civilizing influence of Chinese culture on other countries such as Korea. Chen

Zilong's comment, as quoted by Zhu Yizun, provides verification for this idea.

In reviewing the anthologies compiled by these women scholars, it is, however, apparent that most of them adopted a highly discriminatory attitude in arranging women's poetry. The hierarchical arrangement of women poets in the anthologies is an embodiment of the concern that many gentry women felt with distinguishing themselves from a marginalized group of poets in order to establish or legitimize their own literary credentials. Wang Duanshu's Mingyuan shiwei provides a good example of this consideration. Wang places Ho Kyongbon's poetry in juan 28, "Waiji" ^f |j|, the "Outer

Collection" followed by the categories of Buddhist nuns ("Dark collection" ^mM) and of

Daoist priestesses ("Yellow Collection" ilr|||).93 In her preface to the anthology, Wang

Duanshu clearly explains the criteria she used in selecting poems for these three sections.

She writes: "The work of women who, although they are Buddhist nuns, Daoist

Priestesses, and Foreigners, nonetheless harmonize with the Feng and Ya, went into the

Buddhist, Daoist priestesses, and Foreign Collections."94 This statement clearly indicates that the poet's social status and nationality were deciding factors in Wang's arrangement 62 of the poems in her anthology. At the same time, the statement also shows that her choice to incorporate these poems into her anthology was based primarily on their authors' literary talent and moral propriety as defined in orthodox conceptions of Chinese poetry. Earlier sections of Mingyuan shiwei also provide evidence of a concern with the poets' social backgrounds. For example, Wang Duanshu differentiated gentry wives from courtesans, and even among courtesans, the poetry of those who married prominent literati, such as Liu Rushi or Wang Wei 3LW( (ca. 1600- ca. 1647), were set apart from the poetry of those who remained in the pleasure quarters.95 The hierarchical differentiation of women writers was reinforced during the Qing dynasty when the status of courtesans became much lower than in the late Ming period. As Zhengshiji (Correct Beginning), the name of Yun Zhu's anthology, indicates, Yun Zhu, in publishing this anthology, decided to exclude the work of courtesans altogether because they were not regarded as respectable ladies. She did, however, include the poetry of Liu Rushi, Wang Wei, and other courtesans who married or became concubines of literati in the "Appendix" (fulu

$i$$k) of Zhengshiji96 Ho's five poems, along with those of other Korean women poets, are likewise relegated to the "Appendix." Shen Shanbao, as I have already mentioned, also discriminated against marginalized groups of women writers, placing Ho's poems in the last juan of the collection (juan 12) along with the writings of courtesans, nuns, immortals, and other Korean women.

For most women anthologists, however, the inclusion of Ho Kyongbon's poetry was likely intended to demonstrate their solidarity in legitimizing women's writings. By using the writings of a Korean woman poet, these anthologists suggested that women of high ability and literary achievement existed both within and outside of China, that 63 women's talent was, in a way, "universal." In other words, women were united by one goal: legitimizing women's writings and praising their literary achievement. As I have shown earlier, this solidarity was neither one-dimensional nor permanent. Class and national differences divided their gendered position. Since most women's poetry anthologies were published by gentry wives, their editorial process discriminated against courtesan poets, Buddhist nuns, and other marginalized groups of women, including Ho

Kyongbon and other Korean women poets.

In examining Chinese scholars' comments on Ho's poetry, the existence of both positive and negative reactions is apparent. For Liu Rushi and Zhu Yizun, Ho's poetry is, at best, a copy of Chinese poems. According to other scholars, Ho is an outstanding poet with remarkable literary talent. Although their accounts seem to be strikingly different, their views on Ho's poetry provide us with an instrumental clue to understand her poetry.

That is, her poetry's strong association with Tang poetry. In the next chapter I will examine more carefully this association by providing an analysis of the textual qualities of her poetry. 64

Chapter 3

Textual Imitation in Ho Kyongbon's Poetry

In this chapter I provide an analysis and discussion of Ho Kyongbon's poems written

under the following three subgenres: "Frontier Poems" ("Chusai qu" and ttjUE&j and

"Rusai qu"ASft), "Palace Lyrics" ("Gongci" KI^I), and imitations of Tang fugu

poems (these are poems entitled "Ganyu" ^M. and "Qianxing" jUft). The poems

composed under these three subgenres not only constitute a significant portion of

Nansorhon chip, approximately one-fifth of the collection, they also provide a convincing

display of Ho's profound knowledge of Chinese poetic tradition and convention. As I

will argue, the strong association of these poems with Tang poetry and poetics further

illustrates Ho's interest in positioning herself within an important Choson literary trend in

which Tang poetry was valorized as the "ideal" classical model.

Although Korean scholars have generally acknowledged the predominant

influence of Tang poetry on Ho's poetic practice, few have attempted a comprehensive

analysis of either her emulation of particular Tang poets and poetic styles, or, more

fundamentally, the reasons for her significant interest in the poetics of the three subgenres

mentioned above. In order to address these issues, my discussion in this chapter will be

largely devoted to the aspect of textual imitation in Ho's poetry. For each of the three

subgenres, I will attempt to uncover the specific poetic models that Ho chose to emulate,

and provide a concrete demonstration of her manipulation and reworking of Chinese

poems, specifically in the areas of subject matter, imagery, and poetic language. 65

Before examining more specifically Ho's poetry in these three subgenres, it will be useful to provide some observations on the entirety of Ho Kyongbon's corpus in

Nansorhon chip. First of all, it is readily apparent that many of the poems have yuefu titles. In Nansorhon chip these poems are often arranged in series - two, four, or five poems grouped together under the same song title - and are typically written in either a five-character or seven-character quatrain form.1 Historically, the Yuefu (Music Bureau

T$M) was originally established by Former Han Emperor Wu (ca. 115 B.C.) to collect anonymous folk songs and compose hymns (texts and tunes) used in the court for ceremonial purposes. However, following the abolition of this Bureau in 7 B.C., numerous Chinese literati continued writing poems in the style of anonymous yuefu poetry, often giving their poems the same title as their anonymous models. Their conscious imitations of Han folk songs were characterized more by deft literary craftsmanship than a rigid adherence to the original models. As Hans Frankel points out,

"these imitations, which were not necessarily set to music, often bore the same titles as their anonymous models but were apt to differ considerably from their models in meter and content."4 Like these poems, Ho's yuefu maintain only a tenuous link to the Han yuefu songs after which they are titled. In examining Ho's yuefu poems, I have discovered that Ho undertook what appears to be a conscientious reworking of Tang yuefu poems. This is particularly apparent in several instances in which the themes, settings, diction, and imagery of Mo's yuefu poems are clearly derived from the yuefu poems of Tang poets.5

To understand the relevance of this literati tradition of yuefu poetry to Ho's case, it is worth taking note of Burton Watson's early insights in his book Chinese Lyricism. 66

In his discussion of the imitation of Han folk songs by men of letters, Watson explains that these poets generally had two purposes in imitating Han folk songs: the first was "to express the kind of anger and spirit of protest that had moved the unknown authors of the original ballads and hopefully in this way to gain the ear of the authorities;" the second purpose was "the desire to try their hand at a larger variety of subjects and styles than those offered by the ordinary occasional poetry of the times, to test their imaginative power and literary skill by setting aside their own voice and speaking in that of, say, an old soldier, a starving peasant, a forsaken wife, or a pampered lady of the harem."

Watson, however, points out that it is difficult to determine which of these two purposes was most significant in the poet's mind. In reading Ho's yuefu poems, most of which provide no specific reference to the context in which they were written, we encounter a similar problem in determining whether a poem was composed to express Ho's response toward social injustice, to address specific occasion, to express her feelings in the voice of another, or simply to exercise her talent in textual manipulation. Whichever the case, the yuefu genre nonetheless allowed Ho to try her hand at different styles and subjects, in

Watson's words, to test her "imaginative power" and "literary skills."8 Yuefu poetry, with its extensive literary history, which was replete with well-established themes, stock images, and diction from which Ho could freely draw; additionally, it allowed Ho to utilize various fictional personas, different voices which were not always possible within the limits of occasional poetry.

The second important feature of her corpus is the paucity of occasional poems.

As I discussed in Chapter 1, Nansorhon chip contains only a small number of occasional poems, almost all of which were written to her older brother Ho Pong. No poems in this 67 collection were addressed to her husband or parents, and there is very little indication of the presence of female peers with whom she may have exchanged poems. For male literati and, in many cases, women poets in the late Ming and Qing, the composition of poetry was an important social activity. As Hans Frankel points out, "Since in China the writing of poetry was to a great extent a social activity, it is not surprising that a large proportion of Chinese poetry is concerned with social contacts among men, with chance encounters and planned reunions, with painful separations, and with longing for absent friends." I believe that the paucity of occasional poems within Ho's extant works not only provides an important clue to understanding the context in which Ho pursued her literary practice, but also helps to explain the very characteristics of her poetry; that is,

Ho seems to have found her poetic sources and gained inspiration primarily through texts rather than social relationships, resulting in literary works that were predominantly textual and imaginary.

Thirdly, it should be noted that many of Ho's poems are devoted to Daoist themes.

Of particular importance are Ho's eighty-seven "Lyrics of Wandering Immortals"

(Youxian ci ^fliifnl), constituting the largest number of poems under a single title in

Nansorhon chip. Ho Kyun claims in his book Haksan ch 'odam that his sister's "Youxian ci" were written to emulate Guo Pu's J&JH (276-324) poems on "Wandering

Immortals."11 The poems were all written in a seven-syllable quatrain form with a great wealth of Daoist terminology. In these poems, Ho describes the Daoist heaven, splendid looking immortals, and a journey to the immortal world. Her description of the dwellings of the immortals depicts a place of exquisite beauty. Modern critics have stated that Ho provides a vivid and descriptive depiction of the immortal world.12 They have also 68 asserted that Ho's apparent attraction to the immortal world stemmed from her desire to escape from an unhappy reality.13

The fourth important feature of Ho's corpus is that the language of her poems is

Classical Chinese rather than han 'gul (the Korean alphabet), the medium in which most women's poetry was written during the Choson dynasty.14 Her deliberate choice of

Classical Chinese in composing these poems suggests that she shared a sentiment similar to that prevalent in Choson literati circles: Classical Chinese is the most prestigious, respectable, and proper medium for writing.15 Moreover, Ho's mastery of Classical

Chinese, a language that can only be acquired through the prodigious study of Chinese

Classics and poetry, reflects her desire to be recognized as an erudite, learned, and talented poet.

Finally, Ho's poetry demonstrates her overt interest in poetic subgenres written in series, particularly those subgenres used by the Tang poets she chose to emulate.16 I believe that my discussion in the following three sections, "Frontier Poetry," "Palace

Lyrics," and poems in imitation of Tang fugu poetry, will shed light on her particular affinity for the poetics of these subgenres, further elucidating both the favorable comments on her poetry by late Ming and Qing critics and the issues of plagiarism raised by some traditional scholars.

Frontier Poetry

As modern literary critics have observed, Tang dynasty poets produced a number of exceptional frontier poems.17 In explaining the popularity of this specific subgenre 69 during this period, Marie Chan first points out that Tang Dynasty's strongly-held policy of military defense endowed frontier commanders with prestige and political power.

Therefore, poets who had failed to find advancement for their political careers in the capital often sought posts on the frontier.18 Second, she suggests that poets living in the cosmopolitan Tang capital of Chang'an would have felt quite interested in foreign culture.19 The Tang poets best-known for their frontier poems are Gao Shi M*M (716-

765), Cen Shen ^# (715-770), Li Qi $fjg (fl.740), and Wang Changling ig$$ (698-

757), a group of poets in the so-called "Frontier Schoo\"(Biansai pai iHH!^). Apart from these poets, a number of prominent Tang poets such as Wang Wei 31f|£ (701-761),

Du Fu, and Li Bai produced exceptional "frontier poems" characterized by their literary dexterity and distinctive individual styles. As we shall see, Ho Kyongbon's poetry demonstrates a great familiarity with this subgenre and its long established patterns and conventions.

Ho's literary collection, Nansorhon chip, includes twelve "frontier poems" under the yuefu titles "Chusai qu" £BI§r$l (Going to the Frontier), "Saixia qu" HTFt&3 (At the

Frontier), and "Rusai qu" AH ft (Entering the Frontier). Thematically, as the word biansai JHH (frontier, border or pass) indicates, "frontier poetry" generally deals with the theme of military expeditions at the frontier. Since it is a well-established subgenre, poets freely draw upon stock images such as horses, deserts, bitter wind, snow, and the lively music of the nomadic tribes. Stylistically, frontier poetry is considered a heroic and masculine style for its prevailing depiction of battle and soldiers' spirit, and its images of the vast and barren frontier. 70

Like many other "frontier poems" written by Chinese poets, Ho's frontier poems deal primarily with the sufferings of soldiers at war, the glorification of state campaigns, or victories attained through the self-sacrifice of soldiers. She captures the poetic mood of the frontier by deploying stock images conventionalized by previous Chinese poets.

Unlike Gao Shi and Cen Shen who spent a considerable amount of time in Central Asia,

Ho Kyongbon's frontier experience was purely imaginary.21 In much the same way as

Wang Changling, a poet who never went to Central Asia and yet wrote one of the masterpieces of "frontier poetry," Ho Kyongbon's "frontier poems" also came from the combination of her own imagination and the Chinese poetic tradition.22

In writing on frontier themes, Ho Kyongbon was particularly concerned with capturing the manner of Tang frontier poetry and, more specifically, the vivid frontier imagery and mood displayed in the poems of Wang Changling and Li Bai. The majority of "frontier poems" by these two poets are under old yuefu titles such as "Chusai qu" tBilttt and "Saixia qu" HTFE& and written in regulated verse or quatrain form, in contrast to Kao Shi and Cen Shen's "frontier poems" which are mostly occasional poems and in ancient-style form. The poems I have provided below are indicative of the influence of Tang poets, specifically Li Bai and Wang Changling's "frontier poems," on

Ho's poetry. I begin with two five-character regulated poems written to the yuefu title "

Going to the Frontier."

Going to the Frontier #1 (First of Two)

Beacon fires are shining on the long river,

Heaven's soldiers dispatched from the House of Han.

Using spears as pillows, they sleep on the white snow. 71

4 Spurring on their horses, they reach the yellow sands.

The north wind brings the sound of the watchman's rattles,

While border melodies enter into the frontier whistle.

Year after year, the end gets further away.

8 Toiling hard they follow behind the light carts.

(Nansorhon chip: 6a)

foytm&n, mmm®. mkm&m, aiHAM.

The opening couplet of the poem depicts the vastness of the frontier. Beacon fires signify the urgency of a situation in which an enemy attack is imminent. The line "Heaven's soldiers dispatched from the House of Han" is a description of the Chinese army marching out of the capital which, as Stephen Owen identified, is a typical "set opening formula" in early Tang frontier poetry. The line is directly borrowed from the following line in Li Bai's poem, "Saixia qu" HTFES (At the Frontier): "The savages at the border seized the time of autumn to attack / Heaven's soldiers dispatched from the

House of Han" MfMyWCf, ^%ft?Jt^-24 While Li Bai's couplet makes a logical connection between cause and result, Ho's first couplet functions primarily as a description of an urgent situation on the frontier. In the second couplet, Ho describes the wretched life of soldiers who must sleep on the snow without the comforts of home. The image of soldiers spurring on their horses as they cross the distant and vast yellow deserts 72

- another stock image of Central Asia - produces for the reader a vision of the steppes, the frequent location of battles with barbarians in Chinese frontier poems. The second couplet, with its images of snow and sand, depicts the hard life of soldiers on the inhospitable frontier; the couplet uses a contrasting sequence - the motionless state of sleep and the rapid movement of riding horses - to bring out the endless hardship of the campaign. In the third couplet, Ho appeals to the reader's auditory sense with a description of frontier sounds - a watchman's rattle and a reed whistle - further depicting the sleepless and homesick state of the soldiers. In his discussion of Wang Changling's frontier poems, Owen explains how Wang employed the fragmentation of an implied physical scene and the sound of music to assert an evocative mood. In Ho's poem, we can also see how fragmented and implied physical scenes, along with these auditory effects, serve to evoke a mood of frontier. In the last couplet, Ho ends the poem with the image of a never-ending expedition that ultimately causes the suffering and sacrifice of soldiers. The vocabulary used in this poem - beacon fires, northern wind, and frontier reed whistle - is highly conventional; likewise, the images of the frontier and of distressed soldiers are familiar to those who have read frontier poems by Tang poets such as Wang Changling, Li Bai, and many others.

The second poem reads:

Going to the Frontier #2 (Second of Two)

Last night, a feathered message came fast,

Reporting that Dragon City is besieged.

Cold flute blows in the northern snow,

4 Jade swords advance on Mount Jinwei. 73

Long on garrison, soldiers tend to age,

On constant expedition, horses become thinner.

Men value loyalty,

8 They will come back with the heads from Helan.

(Nansorhon chip: 6b-7a)

Notes

m 4/ Jinwei is the ancient name of a mountain, also called A'ertai shan PRUH^UJ present day. The mountain is located in the east of Outer Mongolia. 8/ Helan is the name of a mountain located in the northwestern frontier of Ningxia §ljC province of Hui minority's 08^ self governed district. See Hanyu da cidian, vol.10, 180.26 mm

X&AM& MEH^Jie. mtmmMi, ^mnmm.

The opening couplet sets a tone of urgency, a common motif in frontier poems. "A feathered message," a reference to an urgent dispatch, implies that war is imminent. This stock image was employed by Li Bai in his famous frontier poem "Going Out from the

North Gate of Ji" tHSIrj^lbTOT: "The winged letters fly like lightning / Beacon fires stream across the night sky" MWMMM, 'l^lXMyMit21 By using the term Dragon

City, a region of Mongolia in which Xiongnu tribes resided during Han Dynasty, Ho brings the reader to a specific historical time, the glorious Han dynasty. Tang dynasty poets frequently used place names from previous dynasties, especially the Han, in their poems. As Burton Watson points out, since place names have rich historical and 74 legendary associations, the mention of these names calls up scenes of departed glory, fierce battles, or the loneliness of the frontier.28 Of course, Han place names in frontier poetry also call attention to the glory of the dynasty's military success and territorial expansion.

Following the first couplet's description of an urgent situation at the frontier, the focus in the second couplet shifts to the harsh environment of a battlefield where the cold winter is unbearable. The chilly sound of a reed whistle along with the harsh snow and wind transport the reader to an imaginary front line where soldiers are experiencing great suffering. In the third couplet, Ho, by pairing the vivid images of aging soldiers and thin horses, reveals the miserable consequences of war and the sufferings of the soldiers.

However, in the last couplet, rather than continuing to develop the focus of the three preceding couplets - that is, the misery of the expedition - she concludes by affirming the

Chinese state's campaigns in Central Asia, wishing a glorious triumph over the barbarians. The last couplet, "Men value loyalty / They will come back with the heads from Helan" resonates with Gao Shi's line from his famous "Yange xing" ffiWtfl' (The

Song of Yan): "A man by nature values expeditions / The Son of Heaven casts an exceedingly kind countenance" HJ^^SSflffT, /KrlL4fc'MW!)M'&29 Her poem's perspective on ethnicity is no different from that of her Chinese counterparts -the men's loyalty is obviously to the Chinese emperor; the Helan (or Loulan) are simply barbarians who threaten civilized Chinese people. This kind of ethnic cross-dressing is a striking feature of her "frontier poetry" which I will discuss in detail below. 75

The last "frontier poem" that I will analyze is one that Ho Kyongbon seems to have written in emulation of "Going to the Frontier" by Wang Changling. Wang's poem reads:

Going to the Frontier

Bright moon of Ch'in, mountain pass of Han,

From the long march over a myriad leagues, our men have not returned.

If only we had the Flying General of Lung-ch'eng here,

4 Tartar horses would not be allowed to cross Yin Mountain.30

*m wBwsm, m SMEA*;I.

Ho's poem, the fifth in a series of five entitled "Rusai qu" AlSrirJ, is also written in a seven-character quatrain form.

Entering the Frontier (Fifth in a series of five)

Pennons of Han all over the Yin Mountain

We will not let even a single Tartar on his horse return.

So much hardship managing the soldiers, Ban - the Marquis of

Dingyuan

4 Still looks towards Jade Gate Pass all his life.

(Nansorhon chip: 15a)

Notes

1/ "Yinshan" is a range of mountains located in Inner Mongolia. 3/ Ban Chao iSM. (32-102) was given the title "Dingyuanhou"^i^ (the Marquis of Dingyuan) in 95 AD. for his military achievements.32 4/ "Yumen guan" is a gate on the Great Wall in Gansu province and also a strategic gate to the Western Regions. 76

The Han dynasty clearly provides the historical setting for both Ho and Wang's poems.

This is suggested by each poet's inclusion of a well-known historical Han general. Wang

Changling's poem includes a reference to the famous General of the Han Dynasty, Li

Guang ^Jff (ca. 145 B.C.), who gained major victories in battles with the Xiongnu tribes. Because of his military achievement, kindness, and staunch loyalty, Li Guang became the figure most often represented in the frontier poetry of Tang poets.33 Ho

Kyongbon's poem makes reference to another famous Han general, Ban Chao MML (32-

102), whose younger sister, Ban Zhao S£Bp (45-51), was the famous Han woman scholar who finished writing the official history of the Han dynasty after her older brother Ban

Gu JEHU (32-92) died. Ban Chao was said to be a devoted brother who had to take very low-ranking positions to help meet the family's expenses. He later became one of the most successful Han generals, who ended Xiongnu control and established Chinese influence over several western regions, particularly East Turkestan. After spending almost thirty years at the frontier, his health began to decline and he asked Emperor Ho

(89-105) to be relieved from his frontier post. To help her brother gain the emperor's permission, Ban Zhao wrote a petition to the throne giving in great detail the story of her brother's long service in the far west. Moved by her words, Emperor Ho permitted Ban

Chao to return to the capital.34

Ho's specific reference to Ban Chao in the poem seems to stem from Ho's personal identification with these two Ban brothers and sister. In Chapter 1, we have 77 already seen Ho Pong's note in which he compares Ho Kyongbon to Ban Zhao. Ho

Kyongbon might have seen herself as a parallel to the erudite and talented Ban Zhao whose two brothers, just like hers, greatly appreciated her talent and learning.

Both poems emphasize the Han dynasty's military power as represented by these two famous generals. However, despite the tribute to the Han's military supremacy in these two poems, both poets seem to agree on the hardships of war. For example,

Wang's couplet, "From the long march over a myriad leagues / Our men have not returned," and Ho's second couplet describing the hardships of General Ban Chao are both suggestive of an ambivalent feeling toward interminable military expeditions. Marie

Chan discusses this ambivalence in her analysis of Wang's poem. She argues that the irony manifested in the poem suggests that even if the dynasty had an extraordinary general such as Li Guang, there could be no permanent solution to the frontier problem.35

It is also important to note that Li Guang is remembered in Chinese history as a tragic hero who in the end cut his throat in response to the ingratitude of his superiors. He is a reminder of how poorly the state rewards those who fight hard for their country. Ho's second couplet, "So much hardship managing the soldiers, Ban - the Marquis of

Dingyuan"/ Still looks towards Jade Gate Pass all his life," implies a similar sentiment.

Ho's description of General Ban's endless hardships at the frontier can be interpreted either as Ho's admission of the futility of never ending military expeditions and/or as

Ho's subtle criticism of central political authority (including criticism of the Han court that kept Ban at the frontier until he was old and in poor health).

There are other similarities between the two poems. The second line in Ho's poem, "We will not let the Tartars and their horses return," is a rewriting of the last line 78 of Wang's poem, "Tartar horses would not be allowed to cross Yin Mountain." The determination and bravery of the soldiers who are willing to sacrifice themselves are also seen in Du Fu and Gao Shi's frontier poems. This Tang poetic context endows Ho's poems with a heroic and masculine mood.36

One might be bewildered in reading a poem in which a Korean woman incorporates an overtly pro-Chinese political theme, that is, the glorification of Chinese campaigns in Central Asia. However, the ethnic and gender cross-dressing we see in her border poems plays a crucial role in her act of poetic composition. In my opinion, Ho's objective in composing "frontier poems" was to produce poems indistinguishable from those written by Tang poets. In this context, we can perhaps understand why Ho's poetry is so visibly textual. By producing such a "conventional" poem, Ho, I suggest, expected to achieve several objectives. First, as with her "Lyrics of Wandering Immortals," by using these border themes she expanded the boundaries of her imagination. Frontier poetry, with its distinctively heroic and masculine styles, must have been a fascinating and exciting theme for a gentry woman whose whole life had been spent within the confines of her residence. Similar sentiments may explain why a number of late Ming and Qing women poets also dabbled in frontier poetry. Second, the strong association of "frontier poetry" with the Tang dynasty in Chinese lyric history also helps explain her attraction to this subgenre. By producing this sort of poetry, she was further advocating her belief in Tang poetry as an ideal poetic model.

Palace Lyrics 79

In this section I will undertake a discussion and analysis of Ho Kyongbon's "Palace

Lyrics" (Gongci ^gnl), a group of twenty poems which constitute the second largest number of poems under a single title in Nansorhon chip (after her "Youxian ci" jHflilPI

[Lyrics of Wandering Immortals]).

Before examining the poetic qualities of Ho Kyongbon's "Palace Lyrics," it is important to mention the stylistic and thematic features of gongti shi lU'fUjNf (palace style poetry), a subgenre whose conventions governed the composition of Ho's "Palace

Lyrics." The gongti shi originated with poets of the Qi ^ dynasty (479-502), and reached an apex during the Liang ^ dynasty (502-57) during which time it was particularly popular among court poets under the patronage of Xiao Gang ffUMl (503-

551). The favorable attention given to love poetry during the Liang led to the compilation of Yutai xinyong 3£JE0f!^k (New Songs from a Jade Terrace), the first anthology in Chinese poetic history devoted exclusively to poems on the theme of love.

Compiled by Xu Ling ^J? (507-583) at the request of Xiao Gang (later known as

Emperor Jianwen $H~$Cfl? [r. 549-551] of the Liang Dynasty), Yutai xingyong contains six hundred poems. A majority of the poets represented in this anthology lived during the

Southern Dynasties and their poems reveal a well-developed and distinct pattern for presenting a love poem that became a feature of later "palace style poetry."

Summarizing the styles of "palace style poetry," Anne Birrell points out that these

Southern Dynasties poets worked within a "well-defined system of poetic convention."39

According to Birrell, when court poets wrote love poems, they "not only respected the appropriate devices of rhetoric, but also observed a strict code of poetic convention governing subject, theme, mood, and attitude."40 Birrell writes: 80

The typical features of this new poetic style are: the courtly love poem has

as its theme frustrated love; its subject is a palace lady, or a wealthy

woman; its ambience is palatial and luxurious; its setting is a woman's

solitary boudoir; its mood is one of pessimism arising from the male

lover's absence; and its style is expressive and decoratively descriptive, at

once evoking the pathos of a woman unhappily in love and the opulence

of a fashionable woman's boudoir decor.41

As Ronald Miao points out, the extreme popularity of gongti shi among Six Dynasties court poets began to diminish in the Tang. Yet one theme continued to reappear in the poetry of Tang.42 This theme, called "palace plaint" K^, centered on the pathos and frailty of the neglected palace beauty. The high Tang poets, Li Bai and Wang Changling, by alluding to historical figures and settings in their poems, were successful in conveying the loss and despair that a female persona might feel. In the middle and late Tang, Li He

^g (790-816), Li Shangyin ^|§ (8137-858), and Wen Tingyun ?&$£^ (8127-870) also tried "palace style poetry" of the Six Dynasties, constructing themes converging on the unhappiness of elegant and beautiful palace women.

Among Tang poets who demonstrated their interest in the enduring legacy of

"palace style poetry," the Mid-Tang poet Wang Jian 3E^ (A 775) should be singled out.

Although Wang Jian wrote a number of "new yuefu" poems, a kind of poetry composed under yuefu titles and often written with the intention of social criticism, his literary fame can be attributed primarily to his one hundred "Gongci," a group of poems highly praised by his contemporaries and by later poets for their "realistic" and detailed descriptions of the lives of palace women.44 His "Gongci" were so popular that several other Chinese 81 poets, such as Huarui furen Tfcii^A (A- ca. 935) of the Five Dynasties period (907-960) and Wang Gui ^M (1019-1085) of the Song T£ (960-1279), were inspired to compose their own one hundred "Gongci." Significantly, Ho Kyongbon's brother, Ho Kyun, was also among those who composed one hundred "Gongci" after the model of Wang Jian's

"Palace Lyrics." Ho Kyongbon seems to have shared her brother's interest in

"Gongci;" as I will discuss below, her own "Gongci" are also modeled after Wang Jian's

"Palace Lyrics."46

Stylistically, Ho's "Palace Lyrics" demonstrate a high degree of familiarity with the subgenre of "palace style poetry." Like Wang's "Gongci," her "Palace Lyrics" follow the generic conventions of "palace style poetry": images in her poems are descriptive, delicate, and sensuous, using aestheticism and eroticism to appeal to the reader. Furthermore, the setting of the woman's boudoir is redolent with objects that function as emotive metaphors. A wide variety of thematic matter such as palace ceremonies and activities, and descriptions of palace objects appear in the "Gongci" of both Ho and Wang Jian, yet the primary themes are concerned with the life of palace women. In the same tradition as the "palace style poetry" written by Six Dynasties court poets, Wang Jian's "Gongci" dwell particularly on the unfulfilled love of palace women.

In reading Wang's "Gongci," we frequently encounter an elegant and beautiful palace woman, confined to the isolated boudoir, pining for her lover with unrelieved sadness.

Wang Jian depicts women as victims of love's disease and characterized by emotional vulnerability, a representation similar to that of many "palace plaint" poems by Tang poets. In understanding the representations of palace women and love in "place style poetry," Anne Birrell's observation is worth noting: she writes, "Love is not celebrated 82 by the court poet. He is not usually in love, nor does his literary pose of a woman in love express in the present tense of happy fulfillment. Rather the passing of love is mourned."47

In reading Ho's poems, a reader who is familiar with "palace style poetry" and its poetics might expect to see images of sorrowful and isolated palace women who are mourning the passing of love. Surprisingly, only a few of Ho's "Palace Lyrics" dwell on this theme. Instead, in reading the poems, we frequently encounter images of palace women whose love has been fulfilled. In this section I will examine the representations of the female persona in Ho's "Gongci," revealing Ho's discursive position toward the primary poetic convention of the subgenre: the image of the palace woman.

The first poem introduced here is one of four poems in which Ho presents a typical image of the palace woman, an image ubiquitous in both court love poems and the

"palace plaint" poems of Tang poets.

Palace Lyric #13

So cold on an icy mat, she cannot dream.

Waving a delicate silk-gauze fan, she swats fireflies.

At Changmen palace, the night is long and the bright moon futile.

4 Wind carries the sound of laughter from the Western Palace.

(Nansorhon chip: 18a)

Notes

3/"Changmen" is the name of the Han palace where Empress Chen $%.M.fB resided after losing favor with Emperor Wu $M (r. 141 -87 B.C.). Later, "Changmen" became an allusion to a palace where women in disfavor reside. 4/ "Xigong" refers to a palace where a consort in the emperor's favor resides. 83

&n&&£WR,m&m'8 on:

The image in the opening line suggests the setting of the poem - a woman's boudoir.

The icy cold feeling of the mat and the seasonal chill (han Jg) impress upon the reader the inner feelings of the persona, particularly her loneliness. Unaccompanied by her lord, she awakes in the chill and spends the long night swatting fireflies. Fireflies indicate that the season is changing into autumn, a time of year often associated with solitary, lonesome, and melancholy moods. The "silk-gauze fan," an item typically used by upper class women, is frequently employed in palace style poems. Often made of sheer white silk and round-shaped, it adds delicate and feminine tones to the poem. Most importantly, it alludes to the famous poem "Song of Resentment" ("Yuan ge xing" f&WtiT) attributed to Ban Jieyu MWttif (ca. 48- ca.6 B.C.), a concubine of Emperor

Cheng (r. 32-37 B.C.).49 This poem, thought to have been written when she lost the emperor's favor, treats the subject of discarded love through the image of a fan of

"conjoined bliss" (hehuan shan i^WM)- Since a fan was used in the summer and then put away for the other seasons, it provides an allusion to neglect and lost love.

In the second couplet, the persona's upward gaze towards the sky at first suggests a gesture symbolic of hope and expectation. The moon is a natural image often used to signify a union with the loved one(s) by Chinese poets. Yet, because the persona's wish to be in the company of her lord has not been realized, the moon is "in vain" or has "no purpose" (kong <£?); in other words, the moon's bright beauty remains unappreciated and its association with the union of two people, unfulfilled. As Anne Birrell points out, palace style poems in the Six Dynasties often employ words such as "vain," "futile," and 84

"cannot." Birrell states that these words reflect the typical representation of women's

attitude toward lost love in "palace style poetry" - deeply passive and melancholic.51 In

her solitude, the bright moon seems meaningless to her.

Through these references to coldness, autumn, and the moon, the poem's poignant

mood is established. The poem's specific reference to Changmen Palace shows that Ho

is working with a theme from within the Chinese poetic tradition. One might recall, for

example, Li Bai's two famous quatrains on the palace-plaint theme, "Changmen yuan"

52 SPIKS, which uses this palace as a setting. More importantly, this specific palace

recalls Empress Chen of the Han dynasty, who retired to Changmen Palace after she lost

the favor of Emperor Wu. It is said that Empress Chen commissioned the poet Sima

Xiangru WMM^n (179-117 B.C.) to write a poem, the "Changmen Rhapsody," through

which she might win back Emperor Wu's favor.53

In the last line, the sound of cheerful talking and laughter from the Western

Palace where the emperor is presumably spending the night with other favored palace

ladies contrasts with the distressed mood of the isolated female persona. This poem, even

at first glance, is a typical palace-plaint poem, drawing heavily from the imagery and

allusions of "palace style poetry" written by Chinese poets.

Contrary to the poem above, the next two poems project a palace woman who

appears to be fulfilled in love. The poetic moods of these poems are predominantly

happy rather than sorrowful and melancholic. The poem reads:

Palace Lyric #14

Multi-colored silk curtains, cushions in purple gauze,

Light fragrant musk comes over one in secret. 85

Tomorrow, to enjoy the flowers, the jade carriage has been detained.

4 Mossy rugs and curtain fringes are all at once new.

(Nansorhon chip: 18a)

mmmmmm, wtmmm\

The opening couplet is adorned with vignettes of elegant palace furnishings.

With its images of silk curtains and cushions permeated by the fragrance of musk, the

couplet projects the ambiance of a stylish boudoir. Although the female persona is not

directly portrayed, the reader can infer her presence from the sight and scent of the

surroundings. Describing the details of a woman's boudoir is an opening formula found

in a number of palace style poems. The sumptuously portrayed boudoir setting affects

the senses, providing aesthetic enjoyment along with sensual pleasure. Ronald Miao

explains that in "palace plaint poetry, the reliance upon elegant description is a stylistic

convention designed to serve a two-fold purpose - to lend 'glamour' (yan fg) to the

setting, and to enhance the erotic 'sentiment'(^/>2g lit)."54 These affluent settings replete

with luxurious and delicate objects, however, are often accompanied by images of empty

ivory beds or dusty mirrorstands, denoting a woman's loneliness and her desolate and

frustrated inner feelings. In the second couplet of Ho's poem, however, the female

persona is shown to be accompanied by the emperor - he will stay even longer for the

upcoming event of admiring flowers. This is certainly a happy situation for a palace lady.

The last line, "Mossy rugs and curtain fringes are all at once new," further suggests the special attention the persona is receiving from the emperor. Interestingly, as Liu Rushi 86 points out in her criticism of Ho's poetry, the last line is borrowed directly from one of

Wang Jian's poems. For comparison, I provide the poem from which the line is taken:

Palace Lyric #40

She boasts that her singing and dancing surpass everybody,

Regretfully, not having received imperial favor, she is summoned and

dismissed often.

For several nights, another palace quarter is being decorated.

4 Mossy rugs and curtain fringes are suddenly new. smwnmmA, is*fyampm55

The female persona of Wang Jian's poem is a palace woman who had not yet received

the emperor's favor. She laments the fact that although she recognizes her own talent,

her gift has remained unappreciated by the emperor. Instead, another woman is receiving

the lord's favor because, as the last line shows, her residence is being newly decorated

and renovated. Both Wang Jian and Ho indicate the presence of the emperor's favor by

revealing the material rewards he bestows upon the woman in favor.57 While Ho and

Wang Jian use a similar strategy for indicating the lord's favor, the import of the two

poems is remarkably different. If Wang Jian's poem is a typical "palace plaint," focusing

on the frustration and pathos of a palace woman, Ho chooses to represent a woman who

is in favor. Thus, she gives a radically different reading to the same line: the last line of

Wang's poem describes the decorations that the persona sees being provided for another

woman's quarter whereas the same line in Ho's poem shows that it was the persona's 87 own quarter being embellished. Ho's deliberate manipulation of textual borrowings is strikingly obvious.

The next poem provides another example of an "unconventional" image of a palace woman.

Palace Lyric #17

A newly selected palace lady waited on the imperial bed.

Behind the brocade screen, for the first time he gave her the fragrance of

joined pleasure.

The next morning, a eunuch came to ask,

4 Smiling, she pointed at a dainty pendant-pouch on her bosom.

(Nansorhon chip: 18b)

The images of an imperial bed and a brocade screen suggest that the setting is the emperor's bedroom. A palace woman, the female persona, is waiting to spend her first night with the emperor. As in most "palace style poems," the direct description of the emperor is also missing in this poem. We see in the second line hehuan ("joined pleasure"), a conventional metaphor that signifies sexual fulfillment as double leaves of this tree fold together at night.58

The poem progresses in a sequential time frame. After the night's event, in the morning a eunuch arrives to ask after the favored woman. In response, she points with pride at the dainty bag on her bosom, a sign of the emperor's "love." This happy image 88 of a palace woman is indisputably unusual in the conventions of "palace style poetry." In addition, Ho describes the persona's feelings in a more direct way: her pointing out the gift received from the emperor is a gesture expressive of the fact that she was appreciated by the emperor, and, even more evidently, her smile is a clear indication of her joy.

A beautiful woman not appreciated and therefore in sorrow has been one of the most constantly recurrent subjects in Chinese lyric history. The popularity of this kind of poetry is, to a certain extent, linked to the convention of political-erotic allegory. The figurative analogy between a woman neglected by her lord and a minister out of favor with his ruler has a long literary tradition, extending back to Qu Yuan's J&JM. (3437-278

B.C.) "Li sao" j$iff (Encountering Sorrow). When reading Ho Kyongbon's "Palace

Lyrics," many critics have also attempted to read them allegorically, focusing on the four poems representing unhappy palace women. For example, Kim Myong-hui states that Ho wrote on the lives of palace women who had to suppress their anger and frustration, and deny their own desires for love.59 Writing on this theme, Kim further argues that Ho tried to criticize the contemporary restrictions on women and to express her own sorrow as a woman.60 Kim Tong-uk, in his study on Ho Kyongbon's poetry, also argues that Ho adopted the voice of a palace woman to express her own unhappiness.61 However, as

Ronald Miao makes clear in his discussion of "palace style poetry," it is difficult to establish a clear relationship between poet and persona.62 Indeed, in Ho's "Palace

Lyrics," there is no definitive internal or external evidence that would lead us to read her poems autobiographically. More importantly, Ho's poems representing palace women in disfavor constitute only a minor portion of the twenty poems. With these facts in mind, I have focused primarily on the textual qualities of her poems, situating them in the context 89 of palace style poetics. As I have discussed in detail above, Ho had no intention of

following the "conventional" thematic pattern, a typically one-dimensional portrayal of

the life of a palace woman (i.e. her unhappiness). Instead, while observing the stylistic

conventions of this subgenre, she attempted to project the image of a palace woman who

is appreciated and happy rather than a victim of the disease of love. In this thematic

break with convention, we see evidence of an innovative poetics that remained situated

firmly in a textual tradition.

Poetry in Imitation of Tang Fugu Poetry

In his study on the textual relationships between yuefu poems, Joseph Allen defines

"textual imitation" as "the deliberate modeling of one literary work or type on another."63

He further explains that "imitation is the author's intent and is in the author's control; it is

also fully present in the reader's understanding of the work or so the author hopes. The

author turns directly to a text, or a text type (the Shakespearean sonnet, for example), and

reproduces a variation of it."64 He asserts that this celebration of the classical model and

interest in "imitative poetics" were constant throughout Chinese poetic history.65 As I

have shown and will continue to show in this section, Joseph Allen's observation is

particularly applicable to Ho's poetry, which was, fundamentally, a learned celebration

and emulation of the classical model. Ho was certainly aware that her two brothers and

other contemporary poets would recognize this emulation; thus, her emulation was also

an assertion of her idealization of "antiquity," that is Tang poetry, and a demonstration of

her knowledge of the Chinese literary tradition. 90

My focus in this section is on Ho's interest in fugu \%^ poetry ("return to

antiquity") and poetics in the Tang dynasty. The poems that I have selected for

discussion are under the titles of "Ganyu" $M (Stirred by My Experiences) and

"Qianxing" jgffl. (Written to Express My Thoughts).66 Nansorhon chip includes a series

of four poems entitled "Ganyu" and a series of eight poems entitled "Qianxing." All of

these poems are five-character ancient style verses.

I will begin with a brief discussion offugu, a complex and somewhat ambiguous

theory in Chinese literary history.67 In the Chapter "Fu-ku and T'ang Poetry" in his book,

777e Poetry ofMeng Chiao and Han Yii, Stephen Own discusses various issues in

defining/wgw and its historical development in the Tang.68 According to Owen, the fugu

tradition we find in the Tang started during the Southern Dynasties as a reaction to

effeminate court poetry. Its poetics generally became accepted during the Sui Plf (581-

618) and Tang dynasties.69 Owen argues that the idea of a "return to antiquity" is stated

in Liu Xie's §KJ$g (ca. 465-ca. 532) Wenxin diaolong ;&MVlJlfi (The Literary Mind and

the Carving of Dragons); Liu Xie criticizes the poetry of Chu $1 (B.C. 740-330) and the

poetic prose of Han (i.e. Hanfu tUM) as "deviant forks," asserting that a contemporary

poet should take the Classics as his starting point.70 Owen, in his study of early Tang

poetry, further explains the fugu tradition. He states that although the ideals of antiquity

are vague, such poetry nonetheless expresses the shared concerns of poets who composed fugu poetry; these poets advocated a form of poetry which either expressed deep personal

feeling or served didactic and political purposes and they strongly opposed "decadent"

and pointlessly "ornate" poetry.71 91

As a forerunner of the Tang fugu tradition, Chen Ziang PH^Ip (661-702) composed a series of thirty-eight poems entitled "Ganyu" J§M (Stirred by My

Experiences). These poems, the most significant works representing the fugu tradition by early Tang poets, were modeled on "Poems Singing My Thoughts" ik'|fl|# by the Wei

^ poet Ruan Ji ^KM (210-263).72 Highly praised by Du Fu, Han Yu, and other later prominent poets, Chen Ziang consolidated his place as a predecessor of the fugu tradition in the Tang dynasty. Chen devoted his works to the promotion of the poetic models of the Late Han and Wei. As Chen's successor, Li Bai took Chen's association of fugu principles and Jian'an style poetry as a model in composing a series of fifty-nine poems

74 under the title of "Gufeng" "JEIJJE (Ancient Airs or Old Manner).

Reading Ho's "Ganyu" and "Qianxing" poems, one might ask what would be the reason for Ho's particular interest in writing/wgw poetry. Did her interest in fugu poetry simply reflect a more general concern with emulating Tang poetry? Did she attempt to reflect and express the idea of fugu in her own historical and literary context? If, as

Owen defines it, fugu was a slogan and literary sentiment for literary reform, "a conscious rejection of contemporary poetry, to recreate antiquity," what were her ideals of "antiquity" and what did she reject?75 Apart from these questions, it is necessary to address the fact that Ho's fugu poems were predominantly influenced by two specific poem series of two Tang poets: Li Bai's "Gufeng" and Chen Ziang's "Ganyu." Her textual imitation of Li Bai and Chen Ziang is explicit in her poems, suggesting that Ho wished readers to identify their influence on her poetic practice. In this section, I will attempt to demonstrate the ways in which Ho reworked the poems by these two Tang poets. By doing so, we may not only be able to discuss her poems, we may also be able 92 to uncover her motives for writing/wgw poetry and the connection between her poetry and her involvement in the "Tang revival movement."

As the primary textual sources for the themes and styles of Ho's "Ganyu" and

"Qianxing" poems, it is important to briefly outline the thematic range of Chen Ziang's

"Ganyu" and Li Bai's "Gufeng." In his "Ganyu," Chen deals with topics and themes ranging from immortals and border themes to yongwu %$) (poems on objects) and huaigu 'Ifl'rij (meditation on the past; usually an occasional poem written about a visit to an ancient historical site). Often mixed with Confucian philosophy and Taoist sentiments, there seems to be no general thematic or philosophical unity. Stephen Owen provides a useful summary of the thematic categories of Chen Ziang's "Ganyu" poems:

For convenience the Kan-yii (Ganyu) can be divided into two groups:

first there are border poems and a small group of poems on the topics most

commonly associated vtith fu-ku (fugu)-hixo\ and plant allegories and huai-

ku (huaigu). The second group, constituting the majority, may be classed

as variations on the theme called hsien-jen shih-chih (xianren shizhi)

MA^/S, "the virtuous man disillusioned." 76

The thematic range of Chen's "Ganyu" series seems to be almost identical to that of Li

Bai's "Gufeng." Stephen Owen points out that a number of Li Bai's "Gufeng" are obvious imitations of Chen's "Ganyu."77 He further states that "the Ku-feng (Gufeng) cover approximately the same thematic range as the Kan-yii (Ganyu), and the topics are treated in the accepted High T'ang ku-feng (gufeng) style that grew out of the Kan-yii

(Ganyu)"n 93

Ho's "Ganyu" and "Qianxing" poems cover a thematic range similar to that of the poems by these two fugu predecessors. The most notable theme in Ho's poems is xianren shizhi. As Owen explains, the theme features a virtuous man who observes and contemplates the world's corruption and impermanence; he denounces it directly or allegorically and feels grieved.80 Owen states that this was one of the most popular themes in the Han and Six Dynasties before court poetry gained popularity.81 In addition to the xianren shizhi theme, Ho's "Ganyu" and "Qianxing" poems also contain plant and bird allegories; she wrote, for example, on the orchid and phoenix, highly symbolic emblems that also appear in the fugu poems of Chen and Li.82 Some of her other fugu poems describe the imaginary journey to an immortal world; again, a theme that occurs frequently in both Li and Chen's fugu poems. All of these connections will be explored in more detail in my discussion below.

The first "Ganyu" poem that I will discuss is a plant allegory. Written in a yongwu mode, the poem describes an orchid, a flower with highly symbolic values. On explaining Chen's "Ganyu" poem in yongwu mode, Owen states that "allegorical yung- wu (yongwu) were closely associated vdth fu-ku (fugu). Because the various plants and animals which were the subjects of such poems already possessed rigidly fixed associations, allegorical yung-wu (yongwu) was the most stylized of the fu-ku (fugu) subgenres."84 As I will discuss in further detail in this section, the orchid was particularly meaningful to fugu poets because of its frequent allegorical reading as a symbol of a virtuous gentleman.85 This use of the orchid is exemplified by Chen Ziang's "Ganyu #2,"

Li Bai's "Gufeng #38," and Ho's "Ganyu #1" poem which I present below:

Stirred by My Experiences #1 94

Delicate and gracious orchids beneath the window,

How fragrant the leaves and branches are!

Once the west wind blows on them,

4 They scatter and grieve in autumn frost.

Even if beautiful colours fade,

Pure fragrance will never die.

Moved by things- it hurts my heart.

8 Flowing tears soak my sleeves.

(Nansorhon chip: la-lb)

?Trf, l&MfiJ

The first and the second couplets provide a description of the orchids. A setting of flourishing orchids beneath the window resonates with a line from the first poem of the series entitled "Nigu" M& (Imitating the Ancients) by Tao Qian ptgjg (365-427):

"Flourishing orchids under the window/ Thriving willows in front of the hall" yk^WFW, ^Sf^tflftfP-86 According to Pauline Yu, Tao Qian's "Nigu," Chen's

"Ganyu," and Li Bai's "Gufeng" are in the tradition of "expressing one's intent" since they were all modeled after Ruan Ji's "Poems Singing My thoughts."87 Drawing on the setting of orchids appearing in Tao Yuanming's "Nigu," Ho demonstrates her knowledge of the extensive literary tradition in which the poetics of fugu was operating. The west 95 wind and autumn frost in the second couplet are an indication of seasonal change, implying that the orchids will wither and die. In Li Bai's "Gufeng #38" and Chen

Ziang's "Ganyu #2," we also encounter the seasonal change that orchids go through - the warmth of spring changing into the cold and frosty weather of autumn.88 In the third couplet, Ho moves from the descriptive passage in the first and the second couplets into a lyrical utterance about the long-lasting fragrance of the orchid. Considering the metaphoric association of orchids with virtuous men, "qingxiang" (pure fragrance) and

"xiuse" (beautiful color) can be easily interpreted as a stark juxtaposition of the noble person's steadfast inner virtue and loyalty ("qingxiang") to human's impermanent physical condition ("xiuse") no matter how outwardly beautiful. Pauline Yu in her discussion of the imagery in Qu Yuan's "Encountering Sorrow" quotes Zhu Xi's allegorical reading of the orchid's fragrance: "Qu Yuan is 'speaking of picking objects whose fragrance is long-lasting as a comparison for his conduct, which follows the eternal path of loyalty and goodness.'"89 Li Bai and Chen in their poems also emphasize the physical and allegorical character of orchids: "xiangqi" HH (fragrant smell) in Li

Bai's "Gufeng #38," and "fangyi" 3vM. (fragrant intention) in Chen's "Ganyu #2" are both read allegorically as symbols of man's high, though unappreciated, virtue.

In "Ganyu #1," Ho's strong desire to produce a poem stylistically and thematically indistinguishable from the poems of the Tang poets is apparent. As we will see below, her poem is a textual remodeling of Li Bai's "Gufeng #38," a poem which was itself a deliberate imitation of Chen's "Ganyu #2."

Ancient Airs #38

A lonely orchid blooming in a deserted garden; 96

With a great many other plants, it grows and dies together.

Although there was once bright sun and spring lights,

4 Again it deeply grieves under the autumn moon.

Frost is already flying in the soughing wind.

I fear that green leaves and pretty flowers will wither.

If no pure breeze blows,

8 For whom will it send forth the fragrance? 90

mmmmm, mmtxn.

&H-¥$nBt fetSKLn

^MffiBM:, ^rffUUfK.

Structurally, this poem shares great similarities with Ho's "Ganyu #1"; the descriptive

passage in the first and second couplet moves into the lyrical utterance and expression in

the last couplet. Li Bai's poem, however, contains a frequent juxtaposition of vivid

images that make his poem more evocative than Ho's "Ganyu #1" - the parallel and juxtaposed images of "lonely orchids" and "a great many plants" accentuate the aloofness

of the orchid; and the warmth and bright sunlight of spring are contrasted with the

chilliness of autumn, effectively evoking a lonely and sorrowful mood. As in Ho's poem,

Li Bai's last two couplets highlight the orchid's undying fragrance.

As with Owen's allegorical reading of Chen's "Ganyu #2," Li Bai's poem can also be read allegorically.91 The fragrance of the orchids is symbolic of a man's unrecognized value. The orchid, buried among weeds, is used to suggest that a man of 97 high value has not been recognized, and is therefore "grieved" (bei f£) and "lonely" (gu

M). According to Xiao Shiyun ^±fr? (fl.1291), a Song commentator, the orchid in Li

Bai's poem refers to ajunzi who has loyalty and high moral integrity yet is unable to gain the trust of a lord who listens to the advice of xiaoren (unworthy men) in court.

Significantly, Xiao did not interpret the poem as a personal criticism of a specific event or figure, that is, as a topical allegory.92 Ho's poem operates on a similar level of generality and contains no specific references that might lead us to read the poem as a topical or political allegory. The diction and topos in Ho's "Ganyu #1" are similar to Li

Bai's "Gufeng #38"; images of frost, a withering orchid and its fragrance all serve as metaphors with the symbolic associations explained above.

In reading Ho's "Ganyu #1" poem, however, many Korean critics have adopted a method of autobiographical reading. Kim Myong-hui, for example, asserts that the orchid refers to Ho Kyongbon, a highly moral and talented person who suffered a great deal because of her disastrous marriage.93 Similarly, for Yi Suk-hui, the poem is nothing more than Ho Kyongbon's bitter lament over her miserable married life.94 It is, however, difficult to conclude that Ho composed this poem to express her own deep personal sorrow about her unhappy life, or that the orchid was intentionally chosen as a symbol of her own unappreciated virtue and talent. Pauline Yu makes a useful observation in regards to reading poems in the tradition of "expressing one's intent," she writes,

In addition to the vagueness of title, such poems share a certain distance

from-but not elimination of- explicitly mentioned personal concerns of the

poet and hence the impression of a greater level of generality, a high moral

purpose, and a distinctive use of imagery. Images in them were not 98

plausible elements of the poet's perceptual field, integrated into a

naturalistic scene, but rather selected for their emblematic functions.

Applying Yu's comments to Ho's poem, the orchids she describes may have been chosen

for their metaphorical function, rather than as elements of an occasional poem. Even the

last couplet describing the persona's emotional response, shedding tears, has little hint of

autobiography. Rather, this is a response frequently encountered in both Chen's "Ganyu"

and Li's "Gufeng." And, as Owen points out in his discussion of Chen's "Ganyu" poems,

the trickling down of tears is "the most well-worn response" in the poetry of Jian'an and

Wei.96

The other series of lA&sfugu poems consists of eight poems entitled "Qianxing."

Unlike "Ganyu" which has firmly established associations with Tang fugu poetics, the

poetic title "Qianxing" does not conventionally convey fugu sentiment. However, the

title "Qianxing" (translated here as "Written to Express My Thoughts") is suggestive of

an association with the oldest definition of poetry in the Chinese tradition: "poetry

expresses intent" (shi yan zhi f#lf;S), a definition that constructed the basis of an

"expressive theory of poetry."97 This maxim, appearing in the earlier classics and further

elaborated in the "Great Preface" in the Shijing, can be broadly interpreted as a

suggestion that "the poetic impulse arises from the desire to express the mental states and

acts of the poet through artistic language."98 As I discussed earlier, Pauline Yu has

observed the significance of "shi yan zhi" manifested in Ruan Ji's "Yonghuai" and

argued that Chen Ziang's "Ganyu" and Li Bai's "Gufeng" are in the very tradition of

"expressing one's intent" since they were both modeled after Ruan Ji's "Yonghuai"

poems. 99

Keeping in mind the literary context in which "Qianxing" can be associated to

some degree with fugu poetics, we now turn to a discussion of the themes and styles of

the poems to reveal their relation with Tang fugu poetics. Thematically, some poems of

the series (#1, #2, and #5) deal with xianren shizhi, a theme frequently appearing in Tang fugu poems.99 In particular, Ho's "Qianxing #1 and #2" are written in allegorical yongwu

mode, a style of poetry that Stephen Owen considers "the most stylized of the fugu

subgenres." The theme of "Qianxing # 1" is the wutong tree growing in Yiyang

W$fk. In Ho's description, this particular wutong tree was eventually encountered by

an extraordinary artisan and transformed into a qin ^ (Chinese lute). Despite the

excellence of its sound, the poet laments that the qin could not find a "zhiyin" (one who

understands the sound).

Her "Qianxing #2," written on the theme of the phoenix, a mythical bird

metaphorically associated with a highly moral person, is another example of an

allegorical yongwu poem. In writing on this theme, Ho reworked elements in Li Bai's

"Gufeng #4, #39, and #40."102 Ho's descriptions of the phoenix's splendidly colorful

appearance and its ability to fly long distances are clearly derived from the first couplet

of Li Bai's "Gufeng #4." The third couplet of Ho's poem, "Rice and sorghums are not

what it seeks for/Bamboo seeds are its only food" |@^|^rjff^, ^ jfT^S:^, describes

the peculiar eating habits of the phoenix. This motif also appears in Li Bai's "Gufeng

#40" poem; "A hungry phoenix does not scurry to peck up grains of millet/ It eats but

small pieces of jade." MMW^M, PfrkU&0?m It was believed that the phoenix

would only roost on the wutong tree. Ho developed Li Bai's idea in "Gufeng #39" of the

wutong being usurped by common birds as an allegory for the displacement of the high- 100 minded person by petty man. As we can see, the last couplet of Ho's poem, "How come on the wutong branches, / Are owls and kites settling? ^fRjfgfinjfe /xftlSJM, resonates with the fifth couplet of Li Bai's "Gufeng #39": "On the wutong, swallows and sparrows nestle/ In amongst brambles a phoenix lived." WM%A$M #$$#$&&• '°4

Ho's "Qianxing #6" deals with an imaginary journey to the immortal world, a recurrent theme in Chen Ziang's "Ganyu" and Li Bai's "Gufeng" series.105 Stephen

Owen explains that Chen Ziang's affinity for this kind of poetry, which was particularly popular during the Eastern Qin, stems from his search for serious and philosophical poetry. Li Bai's fascination with the immortal world also prevails in many of his

"Gufeng" poems and a distinct echo of Li Bai's poems on the spirit journey is noticeable while reading "Qianxing #6." For example, descriptions of the colorful journey the persona experiences and of the dazzling immortal in Ho's poem are derived from Li Bai's

"Gufeng #19 and #20," and the diction and images in Ho's poem are very similar with

107 those of Li Bai's poems.

While many of Ho's "Qianxing" poems confirm her aspiration to emulate the fugu poems of Chen Ziang and Li Bai, Ho seems also to have realized the significance of Han era wuyan gushi jEH "jE^ff h\fugu theories. As we have seen by the emulation of the poetic styles of the Han and Wei in Chen Ziang's "Ganyu" and Li Bai's "Gufeng," wuyan gushi was taken by these two poets as the ideal poetic form. In writing "Qianxing #7,"

Ho chose as models two poems of the Han: "Song of Watering Horses at a Long Wall

Hole" (Yin ma chang cheng ku xing iftHiS^clrffT), and the seventeenth poem of

"Nineteen Old Poems" (Gushi shijiu shou ^jf#-h7Vif).108 101

The opening couplet of Ho's "Qianxing #7," "A traveler comes from a distant region/ Presenting me with a pair of carp" WWfU^iL^f ^$MM§k, is almost identical to the seventh couplet of "Song of Watering Horses at a Long Wall Hole" "^-^MAJM jJtSHitl^l" The second and third couplets are also directly derived from the eighth couplet of "Song of Watering Horses at a Long Wall Hole" and the fifth couplet of

"Nineteen Old Poems #17" with only minor modifications. Ho's textual borrowings from these two poems of the Han make possible the assumption that Ho may have used

Wen xuan as a source for her poetic exercise.

To further understand the significance of her "Qianxing #7," it is important to mention the status of "Nineteen Old Poems" in Chinese lyric history and their associations with the Book of Songs. Most significantly, "Nineteen Old Poems" have been generally regarded as "the most coherent and most representative group of Han gushi"109 In his book The Matrix of Lyric Transformation, Cai Zongqi argues that this small group of poems marks the transition from a performed to a non-performed tradition in the evolution of pentasyllable poetry.n0 Moreover, he explains that they were often placed in a direct line of lineage from the Shijing.111 To support this, he quotes the comments from two Chinese critics, Zhong Rong MM (502-519) and Wang Shizhen

2£tJ:J| (1526-1590): "Chung Hung (Zhong Rong) argues that 'old poems originated in the kuo-feng (songs from particular states)'" and Wang Shizen states "after feng (songs) and ya (odes) there came the Songs ofCh 'u; after the Songs ofCh 'u there came the

'Nineteen Ancient Style Poems.'"112 In writing "Qianxing #7," Ho likely saw the relation between "Nineteen Old Poems" and the Book of Songs, the poetry that Tang fugu poets promoted as models for emulation. Moreover, it is known that "Nineteen Old 102

Poems" became a model of expressive poetry for later Chinese poets. Kao Yu-kung, in his article "The Aesthetics of Regulated Verse," explains that poetry entitled "Yonghuai" indicates the use of a style following the model of "Nineteen Old Poems.""3 Finally,

Ho's desire to imitate the style of "Nineteen Old Poems" can also be related to the influence of Ming fugu theoreticians such as Wang Shizhen and Hu Yinglin ~$\MWk

(1551-1602) who effusively praised the superb quality of "Nineteen Old Poems."114

The next poem that I will discuss in Ho's fugu series is the fifth poem in the series entitled "Qianxing." The poem is also quoted in Haksan ch 'odam by H6 Kyongbon's brother Ho Kyun, the compiler of Nansorhon chip. In Haksan ch 'odam, however, the poem has the title of "Ganyu," suggesting that there might be no explicit subgeneric or thematic distinction between Ho's poems under the titles of "Ganyu" or "Qianxing."

After recording Paek Kwang-hun's official career and death (1582), Ho Kyun quotes Ho

Kyongbon's poem:

In recent times, Ch'oe, Paek, and others

Follow the High Tang in their poetry.

Neglected sounds of the "Great Odes"

4 Are recovered and tinkling at this time.

In the lower offices they suffer for low pay,

In frontier prefectures, they worry about "massed firewood."115

As age and rank are all left in desolation,

8 I now believe that poetry makes people impoverished.

(Nansorhon chip: 3a) 103

mm±m^, mmmrn.

mmmrn, nmmmA.

Of most importance, this is the single poem in her entire extant corpus in which Ho

Kyongbon openly expresses her views on contemporary poetics, revealing her avocation of learning and emulating Tang poetry. The first couplet opens with her recognition of

Ch'oe Kyong-ch'ang and Paek Kwang-hun and their efforts to emulate High Tang poetry. As I discussed in the first chapter, Ch'oe and Paek, two poets of the "Three Tang

Talents of Korea," produced a number of exceptional poems that reflected their assiduous study of Tang poetry. Her praise for their literary achievement is further expressed in the second couplet, in which the efforts of these poets' valorization and emulation of Tang poetry are shown to have the significance of the "Great Odes" (Daya), a section in the

Shijing. Most significantly, the "Great Odes" was also put forth by Li Bai who cited it as a prime example of fugu sentiment. His "Gufeng #1" begins with a lament over the decline of literature from the age of the Shijing: "Long have the Great Odes not been written/ Being in my decline, who now will offer up poems that teach?" Afft^X^fP

^•MMM!fMU6 According to Owen, Li Bai's lament over the decline of literature presents the fugu version of literary history.'17 The most intriguing aspect of Ho's poem lies in her deliberate manipulation of Li Bai's "Gufeng #1." Whereas Li Bai looked at the poetry of the Zhou, Qin, and Han as ideals of "antiquity" and praised the Tang for its restoration of ancient values, Ho Kyongbon confidently states that her own contemporaries, by emulating Tang poetry, reinstated the ideas of "antiquity."118 104

Other differences also emerge in a comparative reading of the two poems. In his

"Gufeng #1," Li Bai not only praises the Tang's achievement in returning to a

"primordial antiquity" in literature, he also proclaims that the Tang was endowed by the same moral and ethical values that characterized such legendary sages as the Yellow

Emperor, Yao, and Shun who ruled by moral example. Under this benevolent rule, as Li

Bai further states, literary talents of his dynasty could emerge and distinguish themselves. In contrast to Li Bai's unabashed proclamation of the Tang's political probity, Ho's poem turns into a condemnation of contemporary Choson politics, criticizing it for not recognizing the literary talents of the dynasty. She laments the great difficulties which gifted poets suffered, likely an allusion to Paek's unsuccessful career despite his exceptional poetic talent and literary achievement. In these two couplets, I speculate that Ho might also have been influenced by Du Fu's poem "Qianxing #5" in which he laments the political misfortune of the highly talented Meng Haoran ^/cf^

(689-740).120

Structurally, this poem uses the "praise and condemnation" frame frequently employed in fugu poems by Chen and Li. Owen observes that the "praise and blame" pattern in many "Ganyu" poems gives structural form to a moral dichotomy, allowing the

191 poet to more effectively persuade the reader of good or bad points. The persona of this poem, seen in many poems dealing with the xianren shizhi theme ("the virtuous man disillusioned"), is a wise observer who, seeing the unfairness and corruption of the world, laments and is grieved about the situation. What makes this poem particularly persuasive and powerful is its wealth of specific references to the literary and political circumstances of Ho's day. As opposed to her other "Ganyu" and "Qianxing" poems which allow for a 105 more general, philosophical reading, this poem demands a topical and political interpretation. However, her practice of writing poems under the titles of "Ganyu" and

"Qianxing" can be an allusion to the fact that, while she contributed to the reinstatement of "ancient values," she also failed to gain the appreciation or recognition enjoyed by other gifted poets. 106

Conclusion

The recent rise of scholarship related to women's culture and writing in late imperial

China has led to the rediscovery of Ho Kyongbon's poetry in a number of late Ming and

Qing poetry anthologies. In order to come to a deeper understanding of the critical attention Ho received from Chinese scholars of the late Ming and Qing, I examined eight of these poetry anthologies, paying particular attention to the comments these anthologies provide on her life and works. I argued that these scholars' interest in including her poetry and in commenting on her works reflected the vibrant women's literary culture and the increasingly common practice of anthologizing women's poetry in late imperial

China. The fact that most of these anthologies are gender specific, exclusively consisting of women's poetry, makes it apparent that her gender played a decisive role in her inclusion in these works. My examination of the critical comments on her poetry and the biographical notes provided in these works demonstrated how these late Ming and Qing scholars perceived her life and evaluated her works. In examining the anthologies compiled by women scholars, I suggested that while each of the anthologists may have had different reasons for including Ho's poetry, all shared a common interest in celebrating women's literary talent and legitimizing and promoting women's writing practice.

In my reconstruction of Ho Kyongbon's literary life, I attempted to show the significant roles played by her two brothers in her literary development and practice. I investigated her younger brother Ho Kyun's publication of her literary collection

Nansorhon chip and his promotion of Ho's poetry to the Chinese envoys who made her 107 works available to late Ming and Qing scholars. I also discussed the critical role that

Ho's older brother Ho Pong played in shaping her views on poetry writing. I suggested that H6 Pong's insistence on studying the Tangshi pinhui and Tang yin demonstrated the influence of the Ming archaist movement in his literary circle. Ho Kyongbon's rigorous emulation of Tang poetry, therefore, can be seen as an embodiment of Ho Pong's views on contemporary poetics.

My analysis of Ho Kyongbon's poetry focused on three important subgenres in

Ho Kyongbon's poetry: "Frontier Poems," "Palace Lyrics," and imitations of Tang fugu poems. By examining Ho's textual imitation of these three subgenres, I revealed her emulation of particular Tang poets and poetic styles, and provided a concrete demonstration of her manipulation and reworking of Chinese poems. I demonstrated that

Ho worked with themes from within the Chinese poetic tradition, displaying a high degree of familiarity with the poetic conventions and poetics of each subgenre. By producing poetry stylistically similar to that of the Tang, Ho achieved her desire to become a participant in a significant Choson literary trend, the valorization of Tang poetry.

My study of Ho Kyongbon's literary education and poetic practice, and my reading of her poetry are intended to demonstrate that in order to appreciate the highly conventional poetry of women poets, an understanding of poetic conventions and tradition is imperative. I have also attempted to show that without an understanding of the poetics and poetry of the Tang, it is almost impossible to engage in a meaningful discussion of Ho Kyongbon's poetry. Furthermore, without investigating her brothers' literary views and the poetry anthologies and poetic style they emulated, it is difficult to 108 make any assumptions regarding her motives in emulating Tang poetry. I believe that my

thesis, by examining Ho Kyongbon within these historical and literary contexts, provides

additional insight into her life and literary works. Finally, I hope that my investigation of

the late Ming and Qing context in which Ho Kyongbon's poetry was so positively

perceived can suggest a useful perspective from which to come to a deeper understanding

of other Choson women's poetry. 109

Appendix

List of editions of Nansorhon chip:

Nansorhon chip. Woodblock edition, colophon dated 1608. Copies in Kyujang'gak

Sangbaek mungo M$rS tifS^Cl^ in Seoul National University, Yonse University

and Koryo University.

Nansorhon chip. Woodblock edition, reprinted in 1632 or in 1692 ("Publication Note"

[kan 'gi flj|r3] indicates #tll?%3r^ [the year of Imsin of Sungjong reign]).' Copies

in Ihwa, Songgyun'gawn, Kyemyong and Yongnam University libraries.

Nansorhon chip. Movable copper type edition. Not dated. Copy in the collection of Yi

Kydm-no.

Hopuyin Nansorhon chip, pu Kyongnan chip ff^AMMt^M^^MM (Poetry

Collection of Nansorhon by Madame Ho, with Collection of Kyongnan Appended),

Modem type print compiled by An Chugo ^{EEjjly. Printed in 1913. Copies in

Chung'ang Kungnip Tosogwan. ^^B^BIilrfi and Harvard-Yenching library.3 110

Notes

Introduction

1 Ho Kyun's other style names are Songso tUfff and Paegwol kosa £3 H Jilht

2 See Chapter 2, pp. 38-39.

3 Ho Kyun's colophon to Nansorhon chip is dated 1608. In the same year he published a woodblock printed edition of the collection.

4 Mun Kyong-hyon, "Ho Nansorhon yongu," 300.

5 Ibid.

6 Yi Chong-un, "Han'guk munhak sang ui Togyo sasang yongu,"134-141.

7 Kim S6k-ha, "Ho Ch'o-hiii ui 'Yusonsa' e nat'anan 'son' hyongsang," 216.

8 Ho Mi-ja, Ho Nansorhon yongu, 43-44. The poem reads: "The long green lake in autumn: [water] like blue-green jade flowing; Deep amongst the flowers, the magnolia boat is moored / She meets her lover on the other side of the lake and gives him lotus seeds; Thinking someone may have noticed, she has been embarrassed half the day." w&mm^M ftft^MstBW / mmm/mn^ m&A%)¥ B H. Translated by Choe-Wall Yang-hi in "Ho Nansorhon and Her Hansi," 243. This poem is not included in Nansorhon chip and yet is included in Chibong yusol ^&WM (Classified Essays of

Chibong), an encyclopedic collection of essays by Yi Su-gwang ^$$i£ (1563-1628).

See Chibong yusol, Ha, Munjangbu 6, "Kyusu," 540.

9 Stephen Owen, The Great Age of Chinese Poetry, 94. Ill

10 Ho Mi-ja, Ho Nansorhon yongu, 52-53. The poems that she refers to are "Qianxing #3,

#4, and #8."

11 Ibid.

1 0

Kim Myong-hui, Ho Nansorhon in munhak, 26-29. See my discussion of "Ganyu #1" poem, Chapter 3, pp. 93-98.

13 Ellen Widmer translated fifteen poems by Ho Kyongbon. See Chang and Saussy eds.,

Women Writers of Traditional China, 210-215. For critical studies on Ho Kyongbon's poetry and life, see Cynthia Childs, "Songs From the Inner Rooms: The Poetry of Ho

Nansorhon," 143-155; see also Choe-Wall Yang-hi, "Ho Nansorhon: The Late 16th

Century Sino-Korean Poetess," 93-108. Choe-Wall has translated Ho Kyongbon's Daoist poems, which will be published in a volume entitled Vision of a Phoenix: The Poems of

Ho Nansorhon (Ithaca: Cornell University, forthcoming).

14 See Im Hyong-t'aek, Han 'guk munhak sa ui sigak (The Perspectives of Korean

Literary History), 63-80; "Choson chon'gi ui Hanmunhak," (Classical Chinese Literature of the Early Choson) 249-284; Cho Tong-il, Han 'guk munhak t 'ongsa, (Complete

History of Korean Literature), vol. 2, 391-421.

15 Choe-Wall, "Ho Nansorhon and Her Hansi," 100. 16 Ibid.

17 Ibid., 101. The "Three Tang Talents of Korea" refer to three poets, Ch'oe Kyong- ch'ang g|gj§ (1539-1583), Paek Kwang-hun &JW) (1537-1582) and Yi Tal ^M

(1561-1618?) who emulated Tang poetry, especially of the High Tang, and produced some of the finest poetry of Choson dynasty.

18 Ibid., 14. 112

19 For Ch'oe Kyong-ch'ang's life and his poetry, see Kim Un-su, Han 'guk Hansi in ihae,

113-136.

For Paek Kwang-hun's life and his poetry, see Kim Un-su, Han 'guk Hansi ui ihae,

105-112.

21Choe-Wall. "H6 Nansorhon and Her Hansi," 103.

22 Ibid., 125.

I follow the translations of the titles of the anthologies (Mingyuan shigui, Mingyuan shiwei and Zhengshiji) in Women Writers of Traditional China, eds., Chang and Saussy,

739, 691, and 711. For Mingyuan shihua, I use Grace Fong's translation. See Fong,

Writing Self and Writing Lives, 261-262.

24 See, for example, Kang-i Sun Chang, Grace Fong, Dorothy Ko, Susan Man, Maureen

Robertson, Paul Ropp and Ellen Widmer. All are actively involved in research on the late Ming and Qing women's culture and their literature.

25 Pak Hyon-gyu's article, "Mingmo Qingchu wenxian suolu Chaoxian Xu Lanxuexuan zuopin zhi shikuang" my^^WS^^f^^MfWiV^^naZMU is the single study that I have found so far regarding Ho Nansorhon's poetry in Ming and Qing Chinese women's poetry anthologies. His study, however, mainly focuses on poetry anthologies published by male scholars. See Pak's article in Ming Qing wenxue yu xingbie yanjiu,

422-442.

26 Kim Myong-hui, Ho Nansorhon ui munhak, 35, 36, 47, etc.; Ho Mi-ja, Ho Nansorhon yongu, 53, 57, etc.; Yi Suk-hiii, "Ho Nansorhon ui si yongu," 175, 281, and 287.

27 Kim Myong-hui, Ho Nansorhon ui munhak, 166-167; Chon Chae-yon, "Ho Nansorhon

Hansi e nat'anan feminism yongu." Introduction, 1-3. 113

28 Dorothy Ko, Teachers of the Inner Chambers, 203.

For example, Maureen Robertson, in her article "Voicing the Feminine," shows the ways in which some late Ming and Qing women poets employed certain discursive positions to represent women's images which differed from images in the male literati models, 63-110; Grace Fong's article "Writing Self and Writing Lives" focuses on self- representation and self-reflexive commentary in a poetry collection by Shen Shanbao

(1808-1862). Fong demonstrates that Shen's desire to write the gendered self negotiated auto/biographical practices by changing the terms of writing practices and generic convention, 261-303.

Chapter 1

1 For further discussion of Choson scholars' reactions to her life and works, see Chapter

2, pp. 56-58.

2 Ho Yop held several high government positions including Junior Sixth Counselor

(Hongmun'gwan Pususon ^IASCWMW^^), Principal of the National Academy

(Songgyun'gwan Taesasong F&t^fiA^jfife) and Censor-General, Office of the Censor-

General (Saganwon Taesagan W)|^^A RlflO- Ho Yop's official titles are translated by

Choe-Wall, "Ho Nansorhon and Her Hansi," 58.

3 Neither Ho Kyun's copious writings nor Ho Kyongbon's poems made any reference to their mother. Ho Kyongbon's father also seems to have played little role in her education.

Cynthia Childs in her article, "Songs from the Inner Rooms," argues that Ho Yop, Ho 114

Kyongbon's father, was opposed to the education of women. See Childs, "Songs from the Inner Rooms," 144.

In the Choson, there were five stages in the civil service examination. The first two constituted sokwa ("minor examination" /J\^4)- Candidates first took the test called ch 'osi (the first test). The candidates who passed "the first test" took another test called poksi (repeat test) the following year. Candidates who passed "repeat test" were entitled to study further at state institutions. After passing the two examinations of sokwa, a candidate earned the title of either saengwon or chinsa depending on whether he had been examined in the classics or in literary composition. Saengwon and chinsa were eligible to take taekwa ("major examination" A^r) often called munkwa 3t^f • Taekwa also contained two tests, ch 'osi and poksi as in sokwa. The 33 who passed the two tests of taekwa went on to chonsi (palace examination). Changwon HJt7C was the first laureate of the "palace examination" who would be admitted to the sixth grade of the civil service.

For information on the Choson examination system, see Ch'oe Yong-ho, 77ze C/v/7

Service Examination and the Social Structure in the Early Yi Dynasty Korea, 1392-1600; see also Peter Lee, Sources of Korean Tradition, vol. 1, 472.

51 have not been able to identify to whom "Immortal Cao" refers.

6 Ho Pong, Hagok chip, 14b.

7 Shao Bao pftlf (1460-1527) is a Ming scholar who annotated Du Fu's poetry and published it under the title Dushijizhu ttffJjlSE. I have, however, been unable to identify whether this work is the annotated edition to which Ho Pong refers. 115

Yu refers to Yu Ji U^ (1272-1348) who published his annotated editions of Du Fu's poetry such as Du lit Yuzhu ttf$^S and Du Gongbu qiyan lii shi t±Xp£-b1f f¥f#- I, however, have not been able to identify which work Ho Pong refers to.

I take chuo Hz in the sense of zhui m (mend or connect). See Hanyu da cidian, vol. 9,

1295.

10 Ho Pong, Hagok chip, 13a.

For a detailed study on Ban Zhao, see Nancy Swann, Pan Chao: Foremost Woman

Scholar of China.

For Yi Tal's literary guidance of Ho, see Kim Myong-hui in Ho Nansorhon ui munhak,

132. Although Yi Tal was exceptionally talented, he was politically unfortunate due to his low social status. Yi Tal's father, Yi Su-ham ^^%j^ was from a prominent family and worked as a government official, yet Yi Tal's mother was a courtesan. As the child of a courtesan, Yi Tal was barred from holding any substantial government position. For

Yi Tal's life and his poetry, see Ho Kyong-jin, ed. and translated in Korean, Son 'gok Yi

Tal sison.

13 Kim failed the civil service examination numerous times before finally passing in

1589, the year Ho Kyongbon died.

14 In Songso pubugo, kwon 3, Pubu. Sa: 7, translated by Choe-Wall in "Ho Nansorhon and Her Hansi," 250.

15 Yi Su-gwang, Chibong yusol, Ha, Munjangbu 6, "Kyusu," 540.

16 Translated by Ellen Widmer in Chang and Saussy, Women Writers of Traditional

China, 214-215. 116

17 Ho's children were buried in the mountain belonging to the Andong Kim lineage. Ho was buried in the same mountain. See Ho Mi-ja, Ho Nansorhon yongu, 52.

18 In QTS, 6:65.

See Ellen Widmer's discussion and translation of part of Li Xian's poem, Women

Writers of Traditional China, 215

For a detailed discussion on "The Seven Evils for Expelling a Wife," see Kim Yung- chung, trans., Women of Korea: a History From Ancient Times to 1945, 52-53. 21 Peter Lee, Sources of Korean Tradition, vol. 1, 473. 22 See Peter Lee and et al., Sources of Korean Tradition, vol. 2, 168.

23 Ibid.

24 "Prohibition Against Remarriage of Women" in Songjong sillok is translated in Peter

Lee, Sources of Korean Tradition, vol. 1, 563-565. For the prohibition for women's remarriage during Choson dynasty, see Kim Yung-chung, Women of Korea, 97-99.

Interestingly, in China, the Qing dynasty began to adopt various measures to prohibit women's remarriage as well. Susan Mann, in her studies on women's culture and writing in the Qing dynasty, gives us a valuable analysis of the issue of women's chastity. For

Qing state policies on women's chastity, see Susan Mann, Precious Records, 23-26.

25 Ho Pong belonged to the "Easterners." Peter Lee provides a useful summary of the prevailing factionalism in the Choson dynasty. He writes: "While the Neo-Confucian orthodoxy was widely accepted as the sole foundation of the state and society, officialdom split into factions in the last decades of the sixteenth century. Divided initially into Easterners and Westerners over the appointment of an official to a key middle-ranking post within the Ministry of Personnel, the two factions were later 117

subdivided further into Northerners and Southerners, and Old Doctrine and Young

Doctrine, respectively." See his detailed discussion of factionalism during the Choson,

Peter Lee, Sources of Korean Tradition, vol. 1, 476.

Of,

Hong Man-jong's quotation of Chang and Yang's comments on Ho Pong' poetry is quoted in original Chinese in Min Pyong-su, Han 'guk Hansi sa, 297. 27

Ho Kyun, Haksan ch 'odam, 3a.

28 Translated by Richard Lynn, "Alternate Routes to Self-Realization in Ming Theories of

Poetry," 317. On the archaist movement and anti-archaist movement during the Ming, see

Lynn, "Alternate Routes to Self-Realization in Ming Theories of Poetry." For a study on canon formation in the Ming and Qing, see Pauline Yu, "Canon Formation in Late

Imperial China."

29 For Ho Kyun's extolling comments on the poetry of these archaists and his praise for their emulation of Tang poetry, see Ho Kyun, Songso pubugo, kwon 4, Munbu 1, So, 12-

13; see also Haksan ch 'odam, 26b-27a.

30 Ho Kyun, Haksan ch 'odam, 1 la.

31 Lynn, "Alternate Routes to Self-Realization in Ming Theories of Poetry," 320.

32 Lynn, "Alternate Routes to Self-Realization in Ming Theories of Poetry," 320-321.

Yan Yii jfjt33 (ca. 1194-1245) is a Southern Song critic who wrote Canglang shihua,

^li^f#irj' (Canglang's Remarks on Poetry). His collected remarks on poetry provide, for the first time, a stylistic periodization of Chinese poetic history, furthermore, they laid the groundwork for later archaists who attempted to valorize High Tang poetry; see also

Pauline Yu's discussion on Canglang shihua, "Canon Formation in Late Imperial China,"

87. 118

33 Ho Pong's comments are recorded in Ho Kyun's Haksan ch 'odam, 13b: "One has to first read Tang yin, followed by the poetry of Li Bai. From Su Shi and Du Mu, one just acquires some [poetic skills]" f#IIJ#Jg Jf#, AKW&&, Uttl^E-

34 Yu, "Canon Formation in Late Imperial China," 88-89.

For the "Tang revival movement" of Choson, see Min Pyong-su, Han 'guk Hansi sa,

280-281.

36 Min Pyong-su, Han 'guk Hansi sa, 22-27. 37

He is also credited with the authorship of the first Korean vernacular fiction, 77ze Tale of Hong Kiltong.

Ho Kyun, Songsopubugo, kwon 24, Solbu: 4, 72.

39 Ibid., 78.

Chapter 2

1 The original copy is housed in Kyujang'gak Sangbaek mungo H$^ ffifS^tl^ in

Seoul National University. I use the photo reprint edition of Nansorhon chip: Ho

Nansorhon sijip, 1608 edition, ed., Minjok munhwa ch'ujinhoe, 1991(1996 printing).

2 See appendix for details on the various editions of Nansorhon chip. Ho Kyun was executed for treason in 1618. Because of this, Ho Kyongbon's collection was not circulated in Korea until the late seventeenth century. Ho Kyongbon's poetry collection is said to have been published in Japan (an edition of 1711 survives), I have not yet located this collection. See Kim Myong-hui, Ho Nansorhon iii munhak, 15; Ho Mi-ja, 119

Ho Nansorhon yongu, 69; Ellen Widmer in the biographical entry on Ho Kyongbon,

Women Writers of Traditional China, eds., Chang and Saussy, 210.

Yi Suk-hui, "Ho Nansorhon ui si yongu," 47-48. For further discussion of the different editions of Nansorhon chip, see Yi Suk-hui, "Ho Nansorhon ui si y6ngu," 38-57.

Regarding Kim's last official post, various Korean scholars provide different titles. See

Choe-Wall's "Ho Nansonhon and Her Hansi," 71, n76. For the translation of Zhuzuo lang ^jff^ftP and other official titles in this thesis, I have followed Charles Hucker's translation. For Zhuzuo lang, see Charles Hucker, A Dictionary of Official Titles in

Imperial China, p. 184: no. 1442.

5 Chapi is a Buddhist term referring to destroying something by burning. Hanyu da cidian, vol. 9, 382.

6 For examples, Kang-i Sun Chang, "Ming and Qing Women Poets and the Notions of

'Talent' and 'Morality'," 240 and 414n29; see also Kang-i Sun Chang's "Ming and Qing

Anthologies of Women's Poetry and Their Selection Strategies," 169; Clara Wing-chung

Ho, "The Cultivation of Female Talent," 212-214; Fong, "Gender and Interpretation," 2; see also Ellen Widmer, "Ming Loyalism and the Women's Voice in Fiction after 'Hong loumeng',"381.

7 Clara Ho, "The Cultivation of Female Talent," 212.

8 See pp. 56-58.

9 Yu Song-nyong is a famous scholar and a prominent politician of the Choson dynasty.

During the first Japanese invasion, he was in charge of military training and later became a minister. 120

Quoted in Cho Nam-gwon and Chong Min, Han 'guk kojonpip 'yongnon charyojip,

347-348. This passage was originally included in Soaepyoljip.

11 Yi Ok-pong ^3£j£ (fl. 1580), a contemporary of Ho Kyongbon, learned to write

poetry from her father, and her poetry collection was affixed to her husband's family's

literary collection published by her grand nephew. So Yongsuhap %&%%$& (1753-

1823)'s poetry collection was published by her sons. For more examples of Korean

women poets whose works were published by their male family members or relatives, see

Ho Mi-ja, Han 'gukyoryu munhangnon, 70-92.

1 0

Clara Ho, "Encouragement from the Opposite Gender," 309.

13 Ellen Widmer, "The Epistolary World of Female Talent in Seventeenth-Century

China," 24.

Ho Kyun, Haksan ch 'odam, 23b.

15 See Pak Hyon-gyu, "Mingmo Qingchu," 427. According to Choe-wall, Chaoxian

shixuan is not included in Zhongguo congshu zonglu ^WiWLWi%&%k and may have been

lost. See Choe-Wall, "Ho Nansorhon and Her Hansi," 262n28. Pak's study yet shows

that Chaoxian shixuan (published in 1600) survives in the National Library in Beijing.

16 Wu Mingji's "Chaoxian shixuan zixu" |§,#i#*figj? (Self-Preface to Poetry

Anthology of Choson) is quoted in Haedongyoksa MMM$. by Han Ch'iyun ^^jfM

(1765-1814). The quotation in Haedongyoksa is quoted by Ho Mi-ja in the original

Chinese in Ho Nansorhon si yongu, 66n21. Wu Mingji's Chaoxian shixuan later became a major source that Liu Rushi relied on when evaluating Ho's poems. See p. 49.

17 Ho Kyun's postscript to Chaoxian shixuan is quoted in the entry of Xu Yun f^$| in

Qian Qianyi, Liechao shiji, "Runji," juan 6,26a. 121

Ho Kyun, Songsopubugo, kwon 18, Munbu 15, Kihaeng sang; "Pyong'u kihaeng" rWE?T, 8.

19 See Qian Qianyi, Liechao shiji, "Runji,"ywa« 6, 33a.

For Mingyuan shigui, see below; see also Mingyuan shiwei, juan 28, "Waiji,"4b.

21 Kang-i Sun Chang, "Ming and Qing Anthologies of Women's Poetry," 148. For recent scholarship on late Ming and Qing women's literary production and their culture, see publications by Kang-i Sun Chang, Grace Fong, Clara Ho, Dorothy Ko, Susan Mann,

Maureen Robertson, Paul Ropp, Ellen Widmer, and others. For a general review on the development of studies on Chinese women's literary culture in the Western Academy, see Jinhua Emma Teng, "The Construction of the 'Traditional Chinese Woman' in the

Western Academy: A Critical Review," 115-151.

22 Ko, Teachers of the Inner Chambers, 29. For a detailed study on the women's literary activities and its relationship with publishing industry in the seventeen-century China, see

Ko, Teachers of the Inner Chambers, Chapter 1: 30-67.

23 See Fong, "Gender and Interpretation," 1. This work also provides us with an overview of various forms of poetry criticism on women's poetry that were conducted by women writers.

24 For Wang Duanshu's life and her literary works, see Chang, "Ming and Qing

Anthologies of Women's Poetry,"157-159; Fong, "Gender and Interpretation," 12-16;

Widmer, "The Epistolary World of Female Talent in Seventeenth-Century China," 10-11; also see Widmer, "Ming Loyalism and the Women's Voice in Fiction after 'Hong lou meng'," 367-374. For Ji Xian's life and her anthology, see Fong, "Gender and

Interpretation," 8-12; see also Fong, '"Record of Past Karma' by Ji Xian," 135-146. For 122

detailed studies on Liu Rushi and her works, see Kang-i Sun Chang, "Liu Shi and Hsu

Ts'an," 169-187 and also her The Late Ming Poet Ch 'en Tzu-lung and "Ming and Qing

Anthologies of Women's poetry," 153-156. For studies on Yun Zhu's life and her publications, see Susan Mann, Precious Records; also see Mann's article "Learned

Women in the Eighteenth Century," 44-45. For studies on Shen Shanbao, see Fong's articles, "Writing Self and Writing Lives," and "Real and Imagined Communities"; see

Maureen Robertson, "Changing the Subject," 189.

25 See Fong, "Gender and Interpretation," 1; see also Chang, "Ming and Qing

Anthologies of Women's Poetry," 150-151.

26 See Chang, "Ming and Qing Anthologies of Women's Poetry," 152.

27 For an English translation of the preface to Mingyuan shigui, see Chang and Saussy,

Women Writers of Traditional China, 739-741; for discussions of Zhong Xing's interpretation of qing in relation to women's writings, see Chang, "Ming and Qing

Anthologies of Women's Poetry," 152, and her paper "Gender and Canonicity," 7.

28 Ko, Teachers of the Inner Chambers, 61-62.

29 Zhong Xing, Mingyuan shigui, juan 29, la-12b.

30 The historical incident, often call Imjin Wars (1592-1598) occurred in 1592, the year of

Imjin. The Japanese leader, Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598) and his army invaded

Korea in 1592-1593 and in 1597-1598 for his pursuit of the conquest of China. Kim

Song-nip died during the first Japanese invasion in 1592. For Imjin Wars, see Peter Lee,

Sources of Korean Tradition, vol.1, 477-478.

31 See Hucker, p. 124: no.425. 123

Zhong Xing, Mingyuan shigui, juan 29,1a; see also Hu Wenkai, Lidai funii zhuzuokao,

166.

Choe-Wall gives a detailed discussion of Daoist influence on Ho's poetry. See Choe-

Wall, "Ho Nansorhon and Her Hansi," 125-134.

Gujin mingyuan huishi is in Siku quanshu cunmu congshu, vol. 343. Ho's poems are found mjuan 3(14h-\ 5b), juan 5(20b-21b),ywa« 6 (26a-26b), juan 12 (16a-1Sb),juan 14

(9b-10a), and juan 16 (21a-22b).

35 Pak Hyon-gyu, "Mingmo Qingchu," 430.

36 Pak Hyon-gyu, "Mingmo Qingchu," 429-430. 37

My preliminary research in this regard shows that Ho's poems in 1608 edition of

Nansorhorhon chip published in Korea show more similarities with the ones in Zheng's

Gujin mingyuan huishi than the ones in Liechao shiji or Mingyuan shigui, possibly collected from Wu Mingji's Chaoxian shixuan.

38 Tang Ruoshi (Tang Hairuo) is Tang Xianzu ^f^tfl (1550-1617), the great late Ming playwright who wrote the drama The Peony Pavilion (Mudan ting, fjfcFr^). This play significantly influenced Ming and Qing romantic culture. See Dorothy Ko, Teachers of the Inner Chambers, Chapter 2: 68-112. 39 The historical legend goes that Cao Pi ffdS (187-226), the Emperor of the Wei

It Dynasty (r. 220-226), demanded that Cao Zhi, his younger brother, compose a poem in the time of walking seven paces; otherwise he would be a dead man.

40 Quoted in Hu Wenkai, Lidai funii zhuzuokao, 166.

41 It is interesting to note that Wang Duanshu also quoted Tang Hairuo's commentary in her biographical entry on Ho Kyongbon in her Mingyuan shiwei. See juan 28, 5a-5b. [24

" Ming shi zong is in Siku quanshu, reprinted as Wenyuan ge Siku quanshu. Ho's poems are in juan 95, 13b-14b.

43 Ibid., juan 95, 12b-13b.

44 Chen Zilong W-fM (1608-47) is a late Ming poet and an acclaimed Ming-loyalist martyr. He wrote a preface to Wuyin cao, a literary collection compiled by his one-time lover Liu Rushi. For a detailed study on Chen Zilong and Li Rushi, see Kang-i Sun

Chang, The Late-Ming Poet Ch 'en Tzu-lung: Crisis of Love andLoyal ism.

45 Translated by Choe-Wall in "Ho Nansorhon and Her Hansi," 269 with minor modifications of my own; Zhu's comments are in Ming shi zong, juan 95, 13a-13b.

The literary relationship between Yi Tal and Ho Kyongbon, although much speculated on by modern Korean scholars, has not been confirmed by any traditional sources.

47 "Seven Masters" refer to "the Latter Seven Masters " hou qizi. The best known among them are Li Panlong, Wang Shizen.

48 Peng Guodong's Zhonghan shishi is translated into Korean by Sin Ho-yol, Hanchung sisa, vol. 2, 74. Peng Guodong's comments are translated in Choe-Wall, "Ho Nansorhon and Her Hansi," 269-270.

49 Qian Qianyi, Liechao shiji; "Runji," juan 6, 26a.

50 For Ho Kyongbon's poems, see Qian Qianyi, Liechao shiji, "Runji," juan 6, 33b-35b.

For Yi Tal's poems, see Liechao shiji, "Run ji," juan 6, 28b-31a; Yi Tal's poems are listed under "Sungu shi" H£ri# (Poetry of Sungu [Yi Tal's style name]).

51 Yi Suk-hui, "Ho Nansorhon ui si yongu," 72-78. 125

52 Qian Qianyi, Liechao shiji; "Runji," juan 6, 33a-33b. For the English translation of

Liu Rushi's criticism of Ho Kyongbon's poetry, see Chang and Saussy, Women Writers

of Traditional China, 698-700.

" Translated by Yu-shih Chen in Women Writers of Traditional China, eds., Chang and

Saussy, 699.

See Chang and Saussy, Women Writers of Traditional China, 699-700.

Fong, "Gender and Interpretation," 12; Chang, "Ming and Qing Anthologies of

Women's Poetry," 157.

Mingyuan shiwei, juan 28, "Waiji," 5a-6b.

"Gulie li" that Wang Duanshu commented on is also included in Mingyuan shigui,

Liechao shiji, Gujin mingyuan huishi, and Zhengshiji, yet it is not included in Nansorhon

chip.

See Hu, Lidai funii zhuzuokao, 166. This work is by the late Ming-early Qing scholar

Mao Xianshu 3&%M (1620-1688).

59 Ibid. I have not identified the author of this work. Both Li Shangyin and Li He's

poetry seem to have had a strong influence on some of her poems. My analysis shows

that Ho's poems influenced by Li Shangyin's poetry are "Xiao Li Yishan ti"

$^^|Jjfi (Nansorhon chip, 7a-7b), "Sishi ci" mWM (Nansorhon chip, 5a-6b), "Ci

Sun Neihan 'Beili' yun" %Mfa®\kMM (Nansorhon chip, 10b-l la), and "Su

Cishougong zheng nuguan" fg^^^it^C^ (Nansorhon chip, 8b-9a); see the poems influenced by Li He's style, "Xiangxian yao" fflRffisM (Nansorhon chip, 4b-5a) and "Ti

Shen Mengzhong Mingfengyu tu" M^ftA^^KBMM (Nansorhon chip, 10a-1 lb) and

"Ci zhongshi 'Jianxing an' yun" fcffiBiMMMWl (Nansorhon chhip, 8a-8b). 126

60 In my discussion of Guixiu ji, I am indebted to Grace Fong's study of Ji Xian's Guixiu ji. See Fong, "Gender and Interpretation," 7-12. Ji Xian's Guixiu ji is included in Siku

quanshu cunmu congshu IZ9Jljl^iri^@|ji|t, vol. 414:330-382.

For Ji Xian's biographical information and the translation of her self-preface, see Fong,

'"Record of Past Karma' by Ji Xian," 135-144. For a detailed study on Ji Xian's

Guixiu ji, see Fong, "Gender and Interpretation," 8-12.

62 In Guixiuji, Ho Kyongbon's poems are found in vol. 414:335, 339, 344, 352, 360, 365,

370, and 371.

63 Fong, "Gender and Interpretation," 10-11.

64 Ji Xian, Guixiu ji, 414:360.

65 Chang, "Ming and Qing Anthologies of Women's Poetry," 164. For Yun Zhu's life

and Zhenshiji, see Susan Mann, Precious Records, Chapter 4.

66 Yun Zhu, Zhengshiji, fulu, 22a-23b.

67 Hongmun-gwan $hyVSi (Hall of Extensive Writings) in Choson was named after the

same institution in the Ming. For the English translation of the title "Xueshi," see Hucker

in A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China, p.253: no.2704.

68 You Tong's poem quoted in Zengshiji is also quoted in Pak Chi-won's Yorha ilgi. See

Pak Chi-won, Yorha ilgi, kwon 12, "T'aehak yugwannok" AH^trf l£, 227.

69 Lu Ciyun was an early Qing scholar. He published an anthology titled Yishijiyu in

which he compiled foreign literary works. In juan 2, he included poems by Korean

women writers including nine of Ho Kyongbon's poems. See Pak, "Mingmo Chingchu,"

436. According to Pak, the poems in Yishijiyu were compiled on the basis of Liechao

shiji because both anthologies put Ho Kyongbon's poems in the same order. 127

Yun Zhu, Zhengshiji, fulu, 22a. Xie Daoyun is a celebrated woman poet of the Six

Dynasties period. See Susan Mann's discussion of Xie's image in Precious Records, 83. 71 For Yun Zhu's high moral concerns, see Susan Mann, Precious Records, 94-117. 72 In my discussion of Mingyuan shihua, I am indebted to Grace Fong's study on

Mingyuan shihua; see Fong, "Real and Imagined Communities."

73 Ibid., 2. 7il Shen Shanbao, Mingyuan shihua, juan 12, 24b. 75

Ho's poems can be found in Mingyuan shihua, juan 12, 24b-25a.

76 For example, Yi Tdng-mu ^WM (1741-1793), a Choson scholar, recorded the discussions that he had with Hong Tae-yong $£A?? (1731-1783), another well-known scholar of Choson. In this passage, Hong Tae-yong criticizes H6 Kyongbon's conduct and virtue due to her visibility. See Yi Tdng-mu, "Yimokgu simso," in Ch 'ongjanggwan chonso, 53: 5. For other Choson scholars' criticism of Ho, see Yi Ka-wdn, Choson munhak sa, 697-699.

77 Pak Chi-won (1737-1805) is a famous Choson scholar whose thought was much informed by "practical learning"(.s///ztf/t). His book, Yorha ilgi ^qJBIci (Jehol Diary), is a record of the embassy that Pak accompanied to the seventieth birthday celebrations of the Qianlong Emperor in his summer palace at Jehol (pinyin. Rehe, now Chengde). See

Introduction in Yorha ilgi, ed., Minjok munhua ch'ujin yonguhoe, 1.

78 Pak Chi-won, Yorha ilgi, "T'aehak yugwannok," 621.

79 In the Choson dynasty, women outside yangban class families were rarely given personal names. However, women who had a high education were given ahof$i "style name." According to the record by Ho Kyun, Ho Kyongbon has a name, Ch'o-hui, and a 128

cha ^f "courtesy name," Kyongbon. See Ho Kyun, Haksan ch 'odam, 4a. The courtesy name was only given to a male when he was capped or married.

80 Pak Chi-won, Yorha ilgi, "Piso rok," 275. This record is also translated by Choe-Wall,

"Ho Nansorhon and Her Hansi," 276.

For information on women's names in the Choson, see Keith Pratt and Richard Rutt,

Korea: A Historical and Cultural Dictionary, 508.

Yi Ik's comment is quoted in Kim Yung-chung's Women of Korea, 154.

83 Ibid., 157.

Kim Ki-chung points out that women rarely wrote and even when they wrote it was not likely they would exhibit their learning or literary talent in public. See Kim Ki-chung, An

Introduction to Classical Korean Literature, 111. oc

Kim Yung-chung, Women of Korea, 157. It is similar to the perception of women's talent in seventeenth century China: "a woman is virtuous only if she is untalented" iC^fi&f&MM, see Dorothy Ko, "Pursuing Talent and Virtue," 9 and also Chang,

"Gender and Canonicity," 9.

86 Kim Yung-chung, Women of Korea, 162.

87 This is especially noteworthy given the fact that these poems were only the ones available when Ho Kyun collected her writings.

88 Chang, "Ming and Qing Anthologies of Women's Poetry," 147.

89 As Kang-i Sun Chang pointed out, in the case of Wang Duanshu, Mingyuan shiwei, the anthology that she compiled was the means through which she published a great number of her own poems. See Chang, "Ming and Qing Anthologies of Women's Poetry," 159. 129

90See Wang Duanshu. Mingyuan shiwei, la-4b; Luo Qilan's preface to Tingiquguan

guizhong tongrenji, quoted in Hu Wenkai, Lidai funii zhuzuokao, 939-940; Yun Zhu,

Zhengshiji, 1 a-2a. For male scholars, see Zhong Xing, Mingyuan shigui, quoted in Hu

Wenkai, Lidai funii zhuzuokao, 883-884; Zhao Shijie, Gujin niishi, Hu Wenkai, Lidai funil zhuzuo kao, 888-889.

91 See Kang-i Sun Chang, "Ming and Qing Anthologies of Women's Poetry," 157-158.

92 Mann, Precious Records, 98.

93 See p. 47.

94 "Colours" refer to the colour of the habits they wore.

95 Translated in Women Writers of Traditional China, eds., Chang and Saussy, 692. Feng

refers to a section of the Book of Songs devoted to the folk songs which are often

interpreted as moral instruction; Ya refers to the two sections of the Book of Songs which

contain poems of folk and ceremonial genres.

96 For Wang's emphasis on the moral dimension of women poets in Mingyuan shiwei, see

Fong, "Gender and Interpretation," 15-16.

97 Yun Zhu, Zhengshiji, "Liyan" $\}W, 5a; see also Yun Zhu's preface translated in

Women Writers of Traditional China, eds., Chang and Saussy, 711-712.

Chapter 3

1 There is no separate category for yuefu poetry in Nansorhon chip. All her poems,

including her yuefu poems, are arranged into categories according to their line length and

meter. See Chapter 2, p. 35. 130

For detailed discussions on the origins and functions of the "Music Bureau," see Joseph

Allen, In the Voice of Others, 37-39.

For more discussions on yuefu poetry by men of letters, see Hans Frankel, "Yiieh-fu

Poetry," 98-104.

Hans Frankel, "Yiieh-fu Poetry," 70. For discussions on the development of yuefu in the

Tang, see Zhou Zhenfu, "The Legacy of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties Yiieh-fu

Tradition and Its Further Development in T'ang Poetry," 287-295.

5 For example, Ho's "Mochou yue #1" W$$K (The Music of Mochou in NSHC, 1 la) is her reworking of Zhang Hu's M& "Mochou yue" in QTS, 21:272; see also Ho's "Dati qu" A^tft (Song of Great Dike in NSHC, 13b) and Li Bai's "Xiangyang qu" Rrlrft

(Song of Xiangyang) in QTS, 29:422; Ho's "Zhucheng yuan #1" ^Jt$2g (Plaint of

Building a City Wall in NSHC, 1 la) and Zhang Ji's 5111 "Zhucheng qu" %&$M (Song of Building a City Wall) in QTS, 26:364; Ho's "Zhuzhi ci" ft^PJ (Song of Bamboo

Branches mNSHC, 15b) and Liu Yuxi's gjrl$l "Zhuzhi ci" in QTS, 28:395-396.

6 Burton Watson, Chinese Lyricism, 55.

7 Ibid.

8 Watson, Chinese Lyricism, 55.

9 Nansorhon chip contains one poem entitled "Sent to My Female Friend" ^^C#. The poem, however, provides no specific references regarding the addressee. See NSHC, 7b.

10 Hans Frankel, The Flowering Plum and the Palace Lady, 33.

11 Ho Kyun, Haksan ch 'odam, 36b.

12 See Choe-Wall, "Ho Nansorhon: Late 16th Century Sino-Korean Poetess," 101; Kim

Myong-hui, Ho Nansorhon ui munhak, 167. 13^

13 See Choe-Wall, "Ho Nansorhon: Late 16th Century Sino-Korean Poetess," 101-102;

Kim Myong-hui, Ho Nansorhon ui munhak, 168; Mun Kyong-hyon, "Ho Nansorhon yongu," 30.

Kim Ki-chung, An Introduction to Classical Korean Literature, 122-123. "Kyuwon ka"

(Song of Boudoir Lament) is the only extant han 'gul poem by Ho. See Peter Lee's

discussion on Ho's "Kyuwon ka" in Celebration of Continuity, 126-127.

On Choson scholars' strong opposition to using han 'gul for their own writing, see Kim

Ki-chung in An Introduction to Classical Korean Literature, 4-5.

In Nansorhon chip, out of forty-nine titles twenty-eight are poem series.

•J *7

Stephen Owen, The Poetry of the Early T'ang, 94; Marie Chan, Kao Shih, 93.

18 Marie Chan, Kao Shih, 93.

19 Ibid.

20 For more discussion on "Frontier School," see Marie Chan, "Kao Shih's 'Yen Ko-

Hsing'," 199-200.

21 For a detailed study on Gao Shi's life, see Marie Chan, Kao Shih; Chapter 1. For Cen

Shen's life and his poetry, see Owen, The Great Age of Chinese Poetry, 169-182.

22 According to Owen, it is assumed that Wang may have gone as far north as Qingzhou,

about 300 kilometers away from Chang'an. See Owen, The Great Age of Chinese Poetry,

96. 23 Owen, The Great Age of Chinese Poetry, 129.

24 "Saixia qu #5" in QTS, 164: 1700. 132

Owen, The Great Age of Chinese Poetry, 96-101. Owen states, "fragmentation of visual and logical unity for a unity of mood had great appeal to Tang readers," in The

Great Age of Chinese Poetry, 99.

Oft

In the text reading session conducted by Professor Stephen Owen during his visit to

McGill University (Oct. 11, 2002), he suggested that Helan might be a misuse of Loulan

HtJifj which refers to Shanshan country 8Blt|l§ located on the western frontier during the

Han dynasty. Used in many frontier poems by Tang poets, Loulan generally refers to the enemy from the northwestern frontier of China. For the use of Loulan, see Wang

Changling's "Congjun qu #6," in QTS, 143: 1444; see also Li Bai's "Saixia qu #1," in

QTS, 164: 1700.

27 Translated by Joseph Allen, In the Voice of Others, 196. See the poem in QTS, 164:

1704-1705.

28 Watson, Chinese Lyricism, 128. 29 Translated by Marie Chan in Kao Shih, 101-102; see the poem in QTS, 213:2217-2218. 30 Translated by Marie Chan in her article "Kao Shih's 'Yen Ko-Hsing'," 220-221.

31 In QTS, 143:1444.

32 See Nancy Lee Swann in Pan Chao: Foremost Woman Scholar of China, 35, n35 and

77, n3.

33 For examples, see Gao Shi's "Yange xing" in QTS, 213: 2217-2218; see also Li She

^'s "Ji Heyang congshi Yang Qian" W&WiV£BWj^, in QTS, All: 5427-5428.

34 For Ban Chao's life, see Nancy Lee Swann, Pan Chao: Foremost Woman Scholar of

China, 28-32.

35 Chan, "Kao Shih's 'Yen Ko-Hsing'," 221. 133

36 For examples, see Du Fu's "Qian chusai qu #9" in QTS, 218: 2293; Wang Changling's

"Saixia qu #2," in QTS, 140: 1420; Gao Shi "Yange xing," in QTS, 213: 2217-2218.

37 For examples, see "Chusai" tfjlg by Fang Weiyi ASWtk in Guixiu ji, 355, "Saixia qu"

UTttt by Xu Yuan i^#§ in Chen Xin, ed., Lidai funii shici xuanzhu, 193 and "Saishang qu" H±rti by Xu Zhaohua W@M in Zhengshiji,juan 3, 13b-14a.

For more discussions on Yutai xinyong and a translation of the poems in this anthology, see Anne Birrell, New Songs from a Jade Terrace; see also Anne Birrell's article, "The

Dusty Mirror: Courtly Portraits of Woman in Southern Dynasties Love Poetry," 33-69.

39 Birrell, "The Dusty Mirror," 34.

40 Birrell, New Songs from a Jade Terrace, Introduction, 7.

41 Birrell, "The Dusty Mirror," 35.

42 Ronald Miao, "Palace-Style Poetry," 30.

43 For a discussion of these three Tang poets' interest in "palace style poetry," see Paul

Rouzer, Writing Another's Dream: The Poetry of Wen Tingyun, 69-71.

44 See the entry on Wang Jian in The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese

Literature, ed. and comp., William Neinhauser, 859; see also a brief summery on Wang

Jian's "Gongci" in Li Shuzheng, Zhang Ji Wang Jian shixuan, W^^cM^M, 204.

45 His contemporaries and later critics extolled the supremacy of his "Gongci," praising them for their "realistic" descriptions of palace life and for their excellent stylistic diction and allusions. See Min Pyong-su, Han 'guk Hansi sa, 304-305.

46 My analysis shows that the vocabulary, motifs, and poetic imagery of Wang Jian's

"Gongci" were borrowed and reworked by Ho in her own "Gongci." To give some examples, Ho Kyongbon's "Gongci #3" (NSHC, 17a) is a reworking of Wang Jian's 134

"Gongci #67" (QTS, 302: 3443); Ho's "Gongci #1" (NSHC, 16b) borrows a motif from

Wang Jian's "Gongci #69" (QTS, 302: 3443); the last line of Ho's "Gongci #12" (NSHC,

18a) is a reworking of Wang Jian's last line of his "Gongci #82" (QTS, 302: 3444); Ho's

"Gongci #9" (NSHC, 17b) is a reworking of Wang Jian's "Gongci #96"(QTS, 302: 3445).

Birrell, New Songs from a Jade Terrace, Introduction, 14.

48 See #8, #9, #13, and #16 in the "Gongci" series (NSHC, lib, lib, 18a, and 18a-b).

49 See the poem in Wen xuan, 27: 1 la-b. For more information on Ban Jieyu and the translation of "Song of Resentment," see Women Writers of Traditional China, 17-19.

50 Birrell, "Dusty Mirror," 63.

51 Ibid., 63-64.

52 See Li Bai's "Changmen yuan" in QTS, 184: 1880.

53 See the "Changmen Rhapsody" in Wen xuan, 16: 6a-7b.

54 Miao, "Palace-Style Poetry," 23-24.

55 This is a tentative translation. Chunei {ijffcj is the alternate form for chuna fcrj#*|, see

Hanyu da cidian, vol. 2, 493.

56 See Wang Jian's "Gongci # 40" in QTS, 302: 3442.

57 For examples in Ho's "Gongci" series, see #10, #7, and #17 (NSHC, lib, 17a-b, and

18b).

58 See Paul Rouzer, Writing Another's Dream, 31.

59 Kim Myong-hui, Ho Nansorhon ui munhak, 69.

60 Ibid.

61 Kim Tong-uk's comments on Ho's "Gongci" are quoted in Yi Suk-hui's "Ho

Nansorhon ui si yongu," 95-96. 135

62 Miao, "Palace-Style Poetry," 40.

63 Joseph Allen, In the Voice of Others, 5.

64 Ibid., 6.

65 Ibid.

For "Ganyu," I followed Owen's translation in The Poetry of the Early T'ang, 184. fn

Owen argues that poets had different views regarding what constituted the ideas of

"antiquity" and how one can attain the "ancient" style. See Owen, "Fu-ku and T'ang

Poetry," in The Poetry ofMeng Chiao and Han Yu, 8.

68 Ibid., 8-23.

For Owen, "The fugu tradition" differs from the "idea of fugu" which goes back as old as the antiquity. See Owen, The Poetry ofMeng Chiao and Han Yii, 10.

Ibid. See also Vincent Shih, The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons, 25-26.

71Owen, The Poetry of the Early T'ang, 14-15.

72 For a detailed study of Ruan Ji's poetry and his life, see Donald Holzman, Poetry and

Politics: The Life and Works of Juan Chi (A.D. 210-263).

73 Owen, The Poetry of the Early T'ang, 155.

74 The differences between Chen and Li Bai's poetic styles are discussed in Lin Wen- yiieh's "The Decline and Revival of Feng-ku (Wind and Bone): On the Changing Poetic

Styles from the Chien-an Era through the High T'ang Period." 164. For Li Bai and

Chen's advocacy to model the late Han and Wei poetic style, see Owen, The Poetry of

Meng Chiao and Han Yii, 10-14.

75 Ibid., 8-9. 136

If*

Owen, The Poetry of the Early T'ang, 187. For more discussions of Chen's "Ganyu," see Owen, The Poetry of the Early T'ang, 184-223.

77 Owen, The Great Age of Chinese Poetry, 133.

78 Ibid.

79 For examples, see Ho's "Ganyu #2" (NSHC, la-b), "Ganyu #3"( NSHC, lb),

"Qianxing #1"( NSHC, 2a) and "Qianxing #5"(NSHC, 3a). Of) Owen, The Poetry of the Early T'ang, 187. 81 Ibid., 188.

82 See Ho's "Ganyu #1" (NSHC, la) and "Qianxing #2" (NSHC, 2b)

For Ho's poems on the journey to the immortal world, see "Ganyu #4"(NSHC, lb-2a) and "Qianxing #6"(NSHC, 3a); also see Li Bai's "Gufeng #19" in QTS, 161:1673-1674 and Chen Ziang's "Ganyu #22" in QTS, 83: 892.

84 Owen, The Poetry of the Early T'ang, 218.

85 The image of the orchid appears in Qu Yuan's narrative poem "Li sao." For detailed discussions on the imagery in "Li sao," see Pauline Yu, The Reading of Imagery in the

Chinese Poetic Tradition, Chapter 3; 84-117.

86 For Tao Qian's poem, see Tao Yuanmingji, ed., Lu Qinli, juan 4, 109-110.

87 Pauline Yu, in explaining the imagery in "Nineteen Ancient Poems" of Han and in

Ruan Ji's "Poems Singing My Thoughts," points out that both groups of poems established an important precedent for later emulators. The poems by these emulators are often entitled "Imitating the Ancients" (Nigu M&), "Miscellaneous Poems" (Zashi

Hit), "Ganyu," and "Gufeng." See Yu, The Reading of Imagery in the Chinese Poetic

Tradition, 138. She specifically points out that Tao Qian's "Nigu #1" is in the tradition 137

of "expressing one's intent." See Yu, The Reading of Imagery in the Chinese Poetic

Tradition, 139.

See Li Bai's "Gufeng #38" in QTS, 161: 1676; see Chen Ziang's "Ganyu #2" in QTS,

83: 890; for an English translation of the poem, see Owen, The Poetry of the Early T'ang,

218.

89 Pauline Yu, The Reading of Imagery in the Chinese Poetic Tradition, 90. 90

My translation is based on the translation by Rewi Alley in Li Bai: 200 Selected

Poems, 11.

91 Li Bai's "Gugfeng #38" is a clear imitation of Chen's "Ganyu #2." For detailed

discussions on Chen's "Ganyu #2," see Owen, The Poetry of the Early T'ang, 218-219;

see also Owen, The Poetry ofMeng Chiao and Han Yii, 11.

92 Xiao Shiyun's comments on Li Bai's "Gufeng #38" are quoted in Wang Qi, Li Taibai

quanji, vol.1, 2:136-137.

93 Kim Myong-hui, Ho Nansorhon ui munhak, 26.

94 Yi Suk-hiii,"H6 Nansdrhdn ui si yongu," 138-140.

95 Yu, The Reading of Imagery in the Chinese Poetic Tradition, 138-139.

96 Owen, The Poetry of the Early T'ang, 206.

97 Kao Yu-kung, "The Aesthetics of Regulated Verse," 339.

98 Ibid.

99 See the poems in NSHC, 2a, 2b, and 3a.

100 Owen, The Poetry of the Early T'ang, 218.

101 This particular wutong is said to have grown in Yiyang, a southern slope of Yi

Mountain JP|1| located in Shandong province. See Hanyu da cidian, vol. 3, 868-869. 138

Commonly referred to as yiyang gutong If &§|fllfi, they are said to have been an excellent wood for making qin (a Chinese lute). Li Bai wrote a poem specifically on this wutong entitled "Qinzan" ^g. See Li Bai's poem in Li Taibai quanji, ed and annot.,Wang Qi, vol. 2, 28:1333.

102Tn QTS, 161:1671, 1676, and 1676-1677.

103 Translated by Rewi Alley, Li Bai: 200 Selected Poems, 79.

Translated by Rewi Alley, Li Bai: 200 Selected Poems, 78 with minor modifications of my own.

105 See Chen Ziang's "Ganyu #36" and Li Bai's "Gufeng #7, #19, and #20."

Owen, The Poetry of the Early T'ang, 186.

107 In QTS, 161:1673 and 161:1673-1674. The 6th line of Ho's poem W^MWM was modified from the line ^^AmMM from the first poem of "Youtaishan" jfeHlf ill by Li

Bai. See Li Bai's poem in QTS, 179:1823.

108 See "Song of Watering Horses at a Long Wall Hole" in Wen xuan, 27: 10 and

"Nineteen Old Poems #17" in Wen xuan, 29:5a-5b. "Song of Watering Horses at a Long

Wall Hole" is the first poem of a celebrated gu ci ~^$$ ("old version"), one of the three collected in the Wen xuan. The poem is the earliest one under this yuefu title extant in

Chinese lyric history. In addition, the poem has been imitated by numerous poets, particularly by the representative poets of the Jian'an era such as Cao Pi HMS (187-226) and Chen Lin W$k (ob.217). For the yuefu poems under the title of "Song of Watering

Horses at a Long Wall Hole," see Yuefu shiji, comp., Guo Maoqian, vol. 2, 38: 555-561.

In his book In the Voice of Others, Joseph Allen shows the similarities in language, 139

images, and motifs between "Song of Watering Horses at a Long Wall Hole" and some of

"Nineteen Old Poems." See Allen, In the Voice of Others, 81-85.

Cai Zongqi, The Matrix of Lyric Transformation, 61.

110 Ibid.

111 Ibid., 79.

112 Ibid.

Kao Yu-kung, "The Aesthetics of Regulated Verse," 346.

For the two Ming critics and other scholars' comments on the "Nineteen Old Poems,"

see Cai Zongqi, The Matrix of Lyric Transformation, 91-94; for Ming fugu poets'

comments on the "Nineteen Old Poems," see Chen Guoqiu, Tang shi de chuancheng:

Mingdaifugu shilunyanjiu, 144-147.

115 "Jixin" refers to a hidden disaster, commonly used in the phrase "jixin cuohuo"

^ifffWA- It describes a situation in which a fire lies under the firewood. See Hanyu da

cidian, vol. 8, 146. Here in this poem, "jixin" implies a possible attack by the enemies.

116 Translated by Owen in The Poetry ofMeng Chiao and Han Yii, 12-13; see the poem in

QTS, 161:1670-1671.

117 Owen, The Great Age of Chinese Poetry, 132-133.

118 For Owen's discussion on Li Bai's "Gufeng #1," see The Great Age of Chinese

Poetry, 133; see also The Poetry ofMeng Chiao and Han Yii, 12-13.

119 See the eighth and ninth couplets of Li Bai's "Gufeng #1": "Our great age has restored

the ancient tradition/ As His Majesty values only what is pure and true. A host of talents

flock to the enlightened court/ Availing themselves of the happy trend, they all leap to 140

recognition, " translated by Joseph J. Lee in Sunflower Splendor, eds. Wu-chi Liu and

Irving Yucheng Lo, 113; see also the poem in QTS, 161: 1670-1671.

See Du Fu's "Qianxing #5" in QTS, 218: 2291.

121 Owen, The Poetry of the Early T'ang, 189.

Appendix

To date this edition has been the source of an ongoing debate among Korean scholars since the year of Imsin of Sungjong reign l^fH^Er}^ can mean either 1632 or 1692.

For detailed discussions of the different views of Korean scholars on dating this edition, see Yi Suk-hui, "Ho Nansorhon ui si yongu," 49-51.

" Some scholars argue that the font of the movable copper type edition is the Kyeyu font

0§M ?) that began to be used in 1573. See Kim Tu-jong, Han 'guk ko inswae kisul sa,

196-198; Paek Lin, "Kyeyu Kyongjin Muwu cha e tehayo," 26. Some argue that the font is a Kyongjin HM font recast in 1580. See Ho Mi-ja, Ho Nansorhon yongu, 67. For detailed discussions on the issue of the movable copper type edition, see Yi Suk-hui, "Ho

Nansorhon ui si yongu," 45-47.

3 This 1913 edition of Nansorhon chip includes a poetry collection entitled Nansol

Sosorhon chip jf|I|/J\!!fT-H (The Collection of Sosorhon Styled Nansol) in appendix.

Nansol Sosorhon chip is a collection of the poetry of Ho Kyongnan f?MW\, a contemporary poet of Ho Kyongbon who composed poems to rhyme with those of Ho

Kyongbon. Because of the excellence of Ho Kyongnan's poetry, Liang Baiya ^fif|, a

Ming scholar from Qiantang i§J|r, published a collection of her poetry entitled Haidong 141

Ian W^M (Orchid from Korea). See "/J\gff^ffl§" (A brief biography of Xiao

Xuexuan) quoted by Ho Mi-ja in original Chinese, Ho Nansorhon yongu, 79; it says that this collection soon received enthusiastic reviews by scholars in the late Ming. Ho

Kyongnan's years of birth and death are not known. However, since her father, an official translator, was posted to China during the Sonjo reign (1567-1608), and because she had read Ho Kyongbon's poetry published in China, we can safely assume that she lived during the late sixteenth century to early seventeenth century, that is, the late Ming period. She was born to a Korean father (Ho Sun f^U) and a Chinese mother and lived in China. Accordingly, Ho Kyongnan, after reading Ho Kyongbon's poetry, became a passionate admirer of her poetic talent. She even renamed herself Kyongnan Jf-Hf with the style name Sosorhon (/Jxgff). See Ho Mi-ja, Ho Nansorhon yongu, 70. 142

Primary Sources

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Vol. 67. Reprint. Soul: Minjok munhwa ch'ujinhoe, 1991 (1996 Printing).

Ho Kyun f^p $g. Haksan ch 'odam |§|1|#IM- Appended in Songso pubugo.

. Songso pubugo %pftWi$M- In Kojon Kugyok cho 'ngso. Ed. Minjok munhwa

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