Abstract
Ming poetry had been dominated by Neo-classicism until the Jingling School took over in the later stage of the dynasty, marked by the publication of the anthology Shigui (A Return to Poetry) by the leaders of the school Zhong Xing and Tan Yuanchun. Facing the juxtaposition of two currents of poetics, blind poet Tang Ruxun (1565-1659) compiled firstly the anthology Tangshi jie (Explications of Tang Poetry) and then Huibian tangshi shiji (An Assorted Anthology of Tang Poetry in Ten Volumes). The former work pays tribute to two Neo-classical canons, Tangshi zhengsheng (The Orthodox Voices of Tang Poetry) by Gao Bing and Tangshi xuan (Selection of Tang Poetry) by Li Panlong, and offers an explanation of poetics that invites readers into the world of the art. The latter, on the contrary, confronts the thoughts of Jingling School by exhibiting a kaleidoscopic picture of Tang poetry in diverse styles and perspectives. The structure of this latter work accommodates disparate theories of poetics and enables conversations among them. The organizational structure of the anthology is in fact an outward projection of Tang Ruxun's unique poetics. It embodies a ground-breaking discourse of poetics and an unprecedented form in the history of poetic anthologization in China.