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Jiang Yan

Southern Dynasties writer who served the Song, Qi and Liang courts, known for the Rhapsody on Regret and the Rhapsody on Parting, and the source of the phrase 'Jiang's talent has run dry'

Also known as Zi Wentong

Jiang Yan, courtesy name Wentong, came from Kaocheng in Jiyang and grew up fatherless and poor. Under the Liu Song he served on the staff of Liu Jingsu, Prince of Jianping, was jailed, and won release with a letter of self-defence written in prison; his repeated warnings to the prince later got him sent off to be magistrate of Wuxing in Jian'an. When Xiao Daocheng took power he made Jiang Yan an adjutant and had him draft military dispatches, and under the Qi he served as palace censor, impeaching powerful officials so firmly that he was called unmatched in recent times. The Liang made him Count of Linju and later Marquis of Liling, and he died in 505 at sixty-two sui. Xiao Tong's Selections of Refined Literature (Wenxuan) includes his Rhapsody on Regret, Rhapsody on Parting and thirty imitations of earlier poets. The Book of Liang (Liangshu) says his inspiration faded in later years, which gave rise to the phrase 'Jiang's talent has run dry'.

Life and times

  1. 444 CEBornNorthern and Southern
  2. 505 CEDied

Works

  1. Literature · Poetry7
    1. In the Old Manner: PartingNorthern and SouthernJiang Yan's imitation of the old poems: a wife whose man has gone to Yanmen vows never to waver
    2. In the Manner of Lady Ban: The FanNorthern and SouthernJiang Yan writes as Lady Ban: a painted fan fears the autumn wind, as a favourite fears neglect
    3. In the Manner of Minister Zhang: Parting SorrowNorthern and SouthernJiang Yan writes as Zhang Hua: a lady alone by autumn moonlight sends her silks far away
    4. In the Manner of the Monk Xiu: Lament at PartingNorthern and SouthernJiang Yan writes as the poet-monk Tang Huixiu: at autumn dusk the one he waits for never comes
    5. Lament for a Man Away at the WarsNorthern and SouthernJiang Yan's short lament of a wife alone in her tower, waiting for the frontier dust to settle
    6. +2 more
      1. On a Beauty's Spring OutingNorthern and SouthernJiang Yan's spring scene: a girl viewing blossoms whom passers-by take for the Luo goddess
      2. In the Manner of Pan of the Yellow Gate: Telling My GriefNorthern and SouthernJiang Yan writes in Pan Yue's manner of mourning a wife whom even dreams cannot bring back
  2. Literature · Sayings5
    1. Heartbroken at PartingNorthern and SouthernIdiom from Jiang Yan's Rhapsody on Parting: heartbroken at parting
    2. Spring Grass Green at the Southern Shore of PartingNorthern and SouthernLine from Jiang Yan's Rhapsody on Parting: spring's green grass framing a sad farewell
    3. Jiang Yan's Talent Run DryNorthern and SouthernIdiom from the Southern Histories' life of Jiang Yan: a gift taken back in a dream
    4. Creeping Weeds Twine Round the Bones: Jiang Yan's Rhapsody on RegretNorthern and SouthernAphorism from Jiang Yan's Rhapsody on Regret: weeds round bones, the sorrow of mortality
    5. Seeing You Off at the Southern ShoreNorthern and SouthernFamous line from Jiang Yan's Rhapsody on Parting: farewell at the southern shore
  3. Literature · Rhapsodies2
    1. Rhapsody on PartingNorthern and SouthernJiang Yan's parallel-prose catalogue of partings, from noblemen and soldiers to lovers
    2. Rhapsody on ResentmentNorthern and SouthernJiang Yan's companion to his Rhapsody on Parting: famous lives that ended unfulfilled