The Reception of Tangshipinhui and the Publication of Yi Sugwang’s Tangsihoeseon in the Early Seventeenth-Century Joseon

This study examines the compilation and publication of Tangsihoeseon (唐詩彙選), an anthology compiled by the seventeenth-century Joseon scholar Yi Sugwang (李睟光) from Tangshipinhui (唐詩品彙) by the Ming writer Gao Bing (高棅). It explores the literary and publishing-cultural significance of the work, including the transmission of Tang poetry anthologies from Ming China to Joseon, their local compilation and printing, and Yi’s poetic theory in relation to contemporary literary trends. In early seventeenth-century Joseon, active contact with Ming literati led to the direct acceptance of the Archaist school (復古派). Yi Sugwang, critical of the late sixteenth-century taste for Song and Late Tang poetry, favored Tang poetry of the High Tang period. While influenced by the Archaist ideas of the Ming “Former and Latter Seven Masters,” he also articulated an independent view of classical poetry. This stance is reflected in Tangsihoeseon, where lüshi (regulated verse), especially seven-character poems, predominate—mirroring Joseon poets’ aesthetic preferences. The anthology was printed with wooden movable type by Yun Hwon (尹萱), an official in Gyeongju. That a local official employed government printing resources for a private publication reveals the limitations of private publishing in early seventeenth-century Joseon. Yi’s work thus illuminates both the reception of Chinese poetry and the early formation of Joseon’s literary and publishing culture.