Poetic Archaism and Lyric Tradition in Ming Theories of Poetry: Readings on Zhou Xu, Xu Zhenqing and T’ang Shunzhi

Archaism stands as a prevailing literary ideology in the Ming Dynasty, famously proposed by the Former Seven Masters and later championed by the Latter Seven Masters. This movement established a formidable critical discourse, shaping much of the eras literary ecology. Conventionally, this archaist paradigm is positioned in stark opposition to the principles of the Gong-an School, which argued forcefully for the freedom of direct, authentic self-emotional expression in writing. This critical narrative has long posited a seemingly irreconcilable binary opposition between formal imitation and genuine lyricism. This article, however, challenges the rigidity of this established dualism. By examining several rarely scrutinized poetic theories from the Early, Middle, and Late Ming, this study uncovers nuanced perspectives beneath the mainstream paradigm that serve to deconstruct this binary. Through focused analyses of Zhou Xu’s Shi Xue Ti Hang, Xu Zhenqing’s Tan Yi Lu, and the theoretical writings of T’ang Shunzhi, this paper seeks to prove that poetic archaism in the Ming context was not fundamentally opposed to the core tenets of the lyric tradition. Instead, it demonstrates that archaism often operated within a profound intertextuality with lyricism, frequently functioning as a specific methodological or pedagogical pathway intended to recover and reinvigorate authentic poetic expression.