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Abstract In the 22nd year of the Qianlong reign (1757), after the imposition of the imperial decree on
the examination system for poetry, the study and practice of regulated verses in the sphere of scholars
became essential. However, the hasty reform of the system led to the inadequate preparations of both the
imperial court and the public. There was no consensus about the poetic characteristics, developments,
and changes related to regulated verse in the poetic examinations. During the early Qing period, only the
scholars of the Hanlin Academy’s Shuchang Hall were involved in monthly examinations and
examinations for the positions in different departments to test the regulated verses. As most scholars at a
later time often served as examiners for the imperial Provincial Examinations, they naturally became the
key figures in determining the standards of poem writing. These scholarly examiners initially aimed toenhance the value of regulated verses in the examination. The literary discussions of poems in the Ming
and Qing dynasties largely adhered to the traditional approach, which considered expressing personal
feelings as the primary function of poetry, but the prescribed topics of poems in the examination
contradicted this tradition. Although there were examining poems since the Tang dynasty, they were not
highly valued by literary critics. To transform this situation, the scholarly examiners tried to broaden the
range of poetry. In addition to expressing personal sentiments, they reintroduced traditional poetic
education and emphasized the praise of the prosperous era, and all these features should be essential
parts of the examining poem. However, there was an obstacle in elevating poems to the status of other
poems. Once a topic was assigned, writers had to revolve around the given theme, which made poems
prone to forced sentences and repetitive meanings. To address this, scholars found it convenient to
establish the writing rules by drawing inspirations from the eight-legged essay format. While using the
eight-legged essay format to guide poem writing in the examination, examiners had different
interpretations of the relationship between the eight-legged essays and the examining poems. In the
early Qing dynasty, some scholars like Mao Qiling, considered examining poems in the Tang dynasty as
the origin of the eight-legged essay based on the chronological order and believed that the format of
introduction-development-turn-conclusion of eight-legged essay came from poems in the examination,
suggesting that examining poems did not need to follow the eight-part essay format completely. Instead,
writers should learn from past masters of poetic writing, become proficient in various poetic forms, and
naturally master the skills of the poem writing. However, scholars like Jin Shen, who represented the
officials of the Shuchang Hall, thought the poem in examinations was a branch of the eight-legged
essay. They argued that examinees could write a successful poem by breaking down the topic and
elaborating on it as per the rules of the eight-legged essay. From his perspective, ordinary learners did
not need to understand other poetic forms. These seemingly contradictory views resulted from the
effects of using the eight-part essay format to guide the poem writing. Mao Qiling believed that poetry
and essays had inherent differences. Even though referring to the eight-part essay format, it should serve
the essence of poetry, focusing more on contemplating words and sentences and creating a poetic image
than presenting arguments in a sequential pattern like an essay. On the other hand, Jin Shen argued that
examining poems should stick to the rules of the eight-legged essay, contributing ideas in line with the
essay format and determining the quality based on the precise topic exploration and skilled use of
techniques such as comparisons and allusions. Later, Ji Yun eliminated the confusion caused by these
two conflicting views, integrating their superior strengths. Building on accurate topic exploration, he
focused on creating the “spirit” of examining poems, establishing a new standard for poem writing. This
demonstrates that, although there were some criticisms of the writing format of introductiondevelopment-turn-conclusion in the examination, the format as the writing knowledge was unaffected
by the concepts and became increasingly popular in the poetic examination. It became an effective
means of deriving enjoyment from poems.
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Published: 30 May 2024
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