On the Criticism of Yuefu Poems in Records of Music,History of Song in the Southern Dynasties

In his whole life,Shen Yue puts all his focus on Yuefu and other poems,which have a close relationship with music. On the basis of Sima Qian's Book of Music,Historical Records and Ban Gu's Records of Rites and Music,History of the Han Dynasty,he not only establishes Records of Music,which means that he separates music from rites,but also has a comprehensive description of it in four volumes. As a result,the number of his records of Yuefu poems can not be paralleled by the poets before the Tang Dynasty. His collection and organization of Yuefu poems are mainly recorded in volume 2- 4 of Records of Music,History of Song in the Southern Dynasties. To some extent it is an anthology of Yuefu poems,even though it is not actually. Therefore,the feature of organized criticism manifested in these three volumes should be put enough focus in the study. On the other hand,the first volume of Records of Music is his representative of explanatory criticism. Both his organized criticism and explanatory criticism play an important role in the construction of musical culture,and the records and organization of Yuefu poems. Particularly,they have a relatively direct influence on the following historians' and litterateurs' criticism of Yuefu poems. In other words,he takes an important position in the criticism of Yuefu poems.