魏泰

Wei Tai was a literatus of the Northern Song period whose name appears within the tradition of Song dynasty notebooks and poetry talks. However, public sources on his courtesy name, native place, dates of birth and death, and official career are very limited, making them difficult to establish with certainty. Three works by him are held in the collection. Dongxuan Biji, in the notebook form, records court and local observations along with anecdotes about figures of the day, while Linhan Yinju Shihua is devoted to discussing poetry, evaluating poetic craft and examining lines of verse, reflecting the Song habit of judging poetry through learning. A combined edition, Dongxuan Biji and Nanzhenzi Lu, brings two notebooks together in one volume. These works are generally classified under Eastern philosophy; their contents touch on historical events, the words and deeds of individuals, and literary criticism, and their concise, argumentative style makes them readable sources for understanding Song notebook writing and poetic thought.