The Poetry of the Early T'ang 0300021038, 9780300021035

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The Poetry ofthe EIαrly T'，α'ng

Stephen Owen

New Haven and London YαJe University Press

1977

C opyright ® 1977 by Yale University. All r ights reserved. This book

may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form. (except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the p u blishers.

Printed in the United States of America by Vail-Ballou Press,

Bingham ton, New York. Published in Great Britain, Europe, Africa, and Asia (except Japan) by Yale University Press, Ltd., London. Distributed in Latin

America by Kaiman &- Po1on, Inc., New York City; in Australia and New Zealand by Book &- Film Services, Artarmon, N.S. W.,

Australia; and in Japan by Harpe r &- Row, Publishers, Tokyo Office.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Owen, Stephen. The poetry of the early T'ang. Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Chinese poetry

-

T'ang dynasty, 618-907

-

History and

criticism. 1. Title. PL2321.095 ISBN 0-300-02103-8

895.1'1'209

77-3884

To the memory of a friend and teacher Arthur Wright

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ix

INTRODUCTION

xi

CHRONOLOGY

OF EARL Y

T'ANG RULERS

xv

PART ONE: COURT POETRY AND ITS OPPOSITION

1

1.

The Age of Court Poetry

2.

An Opposition Poetics and the Sui

14

3.

T he Sui Legacy: Wei Cheng and Li Pai-yao

27

4.

Poets of

42

5.

W ang Chi

6.

Shang-kuan

PART TW O:

3

T'ai-tsung's Court

60 Yi

72

AWAY FROM COURT POETRY:

THE 660S AND

670S

77

7.

The Four Talents of the Early T'ang

79

8.

Lu Chao-lin:

83

9.

The Capital Poems

103

10.

Wang Po:

123

11.

Lo Pin-w ang:

PART THREE:

The Failure of Court

Poetry

A New Decorum

138

Poetry and Rhetoric

CH 'EN TZU-ANG

Introduction to Part

12.

Ch'en

13.

The Kan-y u

151

Three

153

Tzu-ang's Poetic Career

157 184

PART FOUR: THE COURT POETS OF EMPRESS WU AND CHUNGTSUNG, 680-710 Introduction to P,art Four

225 227

14.

The Literary Establishment

15.

How to Write a Court Poem in 708: Genres, and Subgenres

231 Forms,

16. Poetry in the Life of the Court

234 256

17.

A Private Banquet at Mr.

18.

The Courtly Yung-wu

281

19.

Other Occasional Subgenres

294

20.

The New Songs of Empress Wu's Reign

303

Kao's

Pavilion

274

Co n ten t s

viii

325

Shen-yen

21.

Tu

22.

Shen Ch ' uan - ch ' i

339

23.

Sung Chih-wen

364

PART FIVE:

CHANG Y U EH AND

TRANSITION INTO THE HIGH

T'ANG Introduction to

387

24.

Chang Ylieh

25.

Into the High T 'ang A

APPENDIX 2.

TONAL PATTERNS

3.

NOT ES ON BIBLIOGRAPHY,

SELECTIVITY OF SOURCES NOTE S INDEX

413

OF COURT POETRY

APPENDIX 1.

APPENDIX

383

Part Five

"GRAMMAR"

381

425 429

DATING,

AND

432 43 7 449

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

There are cases in which the gratitudes expressed beginning of a book are no mo�e than the author's friends an d family. be more precisely

at the

an enumeration of

Here,

I

however,

must

grateful to colleagues who devoted

much time and energy to correcting both the infelicities and gross errors of my manuscript.

There were enough of

both to make the experience a chastening one. First of all,

my thanks to Hans Frankel for comments

as wide-ranging as his learning,

to Hugh Stimson both

for his editing and for his generous help in explaining to me the arcana of tonal balance,

to Arthur Wright for

his help with Early T'ang historical problems,

and to

Frank Westbrook for his discussions of pre-T'ang poetry. My special thanks to Robert Somers who not only care­ fully read and edited the manuscript, man y hours discussing both literary lems with me.

Whatever ideas

social background of

my

and historical

prob­

have developed on the

poetry are derivative of his ideas

on T'ang history and society. Maureen Robertson,

I

but also spent

Special thanks also to

who never failed to catch me up when

critical thinking was getting fuzzy and who brought

to my attention numerous points of poetic diction which

I

had ignored.

Finally,

who went over the

my special thanks to

m anuscript

so thoroughly

to be called a collaborator--David precision, this

a

scholar

as to deserve

Knechtges.

The care,

and clarity of his comments have strengthened

volume immeasurably,

are the occasions when

and those errors that

I stubbornly

remain

refused to take his

advice . . Finally,

I would

like to thank my wife Phyllis

her support through the preparation of ix

for

this volume and

x

Acknowledgments

Hiroko Somers,

who has shown

type the manuscrip t a friend.

the remarkable fortitude to

twice with the care and patience of

It is her calligraphy that fills these pages.

I NTR ODUCTION

The period in the history of Chinese poetry known as the Early T'ang extends from the foundation of the dynasty in 618 until roughly 713, throne.

when Hsuan-tsung took the

The Early T'ang does not represent a unified

style in its own right: long era of court

rather it saw the close of a

poetry and the slow transition to the

new style of the High T'ang.

The tradition of court

po�try stands at the center of the changes that were taking place in the seventh century.

"Court poetry"

here refers specifically to the poetry of the later Southern Dynasties,

Sui,

and Early T'ang courts.

Al­

though poetry was written in the Chinese courts both before and after this period, fifth,

sixth,

it was during the late

and seventh centuries

the real center of poetic activity

that

the court was

in China.

Not only

was a substantial proportion of the surviving corpus written for court occasions,

the distinctive "courtly

style" also dominated poetry written outside the court. During the first half of the seventh century the courtly style became increasingly mannered and rigid; strong counter-trends developed which sought either to modify the courtly style or develop an alternative to it.

The thematic scope of poetry began to broaden as

poets went beyond the strictly limited range of topics and occasions found in court poetry.

Furthermore,

the

rigid techniques of rhetorical amplification in court poetry came to exert

a less mechanical control over the

process of composition.

In these and other ways,

poets

of the late seventh and early eighth centuries moved toward a new

freedom,

while retaining much that was good

in the older style. xi

I ntroduction

xii

Literary freedom must be defined negatively:

there

must be a background of norm and convention that poets Beginning in the late seventh century,

transgress.

the

conventions of court poetry came to serve exactly this function:

they formed a body of poetic expectations

which articulated the freedom of

better poets.

poetry of the mid-eighth century,

the High T'ang,

frequently described as "direct" an �

is

:

'natural"; such " never inherent in literature. In the case

qualities are of the

The

High T'ang,

they appear by measuring poems against

the background of poetry of the seventh century. This book is a study of those normative conventions and how Early Trang poets broke free of

them,

how they

learned to use such conventions for their own ends. Although this s tudy

is limited to Early Trang poetry,

these same normative conventions form the silent back­ ground of e ighth- and ninth-century poetry.

Poets of

the eighth and ninth centuries had attained an even grea te r mastery over the conventions and tradition than the

last of the Early Trang poets,

fond of Early T'ang poetry. was written was

in

the

and they were not

Instead they admired what

before the age of court poetry because it "ancient manner."

Yet in actual practice

they depended on the norms of treatment evolved during the

seventh century. The eighth-century prejudice

the

Early

T'ang has lasted more than a millennium.

in Chinese of

and

Japanese there have

Early Trang poetry.

concerned with

Even

been very few studies

Those that exist are primarily

individual poets or the development of

tonal regulations. confine

against the poetry of

Larger literary histories generally

themselves to identifying the major poets of the

period and noting the rela tionship of the Early Trang poetic s tyle

to that of the Southern Dynasties.

There

has been no

attempt to treat the period extensively

as

or to trace the important changes then

a

whole

xiii

Introduction occurring in poetry. This study must omit lections of poems, Early T'ang,

two of the most interesting col­

at least part of which date from the

the poems of Han-shan and Wang Fan-ch ih.

The omission is unfortunate but necessary:

their poems

stand so far outside the mainstream of the poetic tradi­ tion and present so many problems of dating and attr ibu­ tion that consideration of them would only distract from the real literary historical problems of the period. There is no evidence that their works were even known to poets of the capital at that time. C hi,

Another poet,

Wang

whose work superficially resembles that of Han-shan

and Wang Fan-chih,

is included because his work repre­

sents a self-conscious rejection of the tradition of court

poetry.

I have also omitted consideration of Liu

Hsi-yi and Chang Jo-hsli,

whose work belongs properly to

the early eighth century.

They are often mistakenly

considered Early T'ang poets. 1 I

should mention 'a few conventions of the text and

translations here.

Since measures were rarely used with

any exactitude in poetry,

I

have felt free to replace

Chinese measure with inexact English equivalents: a Chinese'li is translated as a

thus

"mile, " and so forth.

I have kept;the Chinese system of calculating a person's

age,

so that a child is one year old at birth.

I

have

also transposed Chinese lunar years into their approx­ imate western counterparts,

so that the twelfth month

of the third year 9f the Ching-lung reign will be called 709,

even though the twelfth month should properly be

710. As in any work that tries to cover a great deal of material,

I have had to keep the notes to a minimum,

explaining allusions and references in a poem only when they contribute to the discussion or are necessary to follow the surface argument of a poem. the Chinese poems are often eclectic.

The texts of Where critical

Introduction xiv t exts are available ， as in the case of Ch'en Tzu-ang's poetry， 1 have usually followed them. Very oft en the earliest t ext and the only surviving primary t ext is that of the W en-yüan ying-hm 文把農 學 ， which is noto­ riously poor. Where no other early texts are available ， 1 will t ake the Wen-yüan ying-hua reading over a Ch'üan T'ang shil1 企 詹請 reading ， except where the Ch'üan T' a時 豆坐且 has corrected an obvious error. . Frequently the text 1 give is made up of a number öf' sources. Except where special problems occur ， 1 will not discuss textual variant s. For the convenience of readers who want to look up the various early texts and to refer to other poems not t ranslated 1 give the numbers assigned t o the corpus of the Ch'üan T'ang shih in the Tδdai no shihen by Hiraoka Takeo et al.

C HRONOLOGY OF EARLY T ' ANG RULERS

6 18- 6 2 6 6 2 7- 6 4 9 6 5 0- 684 6 84

Kao - t s u

高祖

'h.穿. Kao-t sung 品 系 ( Wu made empr e s s i n 655 ) Chung-t su n g 中 民 ( ru 1 ed f or one m o nt h ; t h e n

.T ' a i- t su n g

de-

po sed by h i s mo t he r Empr e s s Wu )

684-6 9 0

Ju i - tsung

睿車

( ru 1 ed f o r about t wo mon t h s ， t he n ban i shed b y Emp r e s s Wu ， who con­ t i nued t o ru 1 e a s r egen t i n h i s n am e )

6 90-70 5

E mp r e s s Wu

試

試 趴 則 又

( in 6 9 0 J u i -t sung was

forma1 1 y deposed and the n am e of t he dynasty chang e d t o C hou 705-71 0

祠

)

Chun g - t sung ( second r e ign ) ( empr e s s s e qu e s t e r ed; d y n a s t y c a 1 1 ed T ' ang a g a i n; power soon i n hands of Emp r e s s W e i

韋

and

fam i 1 y ， who po i so n C hu n g- t sung i n 710 ) 7 1 0-7 1 2

Ju i - t sun g ( s econd r e ign) ( p 1 ac e d o n t hr o n e by Pr i n c e o f L i n-t zu ， 1 at er Hsü a n -t sun g ， i n f avor o f whom Ju i - t sung abd i c a t e d in 712 )

71 2-756

Hsüa n - t sung

主 萃

( i n 7 5 6 began jo i n t r u 1 e w i t h Su - t sung ， bu t r e t i r ed f rom act ive s e rv i c e)

xv

PART ONE COURT POETRY AND ITS OPPOS I T I ON

1 THE AGE OF COURT POETRY

Dur i ng t he p e r i o d of t h e No r t h e rn an d Sou t h ern D y n as t i e s ， from t h e conque s t o f Nor t h C hin a by non-Ch i n e s e i n 317 un t i 1 t h e S u i r eun i f i e d C h i n a i n 5 8 9 ， C h i n e s e poe t ry was forced to adapt t o unpr e c e de n t e d c i r cums t a n c e s .

1n

No rt h C h i n a ， wh e r e po 1 i t i c a 1 powe r was i n t he h a n ds o f t he " b arbar i an " m i 1 i t ary ar i s t o c r acy ， poe t s were 1 i t t 1 e mor e t ha n g r a c ious adornme n t s o f t h e i r court s .

The

cour t s o f South C h i n a ， i nc r e a s i n g 1 y impo t en t a s po 1 i t ­ ic a l ent i t i es ， c am e t o devo t e mo r e t ime t o poetry a n d t h e art s o f g r ac ious 1 iv in g t h an t hey d i d t o gover n i n g . 1 t was an age o f ar i s t o c r a c y ， and C h i n e s e p o e t ry was i 11 at eas e i n i t . To Han Con fuc i a n s t he pub l i c func t i on o f 1 i t e r a t u r e had b e e n t o a s s i g n p r a i s e a n d b l ame

to

thos e who gov­

ern e d ， to e n c o u r age v i r t u e an d crit i c i z e c o r rup t ion; i t s p r ivat e f u n c t i o n was to exp r e s s p e r s on a l s en t imen t s ， but such s e n t ime n t s were s e e n p r imar i l y a s react i on s t o prev a i l i n g p o 1 i t i c a l a n d s o c i a 1 mor e s .

The v a lue o f t h e

exp r e s s i on o f such sent ime n t s was t hat t hrough t hem t he con d i t i on o f soc i et y and t he mor a l n a t u r e o f t h e p o e t woul d b e m a d e manifes t .

The s e at t i t udes wer e c e r t a i n l y

not a f e r t i l e ground f o r a g r e at imag i n at i v e l i t er a t ur e ， but t h ey w e r e i mme n s e ly compell i n g i n t h at t h e y p r ov i de d a l eg i t i mat e p o s i t { on f o r lit e r a t u r e i n t he Con f u c i a n s t at e .

1n t he No r t hern a n d Sout hern Dy n a s t i e s t he s e

ties with C o n f u c i an v a l u e s and t h e l i t e r a ry a n d cu l t ur al pas t wer e almo s t brok e n . D i s i l l u s i o nm e n t w i t h Con fu c i an l i t er ary v a l u e s a n d the i de a l o f t h e s c ho l ar - o f f i c i a l h a d appe a r e d s t ro n g l y as e arl y as t he e a r l y t h i r d c e n t u r y .

At f i rs t t h e d i s­

soc i at i on of poetry f rom t he s t at e and i t s consum i n g 3

The Age o f Court Po e t r y

4

e t hi c al s t andards p roved t o b e l i berat i n g: poet ry found a wea l t h of n ew t h em e s in the act of r e j e c t ion i t s e l f . E r em i t i c p o e t ry ， l an d s c ap e p o e t r y ， T ao i s t ph i losoph i cal a n d imag i n a t i ve po e t r y f lour i shed .

Howe v e r ， t he cost o f

t h i s l i b e r a t i o n was g reat : t he com f o rt i n g C o n fuci an assump t i o n t ha t po e t ry an d o n e ' s per s o n a l exp er i en c e m i g h t have some l as t i n g s i gn i f i c an ce t o t he s t at e and C h i n e s e c i v i l i z at i o n d i s app e ared .

It

had been a t enuou s

a s s ump t i on a t b e s t ， but i t was a n e c e s s ary one. By t he l at e fi f t h c e n t ury po e t ry was be c om i ng i n c r eas­ i ngly t h e p o s s e s s ion o f t h e $out he r n Ch i ne s e court s .

The

dom i n a n t c o n c e rn s o f e r em i t i c and l ands c ap e poet ry dur ing the p r e c e d i n g t wo c e n t ur i e s had been r e du c ed to b l oodless c l i ch é s .

P o e t ry was i n t h e hands o f h i ghly l i t e r at e and

c u l t ur e d emp e ro r s an d t h e g r e at a r i s t o c r a t i c f ami l i es ， who we r e t he u l t imat e arb i t e r s o f p o e t i c ex ce l l e n c e .

As

muc h a s po et ry had e volved away f rom t ra d i t i o n a l Confuc i a n values dur i ng t he p r e c e d i n g c e n t uries ， the great s o u t h e r n f ami l i e s c l un g t o i t as an e v i d e n c e o f t h e i r cult u r a l h e r i t age a n d t h e i r supe r i o rit y o v e r t he Nor t h ， who s e l i t e r a t u r e t h ey desp i s ed . The po eti c s t agnat i o n o f t he Sout h co i n c i de d wi t h i t s p o li t i c a l de c ay .

T h e amaz i n g c on t i n u i t y o f court poe t ry

c an b e l argely at t r i but e d t o t h e cons ervat i sm o f t h e ar i s t o c r a t i c p a t rons o f li t e r ature a n d t h e h i gh l y s t r a t i f i ed s o c i a l s t ru c t u r e: a n out s i d e r ' s e n t rance i n t o t h e i r p o e t i c worl d was p os s ib l e o n l y t h rough abs o l ut e c o n f orm i t y t o t h e canons o f p o e t i c t as t e ， d e c orum， and grace .

P o e t ry had become an e l egant d i v e r s i o n ， an d t h e

i n t ru s i on o f Con fuc i an mor a li z i n g o r t h e f i er c e i n depend­ e n c e o f t h e r e c lu s e was consi der e d u n f org i v ab l y boor ish . 1 n t h e f o llowi時p o em by T ' 的 Hung 也c h i ng 536)，

關 弘弦

( 4 52 -

t h e c h a r ac t e r i s t i c d e f i an c e o f t h e h e rm i t i s l es s

s urp r i s i n g t han t he emp e r o r ' s conde s c en d i n g ques t i o n .

The Age o f Court Po et ry

5

POEM WRITTEN IN ANSWER TO HIS MAJESTI ' S QUESTION : 認 崗 山 中 呵 ?呵T 稿 � :.. S THERE 1N THE MOUNTA1NS?'" .

有安悅完 街怡每 輸川 a椅 何像y 上可塔 也于 手 山雞 "束

"What is there in the mOW1t ains ? " you ask­ Many a wh i t e c l oud on mount ain pe aks . But these are p l easures for me a l on e ， 1

. ，

崗沈鴻�'^月5

c an ' t t ake and s end them t o my Prince .

Po l i t i c a l co n c e r n s were l i kewi s e fe l t t o b e out o f p l a c e i n t he wo r l d o f p o e t �y a n d i n t he amus emen t s o f t h e cour t .

F rom t he p o i n t o f v i ew o f ort ho dox C o n f u c i an

mo r a l i t y ， a p e rs o n i n p owe r s ho u l d be ever v i g i l an t in t he search f o r men o f t a l ent t o a s s i s t h im i n gove r n i ng ; pub l ic mat t er s shou l d a lway s have p r e c e de n c e over p r i v a t e amus ement s .

But whe n a cert a i n YÜ Kao sought an o f f i c e

from t he L i an g a r i s t o c r at H s ü Mi e n at a p ar t y ， H s ü r e pl i ed ， "Ton i ght we c h at o n l y o f t he w i n d an d moo n - i t ' s not proper t o t ou c h on pub l i c mat t er s . ，，2 Such a r e s p o n s e i s un derst andab l e and s ur e l y occurred w i t h even t he mo s t gr im l y s e r ious pub l i c o f f i c i a l s o f t h e Han ， y et t h e at t i tude exp r e s s e d h e r e b y H s ü Mien ( t hat t he r e was a t ime wh en " pub l i c mat t er s " wer e i n appropr i at e ) was l at e r t o provoke Con f uc i an r e f o rm e r s t o b i t t e r at t acks o n t he l ack o f pub l i c concern man i f e s t ed i n t h e l i t e r a t u r e o f t he Sout hern D y n a s t i e s .

Perhaps a l l u d i n g t o t he abo v e

inc ident ， t he S u i Confuc i an L i 0 wr ot e : "Poem a f t er p o em . . . n ever got b e y o n d imag e s o f t he moon and dew ; t ab l es wer e heap e d an d c h e s t s f i l l e d wit h no t h i n g mor e t han t h e descr ipt i o n s o f t h e w i n d a n d c l ouds . ，， 3 Two s t y l e s dom i 4 ated cour t p o e t r y . � were poems wr i t t en l yr i c s ， 坐坐三主旦

in

發的

First ， t here

a s t y l iz ed im i t at ion o f f o l k amon g s u c h l i t e r ary yü虫草旦 love

lyrics wer e par t icu l ar ly popu l ar ， t hough t h e s e were r e f ined f a r beyon d t he i r s imp l e an t eceden t s .

S e co n d ，

th ere wer e f o rm a l o c c a s i o n a l poems ， c e l eb r at i n g wi t h g r ac e and

w it

court ier .

some obj ect o r ev ent in t h e daily l i f e o f t he The C h i n e s e p e r s o n a l l y r i c had e ar l i er f ou n d

The Age o f Court Poe t ry

6

exp r e s s ion not on l y i n t h e Con fuc i an poli t i c a l cont ext but a l s o i n e r em i t i c an d l a n d s c ap e poet ry.

Dur i ng t h e

p e r io d o f court p o e t ry ， howev e r ， more o f t en t h an n o t t h e p o et ' s i n n e r l i f e was subme rged i n t he p e r s o n a o f t he f o l k lyr i c o r i n t he ro l e o f t h e courti e r . Nor t h C h i n a ， v i o l ent an d po l i t ic a l l y uns t abl e ， was a wor s e envi ronmen t f o r p o e t ry .

Some nort hern f o l k song s

o f t he p e r i o d h ave r e a l art i s t i c merit ， but in gene r a l n o r t hern po e t s e i t he r imi t at ed t he sout hern s t y l e poo r ly or wrote dogg e r e l .

Nort h e rn ru l e r s ， however ， de s i r i n g

t o add po et i c adornment t o t h e i r court s ， o f t en s o l ved t he p ro b l em w i t h c haract e r i s t i c d i r ec t n e s s ; wh en sou t h e rn poet s were s e n t n o r t h on d i p l omat i c m i s s i o n s ， northern Thre e o f

ru l ers wou l d de t a i n t hem under hou s e a r r e s t . t he f i n est p o ets o f t he s ix t h cent ury Yü Hs i n Pao 主

庚

皮佫

Wang

， a n d Hsü L i n g 緣 關晨 ， t hus s a t i s fi ed t he no rt h­

e r n e r s ' y e a r n i n g fo r sout h e rn cu l t ure . S ix t h - c e n t u r y aut ho rs cou l d l ook back on mo re t han a mi l l en n i um o f a c o n t i nuous l i t e r ary t r ad i t i o n .

Even t he

dom i n an t po e t i c g e n r e ， t he p en t asy l l abic 旦控且 ， wa s mo re t han f i v e hun d r e d y e a r s o l d ， t h e approx i mat e span o f all E ng l i s h l i t e r a t u r e s i n c e Ma l ory .

I t i s not surpris ing

t h at t he court p o e t s o f t he s ix t h cent ury a cutely f e l t t he bur d e n o f t he i r rich a n d var i ed l i t erary past . L i an g Emp eror Yü an - t i d e sp a i r i ng t on e :

璟 元 i帝

The

wr i t e s o f t h i s i n an almo

Phi l o s oph ers fl our i shed during the Warring States ， wh i l e co l l ec­ t ions o f poems and b e l l es l ettres fi l l ed the two Hans.

It reached

t h e po int where every fami l y had wri t t en something ， every ind i vi冉 d ua l had his own co l l ect ed works .

Among these t h e f inest may

express we l l t he ir emot i on s and amb it ion s ， honoring custom ， but the lesser s erve on l y to c lut t er up the books and wear out thos e of

us born l ater .

So much has acc umul at ed from t ho s e now dead ，

an d yet future g enerat i ons cont inue without end.

Though one may

anxious l y s et one ' s mind to study ， one ' s ha ir may turn wh it e

7

The Age'o f Court Poet ry without hav ing read them al l . 5

The court p o e t s o f t he l at e f i ft h t hroug h s eve n t h c ent ury p r a c t i c e d a k i n d o f " c reat ive im i t at i on " s im i lar i n many way s to t hat f oun d i n l y r i c p o e t s of t he European Ren a i s s an c e .

Onc e t h e bas i c t heme s an d f o rm s of court

poet r y were set i n t he lat e f i f t h c ent ury ， po e t s a c c e pt e d t he i r i n her i t a n c e a s t he abso l ute l im i t s o f p o e t ry; wit h i n t h i s i nher i t a n c e poet s sought n ov e l t y o f exp r es s i o n r ather t han t ru e o r i g i n al i t y .

What t hey lost in f re edom a n d

dept h ， t he court po et s t ri e d t o comp en s at e f o r i n craf t ， s t yle， and clevern e s s .

Even wh en r e a l s t y l i s t i c a n d

s t ru c t ur a l i n d i v i du at io n appear e d t owar d t he e n d o f t h e s e v en t h c e n t u r y ， t here was s t i l l v ery l i t t l e i nn o v a t i o n i n t he cogn itive a spect s o f t he t heme s t hems elv e s .

For

t h e i r l im i t at i o n s t he court poet s s u f f e r ed t h e d am n at ion

o f s u c c e e d i n g age s : L i 0 wrot e， " They ban i sh ed r e a so n a n d p r e served what was unusua l ， sought emp t i n e s s an d ex i l ed t he p r o f oun d .

They c omp eted over t he o r i gi n a li t y

o f a s i n g l e rhyme and cont e s t ed t he c l ev e r n e s s o f a s i ngle wo rd . ，，6 The deve l opment o f t he court po et ry o f t h e Sout h e r n Dyna s t i e s i n t o t hat o f t h e E ar l y T 'ang i s a g radua l pro c e s s i n v olv i n g no maj o r o r abrupt c ha n g e s .

The f ix ed

conventi o n s wh i c h we wi l l d e s c r i b e h e r e a r e pr imar i ly t rue of t he E a r l y T ' ang ， but a l l had t he i r o r i g i n s in t he court p o e t ry o f the Sout hern Dyn a s t i e s .

1n t h i s

chapt e r we w i l l g ive o n l y a b r i ef overv i ew o f t ho se asp e c t s o f poet i c c Q nv e n t i on t hat are g e n er a l ly t rue f o r t he ent i r e p e r i o d o f court poet ry .

1 n a l at er c h apt e r

w e w i l l ex am i n e i n gr eat er det a i l t he conv e n t i o n s i n the i r f i n a l f o rm ， dur ing the f i r st d e c ad e of t h e e i g h t h century .

W h a t b e g a n i n t he f i f t h c en t ury a s a n unusu ally

homogen e ous p e r i o d st y l e was gradu a l l y t r an s fo rm e d i n t o a r e s t r i c t ive s e t o f ru l e s t hat d e f i n e d poet i c good t as t e . 7

8

The Age of Court Poetry

1ncreasingly in the sixth and seventh centuries court poetry came to be dominated by those rules of rhetoric and decorum. They served to make poetry an acquired skill ， a learnable art. Aesthètic judgement was not based on the degree of originality or complexity and seriousness of meaning ， but rather on how well the poet operated within those rules. 1t was an art of subtle variation in which a premium was placed on a graceful performance. There was no room herE! for the untutored genius. 1n court poetic compositions ， where a premium was placed on speed of composition ， these rules and conventions facilitated .extempore versifying without awkwardness. 1n their refinement they set a virtually insurmountable barrier between the outsider whose knowledge of poetry came from earlier collections and anthologies and the young man raised in the milieu of the court. These aesthetic rules were the possession of the court， and they produced a poetry aristocratic both in occasion and in conception. They restrained the daring and aided the uninspired ， leveled genius and raised mediocrity; they permitted the ordinary courtier to write a poem that could stand without too much embar­ rassment beside the work of the greatest court poets. First among these unwritten rules was a sense of topical and lexical decorum. One of the things that def i n e s a court poem proper is that it is written to a prearranged topic (sometimes indicated by phrases such 一 些旦旦 紙倩) ， often to imperial command (�1呵呵chih Æ��l). 1n the larger realm in which we are using the t erm court poetry (that is ， the courtly style) ， one finds very li ttle personal poetry. As we have said earlier ， polit ical claims and pleas for preferment were out of place; erem itic aloofness was gauche. Of course， such poems were writ t en ， but they tend to be by outs iders to the court ， either by young poets who have not yet been accepted into courtly circles or by older poets exiled /

9

The Age of Cour t Poet ry from court o r r enounci ng i t .

Pr ivat e p o et r y o c cu r s mo s t

often i n exile o r r e t i r ement ， wh i l e soc i a l po e t ry bet ween co l l eagues and f r i ends is somewhat l e s s c ommo n t ha n i n t he e ight h c e n t ury . Th� a r e a o f l ex i c a l d ecor um i s qu i t e comp l i c a t e d . Wor d s d e s c r i b i ng obje c t s o f everyday l i f e wer e c on s i d e r ed O n e s e l dom f i nds t he r i ch ， exp r e s s iv e o ut o f p l ac e . voc abul ary wh i c h i n e ar l i e r l i t er a t u r e d e scribed i n t e n s e emot iona l s t a t e s .

Th i s i s l arg e l y due t o t h e avo i d a n c e

of emo t i o n a l ext r emes i n court poet ry ; f e ig n ed d i st r e s s ， po l i t e awe ， and won der ar e f ar mor e common .

Part i c l es

do o c cu r ， but spar i n g l y ， and t hey t e nd t o occur p r ima r ily at t he beg i nn i ng o r t he end o f a poem .

Th i s t endency

conti nue s t hrough the e ight h and n i nt h c e n t ur i e s . loqu i a l i sm s a n d arch a i sm s a r e avo ided .

Col­

The b a s i c voc ab­

u l ary is r e l at i v e l y sma l l and i s marked by r e cur r i n g e l egan t t erm s ; f o r examp l e ， 斗旦 跡

" to l oo k d own on "

( u sed i n s t ead o f the e ar l i er po e t i c l o c at i o n f ormula X

為

Y ， " at X t he r e i s Y" ) ， 且

槳

， 可 ade green " ( i n p r e f -

eren c e t o 些主盟 者 ， a mo re nat 盯a l green凡垃盟 " v e i l " o r ， l it e r a l l y ， " encage . "

灑，

The n o rmat ive d i ct ion o f court poetry i s b a s ed o n c er t a i n k i nd s o f f o rma l i z ed d iv erge n c e s from wha t w e p r esume was t h e n o rm o f t he c l assic a l l anguag e .

He r e w e

f ind a p r e f e r e n c e f o r per iphras i s ， d i s t o r t ed s y n t ax ， g

s eman t i c warpin g ， and f or f igur ed l anguage i n g e n er a l . Orn ament i s a lway s p r e f e r ab l e t o d i r ec t s t a t ement ， t ho ugh t h i s i s r a r e l y c ar r i ed to the ext r emes t hat we f ind i n para l l e l pro s e .

The ex ces s iv e ornamentat i o n u s e d b y a

poet l i ke Lo P i n -wang i s as a l i e n t o t he norm o f cour t po e t ry a s t h e s e l f - consc ious s imp l i c i t y of t he hermi t ­ poet Wang C h i . S t r uc t ur a l convent i o n s p l ayed an import a n t ro l e i n t he maki ng o f a court poem .

The bas i c p at tern we w i ll c a l l

t he " t r ipart i t e form ， " cons i st i ng o f top i c ， d e s cr ip t i v e amp l i f i c at i o n ， and r e sponse.

As w e sha l l d i s c us s i n a

The A g e o f C ourt Po e t r y

10

1a t e r c hapt e r ， t h i s f o r m h a d i t s o r i g i n s i n t h e poe t r y o f t he s eco nd a n d t h ir d c entur i e s ; 1at e i n t he s even t h c e n t u r y i t was g e n er i c a11y c od i f ied i n r e g u 1 a t ed verse an d co n t in u ed t o dom i n at e t he major it y o f " o l d s t y 1e " po ems， 且主且且 志 請

The poet beg i n s by s tat i n g h i s

t h em e a s g r a c e fu11y as p o s s ib 1 e ; Shang-ku an Y i ， v i s i t ing a moun t a i n v i 11a ， beg i n s : The highro ad 叮rived at a

P'

ing-chin Lodge， '

The rear ha l l has arrayed

a

great banquet .

[02708J

上盼你干才 從畫:tiA告，東

In t h e m i dd 1 e of t he poem ， t he cour t i e r amp 1 i f i e s t h e top i c with

two

o r mor e d e s c r ipt ive p ar a11 e 1 coup l e t s ，

and t hen c 10 s e s w i t h a p e rso n a l r e ac t io n t o t he scen e ， o f t e n a wi t t y c omp 1iment o r an i n t ru s i o n o f p e r sona l op i n i o n o r emo t i o n .

C l o su r e var i e s f r om subge n r e t o

s ubge n r e : banquet po ems ， f ör ex amp l e ， o f t en c 1 0 s e wi t h a v er s i o n o f t he t heme ，

" i t i s evenin g now a n d we mu st

r e t u r n ， t hough we have enjoyed our s e 1 v e s s o muc h and don ' t want t o go . "

Li P a i -y ao :

As t h e sun slants down homeward r iders move，

tn;u: t :;2t ing

B

p I easure f i I l s the m叫o叫unt 叫n s

d斜姊騎動

會穌絲穿朱、 蜘 3禍嬴

ω

叫" |

[02 8 4 7J The f o rma1i z a t ion o f s t ru c t u r e great 1y f ac i 1it a t ed qu ick compo s i t i o n o n c our t oc c a s i o n s . Par a 1 1 e 1 i sm was v i r t u a l1y dema nded i n t h e m id d 1e c ou p1 e t s o f t h e p o em ， and t he ex i g en c i e s o f c ourt compo ­ s i t io n exe r t ed a n impor t ant i n f 1 u e n c e o n t he d ev e 1 0pment o f pa r a 1 1 e 1 ism i n p o e t r y .

The subt 1e j ux t apo s i t ions

which on e f i nd s i n para11e1 c oup l et s o f t he e i ght h and

n in th c e n t u r i e s a r e r a r e i n t he s ix t h a n d s even t h centur i e s; in co u rt poet ry ， o n c e t h e mechan i c s o f t h e t echn i qu e were mas t e r ed ， t he hur r ied court i er had t h e

The Age o f C ou r t Poe t r y

11

1n an swer to t he p r e s s ing que s t i o n of what to s ay n ex t . cou rt po e t r y t he r e i s u s ua 1 1 y 1 it t l e s e n s e o f a n e c ess ary re l a t i o n between t h e de s c r i p t ive coup l et s o f a poem ， a n d po et i c argum e n t i s wea k ， i f pr esent a t a l l . Poet ic c l osur e ， a s a r espon s e o r comment o n th e pr e ­ c e d i ng par t o f t he p o em ， wa s a n impor t a n t f a c t or i n t he str e ng t hen i ng o f po e t ic argument .

The o l de r f orms o f

em ot io na l r e s po n s e-- ex c l amat i o n s ， s t reaming t e ars ， r h e t o r i c al que s t i o n s s u c h a s " who under s t ands... ， " a n d t he Hs i e h Ling-yün c l o sure o f r e g r e t at t he abs en c e o f a fr i end t o share an ex per i e nce-目st i l l o c cur i n c e r t a i n subg enres suc h a s par t i n g po ems and t r ave l poem s .

Mor e a

o f t en i n form a l o c c a s i o n a l po e t r y c lo su r e app e a rs a s

c l ever dedu c t io n f r om t he s c e n e ac compa n i ed by a n exp r e s­ s i o n o f surpr i 風些些軍

啥

o r regret ， 且 恃 ﹒

To intro­

duc e c o n c l u s i o n s dr awn f rom t he m i ddle c oup l et s t he r e 已 /3�P and主盟豆豆且些 wer e s e t f o rmu l ae s u c h as且坐坐 才知 ， "nowjthe n 1 u n d er s t and . . . " The s e nse o f t w i s t i n c l o sur e o f t en app e a r s i n rhe t o r i c a l quest i o n formu l ae t hat d i sm i s s obje c t i o n s o r 主且其旦旦包 suc h a s s hu i we i " who c l a ims . . . ?" 誰

祠

Each subg e n r e had i t s own convent i o n s .

subgenres su c h as旦旦二盟 詠 物

1 n some

" poer時 on t h i n g s ， " t he

conv e n t io n s were s o s t rong t hat a v i r t u a l l y ind epend e n t t rad i t ion of d ev e l opme n t was c r e at ed w i t h v e r y l i t t l e borrowing from o t h e r subgen r e s .

1 n ot her subgenre s ， the

descr ipt ive m i dd l e c oup l et s m i ght be i n t erchangeab l e between subg e n r e s ， �� t he convent ions o f po et i c c lo s ur e wer e d i s t i n ct i v e .

The convent i o n s and norms of t he

var ious subg e n r e s had begun t o t ake shape i n t h e s ec o n d t o four t h c e n t u r i e s ; by t he sevent h c entury the y had grown p ar t i cu l a r l y s t rong .

No t only d id t he r a n g e o f

su bgenr e s d e l im i t what m ig ht b e t r eat ed i n poe t r y ， t h e ir own i n t ernal l aws d e t ermin e d how t hat t opic or o c c a s i on shoul d be t r eat ed . There wer e num e rou s o t her m i nor c har act e r i s t i c s.

The

12

The Ag e o f Court Poe t ry

conven t i o n a1 ident i f i c at i o n between t he court and t he wor1d o f t he immor t a 1 s no t o n 1y provided a r e a d i 1y ava i 1ab1e m e t aphor comp 1ex f o r t he purpo s e s o f ornamen t a­ t i o n ， but i t a 1 so supp 1ied i nnumerab1e wi t t y c 10 s i ng s co n c er n i ng t h e appearance o f t h e wor 1 d o f t h e immor t a 1 s h e r e o n ear t h .

Han p 1a c e n am e s and per so n a 1 n ame s

p r ovi d ed ano t h e r s e t o f e 1 eg an t subst i t ut i o n s .

F in a11 y ，

t he r e was a t endency t o r emove human b e i n g s f r om t he s c en e ， t o subst i t u t e t he i r g e s t u r e� ， act i o n s ， imp 1 emen t s ， and c 10t h e s f o r t h e i r human p r e s e n c e .

Many o f t he s e

c ha r a c t e r i st i c s c a n b e s e e n i n t he f o l 1 ow i n g op e n i ng c o u p 1e t o f a p oem (02 7 0 7 ) b y S hang -kuan Y i .

The t op i c

i s s e t : t h e emp eror a n d t he cour t wen t t o K'ue i - l i n Ha l l f o r a par t y .

Thi s become s :

The pacing pa1anquin emerge5 from P'i-h也ng Pa1 ace， 多 萃 鼠被 告 C1ear 5inging 100k5 down on T'ai-yeh Poo1. 3有紋路r....;ft. T ' a ng pa1a c e n am e s are r ep l ac ed by Han p a l a c e n ames . The empe r o r d i sapp e a r s i n t o h i s p a l an qu in ; t he s i nger s d i s appe a r i n t o an imp e r s o n a l "s i ng i ng . "

T h e s e song s a r e

n o t " at " T ' a i - y e h P oo l ， b u t i n s t ead d ec orou s l y " l ook d own o n " ( l i n ， wi t h over t o n e s o f an i mp er i a l " v i s i t " ) t he s i t e . D es p it e i t s l im i t at i o n s ， t he acut e at t en t ion t o c r a f t i n c our t poe t r y cont r ibu t ed c on s i d e r ab l y t o t he d eve l o p­ m e n t o f C h i n e s e poet ry .

Dur i ng this p e r iod t he poe t i c

1 anguage was r e f ined i n t o t he conden s ed and f l ex i b l e medium u s ed b y t h e g reat p o e t s o f t he e ight h a n d n i n t h c e n t ur i e s .

From t he i r s ea r c h f o r nove l t y o f expr e s s i o n

evo l ve d t he s y n t a c t i c f r eedom a n d ab i l i t y t o s h i f t word c l as s e s f ou nd i n l at er C h i n es e po e t r y .

Out o f t h e i r

s e n s e o f s t ru c t ur al a n d t o n a1 decorum evo l v ed t h e r egu l at ed v e r s e a n d r e gu l at ed quat r a i n .

A nd f r om t he i r

a t t e n t io n t o t he surpr i s i ng u s e o f ind ividua1 words i n l i n e s evo 1 ved a par t i cu 1 ar c o n c ent rat ion o n s t y l e and di c t i o n wh i c h charac t e r i z e s l a t e r poet s f rom Tu Fu t o

The Age o f Cou r t Poet ry

13

Yet t he i r c on t r ibut i o n s were c0 1 1 ec t i v e Wan g Sh i h - c h e n . rat he r t ha n i nd iv idua 1 ， and ， w i t h t he p a r t i a l exc ep t i on of Y ü Hs i n ， . i t wo u1 d be d i f f i cu1 t t o po i n t out a s i ng l e

po et who t ower s abov e t he r e s t . The s t r engt h and i n f l u e n c e o f court poet r y was such tha t i t weathe red t he vio l en t at t ac ks made aga i n s t it A 1 t hough a c e r t a i n amoun t of for two hund r ed years . poetry was wr i t t en ou t s id e i t s scop e ，

i t s a e s t het i c

appeal was so gr eat t hat even t ho s e who b i t t er 1 y a t t acked

it i n t h eory c ou l d not e s c ap e f r om it the eigh t h c e n t u r y ，

in pr ac t i c e .

In

t he cent e r o f 1 i t erary a c t i v i t y

shif t ed away f r om t he court ， but i n t he court t h e 0 1 d style rema i n ed dom i nant .

I t wa s i n st i tu t i o n a 1 i zed i n

the exam i n a t i o n po em ， and i t c o n t i nued t o b e t he appr o ­ priat e s t y l e f o r p o e t r y addr e s s ed to h i g h o f f i c i a l s throughout t he T 'ang .

2 AN OPPOS I TION POET I C S AND THE SU I

The r i s e o f c ou r t p o e t r y i n t h e l a t e f i f t h century pr o­ voked a n i mrne d i a t e r eact ion ; however ， t h i s oppo s i t ion was a po e t ic s wi t hout a poe t r y ， wit hou t an aesthet i cally appea l i ng a l t e r n a t i v e .

The opposition poet ics. was

ult im a t e l y t o d ev e l op i n t o t he 些主旦

復苔

" r e t urn to

a n t i qu i t y ， " t heor i es wh ic h p l ayed an impor t ant r o 1 e in one of t h e g r e a t e s t ages of C h i n e s e p o et ry ， f rom t he e ar l y e ig h t h t hrough t he ear l y nin t h c en t u r i e s . D e f i n i t i o n o f t he fu-ku s ent ìment i s d i f f icu l t because it me a n t dìf f er ent t h i n g s t o d i f f e r e n t peop l e.

In some

c a s e s i t meant sp e c i f i ca l 1 y mor a l i s t i c op po s it ion to " p a la c e po e t r y ， " kun g - t ' i shiQ

t 噱綺

(a m i l d l y erot i c

subg e n r e i n i t i a l l y a s s o c i a t ed wi t h c o u r t poet r y ) ， wh i c h d e s c r i b e s t he emo t i o n s a n d ambi ance o f a f a i r l ady .

In

o t her case s t he f u - ku s en t iment meant oppo s i t ion t o s t y l i st i c o r n a t e n e s s i n f avor of gr eat e r d i rect n e s s and conc1si o n .

In

s t i l l o t her c a s e s i t i nd ic a t ed oppos it i o n

t o po e t r y w i t hout po 1 i t i c a 1 impo r t .

I n short ， it i nvo�ved

opp o s i t i o n t o any of t he v a r ious c h a r a c t er i s t i c s of c ourt po e t ry a n d t he groun d s f or i t s oppo s i t ion were pr ima r il y e t h i c a1 r a t h e r t ha n a e s t h e t i c .

Thu s i n t h e s e ear ly

s t ag e s b e f o r e the e ig ht h c e n t ury we sha l 1 c a l l i t t he " oppo s i t i on po e t i c s ， " s i n c e i t d e f i n e d i t se l f i n negat ive r e 1 at io n to court p o e t r y ， somet imes imp l y i n g " return to a n t i qu i t y" and som e t imes no t . W i t h char a c teris t i c a l l y Confuc i an po l em i c al rhet o r i c， t h e oppo sit i o n po e t i c s wer e f irm l y oppos ed t o " d ecaden c e ， " " l a s c i viou s n e s s ， " a n d po i n t 1 e s s " orn a t e n e s s "-qua l i t i es wh i c h n o o n e ，

e v e n in t he s ix t h and s ev en t h centur i es ，

c o u l d r ea s onabl y suppor t .

Exact 1 y what works i n court

p o e t r y emb od i ed t he s e pern i c ious qua l i t i e s was a mat t er 14

15

A n Oppo s i t io n Poet i c s and t he Su i o f d ebat e .

The poet i c a l t e r n at i v e s wer e eq�a 1 1 y vague，

t houg h t he consensus o f oppo s i t i on cr i t ic s s e em ed t o f avor e i t her a poet r y expre s s i n g d e ep p er s o n a 1 f ee l in g or a p o e t r y t hat served som e d idact ic a n d p o l i t i c a l purpo s e . T h e f i r s t s t rong s t at ement s o f t he oppo s i t ì o n p o e t i c s a r e f ound i n o n e o f t he great e s t wo rks o f C h i n e s e lit e r a r y t heory， t he Wen- hs in t i ao- lung

夫叫 做 施 ，

wr i t t en d u r i ng

t he l a st d e c ad es o f t he f i f t h c entury by L iu ( 465-5 2 2 ) .

The

Hsieh倒真是

f o l l öw ing p a s s ag e r epr e s e nts t ru e f 旦三主旦，

c o n t a i n ing bo t h oppo sit ion to cour t l y d e c ad e n c e and al t ern a t i v e o f th e c l as s ic a l mode l .

the

T h e c o n c ep t o f

l iter a t u r e w hi c h i t advoc at e s is b a s ed o n C o n fuc i an st a t ement s about l it e r a tur e f rom t h e pre-C h ' i n and Han . T he s e s ame i d e a s ， exp r e s sed i n innu mer ab l e r e f o r mu l at i o n s ， wer e l at er t o bu i l d i n t o a mono t o nous roar.

The efficacy of literature is contingent upon its being a true offshoot of the Classics: it is the substance through which the Rites are performed and the means by which Government Functions are carried out . Through it the relationship between army and state is elucidated. If you trace the sources of such writings， you wil1 find they are always in the Classics. However， as times grew remote from those o f Confucius， literary forms decayed.. Rhetoricians loved the unusual and valued the friv。lous and bizarre; they decorated feathers merely for the love of painting and embroidered patterns on leather bags. They have gone too far-from what is fundamental in pursuit of the false and superfluous .. ，8

I n t h i s p a s s a g e L iu emp ha s izes t h e f u n c t i o n o f l i t er at u r e i n t he cont ext o f t he Confuc i a n s t at e and so c i et y ; in o t her p l a c e s i n t h e Wen-hsin t i ao - lung he p l ac e s emp ha s i s o n l i t era t u r e a s s e l f - expr e s s i o n .

D i s t as t e f o r sup e r -

f luou s ornament comes t hrough c l e ar l y i n t h i s p a s s ag e， but such orn ament at i o n charact e r i z e s not o n l y court

16

An Oppo s i t ion Po e t ic s a n d t h e S u i

p o e t ry but a 1 so t h e p a ra 1 1 e l p ro s e s t y l e i n wh i c h t h e pas s ag e i t s e 1 f i s wr i t t en .

、 By t he L i ang dyn as t y ( 5 0 2 - 5 6 ) we f in d such denun c i a­

t i o n s a ime d s p ec i f i c a 1 1 y a g a i n s t poet ry i n P ' e i Tzu-yeh ' s

被手

斜 " E s s ay on 1n s e c t Ca;rvi ng"

商巨 &詩話

9

" 1 n se c t

c a r v i ng，刊 l i k e " dragon c a r v i n g " ( t i ao - l ung ) in t he t i t 1 e o f L i u Hs i eh ' s wo rk， r e f e r s t o at t en t ion t o c r a f t an d omaqle n t ;

i n t h e f o rm Hi meet c arvMgH t he i d e a i s

p ejo rat i ve.

T h e f o r c e o f t he s e p0 1 em i c� soon made i t s elf

felt amo n g c o urt c i rc l e s : t he c 1 as s i c a 1

且對izreGwo f

t he

oppo s i t i o n 's argumen t s made t hem d i f f i cu 1 t t o o p po s e . A f ew de f e n s i ve a rgument s i n f avo r o f con t emporary li t e r at u r e app e a r e d; even the g r e at court po et Hsü L i ng ( 507- 82 ) f e l t ob 1 i ged t o apo l o g i z e f o r t h e poet r y h e h a d c o11 e c te d i n h i s ant h0 1 0gy， t he Yü-t ' a i h s i n -yung

主告:新綠 "1

have put t og叫e r t en chapt ers o f l ove

po e t ry h e r e--o f course， not t he peer of t h e Ode s or Hymn s ， n o r a n out growt h of t he Airs [t he t hree d i v i s ions o f t he S h i h - c h i ng]一-t he r e r ema i n s a d i s t i n c t ion b e t ween t h e t urbi d C h i ng R i ver and t h e c l ear We i. " lO

Hsü i s

a r g u i n g h e r e t h at t h e l a s c i v i ous， " t urb i d " poet ry he has co11 e c t e d c an e x i s t s i de by s i de with t he " clear " poet ry o f a n t i qu i t y; l i ke t he t wo r i vers a1 1 uded t o ， t h e s e t wo k i n d s o f p o e t ry w i ll never mix， and t h e pur ity o f t h e c l as s i c a l t ra d ition wi l l n o t b e t hr e at ened .

C l ear 1 y t he

c ou r t p o ets f e l t vuln e r ab le t o t he at t acks o f t he oppos i ­ t i o n p o e tics ; t h e r e a l con f ron t at i on w a s y e t t o com e . Wh e n Yan g C h i en

埸 缸，

科ion o f a nort hern 叫l i t ar y

clan， comp 1 e t e d t he c r e ati on o f a un i f i e d emp i r e ， h e brough t oppo s i t i o n t o t he court 1y st y 1 e i n t o s t at e p 0 1 i cy: " When Kao - t su [Su i‘Wen - t i ， Yang Ch i en] f i rs t uni f i e d t he g ove rnmen t ， h e gave const ant t hought t o h a c k i n g away t h e o r n at e 1n f avo r o f t he s imple .

He sent f o r t h orders t o

g e t r i d o f a l l f lowery f r i l l s .

Howeve r ， t h e f a s h ion o f

t h e a g e w a s e l eg ant d i c t i o n ， and t here rem a i n e d much d e ca d e nt a t t en t i o n to b e aut y." ll Th i s was in 5 84 ， f 1v e

An Opp osi t i o n Poet i c s and t h e S u i

17

ye ars b e f o r e t h e Sui ' s conquest o f t he Ch ' en d y n a s t y a n d Wen- t i ' s mo t iv e s t h e fi n a 1 reun i f i c at i on o f t h e emp i re . pr ob ab 1 y 1 ay i n h i s pur i t an i c a 1 d i s l ike f o r o s t e n t at i o n There i s no and we r e not t ho s e o f a Con fucian mo r ali s t . men t i on o f a " r e t u r n t o ant iqu i t y ， " no harken i ng b a c k t o first p r i n c i p 1 e s . Ho wever ， i n h i s concern for s imp l i c i t y a n d d i r e ct n ess ， Wen -t i ' s at t i t ud e was c l o se enough t o t h at o f t h e Confuci a n exp onen t s o f t h e oppos i t ion poet i c s t h at h i s m i n i s t e r s cho se t o c on s i d e r i t a s a val i dat ion o f t ho s e p o e t i c s . -f: .>� Th us t h e c e n s o r ， L i 0 霉的， r esponded t o Wen- t i ' s commands 1 wil1 wit h Con fuc i an po l em i cs aga i n s t the court 1 y s t y1 e . quot e a lmo s t a 1 l o f Li O ' s " Le t t e r Reques t i n g t he Re c 1;if i ­

cat ion o f L i t e r a r y S t y l e " so t h at t h e reader c an g e t t h e flavo r o f s u c h po l em i c s and s e e t h e e s sent i a l s o f t h e arg umen t .

have heard how the wise kings of antiquity civilized the people: they had to change the way people saw and heard things， curbing their sensual desires and blocking their impulses to abandon themselves to evil--they showed the people the path of simplicity and harmony. The Five Teachings and the Six Actions were the basis for instructing the people; the Book of Songs， the Book of Documents， the Book of Rites， and the Book of Changes were the gateways to Righteousness and the Way. Consequent1y， nothing was of more importance than being able to bring the family back to parental love and filial respect ， bringing men to understand rites and courtesy， rectifying customs and setting manners straight . When they presented memorials， offered rhapsodies ， composed elegies， or engraved inscriptions ， it was always for the purpose of praising virtue and placing men of integrity in their proper place for illuminating merit and verifying the rule of Reason. And even if it were not a matter of warning or encouragement ， for the sake of the Right ， they would not compose pointless pieces. Descending down to later ages， customs and instruction gradual1y 1

18

An Oppos i t ion Poe t i c s and t he Sui

declined. One after another the three rulers of the Wei were devoted to literature: indifferent to the Great Way of the ruler and his people， they took pleasure in the minor art of "insect carving. " Those below follow those above， much as an echo or a shadow. They competed in driving on this trend to literary floweriness， and in consequence， it became the custom. In the southeast during the Ch'i and Liang dynasties， this abuse reached an extreme: noble and base， sage and fool， all devoted themse l ves exclusively to verse. Thus they cast off Reason and held to what was unusual ， sought emptiness and pursued the trivial. They competed over the originality of a single rhyme and contested the cleverness of a single word. Poem after poem and document after document never got beyond describing the moon and dewj tables were heaped and chests filled with nothing more than the appearance of the wind and clouds . From such as these the age derived 1ts standards of excellence， and in such a way did the court select scholars. Since the road to profitable 個ployment had been opened， hearts which had already been partial to such things attached even greater importance to them. The result was that the ignorant youth of the villages and the children of the nobles didn't even glance at the basics of numeration， but instead learned to write poems in pentasyllabic lines. And when it came to the Book of Changes， to the Book of Documents， to the discourses of Yi Yin， 'Fu Yüeh， the Duke of Chou， and Confucius ， they didn' t care anymore--they ha缸't even heard of them! They thought that their boastful extravagances were "pure and selfless"j they thought that expression of their emotions was a public merit. They pointed to Confucian simplicity as ancient clumsiness and used rhapsodies [些] to determine who was a superior man. Thus belles lettres and utilitarian prose flourished more each day， while the government became more and more disorderly. In truth， this arose from the abandonment of the Pattern of the Great Sages ， fro m fabricating the useless and thinking it useful . Such destruction of the fundamental and pursuit of the nonessential has inundated the heartland. 叮ley took each other as their masters， and after a while the flames

An Op pos i t ion Poet i c s and t he S u i were fanned even higher.

19

12

L i 0 goes on t o p r a i s e t he S u i ' s orders f o r a r e c t i f i c a一 t io n o f l it er ary s t y l e ; mo st have hono r e d t h e ed i c t ， but he fea r s t h at pocket s o f pern i c ious o r n amen t at i o n are s t il1 t o b e found i n r emo t e r eg i on s .

He c 1 0 s e s wi t h a

reque s t t h a t repo r t s o f corrupt s t y l e b e s e n t t o h im s o t hat severe pun i s hment may b e me t ed out .

T h e a n t i s out he r n

dire ct i o n o f t h e l et t e r i s o n l y t h i nly v e i 1 ed . Un l ike mu ch l at e r fu-ku wr i t i ng， L i 0 h a s made n o a t t empt t o comp rom i s e t h e a e s t het i c co n s i de ra t i o n s o f I t i s p e rhap s l i t erature w i t h i t s publ i c fun c t ions . dif ficu l t t o s e e how t h i s e s s ent i a l l y an t i a r t i s t i c at t i t ud e cou l d have such a n ult imat e l y s a lu t ary e f f e c t on t h e dev e l opment o f C h i n e s e poet ry ; howev e r， o n c e t he poet d i d make a comp rom i s e b e t ween h i s art and t h e v a 1 u es of t he Confu c i an s t at e， he cou l d f e e l t h at h i s po e t ry had l ast i ng s i g n i f i c a n c e ， and i f he w i s hed t o r e j e c t t r a d i t ional Con fuc i an values， he had a wo rt hy oppo n e n t o n whom to sharp en h i s argument . From L i O ' s damnat i on， " t h ey t hought t hat expr e s s i o n o f t h e i r emo t i on s was a pub l i c m e r i t ，" t h e poet was driven t o make h i s emot ions f i t t h e l arger cont ext o f t he wo r l d arou n d h im .

The p r o t es t b a l l ad， t h e m ed i t at i o n

o n h i s t ory， t h e commen t ary on cont empo rary po l i t i c s --m a n y of the g r e at subg e n r e s and t h emes o f e i ght h- a n d n i n t h ­ cent ury poet ry--were groun ded i n j u st t h i s n e e d t o s p e a k in a pub l i c co n t ex t and t hus be r e l evant t o t h e cour s e of

history . However， a l l t h i s l ay f ar i n t h e future ; t h e i mm ed i at e

res ul t s o f Wen- t i ' s proclamat ion and L i O ' s l e t t er we r e hard ly so g r an d .

Out s i de o f t h e court ， a s L i 0 c omp l a i ned，

t he sout hern s t y l e l i n g e r e d on .

Wit h i n t he S u i cou r t

�t t em pt s t o wr i t e mo r a l ， i n s t ruct i ve po et ry w e r e p at he t i c . Wen - t i ' s Confu c i an m i n i s t e r Li Te- l i n

雪 1 克 本本

wr i t e s :

An Oppo s i t io n Poe t i cs and t h e S u i

20

H i s Cultural Instruction stretches perfected， far， 生�::-文敘述L Yea， our Sage， His military accomplishments 推車l.�法'J，þ宜 manifest . A Great Lord observes the Six Principles 九艸章見k弘 (of l it erature)， As the Nobilit y congratulate H i s Longevity.. . 13 揚i支r� it海

Gent l eness

鴻素:

Earth were blocked up ， All things were in Early Difficulty and Folly. Peace ceased with the Royal Way ， Bitterness and l am nt knotted men's style. . . 1斗 Of old Heaven and

e

象 迋 閣州 “m 地也 主入 天益明MB卸掉 tn物 干 您 mb 良 在w

an d t he i n f amo us Yang S u

E a r l y D i f f i cul t y and Fo l l y are t wo hexagrams f rom the Book o f Chan ge s .

" B i t t e rn e s s an d l ame n t " are asso c i at ed

wi t h p o et ry w r i t t en in s t at es t hat a r e g o i n g to ruin ( see p . 3 4 ) .

Th e s e examp l e s a r e c l e a r l y n o t t he s o rt

o f t hi n g t o l ur e peopl e away f rom t h e charms o f court po e t ry . T h e i l l - f at ed S u i Yang一 t i

時場呀

， t h e s econd and

last t ru e emp e ro r of t he S u i ， was t he mos t considerabl e p o et o f t ha t shor t - l ived dyn ast y .

H i s work shows t he

c o n f l i c t i n g p u l l s o f t h e oppos i t i on poet i c s ， adop t ed by h i s fat h er as approp r i at e f o r t he un i fi e d empi re ， and the r i c h ， a l l u r i n g poet ry of t he Sout h .

A man o f deep

aest het i c s en s ib i l i t i e s ， Yang- t i c ou l d h a r d l y have been sati s f i ed w i t h t h e poet i c product i o n s o f men such as L i Te- li n a n d Y a n g S u . C h ' en S h 恥p ao

On t h e o t h e r h an d ， Yan g- t i w a s n o

f約1喔，

t h e l ast and g e nu in e l y decadent

p o e t - emper o r of the Ch ' en d yn a s t y ; many of Yang- t i ' s p o ems r ev e a l a man w i t h dreams o f m i l i t ary glory ， a man wh o t ak e s p l e as u r e in s e e i n g h ims e l f as emperor o f al l Chin a . I t was t h i s l at t e r a s pe c t o f Yang-t i ' s poet ry t h a t t h e s e v en t h 可cent ury h i s t o r ian We i C heng s e ized upon as though it w e r e a man i f e s t at i on of Con fuc i an po l i t i ca l c on c e rn .

An Op pos i t ion Po eti c s and t h e S u i

21

Yan g- t i ' s o n 1 y stat ement o f t he opp o s i t i o n p o eti c s was made when he f i r st b e c ame crown p r i n c e ; h e c omp 1 a i n e d o f s ome c e remo n ia 1 songs t h at t h e i r d i ct i o n was t oo "fr i vo 1 ous l y 1 us h an d i n cap ab 1 e of man i fe s t in g imp e r i a1 S Th i s c 1 o s e 1 y e c h o e s h is ac comp 1 i shment an d m i ght . " l f a t h er ' s di s 1 i k e o f o s t entat i ous sout h ern e 1 ega n c e ， but Yan g-t i ' s mot ive s a r e suspect i n t h at at th i s time he was try i ng to cur ry his f athe r ' s f avor . 16 On e o f Yang-ti ' s p o ems s e 1 ecte d by We i C h e n g a s exemp 1 ary o f th e proper imp e r i a 1 s t y l e i s his " W ater i n g M y Ho rs e b y t h e Great Wa11 : T o t he Court i e r s A c c omp a n y ing Me on C ampa ign " � 、島

長城

草

行 斤、

從聲 在

The event

re f erre d t o i s Yang- t i ' s re constructi on o f t he Gre at Wa1 1 and h i s aggre s s i v e p o 1 i cy on t he nort hern f ro n t i e r s ， whic h was l a t e r t o h ave d i s a s t rous resu l t s i n h i s c am­

As we march far away for thousands o f mi l es . Marching thousands o f mi l e s away t o what end?­ Across the desert we rebui ld the Great Wal l. But this was no idea of Our own ， wa s bu i l t by w i s e past emperor s :

It

They p l ant ed here a po l i cy t o l ast t hous ands of ages ， To secure the l ives o f their mi l1ions of subj ect s. How then could We shrink from such concerns ， And rest in ca lm unconc ern in the cap ital?

Our

l egions ' s t andards hel d high by the river ' s northern reaches ，

For a thous and mi l e s the bat t l e - fl ag s unfurl . An end l e s s suc c e s s ion o f rivers and mountains appear before us ， s ink away ， Then p l a ins and s t eppes stretching to in finit y . 甘l e gongs are s truck t o ha l t t h e file s and columns ， And drums are beat en t o s t i r the t roop s :

起旦 行 』棚"可dF玖 皇 島 車 許 誰 叫法吼叫咱叮牟 亂真 的 草根本 的門也 化 使 rp獄 就 位起 行 Jh 紋行 呵 愛 心 丸‘同化 峰 於 余 地 主 編 止 必需

The autumn wind r i s e s moan in g ，

車終 皇位來台 程 & 此 做 成 河 望 叫 辦 企 蚊 而必 ι可 以往愿從 JW 識dwg間為章 先 鬧 事 認 〉

p a igns against Korea.

And wat er their hor s e s bes ide t h e Great Wa l l . Autumn dims c l ouds from beyond t he front ier， Fog darkens the moon over mount ain passes . Po s t horses climb up a l on g the st eep cl i ffs ， And beacon fires app ear ， suspended in t he sky. "What n ews from t he pos t s at t he Great Wal l?"一 "The Khan i s coming to court ; he submi t s . " Evi l ' s t urb i d aura clears from Heaven Mounfain， And morn ing li ght shines on t he pal ace gat es . t roops are d i s charged and return peaceful l�

Our work on t he fron t i er s now is done . Or ink the cup o f v ict ory ， t e l l t hat We have ret urn ed!

榮 成竭 心的 狀響 仗 的 Q叮rh 動 已取hwa 五毛 兩 掰 一《什 心馬 文 械 制 夫、高械 、 首帥，長萎 的 騁 ，偉長 λ凶們關心 仍尋 根 OA叫

An Oppo s i t ion Poe t i c s and t h e Sui

A t housand char iot s ， t en thousand hors emen move

The

象志 每 略 省軾查問TF 根兒“失 去主 時 十敘 紋 霧 線發借草 竭反特旁紋 的

22

Our anc e s t o r s w i l l l earn Our deeds before the Temp l e . 17

Al t hough Y a n g- t i speaks of h i s concern f o r h i s peopl e， wh a t we s ee h er e

lS

l es s an exp r e s s ion o f Confuc i an

mor a l i t y t ha n a n e v i de n c e o f Yang - t i ' s c o n s c1ou s n e s s o f b e i n g empero r .

A f a s cin at i o n wit h h i s power and g l o ry

p ervade s t h e poem . lS

What e v e r t h e mot i v e s ， Yang- t i ' s poem

s t i l l a wor l d apart f rom Ch'en Shu- pao ' s e f f et e version

o f t h e s ame b a l l ad: A b at t l e s t eed ent ers a s t rang e l and; On mount a in fl owers t h i s n i ght， rad iance . Apart from i t s herd ， it neigh s t o i t s shadow; A fragran c e

o ft e

n

st irs wi t h the wind .

The moon ' s c o l or swa l l ows the Wall ' s darkn e s s ;

Autumn

s ound s a r e j umb l ed i n t he l engt h o f

the p a s s e s .

How shal l i t r epay the Son o f Heaven? 一

By

i t s hor s ehide it wi l l announce t ho s e dead on t he front i er . 18

4正烏Ài也御 山花'P(;{(.花

色金等。新例動 的Il\. (秘魯 肉包令滅。它 仗?育專佳麗長 1司叭韌的天亨

、島幸被緩鵡

The l as t l in e her e r e f e r s t o t h e pract i c e o f .wr app i n g

t h e d e a d 1 n hors ehid e .

T h e d e l i cat e s e n s i b i l i t i es o f

23

An Op pos i t i o n Poet i c s an d t h e Sui

t h i s f 1 ower- s n i f f i n g s t eed s e em o ut of p 1 ac e b e s i de i t s g r i s 1 y vows o f s e 1 f - s ac r i f i c e t o t h e s t a t e ， but t h e C h ' e n e mp ero r ' s exp e r i en c e of t h e f r on t i e r w a s p ur e 1 y 1 i t er ary . The s ense o f impe r i a1 r e spons i b i 1 i t y i n Y a ng - t i ' s p o em i s al t og e t h e r abs en t h e r e . Howev e r b 1 ood1 e s s an d imp ers on a 1 Ch ' en S hu - p a o ' s vis ion o f t h e bo r d e r may b e ， t h e sup e r io r a r t i s t ry o f t h e sout h e r n e r i s a 1 so v i s i b 1 e i n t he co n t r a s t b e t w e e n t h e two p o ems .

The i dea o f t h e hor s e n e i g h i n g t o i t s

sh adow b e c au s e i t 1 acks comp a n i o n s comb i n e s a c 1 evern e s s Nor an d s en s i t i v i t y c ha r a c t e r i s t i c o f court p o e t ry . co u1 d Yang- t i p r o du c e any t h ing to mat c h t h e de 1 i c at e st y 1 i s t i c c r a f t sman s h ip in t he m i dd 1 e coup l et s o f C h ' e n Shu- pao ' s b a 1 1 ad .

A 1 es s obv ious but mo r e fundam e n t al

aspe ct of sou t hern poet i c c r a f t is t h e t i ght r h e t o r i c a l -amp l i f i cat ion i n C h ' en ' s ba1 1 a d t h at co n t r a s t s s h arp 1 y wi t h Yang- t i ' s r amb 1 i n g mann e r .

T h e r e we r e many pat t er n s

of amp 1 i f i c at i o n ， but mo st i n v o 1 v e d sp l i t t i ng u p ， r e comb i n i ng ， and expanding elemen t s from e ar 1 i e r 1 i n e s or c oup 1 e t s .

Fu r t he rmo r e ， t he r ep e at e d e l em en t s had t o b e

expressed i n d i f f er e n t t e rms o r imp1i e d i n d i re c t 1 y ; f o r examp 1 e ， r a d i an c e ， 豆且豆豆旦旦， an d t h e p r imary t erm 1no on1 igh t . The f i r s t coup 1 et of Ch ' en Shu - p ao ' s p o em s e t s t he pr i mary t erms : ho r s e and st r a n g e 1 an d， f 1 0wers a n d moo n 1ight .

The s e c o n d coup 1 e t s hou 1 d s p 1 i t a n d r e c omb i n e

them : t hus i n t he t h i r d 1 i n e w e have hor s e a n d moon 1 i ght . The fourt h 1 i n e h a s t h e exp e c t ed f l ower s but adds a new t erm， wind .

T he t htrct coup 1 e t t hen p i c ks up t h i s s e c­

on dary ant i t he s i s of moo n 1 ight and w i n d and amp li f i e s it

i n t e rms o f t h e "s t r ange 1 an d ， " t h e f ro n t i er .

The

irr egu 1 ar i t y o f t he four t h 1 i n e makes t he p o em 1 e s s pe r f e c t 1y sy mme t r i c a 1 t h an man y court 1 y poems， but t he mec han ics o f t he t echn i que a r e c 1 ea r : 1 s t coup 1 e t

ho r s e

s t range 1an d

f10we rs

r ad i a n c e ( moon 1 i g h t )

An Oppo s i t i o n Poet i c s and t h e S u i

24 2 n d c oup l et 3 rd coup le t

horse

s h a dow ( moon l ight )

f l owers

wind

moon l i gh t

Great Wal l ( s t range l an d)

p a s s e s ( s t r an g e l an d ) j umb l ed sounds ( w i n d ) Fìn a l l y ， f o l lowi ng t he r u l e s o f t h e t r ipart it e fo rm， C h ' en S hu-pao i n t e r j e c t s a d i r ect emo t i o n a l respon s e ， r e v e r s i n g t h e me l a n c ho l y t on e i n t h� horse ' s vow o f s e l f- s ac r i f i ce .

主豆豆坐坐 t en de d t o us e s et personae who

vo i c e t h e forma l i z e d respons e in t he c l o sure.

With a

ho r s e as t h e o n l y p o s s i b l e r espo n d i n g f i gure i n t he p o em ， C h ' en i s c ompe l l e d t o p l ace t he conven t i o n a l gesture o f hero i c r e s o l ve i n i t s mind . Th i s r e f i ne d s ou t hern s e n s ib i l i t y cou l d not h e l p but at t ra c t Ya n g- t i .

Yang- t i never mas t er e d t h e sou t hern

o c c a s i o n a l poem ， t h e c ourt l y st yl e at i t s mo st o rn a t e ， but t he r e i s n o ev i de n c e h e eve r tr i e d t o do so .

For

poe t ry b e ar i n g d i r e c t l y on the l i f e of t he court ， he fou n d the impe r i a l d i gn i t y and a e s t het i c povert y of t h e oppo s i t i o n p o e t i c s qu i t e app ropria t e.

On t he ot her han d ，

th e lan g u i d f o l k poet ry o f t he Sout h ， t he c e l eb rat i o n o f t h e " go o d l i f e ， " appe ars f r equen t l y i n h i s wo rk . THE JOY OF MY PALACE IN CH IANG- TU Oh ， to l inger in my o l d haunt s in Yang­ c hou Terraced k i o s ks ， h i gh and bright， where 1 l ove to stro l l . To meet ear l y summ e r in breez e峙bl own p avi l ions ， under b l o s soming trees ， And say good-bye t o autumn ' s end on t ract s o.f rnarsh and gra in- covered s l opes . Cas s i a oars on c l ear poo l s ， f i shhawk prows bobbing; A

fruit fa l l s on my go l den sadd l e ， the dark steed st art l e s .

多且看PZ4食欲

為卅垂成b可3吃喝 是你讀í) 6月4娃"這﹒ 風骨芳期�早夏

長.琴時已土豆瓣.紋J 禱:靠技織主導者准 累下准備總t騙

An Opposi t io n Poe t i c s and t he Su i Amber wine and pale lees ， we drink the drift ing c l ouds，

Of

l ong s l eeves and c l ear song， a l and of p l easure and de l i ght . 1 9

25

綠綠家蟻來儂敏 是抽看我嘴巴叡‘卅

L i ke h i s imp e r i al p o et ry ， muc h o f Yan g-t 土 ' s poet ry i n t he sout hern s t y l e b e t r a y s a s e l f四co n s c i ous love o f a ro l e .

I n t h i s poem a n d i n o t he r s we s e e a con s c i ou s n e s s

o f t he Sou t h as a separat e e n t i t y ， qu i t e d i f f e r e n t t han t he cou r t poet ' s assumpt ion t hat t he Sout h was t h e wo r l d . Ya n g- t i i s o n the out s i de l o o k i n g in . At o t h e r t im e s ， however ， Yang - t i i s not s o s e l f­ .co n s c i ous an d o f t en succeeds i n c ap t u r i n g t h e s en su a lity of

sout hern poet ry .

S in c e h e l acked t h e r h et o r i c a l

panop l y o f t he southern court poet ， t he r e sult c o u l d

SPRING RIVER ， F L

OWERS ， MOON， NIGHT

The evening r iver， l evel ， unmov ing ; Spr ing flowers ful l ， j ust b l o s somed . The rol l ing wav es carry the moon away ， Whi l e tide waters come ， bearing t he s t ars onward且 2 0

為叭紛 開去求 同 于 正月 產 花午 在 珊的 草 抖 扎走 私 叮抖 私刑 sb基 本、

have a haun t i ng f r e s h n e s s and b e aut y .

I t might b e added t hat t h e p r o t o t yp e o f t h i s song wa s compo s e d by non e o t h e r t han C h ' en Shu一pao .

21

A l t hough we do f i nd o t h e r p o ems o f t he s t y l e a n d quali t y o f Yan g - t i ' s " Wat e r i n g My Horse b y t he G r e a t Wa l l ， " t he S u i gene rall y f a i l e d t o produce an a e s t het ica l l y p l ea s i ng a l t e.nat i v e t o court poet ry . court poet ry f l ourished as eve r .

Meanwh i l e ，

The Sui l eft t h i s

lit erary l egacy t o t he T ' an g ， jus t as i t l e f t t h e T ' ang it s l eg acy of i n s t i t u t i ons and m i l i t ary amb i t io n s .

The

T ' ang i n he r i t e d t he oppo s i t i o n po et i c s o f t he C o n f u c i an mo ra l i s t s a l o n g w i t h t he l i nge r i n g a l lure o f sout her n court poet ry .

The h i s t o ry o f s event h- c en t ury po e t ry

was l a r g e l y a h i s t ory o f t he int eract ion between t he s e

26

An Oppo s i t ion Poet i c s and t h e Su i

t wo c on t en d i n g f o rc e s ， and i t wa s f rom t he bru s h e s o f f o rm e r Su i o f f i c i a l s t hat t h e T ' ang found i t s f i r s t ， u n e a s y c ompr om i s e o f t h e t wo values .

3 THE SU I LE GA CY : WE I CHENG AND L I PA I -YAO

The two poe t s who c ar r i ed t he n ew po e t r y i n sp i r ed by t h e oppos i t ion p o e t i c s i n t o t he Su i were nort h e r n e r s ; i n t h e Sout h court p o e t r y wa s s t i l l s t rong l y ent r en c h ed .

The

po e t r y wr i t t en b y We i C heng and L i P a i - y ao dur ing t h e /

int ern ec i n e w a r s a t t h e end o f t he Su i and i n t he e a r l i e s t year s o f t he T ' an g represent ed t he pot ent i a l f o r a v i g-

o r o u s po e t r y �n g a g é .

Howev e r ， t he i r

s ubs e q u e n t

d ev e l op ­

m e n t dur i n g t he T ' an g marks t he dec l i n e o f t he oppo s i tion poet i c s : We i C hen g moved into s t er i l e d idact i c i sm ， wh i l e

L i P a i - y a o c o n f o rmed t o

T ' a i t s ung ' s -

E墅。c l iy :tty t oward

court poet r y . We i C h e n g

能 做( 5 8 0 - 6 4 3 )

modern prov i n c e o f Shant u n g

，

was f r om W e i - c ho u i n t he o n e o f t h e s t r o n g ho l ds o f

C h i n e s e cu l t u r e i n t he No rt h .

Orp haned at an e a r l y a g e ，

Wei dabb l ed i n Tao i sm as a yout h ， t he n j o i n ed t h e r eb e l L i M i i n h i s s t ru gg l e

aga i n s t t he T ' an g .

first

a g a i n s t t h e Su i a n d l at e r

Af t er L i M i ' s co l l ap s e ， We i t rans -

f err ed h i s l oy a l t y t o t he T ' ang .

T h e r e h e ro s e r ap i d l y ，

becom i n g o n e o f t h e comp i le r s o f t he em i n en t i n t e l le c t u a l i n

T ' a i- t s u ng

'

Sui H i s t o r y s court .

an d a n

Apart f r om som e c e r emo n i a l songs ， W e i C heng ' s p o e t i c out put was m i nu s cu l e : on l y f our poems surv i v e . hardly t h i n k o f h im

as a

On e wo ul d

p o e t a t a l l were i t n o t f o r t h e

f act t hat " Exp r e s s i rü?: My Fe e l i ng s " w a s t aken b y M i ng

neoc l a s s i c i s t s a s t h e f i r s t c haract e r i s t i c produc t i o n of T ' ang p o e t r y . 2 2 I t i s unc l ear at p r e c i s e ly wha t po i n t i n We i Cheng ' s career " Expr e s s i ng My F e e l i ng s " was wr 土 t t en .

I t was

either soon

af t er W e i ， a l o n g w i t h

t he w a r lord L i M i whom he s erv ed ， subm i t t ed t o t he n ew dyn as t y o r s ho r t l y a f t e r

T ' ai-t sung

t ook t h e t hr o n e .

I n e i t he r c a s e t he poem i s fr om t he ear l y year s o f t h e 27

28

The

dy n a s t y a nd

l. S

c l os e r

l. n

sp i r i t t o muc h

Su i

Sui Leg a cy

poet ry t h an

t o t he p o e t ry o f t he f ir s t d e c a d e s o f t he T ' ang . " Express i n g

My F ee l i ngs " repr e s en t s

a

k i n d o f poet ry

wh i ch m i g h t have succ e s s f u l ly fulf i lled t he goals o f t he opp o s i t i o n p o e t i c s . b e t we e n i t Wa l l "

:

Apt paralle l s

a n d Yang - t i ' s

n o t o n l y do e s

have

" Wa t e r i n g My

We i C h e n g

b e e n dr awn

Hor s e

by t he Gr e a t

exp r e s s admi rat i o h f o r

p o em ， bo t h poems a r e produc t s o f t he s ame er a and t he s am e po e t i c s . 2 3 Ya n g - t i ' s

EXPRESS I NG

MY F E E L INGS

My p 1 0 t s and my p 1 an s

a1 1

came

t o nothing .

But det erminat i on and my ardor endure . I

wh ipped on my hors e . swore fea 1 t y to the S on o f Heaven .

Then g a 1 1 0p ed swi ft 1 y out from t he pas s e s . Begged reins t o ha1 t er Nan- Yüeh ' s k ing ， Lean ed

on my s urrender .

carr i age

ra i 1 . t a1 ked Ch ' i t o

Strode over h i gh mountains on tortuous pat h s . Gaz ed o n the p 1 a i n ， c oming into v i ew ， di s appe a r in g . In anci ent t re e s the b i rds o f winter s in g ， On d e s ert ed mountains the gibbons cry by n i ght . The eye gaz e s far ， the heart i s wounde d ， 甘l e dr eamin g sou1 f 1 i e s home ， st art l e s a g a i n an d a g a i n .

awa ke

How can 1 h e lp but cower at such danger ? 一 Yet I fee l deep 1 y the honor H i s . Maj esty s hows me .

1 'm a

Chi

Pu

who need not s ay yes t wi c e ，

1 ' m a Hou Y i ng who

honors h i s word .

Human l i fe i s impe 1 l ed

Who c a r e s for mere

by nob l e spirit -­

gl ory and

fam e ?

[ 02 4 4 2 ]

成 卸刑訊 存 守 門 前開場尚 品邵般為叫你因 為 蛤佩忠 游 客氣 蛇神 失 望 通 怒 官 兵 ，是 很 逃 訊 手 抬 友 關 向 東 島 千 里，

c a s t down my pen to s erve in a chariot .

金你能 FU、 也呻KI九 哼 AmF 初尋 訪 b 喝 A氛緊 frMW望 梅、

I

縛 軾 衍 從 本 也像 鷺 荷 候 帶 魚 笠 8個 也思考 場 慨 疫 島、 申 投 緻 機 拭 MW鴻 溝心攝哪弘 名 豆 侃 遙 望 結 牽 線 人 均

When they b eg an s c r amb 1 ing for the crown on the c entra1 p 1 a in

i主 機

29

The S u i Legacy

H i s t o r i c a l a l l u s i on s f i ll t h i s po em ; 1 wi l l c o n f i n e �y s elf t o t ho s e wh i ch are abs o lut ely n e ce s s ar y t o make t: he p i e ce int e l l ig i b l e . The " re i n s " o f li n e s even r e f er t o a s t o ry t old o f t he Han o f f i c i al C hung C hün ， who was s ent as an envoy t o t h e k i ng o f N an-Yüeh to c o n v i n c e t he ki ng t o subm i t t o Han s uz e r a i n t y .

On h i s depar t u r e ，

Chun g Chün i s supp o s e d t o have exp r e s s e d h i s r e ad i n e s s t o s erve t h e s t a t e by ask i n g t he emp eror for l o ng r e i n s to

" h alt er " t he k i ng o f Nan-Yüeh an d b r ing him b a c k t o L i k e Chung Chün ， We i i n t e n d s t o e x e r t h i s

t he c ap i t a l .

p e rs ua s i v e power s t o t h e utmo s t i n t h e s e rv i c e o f h i s ru l e r .

T he f o l l owing l i n e r e f e r s t o t he o r at o r L i Y i - ch i ，

who ， wo rk i n g o n b ehalf o f t he foun de r o f t h e Han dyn as t y ， man ag e d t o t alk a r e s u r g e n t K i n g dom o f C h ' i i n t o s u r r en der . Bo t h C hung an d L i met t h e i r deat h s as a r e s u l t o f t h e i r eff o r t s .

Hou Y i ng and Ch i Pu ， men t i o n e d t owar d t h e e n d

o Î t h e poem ， w e r e bot h known f or t he s t r e n g t h o f t he i r

wo rd and t he i r loy alt y . Even i f " Expre s s i n g My F e e l i n g s " do e s no t po s s e s s t he s t at ure t h at L i P ' a n - lung an d S h e n T e-c h ' i e n c l aimed f o r i t ， and even i f i t i s ， a s t he mode rn s c ho l ar W e n I - t o

閉

，

令

s ay s ， a n "o r d inary poem ， " s t i l1 i t p o s s e s s e s a

s lmp 1 i c i t y o f d i c t i o n ， a di r e c t n e s s o f f e eli n g ， a n d a n exp r e s s i on o f po l i t i c a l c on c e rn t h at 1 i e furt h e r out s i de t he s cope o f court poet ry t han even Yan g - t i ' s b a 1 1 ad . 2 每 Wei draws mos t o.f hi s r e f er enc e s f r om h i s t ory rat h e r t han f rom e ar l i e r poet ry ， a n d i n t he o n e c a s e whe r e h e c l ear 1 y borrows f r o� an e ar 1 i e r poem ， h i s c ho i c e i s s i gni f i c ant .

T h e l as t couple t o f " Exp r e s s i n g .My Fee l i n gs"

is 1 i f t e d almos t verbat im f rom one of t he r ar e p i e c e s of

Con f u c i an poet ry i n t h e S out h e rn Dyna s t i e s . 2 S was wr i t t en by Hsün to

Ch i

苟 f脅 ，

The p o em

a man who f l ed t he L i a ng

t h e Nort hern We i b e c au s e h e had st i r r e d t he L i ang

emperor ' s wrat h by h i s oppos i t ion t o Buddh i sm . T he model f o r t he t it l e ， " Exp r es s i n g My F e e 1 i ng s ， " shu- h叫

逍候

i s 啥1月 ing My Fe e 1 i n g s ， " yung- h 叫

你 薇，

30

T h e S ui Legacy

by Juan C h i

阮籍

( 2 1 0- 6 3 ) .

We know t hat by t h e f i f t h

c e n t ur y J uan C h i ' s poem s e r i e s wa s r ead as a p er s o n a 1 c omm e n t ary o n t h e di s so 1 ut i o n o f t h e We i d y n a s t y a n d the r is e o f t he S s u-ma c 1 an ， wh i c h was t o e s t ab 1 i s h t he Chi n . 2 6 By 6 5 8 when L i S h an 專 p r e s ent e d h i s comment ary on the Wen- h sM

太遲

學

t o t h e t hron e ， i n d i v i du a 1 poems o f

" S i n g i ng My -1'可 e e 1 i n g s " we r e b e i n g r e a d as t op i c a l all egory . By a s s o c i a t i n g h i s poem w i t h t ho s e o f Juan C h i i n t i t l e a n d s t y 1 e ， We i not o n 1 y po i n t s t o the l ar g é r rea 1m o f so c i al a n d po 1 i t i c a 1 c o n c e r n s ， h e a l s o sugge s t s an i d e n t i f i c a t i o n w i t h t h e qua l it i e s of s i n c e r i t y ， boldn es s ， spon t an e i t y ， and i n t e n s e emo t i o n a l i sm .

T h e s e qua 1 i t i e s

we r e c 1 0 s e l y a s s o c i at ed w i t h t h e po et r y o f t he C h i en - an an d W e i by T ' an g re ade rs ; t hey r ep r e s e n t ed a comp e l 1 ing p r im i t i v i sm wh i c h was f e l t to h ave been l o s t durin g t h e p e ri o d o f court poet ry .

A s w e s h a l l s ee l a t er ， t h e model

of C h i en - an and We i p o e t r y was to b e o n e of t h e p r i n c ip a l m e a n s b y whi c h T ' ang poe t ry e s c ap e d f r om t h e con f i n e s o f cou r t p o e t r y . Ther e we r e a 1 so some S o ut hern D y n as t i e s poe t s i n t er e s t ed i n t h e p r im i t i v i sm o f C h i en - an and We i po et ry ， b ut t he i r t re atment o f i t i s qui t e d i f f er e n t t h an We i Cheng ' s : t o t hem i t was n o t a m e a n s o f s e l f - expres s i o n ， but rather a qua i n t art i f a c t t o be im i t at ed a s a 1 i t e r ary exerc i s e. 2 7 T h e f i r s t p o e t t o us e t he mode l o f " S in g i n g My Fee l in g s " f o r s e r ious p er so n a l en ds was Yü Hs i n ， a s o u t h e r n poet who wro t e muc h of his poet ry dur i n g hi s c ap t i v i t y i n t h e

Nor t h .

I n h i s work t he r e i s a s t rong s en s e o f r eg i o n a l

s t y l e an d man n e r ， a f e e l i ng t hat a " n ort h e r n " poet ry shou l d be d i f f e r e n t f r om a " sout hern " p o e t r y .

Yü Hs i n

h a s t w e n t y - s even " Im i t at i o n s o f t he Yun g - hu a !. " ，t段 株 #紋 i t i s b e l i e v e d that a l l dat e from Yü ' s c ap t i v i t y .

Tech-

n i c a l l y t he s e poems are s t i l l " im i t at i o n s ， " l ike o t h e r im i t at i ons . o f t h i rd- a n d f ourt h- c ent ury p o e t ry wr i t t en

by

Sout hern D y n a s t i e s p o et s ; however ， many o f Yü Hs i n ' s

" Im i t a t ions of t he Yung- h u a i " are i n t e n s e l y person a l ，

31

Th e Sui Legacy

either d i r e c t 1 y so o r i n t h e i r a n a 1 o g i c a 1 imp 1 i c at i o n s . Yü H s i n ' s s e r i es h a s a range o f t hem e s s im i 1 ar t o t h e

o r i g i n a 1 Yun g - hua i : aut umn 1 ament s ， h i s t or i c a 1 poems ， ph i 1osoph i c a 1 pie c e s ， an d p er s on a 1 n arrat i v e s .

Lat e r

dur i n g t h e T ' a 峙 ， 些主旦 po e t ry a 1 s o sp ans a w i d e r a n g e o f t h emes as s o c i a t e d wi t h C h i e n - an an d We i po e t r y .

The

" Imit at i o n s o f t he Yun g - hu a i " ar e impo rt a n t an t ec e d e n t s fo r t he poet ry t hat t h e oppo s i t ion poet i c s u 1 t imat e 1 y di d dev e 1 op ， but t hey cont a in a c e r t a i n amoun t o f heavy­ han ded par a 1 1 e 1 i sm ， v i r t ua 1 1 y in e s c ap ab 1 e in a p o e t r a i s e d i n t he t ra d i t i o n o f sout h e rn c o u r t p o e t r y .

The

i n f 1uence o f t he " Im i t at ion s o f t h e Yung-hu a i " was n o t d i rect ; i n t h e Ea:t: 1 y T ' ang an " im i t at ion o f Y ü H s i n " d i d no t r e f e r t o t he s t y 1 e o f t he oppo s i t ion p o e t i c s a t a 1 1 ， b ut t o t h e mo s t p r e c i ous kin d o f court po e t r y .

However ，

t hey were p robab 1 y very much in We i Cheng ' s m i n d whe n he wro t e " Exp r e s s i n g My F e e 1 ings . " Un 1 ike court poe t ry ， wh i c h i s e s s ent i a 1 1 y a po e t ry o f c e 1 ebrat ion ， Y ü H s i n ' s " Im i t at i o n s o f t he Yun g-hl，l a i " a n d W e i Cheng ' s " Expre s s ing M y F e e 1 i ng s " bo t h r ep r e s ent a po e t ry o f s e 1 f - exp r e s s ion ， harken ing back t o a p r i n c ip 1 e s t at ed i n t h e " Gr e at P r e f a c e " t o t he S h i h - c h i n g ， t h at " po e t ry st at e i n t e n t ion [ 且些

先﹒

' amb i t i o n ， ' or wh a t e v e r

o n e ' s mi nd i s s et on ， w i t h s t rong po 1 i t i c a 1 conno t a t i on s] . " The poem i s t o b e c e n t e r e d on t he poet and h i s i n n e r 1 i f e ; i f d e s c r ipt i o n o f t he ext erna 1 wo r 1 d i s p r e s en t ， a s i t i s i n 1 i n e s n i n e t o twe 1 v e of " Exp r e s s i n g My Fe e 1 i ng s ， " i t i s subo rdi n a t e t o t h e poet ' s react ion t o i t .

Ther e i s

no at t empt a t obj e c t-i v i t y ( L i 0 ' s " pure a n d s e 1 f 1 e s s " ) nor t h e rest r a in e d and f o rma 1 i z e d emo t ion a 1 r e s po n s e o f t he court po e t .

I f we comp a r e W e i Cheng ' s 1 an d s c ap e

descr ipt ion w i t h t he d e s c r i p t i o n i n C h ' en S hu-pao ' s " Wat er i ng My Ho r s e by t h e Great Wa 1 l ， " we s e e no i n t e r e s t in the s c e n e f o r i t s own s ak e a s i n C h ' en ' s poem ， n o c 1 ever arrangem e n t o f t h e e 1 emen t s o f t h e 1 an d s c ap e ; rat her we s e e a s imp 1 y con s t ru ct ed s c e n e each o f who s e

32

T h e S u i Legacy

e l eme n t s i s des i g n e d t o reve a l what s t i r s the poet ' s emo t i o n s .

F i n a l l y ， " Exp r e s s i n g My Fee l i ngs " i s not

d i d a c t i c : t he poet a f f i rms c e rt a i n p r i n c i p l e s ， but t he s e ar e p e r s o n a l i z e d ， d i r e c t l y conn e c t e d w i t h h i s c i r cum申 st ances . T h e t hreat o f d i da c t i c i sm was a great e r danger t o t h i s k i n d o f p o e t r y t han t h e lur e o f court poe t ry .

The

t he o r i s t s o f t h e o p p o s i t i o n poet i c s " s aw such poems as exemp l ary of proper mo r a l at t i t udes rat h e r t han as a p e r s o n a l art w i t h et h i c a l d imen s io n s .

I f t he p r imary

f un c t i o n of p o e t ry was to t e ach ， t hen wou l d it not be mo r e p r op e r t o t e ach d i r e c t ly w i t h ove r t ly d i dac t i c poet ry?

A f t e r h e r o s e t o h igh pos it i on dur i n g t h e T ' ang ，

W e i C h e n g su ccumbe d t o t h i s dange r ， prodd i n g t h e g r e at T ' a i - t s u n g wi t h an au dac i t y h ig h l y p r i z e d in Confuc i an m i n i s t ers .

I n t he f o l l ow i n g anecdo t e T ' a i 白 t sung wr i t e s

a p o em on imp e r i a l e t h i cs ， but h i s et h i c s have a s l ight l y Buddh i s t f lavo r ， W e i Cheng " correct s " t he imper ial error in emphas i s by an ex emp la r y poem o n t he W e s t ern Han ， c on c l u d ing wi t h t he p r op e r Con fucian emph as i s on r i t e s . S u c h a p r e f e r e n c e f o r imp e r i a l power a n d p ropr i e t y over common e t h i cs may i n de e d have r ep r es ent ed We i Cheng ' s p e rs o n a l f ee l i n g s ， but t h e funct ion o f t he poem i s t o t e ac h a n d n o t t o e xp r e s s . When T ' a i - t sung was at the Lo- yang Pal ace ， he made an excurs ion to

t he Poo l o f Deep Azure .

They held a drinking p art y where

everyone comp o s ed a poem on a g iven t opic . H i s Maj e s ty ' s

poem went :

En l ight ened l ords who overcame t hem s e l ves are few S e l f- ruin depend s upon

a

string of evi l s ，

Las t ing fame ari s e s from accumu l at ed good .

毛 ~ . 氣YU川重 綠 主 9伊ef 色，叫 頓 也 情 己 身 ，舟 洛克 誠向

Many were the ben ight ed ru l ers who gave free reign to their emot ions ，

The

Su:i，. Legacy

33

Then Wei Cheng wrote a poem on the Western Han t hat \\'ent : [Wei first describes the mi l i tary and conviv i a l s p l endors o f the Han ] 1n the end His Maj esty made use o f Shu- sun T ' ung ' s Rites ， 臼l l y then did one know how exa l t ed the emperor was

、M- 弱 叔 抹 種 文 知 皇 帝 搏

T ' a i - t sung t hen said ， ' ，we i Cheng n ever fau s Rit e s . '

，2 8

v

b ind me 叩 wi t h

Shu-sun T ' ung was one of the men respons ible f o r t h e stat e s ponso r s h i p of Confucian ism during t h e Han . T ' a i - t su n g did n o t miss t he p o i nt . The opposit ion p o e t i c s was unable to dist inguish àdequat e l y between poet ry t ha t embodi ed mo ra l principles and poet ry t hat mer e l y s t a t ed t h em ， didact ic poetry . I f "Express ing My Feel ings" was a successful examp l e o f the former ， t h i s l a t e r p o em by W e i C h e n g i s c l e a r l y didac t i c . Such didact ic p o e t ry cou l d never comp e t e aesthet ically 、 with court poe try ， and t h e promise which Wei Cheng ' s ear l i e r poem showed was lost . Wei Cheng ' s import ance as a poet is min imal i n com­ pa r is o n to h i s importance as an hist o r i a n . H i s "Pre f ac e to t he B i o g r ap h i e s of t he Men o f Let t er s " i n t he Sui E扭扭捏 is one o f t he best reasoned and most generous st at ements o f Chinese l i t erary h i s t or y as conceived by the o pp o s i t io n poet ics . We i begins by r eaff i rmin g t h e convent ional didact i9 t heory o f l i t erat u r e ， whi ch we saw in L i u Hsieh and L i O . He cont inues ， howeve r ， wi t h t h e theo ry of sel f-express ion in a p o l i t i c a l c on t ex t : Somet irnes there i s a bani shed court ier who has met with s l ander ; somet irnes there i s a home l e s s scho l ar at the end o f h i s road -- the way is tortuous and his princ e not yet found ， h i s wi l l r ep res s ed within and not yet brought fort h .

In such a state o f depr e s s ion

his mis ery s t i r s ， and he s end s some winged wr it ing t o the p a l ac e -

The Sui Legacy

34

he springs swi ft l y from the mud and mire and reaches the B l ue C l ouds . 2 9

Wei proceeds t o describe the l i terature of the. preced­ ing two centuries as a process of the fragment at ion of the id叫 un ity of we旦 ( 久 "patt ern ， " "orn amen t at ion ， " t he aest het ic qual it ies of l iterature ) and 些主主 ( 頃 ， " subst ance" ) . The wen of sout hern l it erature was exces­ s i ve ， whi l e too much chih made northern l i t erature unpalat abl e . In the period immediat ely preceding the Sui ， southern aesthet icism was import ed t o the Nort h . Such an int erest on the part of the moral ist and histor ian i n t he process of l it erary change arises f rom an early t5早早et in Chinese l it erary thought ， that l itera­ t u re reveal s the polit ical and spiritual s t at e of t he nat ion . Thus when Wei Cheng describes the poet ry of Hsü Ling and Yü Hs in as having emot ions that are mournful and full of longing ， " he is evaluat ing the pol i t ical condit ions of the lat er Nort hern and Sout hern Dynast ies : in the "Great Preface" to the Shih-ching we find : Th e Sounds o f an age o f ord er are peacefu l and happy ment i s in harmony

.

-- i t s

govern ­

The s ounds o f a wor l d in d i s order are b i t t e r

a n d ful l o f rancor -- i t s government i s pervers e .

T h e s ound s o f a

fa l l en k ingdom are mourn fu l and fu l l of l ong ing -- i t s peop l é are in dire strait s .

Cons equent l y ， to understand how t hings hav e

s uc c e eded and how t hey have fai l ed ， t o move Heaven and Eart h ， and t o s t ir sup ernatura l beings ， there ' t han p o e try .

is

nothing more appropriat e

I n large measure t his theory accounts for the moral ist s ' serious concerns with the propriety of l it erary style . We i Cheng goes on to praise the poetry of Yang-t i ， men t ioning specif ical ly the bal lad "Wat ering My Horse by t he Great Wal l . " This ， Wei says ， " has the proper sty l e and represen t s a re turn to class ical regulat ion . " 3 o S ince historians universal ly condemned Yang-ti' s charact er

35 Sui Leg acy an d capab i 1 it ies a s a ru1er ， Wei ' s eva1uat ion of Yang-ti ' s p o e t r y direct 1 y contradict s t he t heory st ated above ， t hat po e try ref1ect s t he age . Wei Cheng ， quite capab 1 e o f quo t ing scripture for his own purposes ， avoids t he d i f血 fi cu1 t y by r ef erring t he reader to a 1ess popular c r i t ica1 ada ge ， Ana1ect s ， XV . 2 2 : "The Good Man does not put asi de the words because o f the man" ; t hat is ， the mora1 va1ue \ o f a work cannot be j udged from t he aut hor ' s charact er . Thus it seems t hat to Wei Cheng ， who can be said t o represent t o some ext ent the 1 iterary historica1 op inion ò f t he f irst decades of T ' ai-t sung ' s reign ， t he 1 it erature of the Sui const itut ed a rej ect ion of the court 1y s t y l e and a return t o c1assica1 pr incip1es . What is puzzl ing is t hat Wei seems t o have de1 iberat e1y ignored Yang-t i ' s more ef f et e ， southern-sty1e poetry ， which would have been more consist ent with the histor ian ' s evaluat ion of t h e man . I f we were to specu1at e as t o Wei ' s mot ives in this ， it may be t hat We i was holding these poems o f Yang­ ti up to T ' ai-t sung as a prescr ipt ive example in order t o count er t he new poet ic stars of the 630s and 640s ， S hang­ kuan Yi and Hsu Ching-tsung . The work of Shang-kuan and Hsü represent ed a resurgence o f court poet ry without even a facade of moral concern . The dec 1 ine in the effect iveness of t he opposit ion poet ics and the resurgence of court poet ry during T ' ai­ t sung ' s reign can be seen a1so in the changes t hat took p1ace in the poet ry of Li Pai-yao 尋 苦 樂 ( 565-648 ) ， one o f the m6st popular poets of t he day . Li Pai-yao was the son of Li Te- l in ， Sui Wen-t i ' s leading Confuci an minister， whose unsuccessful at t empts at a Confucian poetry we have ment ioned ear l ier . Yang-t i had had an aversion t o Li Pai­ yao and gave t he poet a post in the far Sout h . Li par­ ticipated in one of t he rebel 1 ions at the end of t he Sui and came to incur t he wrath of T ' ang Ka。一t su . Ban ished to Ching-chou because of his unpopularity ， Li eventua l l y met T ' ai-t sung . T ' ai-t sung ， who genera1 ly l iked t hose The

The Sui Legacy whom his fat her disl iked ， befriended the old poet . When T ' ai-t sung took the throne ， Li Pai-yao was summoned to court and was one of the pr inc ipal l it erary f igures of the f irst part of T ' ai-tsung ' s reign . The poetry t hat Li Pai-yao wrote in the South dur ing the l at ter part of the Sui is c lose in tone and style t o Wei Cheng ' s "Express ing My Feel ings " and Yang-t i ' s "Wat ering My Horse by the Great Wal l . " 36

Ts ' ui Yin went t o Liao Peninsu l a . 的d I -- how have 1 became a wander er ， Al l a l on e ， c l inging to C l oud Terrac e Mounta i n ? The ro ad s t ret ches far ， the sun h a s s et ， The way o f an age o f peace i s here at it s end . Roo t s pu l l ed up ， the gra s s on the shore l ament s ， Ha l f- dead ， l eave s fa l l from t he wu-t ' ung on t h e c l i ffs . My eyes wat c h the gees e go o ff to Heng - yang ， My heart i s pained by the map l es over the r l.ver . Ind eed t roub l e was lurking behind good fort un e ， Now in t rut h i t i s hard t o find succes s . But a man doe s have h i s det erminat ion and

hi s spir i t ，

So h ow can he grieve t hat he won ' t be ennob l ed ?

­ 車 eb尚可信海民的草 綱 hp絲 瓜 ι沌，女hVA J叫 a呎產 品也會 是 已 伽利擇 最 略 L 的 數 福 于 迋 且也 丸何 安 Ht也為 據 啪 "伊良 倌 包 官

Ts ' ai Yung wa s s ent north of the passes ，

申 崢 怕你身 逞 ，耽心 Q引進 海 守 Mq去喝 柚冷 丈等 途 均每 何搧 途 的 樣 乎 自 崎 一

ON THE ROAD : EXPRESS ING MY FEEL INGS

[ 02833 ]

-Cont rary to a l l rul es of court ly composit ion ， Li Pai-yao rushes into his poem with two histor ical precedents for h i s own condit ion ， the exi l e of Ts ' ai Yung and Tou Hsien ' s al lotment o f a miserab l e post in the nort heast for Ts ' ui Yin . Bot h Ts ' ai and Ts ' ui were East ern Han scholars . Hen g - yang i s said to be t he point at which t he geese migrat ing southward stop t heir j ourney . This poem was wri t t en in about 6 0 5 ， when Li was in exi l e in the Sout h ，

37

The Su i L e g a c y

t hu s mo r e t ha n a d e c a d e e ar l i er t han We i C h e n g ' s " Ex p r e s ­ s i ng My F e e l i n g s . "

Bo t h p o em s c l o s e w i t h a f f i rm at io n s

o f p r i n c ip l e s a n d m o r a l r e s o l u t i o n :

But a man does have h i s det erminat ion and his sp irit ， So how can he gr i eve that he won ' t be ennob l ed ?

丈 夫 坦 布 元﹒ 穿 i學 哲 荷 Ib-，

an d

Human l ife i s imp e l l ed b y nob l e s p i r i t -­ wHo cares for m e r e g l ory and fame ?

λ 住 原本 ，趕 集L 11:1 怎 能 ?反 諒

The t wo poems a r e a l s o s im i l ar i n t he i r u s e o f h i s t o r i c a l ex emp l a r s a n d i n t he i r u s e o f l an d s c ap e d e s c r ip t i o n .

We

w i l l p a s s o v e r t he o t h e r p o e t ry wr i t t en by L i P a i ­

yao i n t he l a s t y e a r s o f t he S u i f o r t he mom e n t a n d l o o k at some poem s t ha t h e wro t e dur i ng t h e T ' an g .

H i s p oe t ry

wr i t t en t o imp e r i a l c omm a n d i s v i r t ua l l y i n d i s t i n gu i s h ab l e f rom t h at wr i t t en b y T ' a i - t sung a n d h i s o t h e r c o ur t i er s . The p o e t d i s app e a r s i n t o t he c e l eb r a t i o n o f t h e ou t i n g s of t he court :

ANSWERI NG "EARLY

COMMAND

S PRING EXC U R S ION" : TO 毒 如 初 春 :l\ 適 應命

Sing ing fifes emerge

from

G a z ing Gard en j

Carriage canopi e s in f l i ght descend to Mushroom F i e l d s . L ight beams on wat er dr i ft in the even ing sun s h in e ， Bright - co lored c l ouds pa1ed by thin mists . The c o l or o f wi l l ows wi l l l as t three months j P lum b l o s soms d ivide two year s . As the sun s lant s down ， homeward r iders move ， Their l ingering p l easure fi l l ing the mountains and strearns . [02847]

楊 狗 也 望 JEa fl! 五 千 芝 風 . 伙 兒 存 落 FE. 處 í�. j美 秘 僧 ， 卻 色秘三 月 鵑 花 自已 三- �

H 斜 鱗 鱗動 J僻、 聽 豆角 ù-\ 1 ， \

The Su i Legacy This shift from a poetry of self-express ion to a poet ry o f cel ebrat ion occurs not only in his poet ry to imperial c omm a n d but also in poet ry t o his friends . The f r agm e n t a ­ t ion of the world into a past fche o f i n t e r r e l a t ed scenes ， characterist ic of court poet ry ， st ands i n sharp cont rast to L i Pai-yao ' s earl ier poem i n which he t ried to develop a n i d e a ， t o understand his c i rcumst ances by historical a n d n a t u r a l analogies and to overGpme his despair by moral reso lut ion . To some ext ent the styl ist ic d i f f e r e n c e s between t hese two poems are based o n a subgen e r i c difference ; pract i cal c ircumstances play a l arge ro le in sty l ist ic variat ion . L i P a i - y ao c an n o t be expected to write the k i n d o f poetry he wrote in ex i l e and advers ity when he However ， a w a s a t t e n d i n g one of T ' ai-t sung ' s banquet s . court p o e t l ike YÜ Hs in did m a n a g e t o write personal poet ry in the fragmented ， impersonal court ly style ， while mora l ists such as We i Cheng man ag e d t o avo i d it even on occasi ons t hat seemed to cal l for it . At the court gathering c i t ed earlier We i C h e n g c a r e fu l l y avo i d e d wr i t in g of t he sensual grandeur wit h which the West ern Han w a s convent ionally associat ed . The mode l s of a co u r t l y p e r s o n a l poet ry and an ant i court ly publ ic poetry The w e r e a v a i l a b l e to Li Pai-yao and he avo i d e d b o t h . c rux of t he mat ter l ies in the fact t hat L i P a i - yao and W e i Cheng did wri t e poet ry of s e l f - exp r e s s i o n dur i n g � ime s o f st r e s s， poet ry wh i c h d i d not u s e the style and conven峙 t ion s of court poet ry . F o r most court poet s ， on the other h a n d ， p o e t r y ' s p r imary purp o s e was the t ast eful celebra­ t ion o f a r i s t o c r a t i c society . D uring the Sout hern Dynast i es we do f ind som e 且已主旦 樣 右 l叫 i t a t i ons on the past usually occas ioned by a visit t o a n an cient s i t e . These ， howe v e r ， a r e r e l a t i v e l y f e w ; the Sout hern Dynast ies was one of t he l e a s t h i s ­ t o r i c a l ly m i n ded p e r i o d s i n C h i n e s e h i s t o r y . The Su i un i f icat i on broug ht with i t a r en ewed interest in t he 38

39

The S u i Legacy

pa s t ， p a r t i cu l ar l y i n t he Han d y n a s t y a s a mode l f o r O n e o f t he mo s t pot e n t i n f l u en c e s t h e u n i f i ed emp i r e . o n t h e T ' ang

坦且主旦 wa.s P a o C h ao ' s

" Weed-coveied C i t y "

是‘ 兩 獄 ，

挑 撥. ( 4 12-66? )

a m ed i t a t i o n on t h e p a s t

sp l en dor a n d p r e s e n t ru i n s o f a g r e at c i t y . L i P a i - y a o w ro t e many me d i t a t i o n s on an c i e n t s i t e s ， \ u s u a l l y f o l l o w i n g t h e p a t t e rn e s t ab l i s hed by " We e d cove r e d Ci t y ， " d e s c r i b i ng f i r s t t h e g l o ry o f t h e c i t y at i t s h e i g h t ，

t he n t h e d e so l a t i o n o f i t s ru i n s ，

and

c l o s i ng w i t h a me d i t at i o n o n t h e c h a n g e s o f f o r t u n e . W各 w i l l s e e t h i s t heme app e ar i n g aga i n s t r o ng l y i n t h e Such

c ap i t a l p o e t r y o f t h e 6 7 0 s .

且已主旦 app e a r f re 司

qu e n t l y i n t he f i r s t t hr e e d e c a d e s o f t h e s ev e n t h c e n t u ry ， an d i t was du r i ng t h i s t im e t h at t h e subg e n r e t oo k o n t h e c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s i t w a s t o r et a i n t hroughout t h e r e s t o f t h e T ' ang . L i P a i - y a o ' s "Me d i t at i o n o n t he P a s t at Y i n g "

( 02 8 34 )

Y i n g was t h e c ap i t a l o f t h e

i s p e r haps h i s f i ne s t p o em .

War r i n g S t at e s K i n g dom o f C h ' u .

U n f o r t un a t e l y t h e p o em

i s s o l ad en w i t h h i s t o r i c a l a l l u s i o n s t h at cumb e r s ome r e ad i n g i n t r an s l at i o n . t he out l i n e o f P a o C h ao ' s f u ，

i t m ake s

L i f o l l ows c l o s e l y

b u t wh i l e P a n Chao a s s o ­

c i at e s t h e i r f a l l w i t h t he a r r o g a n c e o f t h e i r a g e o f g l o ry ，

Li

P a i - y ao i s mo r e c o n c e rn ed wi t h t he i n ev i t ab l e

p at t e r n s o f r i s e a n d f a l l :

Their cyc l e ran out -- t hey were s et amid ga l l op ing hor s e s ; The age was D i fficu l t y ， w� e!l t h e whi p s were un l eashed .

逐 步己 為 此 卿 的 也忠 誠扑

Th i s i s a p owe r f u l c omb i n a t i o n o f abs t r act i o n ， and v i s i o n o f A rmageddon coup l e t ，

.

a l l u s i on ，

I n t h e s e c o n d l in e o f t h e

t h e f a l l o f Y i n g i s i n t e rp r et ed i n t erms o f

屯，

坐坐

t h e hex ag r am

且斗旦

o f Cha n g e s .

C h ' u was de f e a t e d by t h e st at e o f C h ' i n ，

and " t he w h i p s "

I n i t i a l D i f f i cu l t y ，

f r om t he

i s a phr a s e f r Qm a f amou s e s s ay by C h i a

、

40

T h e S u i Legacy

Y i o n the t y r a n n y of C h ' i n . T h e f o l l ow i ng u n da t a b l e p o em ( 02 8 3 2 )

i s a mo r e p e r so nal

and g e n er a l i z e d t r ea t m e n t of t h e t h eme of r u i n s .

The

m e l an c ho l y wh i c h p e r v a d e s t h e p o em w i l l b e c om e char a c t er­ i s t i c o f T ' an g hu a i - ku .

C L 1MB 1NG AN ANC 1 ENT WALL ON AN AUTUMN EVEN 1NG Sun s et ， the road 1 t ravel stret ches far ， 1n depre s s ion 1 l ook down from t h i s an c i ent wa l l . on

i t s tumb l ed rampart s wrens of wint er gat her ，

F r om weedy parapet s even ing crows fly up 1.n surpr 1. s e . 1mpenetrab l e and gl oomy ， dens e forests r i s e ， Far in t he d i s t anc e a l one co l umn of smoke appears . V i s ion o f red c l oud s ， g l eaming in l as t sun l ight ， D ew- fi l l ed a i r c l ear s the even ing coo l . An

autumn wind wh irl s the fal l ing l eave s -­

How c an 1 s et my mind a t r e s t ?

紋 a先 發 苦 苦頭k θ 為 1正 昆 主

線 電 扎 睬。 石 你 偽滿參 灌 集 乳 蝶 e克 鳥 鷺

嶽 森灌 木 L

i乏造 紙 煒 且­ rt 義 改 � @義 §語 言� j種f 6t.â有 私 到1 將 他 現S

S匕 走 J:安 可 干

H e r e w e c an b e g i n t o s e e a s h i f t f rom t h e r e l at i v e l y o b j e c t i ve t re a t m e n t o f n a t u r e f ound i n c o u r t p o e t r y t ö t h e c on f l at i o n o f moo d an d s c en e c h a r a c t e r i s t i c o f T ' ang poet ry .

T h e ru i n s s e r v e h e r e a s o n l y o n e e l ement i n a

s c e n e o f au t um n a l m e l an ch o l y .

L i P a i - y ao ' s wo r k s hows a v e r s at i l i t y u n u s u a l i n t he p o e t r y o f t he f i r s t h a l f o f t h e s e v en t h c en t ur y .

He

wro t e a f ew ex c e l l en t " p a l ac e po ems " o f un c e r t a in dat e a n d wa s e qu a l l y 、�d ep t a t t h e court l y s k i l l o f wr i t i n g a c l ev e r c oup l eu :

-

Wave fl ower s ， b l o s soming ， fo l d ing in ; Wind - b l own pat t ern s ， straight and t hen j o ined . [ 0284 0 ]

來花 M 己 命 J成 主 直 且 進

41

T he S u i Legacy

Th e c h ang i n g f o rms o f t h e wat e r ， mov i ng f r om o n e ex t r em e t ø t he o t her ，

sugg e s t t h e no t io n o f p l a s t i c i t y a n d c h an g e ，

bu t t h e v i su a l s c en e 土 s i ng e n i o u s : of

t h e r i s i ng a n d s i nk i ng

� h e wav e s a pp e a r t o be l i k e f l owe r s b l o s s om i ng and

f o l d i n g up .

1 t i s a l s o po s s i b l e t ha t t h e " f l owe r s " a r e

， sp ark l es o f l i g ht app e a r i n g on t he wav e s ， t he i r f l as h i n g comp ared t o t he b l o s som i n g a n d f O l d i ng o f f l ower s . U� l i ke We i C h e ng ， who s e p o em s wer e at mo s t p e r i p h e r a l t o h i s o t h er a c t i v i t i e s ， L i P a i 也 y ao w a s a s we l l - known as a poet a s a h i s t o r i a n .

P e rh a p s b e i ng t h e so n o f L i

T e- l i n kept h im f r om cou r t p o e t r y i n h i s y o ut h .

1n his

you t hfu l p o e t ry wr i t t en dur i ng t h e S u i t he f o r c e o f t h e oppo s i t i o n p o e t i c s c a n b e f e l t ，

but l at e r ，

r e qu i r e d t o

p a rt i c ipat e i n t he p o e t i c c e l e b r at i o n s o f T ' a i - t su n g ' s court ，

he ab andon ed h i s s t r o n g e r ， mo r e p e r s o n a l s t y l e .

Du r i ng T ' a i - t sung ' s r e i g n t h e n ew p o e t r y o f oppo s i t i o n poet i c s began t o f ad e i n t o t he b a ckg r o u n d ，

and with t h e

d e f e c t i o n o f L i P a i - y ao t o t h e c o u r t l y s t y l e ，

t h e oppo s i ­

t i o n p o e t i c s l o s t i t s b e s t hop e t o p r o d u c e a v i ab l e a l t e r n a t ive t o t h e c o ur t l y s t y l e .

4 POETS OF T ' A1 -TSUNG ' S COURT 1 n 621 ， before he took t he t hrone ， Li Shih-min 李 t 民 (T ' ai-tsu時 本 書、 ) gat hered e ighteen of the 1ea叫din 1 it e芷rary men and scho1a主rs of the day to found t he Co1 1 ege O吋f L山it er凹a t叫e (刊We凹n-舟hs吋垃 e吋h k恥u a仙n 文嘻學告牽 貓宮 ) . These men formed t h e nuc 1 eus of T ' ai-t sung ' s cu1tura1 estab 1 ishment and inc1uded such famous f igures as K ' ung Ying一t a 札 學自 1主 ( 574-648 ) ， a comment ator on t he c 1assics ， and the histor i an Yao Ssu- 1 i en 胡k 烏 蘇 On 1y three of t he eighteen have more t han one poem ext ant t oday : Y垃 Shihnan 晨 在 前 ， Ch ' u Lia阿 諾 耘 ， and Hsü Chi月-t sun g 訢 歇息 . A 1 1 three of t hese poet s were from the sout heast : Ch ' u L iang and Hsü Ching-t sung were from Hang- chou ， whi 1 e YÜ Shih-nan was from nearby Yüeh-chou . This was the heart 1 and o f Sout hern Dynast ies cu1ture and of court poetry . Hsü C hing-t sung was on1y thirty years old when t he Co1 l ege was founded ， but bot h Yü Shih-nan and Ch ' u Li ang were prot égés of the great court poet Hsü L ing . Thus desp i t e t he infusion of mora1 iz ing Confuc ian poet ics during t he Sui ， the direct tradit ion o f Southern Dynast i es court poe t ry cont inued into t he T ' ang and into T ' ai-t sung' s court . YÜ Shih.可 nan ( 558- 638 ) was one of t he 1 eading int e11ectuals o f t h is t ime and by far the ab1est poet of the t hree men ment ioned above . Yü grew up under the f eeb1e Ch ' en dynasty where his youthfu1 poet ic endeavors received th e att en t ion not on1y of Hsü Ling but a1so of Chiang Ts u 時 多:L �息 ( 5 1 8- 90 ) ， anot her mast er of court poet ry . Yü Shih-nan was a mu 1 t i f acet ed Sout hern Dynast ies int e11ectua1 : he dabb1�d in Buddhism and as secret ary in the Sui 1mperi a l Library ， he compi1 ed t he Pei-t ' ang shu-ch ' åo ，也滋 事 鈔 ， a famous encyc1oped i a . He served in and 42

43

P o e t s o f T ' a i - t sung ' s Court wr o t e p o e t r y f o r t h e court o f Y a n g - t i ，

wh e r e h i s e l d e r

br o t h e r Y ü垃í S h i hT hu s ，

t ru s t ed coun s e l l o r s . t o s erve T ' a i - t sung ， m en o f l i t er a t u r e .

by t he t ime YÜ S h i h - n an c am e

h e was a l r e ady o n e b f t he g r a n d o l d L i ke many o f t h e m i n í s t e r s o f t he'

ea r l y p a r t o f T ' a i - t sung ' s r e i g n ，

Y Ü S h i h- n an h a d a c l o s e

and i n f o rm a l r e l at i o n s h ip w i t h t he s o v e r e i g n . wa s g e n u i n e ly fond of h im ，

T ' a i - t sung

a n d wh e n Yü S h i h - n an d i e d ，

T ' a i - t su n g was s a i d t o have r emarked ， " S h i h - n an w a s l i k e 31 S u c h t e r s e imp e r i a l c ommen t s a r e p a r t my v e r y s e l f . ， ， o f b i o g r aph i c a l c o n v e n t i o n ， b u t t h ey p r o b ab l y do r ep r e ­ sent genu ine f e e l ing . I n Y ü S h i h- n a n ' s p oe t r y we f i nd an u n e a s y g r a f t i n g o f t he oppo s i t i on p o e t i c s o n t o t h e b a s e o f cou r t p o et r y . a

c o u r t p o e t by t r a i n i n g an d n a t u r e ， Yü c o u l d n o t ' es c ap e t h e i n f l u e n c e o f t he oppo s i t i o n p o e t i c s du r i n g

T hough

i t s hey:day i n t he f i r s t d e c a d e s o f t h e s ev e n t h c e n t ur y . The f o l l ow i ng a n e c do t e r e v e a l s an at

l ea s t p r o f orma

sense o f t h e mo r a l r e spo n s i b i l i t i e s o f the court p o e t :

His Maj e s t y [ T ' ai - t sung ] wrot e a poern in the pa l a c e s t y l e and ordered Yü Shih-nan to wr i t e another us ing t he sarn e rhyrne s .

YÜ

Shih-nan re sponde寸， " Your Maj est y ' s cornpo s it ion is wel l wrought ， cert a i n l y -- but the styl e is no t seernl y .

When a rul er

s ornet hing ， those beneat h hirn l ike it in the ext rerne . that if this

p o ern

1 fear

is hand ed around ， the cust orns of t h e ernp ire

wi l l becorne decad ent . Hi s Maj e s t y sa i d ，

1 泌的

"1' 11

Thus 1 dare not accept your c ornrn and . " try your sugg est ion ， " and t hen

wr o t e

a

p o ern describi ng the pr 已 c e s s of dyna s t i c r i s e and fa l l . 3 2

To t h e opp o s i t i o n p o e t i c s t h e " p a l a c e poem " w a s t h e mo s t i r r i t at i ng o f c o u r t po et ry ' s subgen r e s .

We s hou l d n o t e

her e t ha t Y ü S h i h- n an ， mo r e cour t i e r t han m o r a l i s t ， p r e f ac e s h i s r emo n s t r a n c e w i t h a comp l im e n t t o t he a e s t h e t i c qu a l i t i e s o f T ' a i - t s u n g ' s poem .

Fu r t h e rmo r e ，

h i s argum e n t i s f l at t er i ng l y p r e d i c at ed on t h e emp er o r ' s

44

Poe t s o f T ' a i - t sung ' s Cou r t

p o w e r an d i n f l u e n c e .

The et h i c a l l y a c c ep t ab l e a l t er ­

n at i v e i s t h e p o em on h i s t or y ， t heme o f t h e

且盟主挫 ，

c lo s e l y r e l at ed t o t h e

t h e r i s e a n d f a l l o f a g r e at c i t y

o r s t at e . " P a l a c e p o e t r y " d i d d e c r e a s e s harp l y du r i ng t h e Su i a n d E a r l y T ' an g ，

t hough i t d i d n o t d i s ap p e a r .

Th i s i s

p r o b a b l y b e c au s e i t was t he o n e form t ha t t h e oppo s i t ion p o e t i c s a g r e e d c o n s t i t u t ed l i t e r a r y d e c a d e n c e :

i t was

c o n s i d e r ed mo r a l l y r e p r e h e n s i b l e t o wr i t e p o e t r y about b e au t i f u l wome n .

One of t h e popu l ar l i t e r a r y h i s t o r i c a l

m i s c o n c ep t i o n s abo u t Ear l y T ' an g po e t r y i s t ha t i t i s m a d e up l ar g e l y o f " p a l ac e p o e t r y . "

Mo s t Ear l y T ' ang

p o e t s do hav e a f ew " p a l a c e p o ems ， " but t h e s e c o ns t i t u t e a f ar sma l l er p e r c e n t ag e o f t he i r wo r k s t ha n i n p o e t s o f t h e Sout h e r n D y n a s t i e s o r i n many p o e t s o f t he H i g h and

Yü S h i h- n a n ， for ex amp l e ， has mor e surv i v i n g

M i d -T ' an g . bo r d e r p o em s

( po em s about f r o n t i e r war f a r e a n d t h e l i f e

o f f ro n t i e r t r o op s ) t han " p a l a c e p o ems . "

Yü S h i h- n a n ' s p o e t i c ex c h a n g e s wi t h T ' a i - t s u n g r ev e a l a c o n d e s c e n d i n g pedago g i c t on e wh i ch mu s t h a v e s o r e l y t r i ed t h e imp e r i a l p a t i en c e a n d embar r a s s e d t h e imp er i a l ego .

YÜ app e a r s a s t h e l earn ed e n c y c l o p e d i s t ， t he

c u l t u r a l l y 學nug s o u t h e r n e r ， a l l c o n j o i n ed .

T ' a i - t s un g wr i t es :

ON THE BAMBOO LOOKING DOWN ON

THE

Th eir pur e s t a 1 ks screen off the s t a ir s

，

A z u r e 1 eave s They

a n d t h e C o n fu c i an mor al i s t

POOL t w i s t ing

that bear the wint er ' s fro s t s .

brush t he window--- you

d i s c ern dragon

s hadows .

on t he poo 1 --- awa it t he phoen ix in f l ight .

L ook d own

a嵐: t暑 臨 5也 � a 條、 ?學 iJ IØtfJ 擎 業項 專為 神 赫 今 能 著名

銘 先 倚 瓜棚

[ 0 009 1 ] Th e t h i r d l i n e ，

e c h o i n g numerous t r ad i t i o n a l a s s o c i at i o n s

b e t we en b amboo and dr agon s ，

sugg e s t s t h e s im i l ar i t y o f

45

Po e t s o f T ' a i - t su n g ' s Court t h e s h adows o f t h e b amboo o n t h e w i n d ow t o drago n s ;

t he

f our t h l i n e r e f e r s t o t he l eg e n d t ha t p h o e n ix e s n e s t o n l y in bambo o .

But

i n t h e s ec o n d l i n e T ' a i 一 t s u n g h a s

m ad e a p o e t i c " er r o r ， " a v i o l at i o n o f d e c o rum ，

by i n t r o ­

du c i n g t h e t h em e o f t h e b ambo o ' s endur an c e o f w i n t er i n a spr i ng o r summ e r s c e n e .

T ' a i - t sung a s ked f o r a

r e s po n s e f r om YÜ S h i h- n an ，

a n d t h i s i s wh at he g o t :

ON THE BAMBOO LOOKING DOWN ON THE POOL : TO IMPERIAL COMMAND Pa1 e azure and substance of highest c1ouds ， Their bright co1ors fa1 1 ， shine back in the clear pool . Waves float their ref1ection fu1 1 of wind ， And current shakes branches that fend off the dew. Dragon sca1es drift ing in Hsieh Va1 1ey， Phoenix wings brushing the ripp1es . But if you want to see their nature that 1asts the winter ， It can on1y be known in the co1d of the year .

街文 件 略地 們 聽制 月巴 掌 消 受 噴 瓷 、科 吹 J有 三包 多夜 三丸 令 風 是多 久施 防 農技 籠 絡 ;是 4物 品 �tL.組 神 注史 ;街 母兄 玄機 主主 冬 怯 唯 布 放 寒� �I:)

[ 02 5 7 3 ]

The f i f t h l i n e r e f e r s t o t he l egend o f L i L i n g ， mu s i c i a n o f t h e Ye l l ow Emp e r o r ， who was order ed t o g o t o H s i eh V a l l ey ， wh e r e a sp e c i a l v a r i e t y o f bamboo g r ew ，

i n o r d er

t o cut s ome f o r a s e t o f panp i p e s . Y扭 ' s p o em i s bo t h

gn

imp l i c i t and an exp l i c i t " c o r r e c ­

t i on" o f T ' a i - t su ng ' s qu at r a i n . t o t h e t op i c ，

T ' a i - t sung d i d n o t k e e p

wh i c h shou l d d emand a d es c r i p t i o n o f t h e

b amboo i n r e l a t i o n t o t he poo l .

I n t h e f i r s t coup l e t

YÜ S h ih- n an c o n t r a s t s t he " h e i ght " of t h e bamboo - t h e i r p hy s i c a l h e i g h t ，

t h e i r c O l or ，

sp i r i t u a l " l o f t i n e s s ， "

t h e i r l i g ht n e s s ，

a n d t h e ir

a l l l i ke c l oud s - w i t h t he " l ow n e s s "

of t h e i r r e f l e c t i o n s o n t he poo l .

T h e s e c o n d coup l et

is

46

Poet s o f T ' a i - t s ung ' s Court

a b r i 1 1 i an t amp 1 i f i c at ion o f t h e t h em e of d i sp a r i t y : t h e wav e s ， s t i rr e d by w i n d ， c ap t u r e i n r e f 1 ec t i o n t h e f o rm o f t he b amboo s t i rred by w i n d ( o r t he s h ak i ng o f t he b amboo ' s r e f 1 e c t i o n s i n t h e wav e s make t h em s e em w i n db 10 wn when i n f a c t t hey a r e s t at i on a r y ) '， and a 1 a rge amoun t of wat e r i r on i c a 1 1 y t r ap s the f o rm of t h i n g s wh i c h f e n d o f f sma 1 1 amoun t s o f wat e r ， t h e dew .

1 n the

t h i r d coup 1 et ， Y ü shows T ' a i - t su n g 叫 how t o b r i n g i n t he d r agon an d p h o e n ix a s s o c i a t i o n s wh i 1 e keep i n g t o t he t h eme o f t h e bamboo i n r e f 1 ec t ion : t h e poo 1 be c om e s t h e s t r e am o f H s i eh Va1 1 ey i n wh i c h t h e i r " dragon f o rms " a r e r e f l ec t e d ; t h e a r r i va 1 o f t h e phoen ix i n t h e r e f 1 e c t ion s e em s to " b rus h t he r i pp 1 e s . " A f t e r d emo n s t rat i n g t o T ' a i 一 t sung t h e " p roper " t r eat ­ m e n t o f t he t op i c ， Yü Sh i h - n an p o i n t s out t h e exp 1 i c i t e r r o r i n t he quat ra i n : o n e mus t wa i t u n t i 1 w i n t e r t o s p e ak o f t he bamboo ' s e n du r a n c e o f t h e c o 1 d .

Th i s

qu a 1 i t y o f t he b amboo h a s s t rong e t h i ca 1 as s o c i at i o n s : 1 i k e t h e e v e r g r e e n ， t he þ amboo i s a s ymbo 1 o f i n t eg r i t y ， o f r e s o 1 ut e e n du r an c e o f hardsh i p .

Thus

Yü

S h i h-nan i s

imp l y i n g t hat o n e m a y p ra i s e suc h qua 1 i t i e s on 1 y when t h ey are t e s t ed . Whe n we speak o f t he " p rop e r " t r e a t m e n t o f a t o p i c ， we a r e r e f e r r i ng n o t o n 1 y t o t he s t ruc t u r a 1 conven t i o n s o f amp 1 i f i c at i o n and keep i n g t o t h e subj e c t ， we a 1 s o m e a n t he u s e o f t he body o f J9_J:"�去 ， o f 1 i t e r ar y r e fe r e n c e s a n d st o r i e s ， wh i c h grew u p aroun d e a c h o f t h e commo n p o et i c t op i c s .

Th i s 1 o r e ， a 1 0ng wi t h e x amp 1 e s o f t h e

p rop e r 1 i t e ra r y t r eatment ，

l i t er a r y e n c y c l op e d i a s .

c ame t o b e c o d i f i ed i n t he

For t he po e t r y o f t he S out h e r n

Dyn a s t i e� an d t he Ear l y T ' ang t he t wo re 1 evant ency c 1 o -

要

p e d i as are t h e Y i -wen 1 e i - ch 且 太 華負 眾 comp i 1 e d 卸 的­ y a n g H s ü n f，t P學詢 ( 5 57- 64 1 ) et a 1 . un der imp e r i a l ausp i c e s ， an d t h e Ch ' 叫叫e h c h i 物

J{1f， 盟 ( 6 59- 72 9 )

理記

， comp i 1 ed b y Hsü Cl山n

e t a 1 . ， a 1 s o un der imp e r i a 1 ausp i c e s .

T h es e e n c y c l op edi as f o rmed a co n c i s e " b u r d en o f t h e p a st "

Poet s o f T ' a i - t sung ' s Court

47

wh i c h s e t t h e l im i t s o f e l eg a n t var i at i o n o f a t op i c . Though t he e n cy c l op e d i a s were d i rect ed at s t u d en t s a n d poet s o f 1 e s s t h an e n c y c loped i c l earni ng ， t h ey g i v e u s a good i d e a o f how mo r e l e arned poet s c o n c ep t u a l i z e d t h e mat er i a 1 t hat wen t i n t o mak i ng a p o em �

To a p o e t l ik e

Yü S h i h- n an t h e 1 i t e r ar y p a s t a n d i t s conv e n t i o n s were immed i at e l y p r e s e n t ， but an e n c y c loped i a c a n show us how t h at past was u s e d .

1 f we wa nt ed t o wr i t e a court

poem on a c i cada ， we wou l d look up t he en t ry " c i c ad a " in an encyc 1 op ed i a .

H e r e we wou l d f i n d t he t rad i t i o n a l

" f act s " about t he i n s ec t ， (i f w e u s ed t h e C h ' u - hs ü e h c h i ) ，

t he re f e r enc e s a n d a n e c do t es we m ight a l lude t o ， a n d f i n a l 1 y a numb e r o f 1 i t e rary ex amp 1 e s .

From t he l at t er

we cou l d bor row p h r a s e s a n d get an i d e a o f wha t a s p e c t s o f t he t op i c shou 1 d b e t r e a t e d in our poem . The fo l 1owing quat r a i n ( 02 5 8 2 ) i s c h ar a c t e r i s t i c o f Yü S h ih-nan : THE

C ICADA Dipping its proboscis ， it drinks c l ear dew; Its floating echoes em erge from the spar s e wu-t ' ung . It dwel ls high ， it s voice natur a l ly goes far， And it need not depend on the autumn wind .

草草 企 終 敏 3龜 鹿 3仇 請客 &.. ít仇平的 正 色 管 8 ìL 排 是 蘇 紋 l{l

A br i e f survey o f c i c ad a l o r e and 1 i t e r a t u r e i n t he

Ch ' u- hsüeh c h i c a n f i 1 1 i n muc h o f t h e b ackground h e r e . 1 n t he f i rst o f t h e " an e c dot a 1 p a r a 1 1e 1 s ， " s h i h - t u i

辛 豹，

w e a r e t o 1 d 恤叫4此t " u叫 I i t w i 1 1 not e at . 刊 3 3 T h e " pa ra l 1 e 1 " t o t h i s i s

t he

f ac t

t h a t i t " l i s t en s f o r t he w i n d " ; t h i s i s sub s t ant i at ed b y a 1 in e f rom t h e " C i c ada Fu " o f F u Hs垃an i 哥 拉 ( 2 1 7- 7 8 ) ，: " 1 t 1 i s t en s f or t h e 呈且主旦旦 [aut umn ] w i n d and s i ngs a 1 0ng w i t h i t " 聆 南 瓜 和知 嗡 3 4 YÜ S h i h-nan has f o 1 1 0wed t h i s par a 1 l e l c l o s e 1 y ， mat c h i n g t h e s i n g i n g wi t h t h e d ew- d r i n k i n g .

48

Poet s o f T ' a i - t sung ' s Court The " dwe 1 1 ing h ig h " f i rs t app e a r s in t h e s ec t i o n on

1 i t e r ary ex amp 1 e s i n an e ar 1 i e r " C i cada Fu" b y Ts ' ao Ch i h

曾祖

( 1 92 - 2 32 ) ，

i n t he coup 1 e t :

" I t roo s t s i n t he

1 0 f t y b r an c h e s and r a i s e s i t s h ea d ， j R i n s es i t s mout h wi t h t h e pure s t re am s o f mor n i n g d ew

。教 刺 傷九 冷 冷、 3 5

Mos t

of

絡 也 校 和 i4f 官 命，

t h e e 1 ement s o f Yü S h i h一 n an ' s

quat r a i n app e a r t o g e t h e r i n t he f o 1 1 ow i n g pas s age f rom Ch ' u Kue i ' s

桶 的 ( 5 2 9- 8 0 )

" Fu on t l1 e C i cada i n t he W i n d " :

There i s an aut umn wind coming into my court yard ， On

布 從 風 之 朱嘉

於 晶。 抽? 武、 王趴 吟 午 已L 智 生 主 鋒

the 坐且 w i l l ow ， a s inging c i c ada .

At t imes i t s l onel y chant ing breaks o ff for a moment ， Then sudd en l y the j umbl ed echo e s ret urn cont lnuous . I t 坐且主 主主 b l ack probo s c i 5 and it s moan ing st i l l s ，

右

Then again 坐坐坐 the g l i t t er ing dew . 3 6

之 嗔 虫草 誦7 轍 斷 商】 還 逢 ffll ø�可 是 ..， 1使 命去 聽 令 比 r，

W e f i n d t he wu- t ' un g t re e ， t h e d i s t a n c e o f t he vo i c e ， an d t he i de a o f s omet h in g b e i n g c a r r i e d a f ar by the aut umn wind i n the f o 1 1 ow i n g p a s s ag e f rom a poem b y C h a n g Cheng - c h i en '

綠 豆L 扎

( ?- 575 ) :

The c o l d c i c ada 叫 e s out in 伽 wi l l 叫 The north wind at tacks a wu- t ' ung t re e . It s l e aves

go

帥 ， 帥 ， and c an ' t be stopp 州

The branches remain ， thei r shadows a l l b a re . I t s vo ic e remot e ， aft er i t drinks the dew . 3 7

寒 蟬 ，是 揚 州

刺 o� 4巳 持 禍 ~ 絮 進伊 拉住 成械 部 學 庄 管 ，，，，- 似 縣 �t

CÞ a n g C h e ng - c h i en here p 1 ay s o n t he wo rd 盟

睬，

used to

d es c r i b e t he " remot en e s s " o f t he c i c ada ' s vo i c e ， but a l s o mean i n g t h e " sp ar s en e s s " of a t r ee a f t er i t s 1 e aves h a v e b e en s t r ipp e d by the w i n d . i s " l i ke " t h e 1 e a f 1 e s s t re e .

Thus the c i cada ' s vo i ce

YÜ S h i h- n an a l so uses su ，

but h e u s e s i t t o des c r i b e t he " sp a r s en e s s " o f wu- t ' ung ， co n v e n t i on a 1 l y a s s o c i at e d w i t h aut umn .

49

po et s o f T ' a i - t sung ' s Court It shou l d b e emp h a s i z e d t h a t YÜ S h i h - n an ' s u s e o f t h e s e commonp l a c e s i s not a n a l l u s i on t o i n d i v i du a l l i t e r ar y wo r k s ，

s u c h a s we f i n d i n p o e t ry o f t h e e i g h t h

ce n t ury a n d a f t e rward ( t hough t h e u s e of c ommon p l ac e s occurs t hen t oo ) .

T h e l o r e o f t h e c i c ad a g r ows u p t h rough

t h e a dd i t i o n s o f i n d i v i du a l wo r k s ，

but

for t h e mo s t p a r t

I f a n au t ho r u s e s a p a r t i -

it i s i n depende n t o f t h em .

c u l ar l y c l ev e r i d e a o r makes a b o l d i n no v a t i o n ，

t h en

t h at i d e a o r i n novat ion may come t o be a s s o c i a t ed wi t h a spe c i f i c wo rk ，

but t h i s i s n o t t he c a s e i n any o f t h e

sou r c e s quo t e d above . The above ex amp l e s s hou l d su f f i c e t o s how t h a t a lmo s t every e l em e n t

i n Y ü S h i h - n a n ' s p o em i s a c o n v en t i o n .

var i e s t ho s e c o nv e n t ion s and commen t s o n t h em .

Yü

Yü p l ac e s

h i s c i c a d a i n t he aut um n a l wu- t ' u n g r a t h e r t h an i n t h e con ven t i o n a l w i l l ow ;

by do i n g s o h e . s t r e s s e s t h e u n i t y

o f t h e a u t umn wo r l d ，

wi l l ows n o t b e i n g t r ad i t i o n a l l y

asso c i at ed w i t h t h at s e ason .

T h e n Y Ü g r a c e f u l l y r ever s es

t he convent ion t hat t he c i cada‘ s i ngs a l ong w i t h t h e aut umn w i n d : " h i gh"

it

i s r a t h e r b e c au s e t h e c i c ad a dwe l l s

( a s s o c i a t e d w i t h a p u r e a n d n ob l e n a t u r e ) t ha t

i t s vo i c e i s c a r r i e d f a r ， au t umn w i n d . ship ，

and not because i t needs the

Yü ' s p o em i s a wo r k o f g r a c i o u s c r a f t sman ­

n o t t ru l y o r i g i n a l but po s s e s s i n g a c e r t a i n n o v e l t y

wh en s e t a ga i n s t t h e t r ad i t ion o f c i c a d a l o r e . M o s t p o e t ry is c r eat ed f rom a f u s i o n of l i t er a ry t rad i t i o n and p e r s o n a l ， t h e two ， poet s ，

ext r a l i t e r a r y exp e r i en c e .

t he l a t t e r i $ t h e expen dab l e e l em e n t .

t h e l i t e r a ry t ra d i t i o n ，

pr imary ，

Of

For court

" l i t e r a r y exper i e n c e ， " i s

a n d t h e r e i s a t e n d e n c y t o wr i t e poems pu r e l y

a s a n ex e r c i s e on t o p i c s t h e p o e t knows n o t h i n g abou t . 3 8 Th e f ront i e r ，

o n e o f t h e mo s t popu l a r o f yüeh- f旦 t op i c s ，

cou l d b e c r e d i b l y evoked by p o e t s who wou l d h av e f a i n t e d a t t he s i g h t o f a ho s t i l e Ta r t a r i n t h e f l e s h .

Bo r d e r

p oet ry w a s v e r y mu c h a l i t e r a r y exp e r i en c e ， b u t i t t au g h t l a t e r p o e t s w h o wen t on c amp a i g n s o r i n t o ex i l e h o w t o

Po e t s o f T ' a i - t sung ' s Court

50 " s e e " t hat s t ark wor 1 d .

I n Yü S h i h- n an ' s v er s ion o f t h e

p opu 1 ar b a 1 1 ad " Wat e r i n g M y Hor s e by t h e Great Wa1 1 " ( 02 56 1 ) ， we r e a d : d ar k' 倚

" T h e moon i s out ， t h e p as s e s s t i 1 1

關 繩 。若

門

Orπ仙I

t h e moo n 1 i g h t a r e p a r t o f t he border s c e n e .

I n Ch ' en

S hu- p ao ' s v er s i o n : " Th e moon ' s c o l o r swa l l ows the Wal 1 ' s darkn e s s "

白 色 令 1 � 'fi賞

an d i n Yang- t i ' s :

t he moon over moun t a i n p a s se s "

"Fo呵g

霧一 睹 為自 心 司 ﹒

d臼ar此ken We do n o t

r e a d o f t h e G r e a t Wal l o r t h e f o r t i f i e d p a s s e s i n t he l ight o f n o o n ; we do not r ead o f t h e i r c o 1 o r ， t h e i r h e ight ， o r t he i r maj e s t i c so l i d i t y .

T h e darkn e s s o f

wa l 1 s i n t h e m o o n l ight i s a n e s s e n t i a l l i t e r ary u n i t i n bu i l d i ng a bo r de r s c e n e . Yü S h i h - n a n i s n o t a gr eat poet ， but h i s work has an u n d e n i ab l e c h a rm .

He has t he ab.i l i t y ， r a r e amon g court

poe t s ， t o comb i n e convent i o n a l e l ement s to produce a fresh e f f ect .

I n t h e r e s t r i c t ed ae s t het i cs o f court

回納 起 來 設 施叭抖抖U叭 月8叫“仰陶 代 先堂 色 花 吞 吞 們總♂風

p o e t ry ， t h i s may b e t he h i g he s t f o rm of p r a i s e . SPR I NG N I GHf In the springt irne gard en the rnoon t arries ; A barnbo o hal l opens at night fa l l . A st art l ed b ird c l eaves the forest in pas s age ， As windb lown p et a l s corne frorn acr o s s the wat er .

[ 02 5 7 9 J T h i s s hows t he court p o e t ' s at t ent i o n t o t h e i n c i de nt a l ， t o a moment o f b e au t y i n t he wo r l d .

I n t h e a l l - impo r t an t

c r a f t o f t he coupl et ， Yü surpa s s e s most o f h i s cont em­ p o r ar i es .

O f a p a i r o f cranes he wr i t e s :

Shining on t he s ea t hey s e ern float ing snow ， Bru sh ing a t orrent t hey pour out a fl ying st rearn .

[ 02 5 6 7 J

a史 3接 收 5年 旦旦 成 ;閉 喝 令 t.

T h e s e c o n d l i n e ， i n wh i c h t he pa i r b e c omes a wh i t e

P o e t s o f T ' a i - t sung ' s Court

51

tro t h i ng wat e r f a l l 1 e ap i n g f rom t h e s t r e am ， s hows a n a1mo s t Mar i n i s t i c i ng e nu i t y .

Somet ime s t he u r g e t owar d

a n o v e 1 t re atment o f convent i o n a 1 e l em e n t s c a n p r o du c e

b r i 1 1 i a n t coup 1 et s wh i ch mu s t b e b a s ed o n s en s i t i v e obs e rvat i o n o f n a t u r e :

m 荐 劈 i金 牢

Soaked ， the grain on t he s l ope grows s t i l l more azure ;

山 花 邊 是 1!;'，

Wet ， the flowers on the mountain flame st H l bri ght er . [ 02 5 7 2 ]

Here t he we t n e s s b r i n g s out t h e sp ec i a l b r i 1 1 i a n c e o f t he c o l o r s ; l a t e r T u F u was t o echo t h i s i n t e n s i f i c a t i o n o f co l o r s in a f amous coup l et : From the green o f the r iver the birds are st i 1 1 wh iter ;

江 碧 島 i金 色 山 青 tL 收 紋，

From the b l ue o f t he mount a in s ， the fl owers are about t o burst into fl ame .

[ 1 1 35 5 ]

I n t h i s c a s e t h e i n t e n s i f i c a t ion o f c o l o r i s brought out by c omp a r i s o n wi t h ano t her co l o r .

Tu Fu ' s coup l et has a

long t r a d i t ion o f i n v e n t ion and improveme n t .

C er t a i n l y

Y垃 S h i h間- n an co n t r i but ed t h e mo st wi t h h i s i d e a o f t he i n t e n s i f i c at i o n o f co l o r ， but he bor rowed t he met apho r o f red f l owers s e em i n g t o b u r n f rom ear l i e r p o e t s - f rom L i an g Yü an- t i : " I n t he woo d s t he f l owers s e em about t o b u r s t i n t o f l ame " 林

間 丸 欲龍

門 and f rom Y ü Hs i n : "Moun t a i n

f l ower s ， f l 訓e s b l az ií月 " 山 紀 的 文 f肘，

•

..

0 T h e mat er i a l

T u F u u s e d f o r h i s coup l e t was a co l l e c t i v e ac comp 1 i sh ment ， but n o t o n l y do e s h i s r ev i s ion o f i t s h ow b r i l l i an t cr a f t sman sh ip equ a l t o a n y c o u r t poet ， he i n t e g r a t e s i t s comp l ex symbo l i c overt o n e s i n t o t h e p o em a s a wh o l e . Th i s t h e court po et ， YÜ S h i h- n an ， cannot do ， a n d i t s e t s t he maj o r poet ， Tu F u ， apart from t h e c r a f t sman ， Y垃 . YÜ S h i h - n an can b e t aken as r ep r e s en t at ive o f s co r e s

Poet s o f T ' a i - t sung ' s Cour t

52

of

o t her

comp et en t court poet s o f T ' a i - t sung ' s r e ign :

f o r examp l e ， C h ' u L i ang ， Hsü C h i n g - t sung ， C h ' en Shu月 t a

p究 叔止 ，

Yang S h i h - t ao

平息 卸 益 ，

and Yüan Lang

表倒 -

S om e ex c e l l ed i n part i c u l a r aspect s o f court po e t r y --Yang S h i h- t ao ， a n o rt h e r n e r ，

in the descr ipt i o n of n ature ;

C h ' e n S hu- t a ， a d e s c e n d e n t o f t he C h ' en r oy a l h ou s e ， i n s t y l i s t ic grace .

At t he c ent er o f t h e s e p o e t s was T ' a i­

t su n g . T ' a i - t su ng ， who ru l e d f r om 6 2 7 t o 6 4 9 ， was n e i t her as c omp l ex a n i n d i v i du a 1 nor a s t a l ent ed a poet as Yang-t i . H e wa s ， howe v e r ， a mo re suc c e s s f u l ru 1 er .

T h e surv i v ing

corpu s of h i s poet ry i s one of t he 1 a r g e s t of t h e p e r i o d ， a n d d e sp i t e h i s 1 im i t at i o n s a s a poet ， i t i s c l e ar t hat h e d e vo t e d muc h at t ent ion t o t h e c r a f t .

Dur i n g t he f i r s t

p a r t o f h i s r e ign h e s e ems t o h a v e en cour aged C o n f u c ian mo r a l i z i n g a n d t he e l eg an c e o f court poet ry equ a l l y ， a dm i t t i n g bot h as app rop r i a t e t o h i s roy a 1 d ig n i t y .

The

r e su 1 t wa s t he u n e a s y un i o n of t he t wo oppo s i ng curr e n t s t h at c an b e s e en i n YÜ S h i h- n a n ' s poet ry . T ' a i - t su n g ' s p o e t i c expe r i en c e was n o t un l i k e t hat o f Yang- t i a n d L i P a i- y ao : h e was a n out s i de r t o t h e h i g h l武 l c u 1 t ti r e d c i rc 1 e o f c ou rt poet s t h at surrounded h im .

He

l ac k e d b o t h t h e i r e rud i t i o n and t h e i r e du c a t i o n i n t h e c ou r t p o e t ' s c r a f t ， but s t i 1 1 he t r i ed t o f o r c e h i s p o e t r y i n t o t he i r mo 1 d .

U n f or t u n at e 1y T ' a i - t sung 1 acked

t h e p o e t i c s en s i t i v i t y o f Yang- t i and L i P a i -yao ， an d in h i s poe t r y t he c o n t r a s t b e t ween t hé s t ro n g p e r s o na 1 it y o f t h e m a n a n d t he imp e r s o n a l g r a c e o f t h e court poet is s t r i k i n g .

1 n t h e f o l 1 owing poem ( 0 0 0 1 7 ) ， t he emp eror

is f ir s t t he court po e t ， d e s c r i b i ng a v i s i t to h i s f o rmer home w i t h b a 1 an c e and obj e c t iv i t y ; i n t he f i n a 1 coup 1 et h i s t ru e s e 1 f eme r ge s ， b l u n t and p roud o f h i s own r i s e i n t he wor 1 d . PAS S ING MY F ORME R HOUSE

1

ha l t my purp l e carr iage here at H血 - fe呵 ，

1島 章 也 新 變 f李 寧 嘩

53

Po et s o f T ' a i - t s u n g ' s Court

Stay the s inging f i fe s in t he town of Ch ' i ao . My garden i s grown with weeds ， i t s one path 10st ; The t errace has aged -- ha 1 f it s stairs are a s 1 ant ;

郎ld from away ，

my po0 1 s

the 0 1 d wat er has s e eped

Y et my former t r e e s put fort h new f1 0wers . 臼l e

mo rn ing

1 took 1 eav e

of

this 1 and

And the ent ire earth became my home . Anot h er coup l e t Long ago

1 went

花 色 、社 q聳 肩 田 說 一 句里 斷 臺 忘 乎 F營 銷 前 :但 3有 墨 1\).

績.

5平

已

風

L、

中

綠

waterweeds already green

在

hibiscus

椅

cross J.ng

初

first 吩

Fen

ed r紅

句實

pl easure

251

How t o Wr i t e a Court Poem in 7 0 8

冷

th is

a

day

竄

imperial

玲等

excurs ion

在

Sage

多豪

本佳

might ier

A

cl ear poo l of emerald waters refl ect s the distant void . A scented wood carr iage in a purpl e cloud rides the faint bree z e . Wal 1 and towers o f the House o f Han seem as though i n Heaven . Mountains and streams of the land of Ch ' in are as in a mirro r . The turning boat faces the shore--waterweeds already green j A hal l in the mids t of the forest . hidden-- the hibiscus are turning red . Since ancient t imes men have yearned in vain for the j oy o f crossing the Fen . But on the royal excursion today . His Maj esty ' s rhetoric is stronger . One o f the prop e r ways to open a court b anquet poem is wi t h the arr i v a 1 o f t he emperor i n a11 his maj e s t y ; t h is is o f t en done w i t h e s t ab 1 i shed c 1 i ch é s o f imp e r i a 1 maj e s t y ， such as hav i ng h im come " shaking t h e eart h " ( fo r examp 1 e ， 0 3 70 1 ) . I n t h i s poem Shen Ch ' üan- ch ' i b e g i n s wi t h a t ouc h o f d，r ama ; a s t i 1 l poo 1 ref1ect s t he empt y sky ， wh i ch f i 1 1 s ab rup t 1 y w i t h c o 1 o r and movement a s t he imper i a 1 pur p 1 e aur a and t he imp e r i a 1 carr i age made o f s c en t ed woo d arrives . Shen i s p 1 ay i ng on t h e mos t popu 1 a r o f conven­ t ions t o des cribe t he emperor and t he cour t -- t hey are t he immort a 1 s o f heaven . As the poet l ooks i nto t h e poo l ' s ref lect ion ， he " m i s t akes" t he arr ival o f the cour t p arty for a v i s i o n of immo rt a l s in heaven . The emp eror comes in a " c loud" set in t h e ref l ect ion o f t h e emp t y sky ， and his car r i ages " ri d e t he w，i nd" 句 卸 l 亂 ， a p hrase used in t he C且旦旦旦豆­ 主呈旦 to des cribe t h e apo theo s i s o f t he immo r t a l L i e h- t zu . The next f o r t u i t ous delus ion suf f ered by t he poo l ­ gaz ing poet i s t h e app ear ance o f t h e p a l ac e compound i n ref l ect ion ; s i nce t hes e are superimpo s ed on t he ref le c t ed sky ， he mi st akes t h em for t h e p a l ac e s o f h e aven ， but " co rrect s" h i s met aphor by i nd i c at i ng t hey are the pa1 aces o f " t he Ho use of Han . " Shen ' s s cope o f v i s ion f i l l s and broadens ， from the empty pool t o t h e arr iva1 o f t he

How to Wr i t e a Cour t Poem in 708

2 52

imp er i a l p ar t y t o t h e palace compound ， a l l seen in r e f l e c­ t i o n . Nex t t h e poet s ee s the e n t i r e l ands cape o f t he c ap i t a l r eg i o n i n h i s " m i r r o r . " A s we have seen earl ier in t h e 豆豆監控 ， t h er e i s a need to rat iona l i ze o l d f i c­ t i ons -- h e r e t h e i d en t i f i c at ion of t h e court and he aven ; t h e s o lut i o n i s a popu l ar form o f met aphor i n T ' ang poet ry ， t he " de luso ry met aphor ， " i n wh i c h t he poet t a c i t l y or exp l i c i t l y adm i t s the f i ct iona l i ty o f h i s met aphor . 1 n s t ead o f s ay i ng " X i s Y ， " t h e poe t s ays " it s eems t o me " or " 1 m i s t aken l y t hought X w a s Y . " 1 n t h e i � d i r e c t n es s ， i n t he i r d r amat i c order ， and i n t h e i r g r and t o n e ， t he s e f i r s t f o u r l i ne s appro ach t he H i g h T ' ang s t y l e . The narrow ， sp ec i f i c sc ene of the t h i rd coup l e t cou l d b e found bot h i n ear l i er court poe t r y and i n t he H i gh T ' ang . Her e t he poet l ooks up and f i r st s ee s t h e s c e n e around t h e poo l ， t hen s ees t h e fore s t beyond . The s ix t h l i n e sugge st s an out bu i l d ing o f t he p a l a c e ， app e a r i ng i n th e m i d s t o f t h e wood ， but par t i a l l y h i dden by t h e f l ower i ng h i b i scus . Not i c e t hat Shen uses the verb 主旦旦 命 ， " t o sp l i t ， " as d id Ch ' en Tzu-a時 ， t o d e s c r ibe t h e appearan c e o f somet h i n g t h at d i srupt s a v i sual c o n t i nu i t y . 1 n court po et r y t h e t ime of year i s o f ten e s t ab l i sh ed b y t he order o f t he f lower ing p l ant s : o f t en ， as h e r e ， o n e p l ant i s " al ready" in one cond i t ion " gr ee n " ) ， wh i l e ano t h e r i s " on l y now" beg i nn i ng t o b l os s om . Ano t he r pop u l ar t ime b a l ance i s " a l re a dy" set ag a i n s t " no t y et " ( 豆豆主 素 ) i n t h e s econd l i ne of t he ( h e re

coup l e t . The l a s t coup l et r efe r s t o Han Wu- t i ' s " Song o f t h e Autumn W i n d ， " wri t t en at . a p l easur e out i ng a f t e r the S acr i f ic e t o E art h at Fen - y i n g ， d e s c r ibed in Li Chiao ' s b a l l ad . Th e autumn wind r i s e s . wh i t e c l ouds

fl y .

紋 1ft 怠， 今

台 嗯? 46.

命 令 A姆今 令 命 令 小 A勻的

The l eaves of trees and grass es yel l ow and fal l ， geese j ourney south . The orchids bl ossom ， the ch ry s anthemums bud ， 1 take my fair one by the hand ， canno t forget her ， 1 sai l my towered barge across the river F en . Cutting across th e midstream current ， raising white waves ， P ipes and drums ring out ， a rowing song is raised . My j oy i s at its peak ， but gloomy feel ings grow ， How l ong can youth last ， who can halt old age? 1 2

實 儡即合 芳 人 忘 恥郁而吋淌 玻 A鴨、 取 社槽 ，必問何 本 兩 稍 有 住 棍 棒 吟 。1豪 放 雄也乖崎 紅皂 草 臨爛輝哺育 喝 不 紙 帶 他何為 議 簽 歡 哀 少命

How to Wr it e a Court Poem l n 708

253

Bi o -G 路 耶 nu一 i d E n a brts

a e +lu t s e e n l t - h p g u i o m c

The g r a c i ous comment t o Chung- t su ng ' s p o e t r y l n t h e l a s t õ宜 S h en ' s 'pbem b r i n g s back t he imp e r i a l t heme ， mere ident i f i c at ion w i t h H a n Wu- t i as we but E

Chung- t sung outdoes h im i n t he " m i g h t i ne s s " s t r e n g t h " ) o f h i s p o em . For a t ho u y e ar s o t he r ru l e rs h a d t r i ed t o equal t h e j o y o f Wu- t i cros s l ng t he Fen ， but C hung- t sung has s u c c e e d e d . -

-

T h e d e l i c at e l i t t l e boat i n g s c ene o f t he t h ird coup l et t r an s c ends t h e s t rong f e e l ings o f Wu- t i . C o n s i d er i n g t h e qu a l i t y o f C hung- t sun g ' s ex t ant po et ry ， S hen ' s c omp limen t i s mo re t h an generous . "

T h e bas i c subgenr es o f T ' ang poet ry had r e a c h e d a lmost t h e i r f u l l comp l emen t dur ing t h e Sout hern Dyn a s t i e s . 1 3

A f ew o f the poet i c oc c a s l ons popu l a r dur i ng t h e

High

T ' ang appear o n l y r are l y b e f o r e t he e ighth c en t ur y - po ems o n meet ing someone o n t he r oad ，

on overn i g h t g a t h e r i ng s ，

o n i n formal v i s i t s t o a s s o r t ed p a v i l io n s ，

l o dg e s

，

et c e t e r a .

But i n a l l cases t h e p roport io n o f p e r s o n a l p o e t r y and i n f o rma l occas ional poetry i n creases d r amat i c a l l y e ar l y

254

How t o Writ e a Court Poem i n 708

i n the e ight h c entury . I f we exc lude the poet s who have re1 at ive 1 y 1 ar ge co 1 1 ect ions surv iving--Li C h i ao ( 2 09 poems ) ， Sung Chi h-we n ( 1 96 po個s ) ， Shen Ch 屯an- c h ' i ( 1 5 7 po ems ) ， an d T u S hen- y en ( 4 3 poems ) -- t he maj o r i t y of ext ant poems f rom t h e r e i gns o f Wu and C hung-t sung wer e wr it t en t o imper i a l command on imp e r i a l out ings ， banquet s ， and c e r emo n i a l part i ngs . Li C h i ao presents a spec i a l c as e be c aus e o f h i s l arg e Z旦旦旦二wu co l l ect ion ， but a sub s t ant ial p ropor t io n o f t he noncour t l y poems o f Sung ， Shen ， and Tu were wr i t t en dur i n g their southern ex i 1 e s . Thus wh i le there i s a 1 0 ng but f ragment ary t r ad i t ion for mo s t o f t h e i n f ormal occasional subgenres ， court o c c as i o n s were s t i l l t h e d om i nant cent er o f poet ic compos i t io n . A f t e r cour t ly o c casional poet ry t he nex t mos t popu l ar forms were 扭扭立旦 and yüeh-且 ， each of wh i c h had a f ixed r ange o f narrower themes . Though Z旦ng-wu and yüeh- f旦 wer e amo ng t he o ldest 坐坐 cat egor i es ， in t h i s pe r iod they rét a i ne d the t hemes and manners o f t r e atment wh i c h t hey h ad acqu i r ed dur ing the Sout hern Dynas t i e s . Many obj e c t s wer e never used as t op i c s o f Z旦旦革二旦旦 poems ; o t hers ， hard1y ever . Non court ly banquet po ems sh are the convent ions o f cour t banquet poems ， but t h e d ict ion var i e s greatly accor d ing to t h e s t atus o f the par t i c ipant s and 伽 f o rmal i t y of t h e occas i on . Verse l et t ers ( ch i 毒 ， 些盟軍 俑 ， 主主 塔 ， etcetera ) a l s o had a very o l d t rad i t ion ; when addr e s s ed t o h i gh o f f i c i al s ， t he s e wer e amo ng t h e mo s t s ty l ized and ornament ed poems wr it t en . Par t ing po ems had been wr it t en s ince t he Chie n - an ， but t h ey i n c r e a s e sh arp 1y i n number dur ing t h i s per iod t o be come t h e mos t popu l ar occasiona1 subgenre 1 at er i n t he T ' ang . The var ious forms o f poet i c l ame nt were anot he r o ld and s t y l i zed group . Other subg enres ex i s t ed-- poems on t emples ， mus ic ， and so f ort h一- and a l l subgenres could be " rhyme- . mat ched ， " o ne poet u s i ng t he s ame rhymes o r r hyme c at egory as a no t h e r . Perhaps the mo s t personal poems of t he per iod wer e t h e t r av e l poems ， a subgenr e dat i ng f o rma l l y back to

How t o Wr i t e a Court Poem i n 708

255

the C h i n ， but even i n t r av e l poems poet s wer e apt t o b e c ar r i ed away b y t h e i r con s i derab l e desc r ipt i v e powe r s . F i n a l l y ， i t s e ems that Empress Wu in par t i c u lar had a f o ndn ess fo r hep t asyl labic songs . Some of t h e s e wer e wr i t t en f or cour t occas ions ， and many o t h e r s wer e wr i t t en pr ivat e l y . They a r e some o f t he most i nt er e s t i ng and l i ve l y po ems of the period ， and pl ayed an import a n t r o l e in t h e creat i o n o f t he High T ' ang s t y l e . E a c h subgenr e had i t s own r ange o f s t y l es and it s own s e t o f convent i o n s ， t hough t h e r e was con s iderab l e overlap betwe e n t h em . I ndeed dur i ng t h e e n t i r e per iod o f court po et ry ， wi t h t h e exc ept ion o f a f ew uncon vent ion a l wr it ers such as Wang C h i ， Lo P in-wang ， and Ch ' en Tzu- ang ， it i s eas i er and mor e app rop r i a t e t o d e scr ibe subgen er i c st y l e s t h an i n d i v idual st y l e s .

16 POETRY 1N THE L 1 FE O F THE COURT

1 n t h e Records o f Occasions in T ' ang Poet ry ， f o 1 1 owing t he 1 i s t of the members of t he Hs iu-wen kuan ， t here i s a b r i e f d e s c r ip t i o n o f t he poet ry out ings o f Chung- t sung . T h e unknown aut h o r speaks w i t h bot h w i s t f u 1 n es s and c e nsur e :

Whenever the Son of Heaven would go on picnics or pleasure out ings ， he wou l d be accompanied 可�nl y by his ministers and the Auxil iary S chol ars . ln spring His Maj esty would visit the Pear Orchard and attend the Purification Ceremony at the Wei River ， at whi ch he would present circ l ets of wil low to ward off the p est i l ence . ln summ e r he would hold banquets at the vineyards and pr�s ent red cherries . ' In autumn he woul d c l imb to the Buddha o f the Temple of Compass ionate Mercy ， and there he would be o ffered chrysanthemum flower wine with a wish for His Maj esty ' s 1 0ng 1 i fe . ln winter Hi s Maj esty would visit Hs in- feng ， passing through the White Deer Pavi1 ion ， and c1 imbing Mount Li ， where he would permit a bath in the Warm Springs . There he would grant fragrant powders and orchid oil s . To those o f hi s ret inue he would present horses from the Soaring Unicorn St abl es ， and to each o f his o fficia1 s ， a yel low robe . Whenever the emperor was moved by something ， he would write a poem ， and al l the Scholars would fol low suit us ing the same rhyme. This indeed was what men o f that age took de l ight in and yearned aft er . Thus it happened that everyone in the ret inue grew overly f副ni 1 iar ， gl ib ， and brimming with flattery ， and they forgot the rules of propriety that obtain between a rul er and his court iers . Only through l iterary genius did men gain lmperial Favor : men such as Wei YUan- tan ， Liu Y臼n- chi ， Shen Ch ' 也an-ch ' i ， Sung Chih­ wen . Yen Chao - yin ， and others were known for this and nothing else. 1 句 256

Poet ry

257

in t he L i f e o f t he Cour t

These o c c as i o n a l p o em s e r i es t ook . v ar i ous f o rms .

Th ey

s eem to h av e u s u a l l y b e e n comp e t i t io n s ， t h e o b j e c t b e i ng When t h e c r i t erion was l i t e rary quality ， speed o r qu a l i t y . t h e s t andards o f j udgment were ext reme l y sub t l e . The reward f o r the v i c t o r was o f t en a p i e c e o f b ro c a d e ， a nd

i n l at er poet i c d i c t ion ， the phras e " t o g e t th e b ro c a d e " meant t o achi eve poet ic r enown . T h e l o s e r was r equ i re d t o d r i nk a sp e c i f i e d amount of w i n e a s a f o r f e i t . Such poems ar e gene r a l l y des i gnat ed " t o imp er i a l c om­ mand" (�且t些主!! �惠 制 ) . I n s ome cas es t he cour t ie r s wou l d " respe c t fu l 1 y f o l 1 ow t he rhymes " 主盟主2 。 f H i s Maj e s t y ' s poem ， wh i 1 e in o t h e r cases t h e emp ero r

(

率如 )

wou 1 d s e t t h e t op i c and give d i f ferent rhymes t o d i f f e r e n t poet s ， i nc 1u d i ng h ims e 1 f (些n-yü且 身 慟 ) . P r e f a c e s wer e prob ab 1 y add ed t o a 1 1 t h e s e r i e s ; on e surv ives wr i t t en by Chung- t sung h ims e 1 f . Ord i n ar i 1y such p r e f ac e s wou 1 d s e t t h e s c e n e ， b r i n g up some o f t he a 1 1 u s i o n s u s ed ， and enume r at e t h e poet s . We do not k now i f poem s we r e chan t ed a1 0ud a s t h ey were comp l et ed or s imp 1 y handed in f o r j u dgeme n t ， but i n many o f t h e s e r i e s we can s e e po ems t hat s e em t o r e spond t o one ano t h e r ; for examp 1 e ， t hey wi l l cont a i n c o u p 1 et s

X? [ somet h i ng s a id in ano t h e r poem of t he s e r i e s J / Rat her w e s ho u 1 d s ay Y . " Thi s wou 1 d sugge s t t h a t poems were rec i t e d up o n c omp 1 et i on . The s ame myt h s ， a 1 1 u s ions ， and t h eme s w i 1 1 b e u s ed t hroughout a s e r i e s ， an d t h e ab i 1 i t y t o p i l f e r f rom fo 1 1 ow-poe t s sure 1 y fac i 1 i t at ed qu ick compo s i t i on . Bo t h t h e 1 i s t o f t h e members o f t h e Hsiu-wen kuan and t h e e 1 eg i ac memo i r o f Chung-t sung ' s court out ings c ome f rom a 10ng pro s e pass age under t he poet L i S h i h i n t h e Records o f Occas ion s i n T ' ang Poet ry . There i s n o app ar­ en t reason for i t s i n c 1 u s i o n at t h a t po i n t . A f t e r t he pass ages a1 ready quo t ed ， t he re f o 1 1 ows a short chron i c 1 e o f over f o r t y oc c as i on s o f t he court b etween 7 0 8 and 7 1 0 . A 1 0 ng w i t h t h e dat e and t h e occas ion ， t here ma y b e a p p e nd ed 。 f t h e pat t e rn " Wh o wou 1 d s ay

-

Poet ry i n t h e Life o f t he Court

258

a not ewo r t hy coup l et or a men t ion of who f i n i shed t h e i r poem f i rs t o r last . We have mo re poems preserved from t he s e oc cas ions t han f rom any other s imi l ar p er iod of court o c cas ions i n t he T ' ang .. A lm6st all the ext ant poems o f t h e s e occas i on s are preserved in t h e Records of Occa5 些堅 and i n t he Wen- Yllan y i ng-hua . I t se ems l ikely that t he comp i l e r s of t he Wen-yüan y ing-hua and Chi Yu-kung 前 看 泊 ， t he aut hor o f t he twe l f t h.，.. c�ntury Records o f Occas ion� ， had ava i l ab l e a co l 1 ect ion o f imper i a 1 poem s e r ies betwe en t he y ear s 708 and 7 1 0 . The prose pas s age men t ioned abov e was probab1y t he pre f ace t o t hat co 1 1ec­ t io n . Many o f t he s e poem s e r ie s are t o o 10ng t o quot e in t h e i r e n t i r et y ， wh i 1 e others have on1y a f ew poems surv iv­ ing . 1 w i 1 1 t rans 1 at e s even o f t h e e i ght surviving po ems under t he t i t 1 e " Early Sp ring : H i s Maj e s t y V i s i t s t he Sou t he r n V i 1 1 a o f t he Princess T ' a i -p ' i ng 物 喜 穿 衣 干 位 當已 存l 丘 ， wri t t en on t he e 1 event h d ay o f the second month in 7 09 . 1 fo 1 1 0w t he o rder and at t r i but ions of the Wen- Yllan y i ng- hu� ( 1 76 . 9 a- 1 0b ) ; t h e order ， at l east ， fol l ows rough l y the s t at us o f t he part i c ipant s i n the Hs iu-wen kuan and may i nd i c at e t hat t he o rder of compo s i­ t io n was according to rank . The poem omi t t ed i s at t r ibuted to bo t h Wei S su- 1 i ( 04 8 3 8 ) an d Chao Yen- c hao ( 05242 ) . L i C h i ao : Ou

斗: ;立; ;午; :艾:;r? ?o

The Son of Heaven on s h a i ng the eart h .

k

Here and

spring

bes ide

Have

Guards

there s e e Hor s e

b eyond th e fl owers ， Rainbow banners fl ap in the

sun .

th is s tony

t

he

rill p l ay_ in

th e t un e s of t he l u t e . 1 S

And t ake red c l ouds from cups of_ win e .

ex巳ur S l.on

C;OIll t: S

c i rc l e

breez e . t urning conc ert w i t h

p eak s

to

fi l l

our

去 手 港j § 邁 ‘勵站 沈 束 司司 騎 j長 長 花 外 總 乾 誰 干也 曳 a l史 的

遺 精 品 :唱 詞 多J IJ 更 取 拳 霞 入 渴 智、

Po e t ry i n the L i f e o f t he Court

The bird-be 1 1 ed coach has 1eft the i s 1 es of magpies and of rooks ， Yet sounds of their piping sti 1 1 swir 1 s around Phoenix Terrac e . [ 03701 ]

2 59

黨 特 色 餓 晶 宮具 有

孺 皆 指 純 líl 主 壹

The " sun" i n 1 i n e four may r e fe r t o t he emp eror a s we 1 1 as t o the r e a 1 sun . " Red c 1oud s " were one o f t he wondrous foods suppo sed t o c on f e r 10ng 1 i f e ; Li C h i ao has t h e imp e r i a 1 p art y imb i b i n g t h em t h r ough t h e i r r e f 1 e c t ion s in the wine . Su T ' ing :

To our host ' s mountain mansion ear 1y spring returns ; The roya1 pa1anquin on spring excursion ， surrounded by azure mist s . They purchased the 1and ， spread out go 1 d that was once an enc1osure . Searched the river to get their stones that had he1d up the 100m . Among the c10uds bright co1or o f trees ， with thousands of f10wers fi 1 1 ed ， In the bamboo the voice o f a stream ， a hundred courses f1ying . Of cours e we have the tune of the phoenix， me10dy of the gods ， And shou1d a1 1 us e our songs and dances to repay the radiance of His Maj esty ' s favor . [ 05056 under Shen Ch ' 也an- ch ' i ]

主 革 血 海 早 j息 時 ?抑 嘗 J� i追 純 擎 祿文 軍 也 銷. 金 會 作 均 壽 河 質文 品 龍 主 科長 旁 的 為j 色 十 花 ;兩

們 某 某 管 舌 逢 中: 色 為 神 仙 嗡 i忌 曲

怖 的 �� 緝 私 息 ，學

Not i ce t hat Su T ' ing 布 uses phrases f rom L i Chiao ' s p o em i n h i s ope n i n g coup 1 et . What t h e " go l d " o f 1 i n e t h r e e r e f ers to i s u n c 1 e ar ， but i t may r e f e r t o f 1 owers . Ref erence t o t h e s t on e s that " he 1 d up the 100m" are made in s evera1 o f t he poem s : b r i e f 1 y ， t he s t o ry goes t h at a man was once s e arching for t he source of t he Ye1 1 0w R iv e r and c ame upon a 1 ady washing s i 1k . H e asked h e r whe r e h e was and s h e t o 1 d h im h e was i n t he " R iver of S t ar s ， "

26 0

Poe t r y in t he L i f e o f the Court

t h e M i 1 ky Way . S he present ed h im w i t h a s t o n e ， and he retu rned . Lat e r he asked t h e d iv iner Yen Ch ü n-p ' i ng about t he s t o n e and Yen i n formed h im t hat it was t he s t o n e wh i ch h e 1 d up t h e 1 00m o f t he Weav i n g G i r 1 ， a p e r s o n i f ied c o n s t e 1 1 a t i o n . S in c e Pr incess T ' ai-p ' i ng i s conne c t ed w i t h " heaven ， " t he court ， she has access t o such s t on e s . T h i s s t o ry i s based on an anc i ent be 1 i e f t h at t h e ocean f lows u p i n t o heaven j i n t o t he "R iver o f S t a r s ， " and\ t hen back down aga i n i n t he we s t forming t he Ye 1 10w and Yan g t z e r ivers . A second ， r e l at ed st ory ， wh i ch mer g e s w i t h t h e preced in g s t ory i n some o f the poems ， conce rn s � man who 1 ived by t h e Yangt z e ， and every y ear in t he eighth mon t h a raf t c ame f 1 0at ing past h im ， g o i ng out t o s e a . One y e ar he g o t on t he r a f t . A f t e � s e e ing t he dwe 1 1 i n g s and den i zens o f heaven ( and not know i ng wh e re he was ) ， be return ed t o S zechwan and asked t he d i v i ne r Yen C h ü n- p ' i ng how he got t here . Yen Ch ü n-p ' ing answered t hat he r ememb ered t here was a wande r i n g s t ar i n t he Herdboy cons t e l 1 at i on t hat year ， and t he man r e a 1 i z ed he had made t he c i rcuit of t h e M i 1ky Way . The so ng o f t he phoenix i n t h e e i gh t h l ine r e f e r s t 。 t h e s t o r y o f Nung-y 缸 ， t he d aught er o f Duke M u o f Ch ' i n ， and t he p ip ema s t er . The p ip ema s t e r t aught her to p 1 ay t h e son g o f t he phoen ix o n t he panp i pe s ， t hen t hey summon ed a pho e n i x and e 1 0ped o f f to heaven on i t s back . The " Phoen ix Terr ace " o f L i C h i ao ' s poem may a 1 so r e f e r t o t h e s am e s t ory . Thus Su T ' ing and h i s f e l 10w po e t s hav e t h e mus i c wh i c h w i 1 1 c arry t h em t o " he aven . " S hen C h ' ü an - ch ' i : Our ho s t ' s mountain mans ion ' s gat es r i s e by th e River Pa . The scene ry o f the roya l excurs ion ent ers t he new ye ar . Beneath Pho eni x Ha l l cro s s the weapons o f the Guard . By Magpi e 8r idge they s p read imperi al banquet mat s .

主 導 � ， 可 匙， 哦 1 11

良 i拉 瓜 果 λ 的 呼 風望摟 千 夫 文 仗

島 電且 早已 翰 尚且 御 是

Poe t ry i n t he L i f e o f t h e Court

Everywhere among the f10wers we meet with co10red stones ， And oftent imes among bamboo we see those streams of red . This morning the roya1 retinue is bes ide a P ' ing-yang ' s Lodge ， None yearn to ride that fab1 ed raft to the c1 0udy River of Stars . [ 04030 under Su T ' ing]

261

性 性 花 ?再 進 絲 品 的 咱 們 莫 扎 缸 取

今 朝 危 時 干 p�

tfì

非 是 乘 模 空 ;雙 邊

Shen Ch ' ü an- ch ' i draws on e ve n rnore f abu 10u s 1 0 re : T h e Weaving G i r l cons t e l l at ion ( rnen t i oned in t h e s t or y o f ge t t i ng t h e s t o n e s ) and t he He rdboy const e l 1 at ion ( men­ t io n ed i n the s tory o f r i d i ng t he raft t o t he M i l ky Way )

we re popu l a r l y seen as lovers ， al lowed t o meet only o n c e a y e a r wh en mapg ies wou ld form a br idge for t h ern t o c r o s s o v e r t h e heavens t o one ano t h e Ì' . The " l o v e r s " here ar e probab ly ' P r i n c e s s T ' ai-p ' i ng and her husband Prince T i ng . The " s t rearns o f r ed" are st r eam s f i 1 1 ed wi t h f al l en f 10wer s . Han Shou ， the Marqu i s o f P ' i ng- yang ， was t he husband o f H an Wu- t i ' s elder s i s t e r and her e c 1 e ar 1y s t ands for Pr i n c e T i ng . Sung Ch ih-wen :

叮le road from Green Gate touches the Phoenix Terrace . A roya1 excurs ion by the pa1 e Ch ' an . dragon outriders come . Brook p 1 ants by nature we 1 come the scented carri age--they bow ; C 1 i ff f10wers sure1y att�nd on the imperia1 banquet--they .b10ssom . Our writ ings move round the Northern Dipper• .form the stars ' configurations . 切le wine is he1d toward South Mountain as a wish for 1 0ng 1 i fe . This day too attendant courtiers take a stone away-A1 1 are p1eased that our Dis cerning Prince presents gol d on his return. [ 03312 J

言 ? 可 防 咚 亂 }亂 慶

幸 :養 魚 、赴 誕 精 采

j間 草 色 � 令 鞏 忿 ，1 屁 股 倚 仰 起 間 文 特式斗 以 去 �

�ê 逛 商 心 作 者 特 此 日 俏麗的局 去 支 歉 。 可 主 且也 企 自

Poe t ry i n t h e L i f e of the Court

262

The w i t of t he s e cond coup 1 et is based ( 1 ) a visua1 o b s e rvat ion t h at the p 1 an t s " fo 1 d up ， " 主旦 准許 ， seemi n g t o do obe i s an c e t o t he imp e r i a l ret i nue ; an d ( 2 ) a pun o n 主注主 制 ， me an i n g both to " b l os som" an d to " spread a b an q ue t . " The f i ft h 1 i n e obs cure 1 y t e 1 1 s us e i t h e r t h at t h e emp e ro r i s t h e cent r a 1 sub j e c t o f t h e court i e r ' s po ems o r t h at t h e emep ro r ' s poem ( no 10nger ext ant ) s e t s t h e p at t e rn f o r the accomp any i n g poéms o f h i s court i ers j us t as t he Nort hern Dipp e r det e rmines the po s i t ion of the o t h e r s t ars . 1t echoes Ana1ect s ， 1 1 . 1 : "The Mas t e r sai d ， ' Who go verns b y Virtue may b e compared t o t h e No r t h S t ar wh i ch mai n t a i n s i t s p l ac e wh i l e o t h e r s t ars do ob e i s an c e t o i t . ' " Presumab l y al l t he court i ers h e 1 d t h e i r cup s i n t h e direct ion o f Sout h Moun t a i n ， a t radi­ t i o n a 1 symb o 1 of 1ongevit y ， t o convey t h e i r w i s hes to the emp e ro r . Li Yi :

Beyond P ' ing-yang ' s Lodge there is the 平 鴨綠 home of an immortal ， In this garden by the Ch ' in ， nature ' s ;1(: .，j( It;} b eauty is in splendor The l and rises up from East Moor ， turning 地血 來 b ack the s un ' s chariot ， The wal l s l ook down on the Southern Dipper， cloud coaches cross over . 成晶 簡 springs Harmonies o f windb lown circle 風 氣識 bamboo o f hidden groves ， Li ght shakes on ra in and s l eet among flowers o f di fferent trees . l為 取 比 Your Maj esty has been wished the . fortune 己 起時 o f a mi l l ion years span-And when you return at sunset ， you wi l l indeed b e "nine layers" distant 邊草 日 048 [ 75 ]

.

.

付 高 i� k 申 好物等 tp 過 B

1呵

斗 起 管 車 綠幽 林 叫

戒 線嘲 花 來 千 億 窩

本 允 童 蜍

1 n h i s f i rs t coup 1 et L i Y i ingen ious l y b ri ngs in a t h i rd r i ve r o f t h e c ap i t a 1 regi on t o vary Shen Ch ' üan-ch ' i ' s Pa an d Sung Chi h-we n ' s men t ion o f t he Ch ' an ; sure l y Pr i n c e s s

263

Poe t ry i n t h e L i f e o f t he Court

T ' a i-p ' i ng ' s vi l l a was f ar l e s s wat e ry t h an t he s ce n e wo ul d s ugge s t . Li n e t hree s ugg e s t s t h at t h e moun t ai n reg ion s o ut h o f Ch ' ang- an i s s o h igh t hat i t . fo r c e s t h e s un目 chariot t o t u rn back i n i t s course and i t l o o ks down o n t h e const e l l at i ons . The l as t coup l et depends on a p l ay o n t h e " n ine l ay e rs ， " r e f e r r i ng b oth t o h e av e n a n d t o the p a l ac e . L i Yung

t. 毯

I ' ve heard o f the stone that he1d the 100m in that s i 1very " river" And have a1so seen the g01 den pa1 anquin emerge from the Tzu-wei star . Crows and magpies cross before the Weaving Gir1 ' s Bridge ， Over a ha1 1 o f the immorta1 s ， phoenixe$ f1y . A current of wind reaches our seats ， the s inging fans f1utter ， A cas cade ' s water encroaches on stairs， sp1 ashing the dancing robes . Again today as when someone intruded between Ox and Dipper ， And 1 ike him ， on a raft we wi 1 1 f01 10w the sea ' s ebb homeward . [ 05522 ]

{島 的 * ;食 品 正 織-

11 � 企 嗔 鼠 目張 他 織 1r 為 納 .色 鵲 起 心 λ 搏 L 成 隻 f

j仇 Ji\. 入 底 純 歌 為 3皇 米 俺 F啥 ?成﹒ 劈 仇 冷、 自 邊 的 他 帶 斗 乘 稅 裝 進 海剩 蹄

The s ame r e f e rences are used here as i n t he p r e c e d i n g po ems ， w i t h t h e add i t ion o f t h e Tzu-we i st ar ， whe r e t h e p al ace o f heaven w a s suppo s e d t o be locat e d . S h ao She時 ;p 詩 :

叮le 1 0ve 1 iness o f this garden by the Ch ' in surpasses P ' eng- 1ai and Ying- chou， Azure c1 i ffs and streams of red encirc1 e the cap ita1 . Our two sages sudden1y go trave1 1 ing from the 扭笠-bird pa1ace ， A pai r o f immorta1 s descends from phoenix ha1 1 to greet them .

�I它 國 萃壁 三 可旦 噯仙

ii 紅 起 正

蔑奪歪 ;