View/Open - University of Victoria
View/Open - University of Victoria
View/Open - University of Victoria
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
hibernal (cold). The first section treats the thermal frontier setting by examining how the poet-narrators<br />
<strong>of</strong> four key poems follow a selfsame progression in focalizing the poems' opening “hot” theme and<br />
initial sub-theme, and then retain, to varying degrees <strong>of</strong> consistency, parallel approaches in how<br />
following sub-themes <strong>of</strong> the thermal frontier are perceived through a variety <strong>of</strong> “lenses” in both<br />
ordinary and imaginary modes <strong>of</strong> focalization. The section ends by examining the natural violence<br />
perceived within several <strong>of</strong> these hot landscapes, expressions <strong>of</strong> thermality that scorch and burn the<br />
broader frontier environment while simultaneously uniting the texts through the manner in which the<br />
landscape's aggressive conflagration is perceived by the poet-narrators.<br />
Section two <strong>of</strong> chapter five addresses poems in which the “cold” frontier landscape is dominant.<br />
The ensuing discussion draws attention to how the poet-narrators in Cen Shen's hibernal landscapes<br />
use definite patterns <strong>of</strong> shifting focalization to convey imagisitc details <strong>of</strong> the setting, and how these<br />
patterns are found in each <strong>of</strong> the poems that feature a well developed cold environment. These shifts<br />
occur in the spatial coordinates <strong>of</strong> focalization, the alterations in attention to active and inert features<br />
<strong>of</strong> the hibernal landscape, and the perception <strong>of</strong> two types <strong>of</strong> cold objects emphasizing the freezing<br />
conditions <strong>of</strong> the northwestern frontier.<br />
Chapter six examines the relationship between homesickness and the focalization <strong>of</strong> the<br />
frontier <strong>of</strong> vast distances. After introducing some <strong>of</strong> the more common tropes for expressing nostalgic<br />
feelings for home, the chapter proceeds with an investigation into how acts <strong>of</strong> perception themselves<br />
are able to convey the inner emotional state <strong>of</strong> the poet-narrator. One area <strong>of</strong> analysis is the direction <strong>of</strong><br />
the poet-narrator's gaze, and how its spatial coordinates alone bespeak feelings <strong>of</strong> homesickness and<br />
separation. The other aspect considered is how by focalizing the mobile characteristics <strong>of</strong> objects both<br />
living and non-living the poet-narrator expresses a wish to lessen the distance between himself and his<br />
home east <strong>of</strong> the frontier.<br />
By narrowing the scope <strong>of</strong> analysis to the poet-narrators' focalization <strong>of</strong> Cen Shen's three<br />
106