View/Open - University of Victoria
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117<br />
exemplification <strong>of</strong> “qi” ( 奇 ) in Cen Shen's frontier verse.<br />
Balancing discussion <strong>of</strong> the “qi” ( 奇 ) quality <strong>of</strong> the poems' existents are essays that <strong>of</strong>fer<br />
comments on issues surrounding the odd manner in which the poet-narrator at times perceives the<br />
43<br />
northwestern lands <strong>of</strong> Tang China. For example, Li Jin's 李 锦 claims that Cen Shen's aesthetically<br />
orientated vision, one quite distinct from Gao Shi's politically motivated gaze in its sensitivity towards<br />
discrepancies between northern and southern climes, is responsible, along with the very strangeness <strong>of</strong><br />
the frontier's natural and human sights, for the “unusual” (qi 奇 ) hue <strong>of</strong> Cen Shen's frontier poetry.<br />
With a perceptual apparatus that could sustain attention to one attribute <strong>of</strong> the frontier landscape while<br />
remaining attuned to miniscule fluctuations in its behaviour, 44 the “poet”, according to Li, displays a<br />
unique and novel (xinqi 新 奇 ) way <strong>of</strong> perceiving the borderland setting rarely encountered in poems <strong>of</strong><br />
the same subgenre. 45<br />
Held By the Prefect <strong>of</strong> Jiuquan” 酒 泉 太 守 席 上 醉 后 作 , and “Song: Prefect Tian's Lovely Lady Dances the Northern<br />
Twirl Dance Like a Lotus Flower” 田 使 君 美 人 如 莲 花 舞 北 旋 歌 , all <strong>of</strong> which have been referred to in this thesis. Liao<br />
Li 廖 立 also notes that the “ 奇 ”(qi) <strong>of</strong> Cen Shen's frontier environment is realized in images <strong>of</strong> culinary and domicile<br />
decor, domestic entities which were difficult, if not impossible, to encounter in central China, and that in the poems also<br />
exist within an equally uncommon physical terrain. See Liao Li 廖 立 , “Censhen biansaishi de fengege tese 岑 参 边 塞 诗<br />
的 风 格 特 色 ”in Liao Li 廖 立 , Censhen shiji zhuzuokao 岑 参 事 迹 著 作 考 (Zhengzhou: Zhongzhou guji chubanshe 中<br />
州 古 籍 出 版 社 , 1997), pp. 259-272, especially p. 268.<br />
43 Li Jin, “ Yuqitijun, yiyizaoqi”, passim.<br />
44 Li Jin cites images <strong>of</strong> frigidity in “Ballad <strong>of</strong> Running Horse River: Presented Upon Sending Off the Army on a Western<br />
Campaign” (“Zoumachuanxing fengsong chushi xizheng” 走 马 川 行 奉 送 出 师 西 征 ) as examples <strong>of</strong> such keen<br />
perceptual precision: “Horse coats covered in snow and steaming sweat, dappled spots like linked coins suddenly turn<br />
back into ice, inside the army tent the inkstone's water for writing documents denouncing the enemy has frozen” (the<br />
second line is based on Stephen Owen, tr., in An Anthology <strong>of</strong> Chinese Literature p. 468.. 马 毛 带 雪 汗 气 蒸 , 五 花 连 钱 旋<br />
作 冰 , 幕 中 草 檄 砚 水 凝 . See CSJJZ, p. 148.<br />
45 Dai Weihua 戴 伟 华 ascribes this seeming search for the new and strange to Cen Shen's immersion in a special (i.e. noncentral<br />
Chinese) physical and cultural environment. Regarding Cen Shen's sharp observational skills, Dai suggests that<br />
the natural scenery surrounding Cen Shen's early days <strong>of</strong> semi-retirement, and rendered into verse in many <strong>of</strong> his prefrontier<br />
poems, helped to enhance his ability to note the subtle details and minutiae <strong>of</strong> the northwestern frontier. See Dai<br />
Weihua 戴 伟 华 , “Lun Cen Shen biansaishi dute fengge xingcheng de yuanyin 论 岑 参 边 塞 诗 独 特 风 格 形 成 的 原 因 ”<br />
Wenxueyichan 文 学 遗 产 1997.4, pp. 27-35, especially pp. 28-29. Chen Jing's 陈 静 brief analysis <strong>of</strong> Cen Shen's “Song<br />
<strong>of</strong> White Snow: Sending Off Administrative Official Wu on His Return to the Capital” 白 雪 歌 送 武 判 官 归 京 also notes<br />
how Cen Shen implements graded levels <strong>of</strong> detail as a means <strong>of</strong> expanding perception <strong>of</strong> the highly unusual (qiyi 奇 异 )<br />
frontier environment . See Chen Jing 陈 静 , “Shenqi zhuangli de biansai fengguang, yuwei wuqiong de songbie<br />
changjing 神 气 壮 丽 的 边 塞 风 光 , 余 味 无 穷 的 送 别 场 景 ”Caizhi 才 智 2011.4, p. 179.