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of the exterior frontier. The most prolonged interior focalization, a focalization that shifts from exterior
spatial coordinates to interior, is in “Song of White Snow”, followed distantly by “Song of Snow on
Tian Mountain” and “The Ballad of Running Horse River”:
忽 如 一 夜 春 风 来 Suddenly it is as if in the night the Spring wind arrives
千 树 万 树 梨 花 开 On tens of thousands of trees pear blossoms bloom.
散 入 珠 帘 湿 罗 幕 Scattering through beaded curtains and soaking silk drapes,
狐 裘 不 暖 锦 衾 薄 Fox fur clothing does not keep in the heat, resplendent
blankets are thin.
..... .....
155
瀚 海 阑 干 百 丈 冰
愁 云 惨 淡 万 里 凝
中 军 置 酒 饮 归 客
胡 琴 琵 琶 与 羌 笛
Vast desert, railings of ice criss-cross a hundred meters
thick ,
Sorrow clouds and gloom condense over ten thousand li.
At the army camp wine is laid out and drunk to the
departing guest,
Hu songs are strum on pipas along with Qiang flutes.
(“Song of White Snow”, lines 3-6 and 9-12)
晻 霭 寒 氛 万 里 凝
阑 干 阴 崖 千 丈 冰
将 军 狐 裘 卧 不 暖
都 护 宝 刀 冻 欲 断
Gloom cold clouds freeze everything over a distance of
ten thousand li,
Railings upon shaded cliffs are a thousand meters of ice;
The general's fox skins do not keep the bed warm,
The protector-general's sword is frozen and about
to break
(“Song of Snow on Tian Mountain”, lines 9-12)
马 毛 带 雪 汗 气 蒸
五 花 连 钱 旋 作 冰
幕 中 草 檄 砚 水 凝
Horse coats covered in snow; their sweat steams and rises,
Dappled spots like linked coins suddenly turn back
into ice,
Inside the army tent the inkstone's water for writing
documents denouncing the enemy has frozen.
(“Ballad of Running Horse River”, lines 12-14)
The first shift from exterior to interior in “Song of White Snow” is the least abrupt of all three
poems. With the poet-narrator's focalization of the “scattering” (san 散 ) pear blossom-like snowflakes