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homesickness resonating with both an eastward gaze and the gaze towards a specific place east of the
frontier, Chang'an. Although seemingly redundant, the doubling of “gaze” ( 望 ) enhances while
projecting the nostalgic emotional state of the poet-narrator.
The eastward gaze is also prominent as a perceptual gesture of longing in the final line of
“Boating at Lintao: Dismissed From Office, Zhao Xianzhou Returns to the Capital from Beiting”
(“Lintao fan zhou Zhao Xianzhou zi Beiting ba shi huan jing” 临 洮 泛 舟 赵 仙 舟 自 北 庭 罢 使 还 京 ):
池 上 风 回 舫
桥 西 雨 过 城
醉 眠 乡 梦 罢
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东 望 羡 归 程
The wind on the pool blows the boat in circles,
West of the bridge rain passes over the town.
In drunken sleep dreams of home dissipate,
Gazing east I envy your return journey.
(lines 5-8)
As with the opening of “Tune: Remembering Chang'an”, both the eastward spatial coordinates of the
poet-narrator's perceptual facet and the object of perception emit feelings of homesickness. Already
propelled by a preceding dream of home, the poet-narrator's eastward directed gaze ( 东 望 ) and envy of
Zhao Xianzhou's return journey (xian guicheng 羡 归 程 ) extend and enhance the sense of nostalgia, a
feeling imbued within the act of perception and the perceived journey back to the capital.
Compared with the eastward spatial coordinate, the westward directed gaze of the poet-narrator
in Cen Shen's frontier poetry is less commonly used to imply homesickness. 48 When the poet-narrator
47
CSJJZ, p. 143.
48
Unlike the eastward gaze, the westward gaze of the poet-narrator signals a longing to return home in some poems and in
others it is the spatial coordinates of the poet-narrator's perception when he perceives military conflict on the frontier.
One example can be found in the following lines from “At Wuwei: Sending Off Administrative Assistant Liu Dan on His
Way to the Encampment at Anxi (Also to be Shown to Commander Gao)” (“Wuwei song Liu Dan panguan fu Anxi
xingying bian cheng Gao kai fu” 武 威 送 刘 单 判 官 赴 安 西 行 营 便 呈 高 开 府 ): “Gazing west, the clouds are like a
snake,/the Rong and Yi know of misery and death./Dawan horses are driven out by the victorious army,/The king of
Loulan is bound and captured” 西 望 云 似 蛇 , 戎 夷 知 丧 亡 . 浑 驱 大 宛 马 , 系 取 楼 兰 王 . See CSJJZ, p. 91. There is also
the following lines from “The Song of Luntai: Presented When Escorting My Lord Feng Leaving With His Troops on a
Western Campaign (“Luntai ge song fengdafu chushixizheng” 轮 台 歌 奉 送 封 大 夫 出 师 西 征 ) in which gazing west
leads to perception of the tremors of combat: “From the sentry watchtower gazing west smoke and dust are black,/ The
Han troops are stationed north of Luntai” 戍 楼 西 望 烟 尘 黑 , 汉 兵 屯 在 轮 台 北 . See CSJJZ, pp. 145-146.