View/Open - University of Victoria
View/Open - University of Victoria
View/Open - University of Victoria
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192<br />
movement eastward that was noted by the poet-narrator (as no such movement exists in the poem) but a<br />
hope that the bird could speak on the poet-narrator's behalf to those at home writing letters, and in<br />
effect traverse the gap between himself and home. How the parrot might deliver such a message is not<br />
stated, though one might surmise, if one were so inclined, that after flying east or perhaps being<br />
captured and brought to the capital, as was the fate <strong>of</strong> Mi Heng's parrot, 69 it might finally be able to<br />
deliver the poet-narrator's message.<br />
Conclusion<br />
This chapter has endeavoured to show how the manner <strong>of</strong> perception itself was capable <strong>of</strong><br />
expressing the omnipresent emotion <strong>of</strong> homesickness on the distant frontier setting. In doing so, the<br />
spatial coordinates <strong>of</strong> the poet-narrator's perceptual facet in several poems were read as suggestive <strong>of</strong> a<br />
heart burdened by thoughts <strong>of</strong> home and feelings <strong>of</strong> separation. In another group <strong>of</strong> poems, the way the<br />
poet-narrator focalized specific mobile and linguistic features <strong>of</strong> three frontier setting existents was also<br />
discussed as being indicative <strong>of</strong> how acts <strong>of</strong> perception can be guided by and expressive <strong>of</strong> the poetnarrator's<br />
emotional state. Of course, the way a poet-narrator perceives the frontier landscape <strong>of</strong> vast<br />
distances is not the only avenue open to expressing homesickness. Aside from the earlier examples<br />
provided at the beginning <strong>of</strong> this chapter, rhetorical questions, too, made by the poet-narrator referring<br />
to a time <strong>of</strong> return and the location <strong>of</strong> the capital can also convey a state <strong>of</strong> homesickness:<br />
西 行 殊 未 已<br />
东 望 何 时 还<br />
终 日 风 与 雪<br />
70<br />
连 天 沙 复 山<br />
This westward travelling has yet to cease;<br />
Gazing east – when will I return?<br />
All day just wind and snow,<br />
Sands and mountains stretch into the sky.<br />
(“Sent to Administrative Assistant Yuwen”, lines 1-4)<br />
长 安 何 处 在<br />
Where is Chang'an located?<br />
69<br />
See earlier footnote to “When Heading to Beiting and Passing Long Mountain I Think <strong>of</strong> Home”.<br />
70<br />
CSJJZ, p. 86.