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.
34<br />
胡 儿 眼 泪 双 双 落<br />
77<br />
The Hu man's tears fall in pairs one after the other.<br />
(lines 5-8)<br />
When weighed against works in which frontier war or landscape are the engine driving the poem's<br />
thematic content, this second facet <strong>of</strong> frontier poetry, one whose focus pivots towards frontier peoples<br />
and customs, is in a definite minority. Its infrequency prior to the Tang, however, can be attested to the<br />
rarity <strong>of</strong> poetically inclined individuals venturing to the northern border regions and reflecting on the<br />
experience through verse, a situation which underwent a severe transformation during the Tang<br />
dynasty 78 once the importance <strong>of</strong> the frontier for both the nation's defence and economy rose to an<br />
unprecedented degree in tandem with the expansion <strong>of</strong> both the territory and wealth <strong>of</strong> the empire. 79<br />
But attention to the frontier alone does not suffice when framing poetic windows encompassing its<br />
denizens' lives: a well-rounded intimacy with the region is also a prerequisite for such compositions in<br />
this vein <strong>of</strong> frontier poetry. Aside from Gao Shi and Cen Shen, writers who did not merely travel briefly<br />
throughout the northern periphery <strong>of</strong> Tang China but who spent years <strong>of</strong> their lives in the employment<br />
<strong>of</strong> military <strong>of</strong>ficers on the frontier, the number <strong>of</strong> poets able to portray the peoples and customs <strong>of</strong> the<br />
frontier were relatively few. That being said, the High Tang did have many exceptional samplings <strong>of</strong><br />
this theme; some <strong>of</strong> them will be discussed when the thesis addresses the distinct traits <strong>of</strong> High Tang<br />
frontier poetry through Xiao Chengyu's thematic framework.<br />
2.3. The Third Facet: The Frontier Landscape<br />
It was not until the High Tang and Cen Shen's frontier poems, compositions in which the<br />
frontier landscape itself had instances <strong>of</strong> being foregrounded against the emotional concerns familiar to<br />
many frontier poems, that Xiao's third foundational facet in the classification <strong>of</strong> frontier poetry could<br />
be seen in its least adulterated state. Many frontier works preceding Cen Shen did in fact evince an<br />
77 QTS 133.1348.<br />
78 That is until the An Lushan rebellion when many frontier military units were recalled to quell the uprising.<br />
79 Chen Xiuduan, “Censhen biansaishi yanjiu”, pp. 37-38. For a sustained analysis <strong>of</strong> extra-literary reasons behind the<br />
meteoric rise <strong>of</strong> frontier poetry during the Tang dynasty, especially the martial, political and social reasons, see chapter<br />
three <strong>of</strong> Kam-lung Ng's “Tangdai biansaishi yanjiu”.