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Liu Jun's 刘 峻 (462-521) Yuefu topic poem “Beyond the Frontier” (“Chu sai” 出 塞 ) is
illustrative of how frontier landscape imagery, place names and Han dynasty allusions common in Tang
frontier poetry had congealed in Southern dynasty works of the same subgenre:
蓟 门 秋 汽 清 Jimen, the autumn air clear, 108
飞 将 出 长 城
The Flying General 109 embarks from the Great Wall.
绝 漠 冲 风 急
Endless desert, a rushing violent wind;
交 河 夜 月 明
Jiaohe , the night's bright moon.
陷 敌 摐 金 鼓
Breaching the enemy lines, striking cymbals and drums,
摧 锋 扬 旆 旌
Destroying their morale, waving battle flags.
去 去 无 终 极
Campaigning on and on, no end in sight,
110
日 暮 动 边 声 At dusk the rumblings of frontier sounds.
Liu's poem satisfies many of the content requirements of a frontier poem of his era. Lines one and four
include north and northwestern frontier place names (Jimen and Jiaohe); line two incorporates an
allusion to an important Han dynasty figure, Li Guang, one whose identity is intimately linked with the
northern frontier; and the final two lines indirectly express a depressed, doleful attitude towards the
endless fighting and fatigue which seems to echo even after nightfall.
The seven separate quatrains of Wang Changling's “In the Army” (“Congjunxing qishou” 从 军
行 七 首 ) compactly reflect the aforementioned essence of the standard frontier poem as delineated in
Liu Jun's poem and other generically similar pieces of the Southern dynasty era. Liu's association of
the frontier landscape with autumnal death (martial conflict) and dissolution, a time of darkness (night),
108 During the Han dynasty when the autumn grasses had withered and horses were strong, battles would often erupt
between the Xiongnu and Han. Here “autumn air” is used to exaggerate this atmosphere of war. See Wang Shupan 王 叔
磐 and Sun Yuqin 孙 玉 溱 , ed., Lidai bianwai shixuan 历 代 边 外 诗 选 (Hohhot: Renmin chubanshe 人 民 出 版 社 ,
1986), p. 31.
109 General Li Guang 李 广 of the Han dynasty. A general whose men were always eager to fight for him, Li Guang's fame,
as it relates to the frontier, was a result of his instrumental role in repelling several Xiongnu attacks on Han territory
despite once having been captured but later escaping. The moniker “Flying General” was bestowed upon Li Guang by
the Xiongnu out of fear and awe of the general's horsemanship and archery skills. For the biography of Li Guang see
Shiji, chapter 109.
110 YFSJ 21.318.