View/Open - University of Victoria
View/Open - University of Victoria
View/Open - University of Victoria
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47<br />
the accepted definition <strong>of</strong> frontier poetry <strong>of</strong> the Tang dynasty as poetry reflecting experiences <strong>of</strong> war<br />
on the country's borders, conflict between ethnic Chinese and non-Chinese, and poetry composed by<br />
those at the frontier or after having returned. 3 However, Hu finds certain weaknesses with such a<br />
conception, especially when having to reconcile“frontier poetry” as written by those possessing frontier<br />
experience with Yuefu 乐 府 topic poems related to themes <strong>of</strong> frontier war and environment written<br />
neither at the frontier nor by people with even a modicum <strong>of</strong> personal familiarity with such regions.<br />
Such terminological conflict leads Hu to doubt the integrity <strong>of</strong> any general definition <strong>of</strong> “frontier<br />
poetry”, especially those which demand certain experiential requirements <strong>of</strong> its poets. The early<br />
tentative conclusion reached by Hu is to regard the term “frontier poetry” itself as mere academic<br />
convenience for classifying a large body <strong>of</strong> poetry that in reality exhibits a great number <strong>of</strong><br />
discrepancies in its compositional motivation, authorial experience and content. 4<br />
Hu also has reservations concerning the tendency exhibited by some critics who view Tang<br />
frontier poetry exclusively as a literary response to military confrontations erupting between Tang<br />
China and its smaller neighbours. A critical practice which limits discussion to questions surrounding<br />
the historical background to the wars themselves and a poet's own support or criticism <strong>of</strong> military<br />
actions forces “frontier” poetry into a deep, even self-effacing, alliance with “war” poetry. Hu argues<br />
that should a category <strong>of</strong> “frontier poetry” need to exist, it cannot simply be equated to poems about<br />
war as that would preclude the inclusion <strong>of</strong> poems where attitudes towards policies <strong>of</strong> defence or<br />
territorial expansion are a poem's focal point as well as works in which descriptions <strong>of</strong> frontier<br />
3<br />
Ibid., p. 37.<br />
4<br />
Compositional motivation in this context can be divided between frontier poems written as literary exercise<br />
(wenhuaxing 文 化 型 ) and poems intended to reflect the multitude <strong>of</strong> effects frontier conflicts had on society (xieshixing<br />
写 实 型 ). See Kam-lung Ng, “Tang dai biansaishi yanjiu”, p. 126. As for content, Hu Dajun's greatest concern is with<br />
how certain salient, subgenre defining features <strong>of</strong> frontier poetry are also frequently found in other schools (pai 派 ) <strong>of</strong><br />
poetry, such as landscape poetry (shanshui shi 山 水 诗 ) and poems on history (yongshi shi 咏 史 诗 ). If an independent<br />
school <strong>of</strong> “frontier poetry” is to be delineated, its essence (zhi 质 ), as distinct from other types <strong>of</strong> poetry, needs to be<br />
derived from the varied content already found in works considered “frontier poetry” which, if viewed from the<br />
perspective <strong>of</strong> a landscape or boudoir lament (guiyuan 闺 怨 ) poem, can also be construed as categorically relevant in<br />
defining the poem under review as something other than a frontier poem.