View/Open - University of Victoria
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View/Open - University of Victoria
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64<br />
沙 上 见 日 出<br />
沙 上 见 日 没<br />
悔 向 万 里 来<br />
72<br />
功 名 是 何 物<br />
Above the desert see the sun rise<br />
Above the desert see the sun set<br />
Regretting having come ten-thousand li<br />
Success and fame: what are they?<br />
The most remarkable strength <strong>of</strong> Cen Shen's frontier poems rests in descriptions <strong>of</strong> frontier<br />
environments, a facet which will be addressed shortly. As for attitudes towards frontier war, Cen Shen's<br />
works tend to be somewhat simplistic in comparison to Gao Shi whose descriptive focus on the human<br />
aspect <strong>of</strong> war is finer than Cen Shen's. 73 When they do manage to step back from the hortatory,<br />
laudatory or self-serving, the poet-narrators in Cen Shen's frontier verse are usually silent on issues <strong>of</strong><br />
military policy and the broader effects <strong>of</strong> frontier warfare. This is where Gao Shi's frontier poems come<br />
to prominence. By projecting High Tang frontier poetry along an arc which incorporates an intricate<br />
assembly <strong>of</strong> responses to frontier war, Gao Shi is able to <strong>of</strong>fer ample reason for assessing the era's<br />
contributions to the subgenre as being some <strong>of</strong> the most memorable. His “Song <strong>of</strong> Yan” (“Yange xing”<br />
燕 歌 行 ) is the flagship representing such a great diversity <strong>of</strong> responses to borderland conflict. 74<br />
Through groupings <strong>of</strong> thematically linked lines flowing in rapid and immaculate succession,<br />
Gao Shi unites an array <strong>of</strong> antipodal attitudes towards martial affairs in “Song <strong>of</strong> Yan”. 75 As for<br />
poem was written several years later while Cen Shen was returning east from the western frontier. See Zhang Hui<br />
Censhen biansai shixuan, p. 96. Given the poem's stated regret at having come so far into the desert, the repetitiveness<br />
<strong>of</strong> the scene, and the derision expressed for seeking success and fame, I would invest my faith in the former <strong>of</strong> the two<br />
dates.<br />
72<br />
CSJJZ, p. 145.<br />
73<br />
Hong Zan, Tangdai zhangzhengshi yanjiu, p. 88.<br />
74<br />
Gao Shi's breadth <strong>of</strong> realism and complexity <strong>of</strong> responses to frontier issues surpassed those <strong>of</strong> other poets with works in<br />
the subgenre. A frequent reason given for such distinction is Gao Shi's primary experience with martial life while serving<br />
on extensive frontier missions, an opportunity he sought early on in his life so that he could prove his prowess outside<br />
the narrow confines <strong>of</strong> the <strong>of</strong>ficial examination system. See Ren Wenjing 任 文 京 , Zhongguo gudai biansaishishi 中 国 古<br />
代 边 塞 诗 史 (Beijing: Renmin chubanshe 人 民 出 版 社 , 2010), pp. 210-211.<br />
75<br />
As a yuefu topic, “Song <strong>of</strong> Yan” ( 燕 歌 行 ) in its earliest textual instances focused on a husband sent to serve the state far<br />
from home, a service from which he was unable to return, and the wife's boundless grief, a sadness she had no means <strong>of</strong><br />
relating 行 役 不 归 , 妇 人 怨 旷 无 所 诉 也 . See YFSJ 32.469. Gao Shi briefly exploits this initial theme without making it<br />
central to his poem; Cao Pi's ( 曹 丕 ) “Song <strong>of</strong> Yan”, however, unfolds along the yuefushiji title's primeval trajectory to<br />
bring out “the latent sentimentality <strong>of</strong> the theme”. See Marie Chan, “Kao Shih's Yen Ko-Hsing”, p. 207. Gao Shi's “Song<br />
<strong>of</strong> Yan” is not only the poet's representative work, it is also one <strong>of</strong> the most thematically diverse <strong>of</strong> any Tang frontier<br />
poem through its incorporation <strong>of</strong> elements <strong>of</strong> the frontier landscape, frontier battle, and shifts between praise and<br />
sympathy for the average frontier soldier and condemnation <strong>of</strong> both <strong>of</strong>ficial corruption and disastrous frontier policies