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exemplifying High Tang advancements in the treatment of frontier war, the poem can be read as
presenting a dualist view 76 of the peripheral, yet ineradicable, phenomenon while exemplifying the
elevation of High Tang frontier poetry:
开 元 二 十 六 年 , 客 有 从 元 戎 出 塞 而 还 者 , 作 燕 歌 行 以 示 , 适 感 征 戍 之 事 , 因 而 和 焉 。
In the twenty-sixth year of Kaiyuan 77 an acquaintance who had been accompanying Lord
Censor Zhang 78 returned and showed me “The Song of Yan” which he had written. I was very moved
by the matters of war and garrison defence found in the poem. As a result, I wrote this response.
汉 家 烟 尘 在 东 北
汉 将 辞 家 破 残 贼
男 儿 本 自 重 横 行
天 子 非 常 赐 颜 色
Smoke and dust 79 of the Han 80 house is in the north-east,
The Han general leaves home to crush the savage enemy.
A man by nature values distant adventures,
The emperor presents no ordinary praise and reward.
摐 金 伐 鼓 下 榆 关
Striking bells and beating drums 81 , descending from
See Dai Weihua 戴 伟 华 “Gaoshi yangexing xinlun 高 适 < 燕 歌 行 > 新 论 Xueshu yanjiu 学 术 研 究 2010.12, pp.140-
144. In a different essay, Hu Yong addresses the complexity of the work by reassessing the exegetical tradition behind
the poem, one which stressed the work's anti-war and anti-corruption content. Hu Yong's interpretation suggests that the
poem contains a high degree of praise for military feats on the frontier, an interpretation which augments the popular
reading of the poem as a scathing exposure of inequality and decadence within the army. See Hu Yong 胡 勇 “Fengci
haishi gesong: shilun Gao Shi 'Yange xing' de zhuzhi 讽 刺 还 是 歌 颂 : 试 论 高 适 〈 燕 歌 行 〉 的 主 旨 ”Mingzuo
xinshang 名 作 欣 赏 2012.8, pp. 70-71.
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Marie Chan specifies this dualistic, and distinguishing, quality as “High Tang frontier poetry['s] alternation between
condemnation and condolence of the martial enterprise, and delight and distaste for the frontier”. See Marie Chan, Kao
Shih, p. 95.
77
The non-dynastic calendar date being 738.
78
Reference here is to Zhang Shougui 张 守 圭 . “Between 733 and 736, [Zhang] inflicted a series of defeats upon the
Qidan 契 丹 and Xi 奚 tribes which had troubled the northeast for some years...In 739, however, when Gao Shi wrote
the poem Zhang's star was already on the wane [given how] three of his subordinates [had] forged an order in his name,
attacked the remaining Xi tribes, and were soundly routed. Zhang attempted to cover up the incident without success and
was demoted. Composed in the same year as this incident, the poem has [often] been interpreted as a veiled attack upon
Zhang Shougui” . See Marie Chan, Kao Shih, pp. 158-159. But to read the poem in such narrow historical terms delimits
both its aesthetic and ideological effects. “From 732 to 734, Gao Shi spent a significant time on the northern frontier and
became quite familiar with all facets of military life”. See GSJJZ pp. 81-82; 'Song of Yan', in addition to any historical
information it might suggest, can also be approached in light of Gao Shi's own extensive frontier experience as a
condensation of Gao's observations and responses to the policies and practices of frontier warfare. See Yu Shiling 俞 士
玲 “Gao Shi 'Yangexing 'xiaowei yushu fei hanhai, chanyu liehuo zhao langshan' kaoshi 高 适 《 燕 歌 行 》' 校 尉 羽 书
飞 瀚 海 , 单 于 猎 火 照 狼 山 ' 考 释 ”Guji zhengli yanjiu xuekan 古 籍 整 理 研 究 学 刊 2000.4, pp. 31-33; 39.
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Warnings that the Xi and Qidan are attacking (see GSJJZ, 82), or “a synecdoche for warfare”. See Stephen Owen, The
Great Age of Chinese Poetry: The High T'ang (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1980), p. 374.
80
Meaning the Tang.
81
The influence of Southern dynasty frontier poetry is still clear when elements of “Song of Yan” are read against Liu