View/Open - University of Victoria
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commanders whose selfish behaviour ignored the sacrifices made by the common soldier. The crux <strong>of</strong><br />
this second response to frontier warfare is lines eleven and twelve, “soldiers at the front lines between<br />
life and death/beautiful women within a tent still sing and dance”. Through a naked juxtaposition <strong>of</strong><br />
soldiers approaching oblivion against military <strong>of</strong>ficials in a cozy tent surrounded by carnal titillation, a<br />
sense <strong>of</strong> raw injustice slithers in and out <strong>of</strong> the sacrifice and loyalty displayed on the battlefield. 102 The<br />
frontier landscape itself seems to change in sympathy as optimism collapses into despair: 103 place<br />
names and allusions fade and yield to the devastation <strong>of</strong> a rampaging enemy who leaves in his wake<br />
beneath a setting twilight sun the exhausted bodies <strong>of</strong> soldiers who nevertheless still seek nothing for<br />
themselves. This second division <strong>of</strong> the poem, in addition to containing an indictment against higher<br />
ranked <strong>of</strong>ficials' lack <strong>of</strong> concern for the lowest <strong>of</strong> subordinates, also includes oblique reference to<br />
strands <strong>of</strong> the third response to frontier warfare found in the poem: an expression <strong>of</strong> sympathy for those<br />
affected by the ravages <strong>of</strong> frontier war. 104 It is the third division <strong>of</strong> “Song <strong>of</strong> Yan”, lines seventeen to<br />
twenty-four, which develops this response to frontier war.<br />
70<br />
Earlier, in chapter two <strong>of</strong> this thesis, “My Lord is in Service” (“Junzi yuyi” 君 子 于 役 ) was<br />
cited as a poetic ancestor <strong>of</strong> one variation <strong>of</strong> responses to frontier warfare. In that poem, far distant war<br />
was rendered through a filter exposing the separation military conflict forces between husband and<br />
102<br />
For another scene <strong>of</strong> frontier carousel juxtaposed against the impolite realities <strong>of</strong> frontier warfare, there is Cen Shen's<br />
“At Wuwei, Sending Off Administrative Assistant Liu Dan On His Way to the Encampment at Anxi, Also to be Shown<br />
to Commander Gao” (“Wuwei song Liu Dan panguan fu anxi xingying biancheng Gao kaifu” 武 威 送 刘 单 判 官 赴 安 西<br />
行 营 便 呈 高 开 府 ). Gao Shi's restrained vitriol, however, is absent in Cen Shen's poem in which the latter's movement<br />
from morbidity to excess is a shift without any ideological urgency, a mere, if beautiful, description <strong>of</strong> two diverse<br />
frontier realities: “The night is still, the sky is gloomy/Sobbing ghosts line both sides <strong>of</strong> the road/Skulls litter the<br />
ground/Ancient battlefields are everywhere/Setting out wine in the tall guest quarters at sunset/The moon over the<br />
frontier town is a deep blue/In the army camp they slaughter plump cows/In the hall they array wine goblets/The red<br />
tears are candles dripping in their holders/The mellow, moving songs are sung by girls in dazzling fresh make-up” 夜 静<br />
天 萧 条 , 鬼 哭 夹 道 旁 . 地 上 多 髑 髅 , 皆 是 古 战 场 . 置 酒 高 馆 夕 , 边 城 月 苍 苍 . 军 中 宰 肥 牛 , 堂 上 罗 羽 觞 . 红 泪 金 烛 盘 ,<br />
娇 歌 艳 新 妆 ”See CSJJZ, p. 91. Cen Shen's repast and revelry seems more reflective <strong>of</strong> the frontier barrack life <strong>of</strong> highranking<br />
military <strong>of</strong>ficials where the poetic reproduction <strong>of</strong> dancing and fine dining is not necessarily a clarion call for<br />
criticism <strong>of</strong> effete authority figures.<br />
103<br />
Marie Chan, “Kao Shih's 'Yen Ko-Hsing”, p. 214.<br />
104<br />
The final two lines <strong>of</strong> the second thematic division, “when graciously recognized they always look down on the<br />
enemy/their strength exhausted, the siege at the mountain pass still unbroken” 身 当 恩 遇 常 轻 敌 , 力 尽 关 山 未 解 围 ,<br />
signals a shift to the sympathetic treatment <strong>of</strong> those abused, be it emotionally or physically, by the realities <strong>of</strong> frontier<br />
warfare. These lines seem to suggest that the uplifting support <strong>of</strong> the emperor in line four is but a memory; now only a<br />
depletion <strong>of</strong> verve and enthusiasm surrounds the martial enterprise.