Words Well Put
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Zuo Tradition has a wonderful account of poetic heckling when
Qing Feng 慶封 of Qi visits the court of Lu and repeatedly fails to
observe diplomatic protocol. 44 The members of the Lu court offer
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fully internalized, it is always easier to address the reasons for failure—which “stick out” as signals of inadequate internalization—than it is to analyze the elements of success, which necessarily efface themselves as a precondition of their efficacy.
44. Xiang 27.
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Performing the Tradition
51
him the poem “Look at the Rat” 相鼠, which reads in part, “Look at
the rat, it has its skin; a man without manners—a man without
manners, why does he not die?” 45 This is a doubly devastating critique for it uses the Tradition to mock a lack of facility in traditional knowledge. Qin Feng fails to understand even this pointed insult.
Thus competence can be demonstrated in how one handles in-
stances of incompetence in oneself or others. This is really a matter
of nesting one level of (in)competence inside another level. In order
to operate effectively, the highest level of competence will efface
itself even as it makes the second level explicit, which it must do to
establish its own authority. This is the fundamental relationship
between the offering of poetry and the citation of poetry in
speechmaking. The application and interpretation of the Poems that remained implicit in the ritual of offering are rendered explicit when
a citation from them is framed in a speech. What was once a per-
formance of poetry through ritual reenactment is “flattened out”
into a rhetorical resource for a different type of performance:
speechmaking.
IV
Cultural competence in offering a poem is very similar to the
competence required for successful speechmaking. Indeed, the of-
fering of a poem can be thought of as a very specialized form of
speechmaking. In either case, the speaker takes the variables of time,
place, and audience into account, adjusting his discourse according
to his impressions of what his audience must be thinking. Officials
make most of the speeches depicted in the Zuo Tradition to rulers or other officials, for these are the very class of people who must justify their existence through the skillful handling of discourse. The prime
function of Zuo Tradition narratives is to demonstrate the competence of Traditionalists in this practice. Rulers are not required to
make extended speeches because, as the focal point of the court, they
naturally occupy the position of audience. In speaking at court, an
official must impose his body upon the privileged space defined by
the presence of the ruler and impose his speech upon the ruler’s
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45. Mao #52. Karlgren, Book of Odes, p. 33.
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Performing the Tradition
time. Even when officials are speaking to one another at court, the
ruler is the tacit audience for these public exchanges of discourse.
Such impositions require a mode of performance—involving par-
ticular postures and types of speech—that implicitly acknowledges
and maintains the hierarchy atop which the ruler sits. Adopting this
mode of performance allows an official to “take the floor,” but it
does not guarantee his success. The speaker must demonstrate
competence if he is to continue speaking, if he is to be persuasive,
and if he is to be allowed to speak again. It should come as no sur-
prise that in the narratives of the Zuo Tradition such competence is demonstrated by building speeches around citations of Traditional
knowledge, the Poems being the most frequently cited rhetorical
resource. Many of the speeches depicted in the Zuo Tradition can be read as object lessons, acting as testaments to the power of poetic
competence in fashioning truthful and persuasive speeches. 46
The phrase “to cite a poem” ( yinshi 引詩) suggests “drawing” or
“intromitting” words from the Traditional body of knowledge
called the Poems into the discourse of a speech. Because the Poems were a relatively stable and widely disseminated body of knowledge
during the Eastern Zhou, and because they are invariably intoned in
a tetrasyllabic meter, the provenance of their language is readily
apparent upon utterance. Even so, a citation from the Poems is almost always explicitly marked in a speech, usually with the phrase
“The Poems say . . .” 詩曰. This indicates that the authority of the Poems is derived just as much from their status as an explicitly labeled body of knowledge as it is from being a special form of lan-
guage. The announcement that the speaker is about to cite a Tradi-
tional body of knowledge prepares the listener for the archaic
sounds of the old words, which may not even be fully understood
by the audience unless they too are well versed in Traditional
knowledge. The intromission of words that sound “mysterious”
helps to elevate and legitimate the mundane sounds of ordinary
speech just as liturgical Latin does in a Catholic mass. It is actually
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46. Schaberg ( Patterned Past, pp. 72–80), Yang Xiangshi ( Zuo zhuan fushi yinshi kao), and Zeng Qinliang ( Zuo zhuan yinshi fushi zhi shijiao yanjiu) all address poetic citation, the latter two collecting and annotating every instance of it found in the Zuo Tradition.
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Performing the Tradition
53
desirable to the Traditionalist advisor that his citation from the
Poems not be immediately transparent, for he displays his compe-
tence in applying and interpreting the citation with regard to the
matter at hand in his speech.
A citation from the Poems may be integrated into a speech in a
variety of ways, but it always involves application and interpreta-
tion. 47 In offering a poem as a form of ritual reenactment, application is a matter of choosing the appropriate poem for the given time,
place, and audience; interpretation is a matter of construing
the relationship between the poem and the current situation, an
activity that occurs tacitly on both sides of the exchange. The
competence required to interpret an offered poem is assumed for
both parties—its absence is a remarkable occasion. It is desirable
that the applicability of the offered poem (and hence its intended
interpretation) be self-evident, for the necessity of further comment
would signal the exchange’s failure. In the context of poetic offer-
ing, the human participants are to some extent subordinated to
the poem, the vehicle to which they entrust their sentiments.
However, as was evident in the exchange between Prince Chong’er
and Duke Mu, there is always “wiggle room,” an exploitable dif-
ference in commonality.
With
poetic
citation, however, the human being reasserts his
dominance over di
scourse. It is he who fashions his speech, and the
poem is put in service of it. Application is no longer a matter of
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47. Yang Xiangshi ( Zuo zhuan fushi yinshi kao, pp. 65–67) establishes eight classifications of poetic citation in speeches. The first and last items in the list below are more general principles of citation rather than specific usages.
斷章取義 breaking off a stanza to seize upon a meaning (at odds with the one suggested by the original context)
摭句證言 choosing a line to prove what one is saying (often treated as historical evidence)
先引以發其下 opening the argument with a citation (often through applica-
tion)
後引以承其上 closing the argument with a citation (often as a general case)
意解以申其義 explaining the meaning (of a citation) to extend its meaning (to
the argument)
合引以貫其義 combining two citations to link their meanings
分句釋旨 explaining/applying the parts of a stanza separately
同文異事 the same text is applied to different situations
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Performing the Tradition
choosing the appropriate poem for the time, place, and audience
(consideration of these variables has shifted to the speech as a whole), but is a matter of selecting the right lines from a poem and inserting them at the appropriate time and place in the speech for maximum
effect. Interpretation is no longer a matter of tacit construing, but of articulated explication. The poem is no longer revivified through
ritual reenactment as a performative utterance forming a self-evident
“organic” link to the world. It is now a rhetorical resource, a group
of words, a form of discourse that links to another form of discourse
(the speech), which in turn links to the world.
The speech belongs to the speaker and thus the interpretation of
the poem cited in his speech belongs to him as well. In fashioning a
speech, the competent Traditionalist builds a frame in which he can
capture only those lines from the Poems of immediate use to him,
“flatten” them out by stripping them of the multiple dimensions
derived from a ritual context, and put them in service of his larger
argument. This is a powerful move, for it places him in the role of
dominant exegete, dictating meaning within the hermeneutically
sealed environment of his speech. Such a move is predicated on a
certain measure of ignorance in the audience, which requires the
guidance of a competent Traditionalist to properly understand the
relevance of Traditional knowledge. The Traditionalists can only
consolidate their role as transmitters of the Tradition in a context of
decline, for they count upon the incompetence of others to define
their own competence. They usher in a world in which it is no
longer sufficient to manifest the relevance of old instances of dis-
course by reenacting them; one must explain their relevance by
subsuming them into a mode of discourse that is created anew on
each occasion: the speech.
The most common type of speech contained in Zuo Tradition
narratives is the remonstration ( jian 諫). The act of remonstrating with his “king” (or duke, or marquis) provides the Traditionalist
with the perfect opportunity to demonstrate the continuing rele-
vance of the Tradition, thereby providing the justification for its
(and his) preservation. The king, by virtue of occupying the position
of King, has the right to demand certain forms of action and dis-
course from his inferiors. However, the position makes certain de-
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Performing the Tradition
55
mands of those who would fill it, and it seems that very few people,
once the Golden Age of the Western Zhou had passed, could meet
those demands without constant advice and aid from their subordi-
nates. Indeed, acknowledging one’s own limits and being open to
remonstration were the signs of a good king, of one that was striving
to live up to the Kingly ideal. Thus, when a Traditionalist attempts
to hold the ear and win the mind of the king, he does so by appealing
to a Tradition of knowledge derived from an age of Kings (notably
King Wen). Remonstrating with citations of traditional knowledge
is a powerful strategy because the king himself occupies a position
defined by the Tradition. Thus, the remonstrating official is quoting
the Body of Kingly Knowledge before the body of the king, fash-
ioning a collision of essence and corporeality.
Such a collision can prove dangerous at times. The following
passage from Duke Xuan 2nd Year (607 b.c.e.) narrates an instance
of remonstration with a duke who verges on being a caricature of a
ruling reprobate. The likely prospect of the remonstration failing
makes the parameters of its performance the subject of explicit
discussion, both by the personages within the narrative and by the narrator, making this a particularly informative illustration of the
practice of citing poetry in remonstration.
Duke Ling of Jin did not live up to the role of ruler. He took in heavy taxes in order to decorate the walls of his palace. He would shoot at people with a slingshot from his terrace just to watch them dodge the pellets. Once his chef boiled a bear’s paw for him, but it was underdone. The duke killed
him and stuffed his body in a grain hamper. He then had his ladies carry the hamper out past the court. Zhao Dun and Shi Ji saw a hand [protruding from the hamper], and when they asked what had happened, they were
horrified by it. They were about to remonstrate with the duke, when Shi Ji said, “If we both remonstrate and he does not accept it, then there will be no one left to continue in our place. Let me be first and if he does not accept what I say, then you may carry on after me.”
Shi Ji made three advances towards the duke and only when he had
reached the eaves over the dais did the duke turn to look at him. “I realize that I have my faults,” said the duke. “I am going to correct them.” Shi Ji touched his head to the ground and responded, “Is there anyone among us
without faults? But to have faults and be able to correct them: there is no good greater than that! The Poems say,
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Performing the Tradition
There is nobody who has not a beginning,
but few can have a normal end. 48
This being so, there are truly few who are able to amend their faults. If your lordship is able to bring things to ‘a normal end,’ then our altars of earth and grain will be secure. How could it be the officials alone who rely upon them? The Poems also say,
When the embroidered fabric of the royal robe has a hole,
Zhong Shanfu alone can mend it. 49
So one is able to amend faults. If your lordship is able to amend his faults, then the royal robe need not be thrown away.”
But the duke still did not correct his behavior.
Then it was Zhao Dun who remonstrated with him repeatedly until the
duke grew sick of him and dispatched Chu Mei to destroy h
im. Chu Mei
went at dawn but found the door to Zhao Dun’s bedroom already open
and Zhao himself fully dressed and ready to attend court. It was early yet and he was just sitting there, dozing. Chu Mei withdrew and sighed to
himself, “He is so mindful of his duties; this man is a mainstay of the people.
To destroy the mainstay of the people is to be disloyal to them, but to
ignore the command of one’s lord is to be unfaithful to him. If I must
choose between these two, I would prefer death.” So he smashed his head
against a locust tree in the courtyard and died. (Xuan 2.3)
晉靈公不君。厚斂以彫牆。從臺上彈人。而觀其辟丸也。宰夫胹熊
蹯不熟。殺之。寘諸畚。使婦人載以過朝。趙盾。士季。見其手。問
其故。而患之。將諫。士季曰。諫而不入。則莫之繼也。會請先。不
入。則子繼之。
三進及溜。而後視之。曰。吾知所過矣。將改之。稽首
而對曰。人誰無過。過而能改。善莫大焉。詩曰。
靡不有初
鮮克有終
夫如是。則能補過者鮮矣。君能有終。則社稷之固也。豈惟群臣賴之。
又曰。
袞職有闕
惟仲山甫補
能補過也。君能補過。袞不廢矣。
猶不改。
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48. Mao #255. After Karlgren, Book of Odes, p. 214.
49. Mao #269. After Karlgren, Book of Odes, p. 240.
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Performing the Tradition
57
宣子驟諫。公患之。使鉏麑賊之。晨往。寢門闢矣。盛服將朝。尚
早。坐而假寐。麑退。歎而言曰。不忘恭敬。民之主也。賊民之主。不
忠。棄君之命。不信。有一於此。不如死也。觸槐而死。
The narrative begins by explicitly labeling Duke Ling as a ruler unfit
for the role designated by that name ( jun 君). Because part of being a true ruler is heeding remonstration, the opening sentence sets up the
narrative inevitability that the remonstration will fail (knowledge