* * *
Line 3: clepsydra = water clock. This marks the watches of the night.
Line 6: These birds (in pairs) are a symbol of the happiness that is inaccessible to the lonely woman. The poem is full of descriptive details, which, arranged to become a suite of metaphor, become in reality a description of the sentiments and desires of the lady.
Biographical Notes
Bai Ju-yi (Po Chü-i, 772–846). A native of Xia-gui, in Shan-xi. After attaining his Jin-shi degree (the highest degree obtainable in the imperial civil service examination system), he enjoyed a long career in the bureaucracy, one that was intermittently interrupted by passing periods of disgrace. Earlier governor of Hang-zhou and Su-zhou (822–826), he held an important post at Luo-yang in his later years (831–833). A precocious poet, he wrote the two most popular long poems of the Tang, Ballad of the Pi-pa and Song of Unending Sorrow. In addition to these narrative poems, he wrote, under the influence of Zhang Ji, numerous realistic and satirical poems in the style of the “new yue-fu.” The rest of his oeuvre is a collection of lyrical poems that are remarkable for their colloquial tone, their simplicity of style, and their lively and subtle imagery. Well known in Japan and in the West (thanks to the English translations of Arthur Waley), Bai is among the greatest of the Chinese poets.
Chang Jian (708–765?). An adept of Taoism, Chang retired from the world to lead the life of a recluse despite his attainment of the coveted Jin-shi degree.
Chen Tao (ninth century). Little is known of this man, except that he probably lived in reclusion in the mountains of his native province of Jiang-xi. Well versed in Taoism and Buddhism, he was also interested in alchemy and astronomy.
Chen Zi-ang (656–698 or 661–702). Admired for his elegant style and the elevation of his thought, he was considered the best poet of the Tang before the appearance of Li Bai. He served as personal counselor to Empress Wu.
Cui Hao (704?-754). A native of Bian-zhou in Henan, he attained the Jin-shi in 726. A lover of gambling, wine and beautiful women, he was too free a spirit to be a scrupulous and obedient official.
Du Fu (Tu Fu, 712–770). Du Fu and Li Bai, whom tradition designates the two greatest Chinese poets, were contemporaries. They had occasion to meet and become acquainted (744–745) and tied a knot of friendship that remained, at least for Du Fu, binding for a lifetime (in witness of which are the numerous poems he addressed to his friend). Even so, two natures and destinies so different can hardly be imagined. Compared to the fiery spirit and spontaneity of Li Bai, who was completely dedicated to a Taoist freedom, Du Fu’s nature, though not lacking in a sharp sense of humor, was essentially serious. He was in a sense a tormented man, ever anxious to engage himself according to the Confucian ideal. While Li Bai defied the established order with his carefree manner and knew in turn exceptional honor and outright banishment, Du Fu struggled for many years unsuccessfully to pass through the official examination system and attain the Jin-shi degree. His successive failures transformed his character. He came to know quite well, during the An Lu-shan Rebellion, the anguish of exile, captivity, and miserable poverty (one of his children starved to death). And if, after the rebellion, he did taste relative peace and security at Cheng-du in Si-chuan, it was only for a short time. Pushed by the need to feed his family, he resumed his life of wandering, and died alone in a small boat on the Yang-tze River. Compared to Li Bai, who sought above all the joys of drunkenness, and of communion with nature and the cosmos, Du Fu opens a more complex thematic space, one where human dramas may take place. The differences between the two poets are even reflected in their language: Li Bai is most at home in the gu-ti (“old-style poetry”), with its freer, more spontaneous mood. Du Fu, on the other hand, is the incontestable master of the lü-shi (regulated verse), the art and formal invention of which he raised to a level rarely attained elsewhere. It should be recalled, however, that Du Fu also wrote, most notably during and shortly after the An Lu-shan Rebellion, a series of long poems in “the ancient style” that have become famous. These two exceptional figures, apparently opposites, but actually complementary, embody the two poles of Chinese poetic sensitivity.
Du Mu (803–852). Attaining his Jin-shi in 823, he had a brilliant career as a public servant and occupied, toward the end of his life, an important post in the Grand Secretariat. In his sometimes bitter and often disillusioned poetry, he often sings of his personal torments and nostalgia for a lost Golden Age. As much at home in his quatrains (which made him famous) as in his longer poems, he was one of the most famous poets of the end of the Tang. His talent won him the nickname “Du the Second” in memory of the great Du Fu.
Du Xun-he (846–904). A native of An-hui, he attained the Jin-shi degree at around the age of forty. His poetry, realistic in nature, was greatly appreciated in his own time.
Jia Dao (779–843). Born near present-day Beijing, he began life as a Buddhist monk, but encouraged by Han Yu he took, and failed, the official examinations several times. His name is often associated with that of his more famous contemporary Meng Jiao.
Jin Chang-xu (eighth century?). All that is known of this poet is that he lived for a while in Hang-zhou in Zhe-jiang.
Li Bai (Li Po, 701–762). He is considered, along with Du Fu, as the greatest of the Chinese poets. By virtue of his free spirit and his extravagant style of life, as well as his poetic genius, he is unquestionably one of the most exceptional figures ever to make his way into the pages of the history of Chinese literature. The poet He Zhi-zhang, when he met Li Bai for the first time, called him the “Immortal banished to the earth.” A great drinker and cultivator of the chivalrous spirit, and an adept of Taoism, Li Bai refused to follow the normal path of the mandarins and led an essentially vagabond and bohemian existence. At the age of twenty-five, he left Si-chuan, his native province, to travel in the various provinces of both North and South China. His marriage to a young girl of prominent family detained him for a while on the shores of Lake Dong-ting. In 742, presented at court, he enjoyed an unprecedented favor, but his own boldness and the hatred of his adversaries soon undermined his credit. Implicated, during the An Lu-shan Rebellion, in the affair of Prince Lin, he was condemned to banishment at Ye-lang in Yun-nan, only to have his sentence lifted before he arrived at his destination. According to legend he died, drowned, in a night of drunkenness, attempting to grasp the reflection of the moon in the Yang-tze River.
Li Duan (743–782?).
Li He (790–816). A precocious genius, of fragile health and neurotic character, he died at age twenty-six. See the presentation of his poetry in chapter 3, pp. 114–120.
Li Shang-yin (813–858). He was a native of He-nei, in He-nan province. Despite his talent, and his success at the official examinations (in 837), his career was blocked by political rivalries and power struggles. He was the most famous lyric poet of the end of the Tang, and his love poems are regarded as among the most beautiful in the Chinese language.
Li Yi (748–827). Native of Gu-zang in Gan-su. Taking his Jin-shi degree in 770, he thereafter held several military posts. Musicians particularly enjoyed performing his heptasyllabic verses, which became quite famous.
Liu Chang-qing (709–785?). A native of He-bei, he attained his Jin-shi degree in 733. He held several important posts, both civil and military. He was imprisoned on the basis of slanderous attacks, but friends obtained his release.
Liu Yu-xi (772–842). A high-ranking government functionary and refined poet, he suffered disgrace several times because oí his satirical poetry. However, his work shows the influence of the popular songs of the regions to which he was exiled.
Liu Zong-yuan (773–819). He shares with Han Yu the honor of having renovated Chinese classical prose. As opposed to his close friend Han, who attempted to reinstitute Confucian orthodoxy, Liu defended Buddhism. He was preoccupied with social and political problems, but his career was destroyed by the failure of the conspiracy of Wang Shou-wen, in which he was implicated. He died far from the provin
ce of his birth (Shan-xi) at Liu-zhou in the extreme south of China.
Lu Lun (748–800?). A native of He-zhong, Shan-xi, he knew the frontier life well as a result of having served in the military.
Meng Hao-ran (689–740). After failing his examinations, he led the life of a recluse, notably at his retreat on Mount Lu-men in Hu-bei. He was a great friend of Wang Wei and Li Bai. The latter addressed to him a famous lü-shi in praise of his work.
Meng Jiao (751–814). He was an eminent member of the circle of Han Yu, to which the poet Jia Dao also belonged.
Qian Qi (722–780?). He achieved his Jin-shi degree in 752, and is known as one of the “ten geniuses of the Da-li era.”
Tang Wen-ru (end of the eighth century).
Wang Bo (649–676). One of the so-called Four Giants of the beginning of the Tang, he was recognized for his talent by the emperor Gao-zong, by an overly audacious satire on the mores of the court that brought him into disgrace. He spent the rest of his life in Si-chuan, devoting himself to wine and poetry. The murder of a slave would have cost him his life but for the opportune proclamation of a general amnesty.
Wang Chang-ling (698–765?). Eminent member of a group of poets that included Gao Shi and Wang Zhi-huan. He was of too negligent a nature to feel at ease in public service. He is most famous for poems (both ballads and quatrains) evoking frontier scenes. He died a violent death during the An Lu-shan Rebellion.
Wang Han (687–726).
Wang Jia (ninth century). A native of He-zhong, in Shan-xi, he attained his Jin-shi degree in 890. He was a friend of Si-kong Tu (837–908), the famous literary critic.
Wang Jian (768–830?). Governor of Shen-zhou in He-nan, the province of his birth, he fell into disgrace for having criticized the imperial family. He was a friend of Han Yu and Zhang Ji.
Wang Wei (701–761). One of the gifted artists of the Tang dynasty, he excelled as much in poetry as in painting and music. Attaining the Jin-shi degree in 721, he began a promising career (Emperor Xuan-zong named him secretary of state), which was spoiled by the An Lu-shan Rebellion, during which he endured a brief stay in prison. An adept of Buddhism, he was accomplished at meditation, and carried both painting and poetry to a high level of interior vision. He spent his old age writing poems and painting in the company of his friends (including among others Pei Di) in his villa at Wang Chuan at the foot of Mount Zhong-nan.
Wang Zhi-huan (695-?). A native of Bing-zhou in Shan-xi, he was a member of a group that included Wang Chang-ling and Gao Shi. He excelled in short poems, which the courtesans of the period loved to perform.
Wei Ying-wu (736–830). A native of Jing-zhao, near the captital, Chang-an, he was first an officer of the Imperial Guard, and then a civil servant in the provinces. His last post was that of governor of Su-zhou, where he received many well-known poets. Greatly concerned with purity, he is said never to have sat down without first burning incense and sweeping the ground around his seat. His poetry is influenced by Tao Qian (365?-427) and Wang Wei.
Wei Zhuang (851–910).
Wen Ting-yun (818–872). He was a native of Tai-yuan in Shan-xi. His poetry is often associated with that of Li Shang-yin, as representing the refined style, all nuance and allusive detail, of the Late Tang. Frivolous by nature, he frequented courtesans, and in their company was initiated into the ci genre (lyric poetry), becoming the leader of the Hua-jian school, which prefigured the blossoming of that genre in the Song dynasty.
Zhang Hu (792–852?).
Zhang Ji (768–830). Attaining his Jin-shi degree in 799, Zhang Ji, who suffered from an eye ailment, seems to have led a modest life in relative poverty. He owed his literary success to the patronage of Han Yu (great prose master and poet), who admired his talent. His poetry, mostly in the yue-fu (folk song) style, denounces social injustice. Chi’s work influenced the great Bai Ju-yi.
Zhang Jiu-ling (678–740). Highly esteemed as a poet in his own time, he was an important statesman during the reign of Xuan-zong (713–756). He became prime minister in 736, and attempted in vain to put the emperor on guard against the various plotters. He was eventually forced to turn over his position to Li Lin-fu, whose dictatorial rule brought the empire to the edge of disaster. His strong personality favored the blossoming of poetry during the happy period that preceded the An Lu-shan Rebellion.
Notes
Introduction
1 . The earliest known specimens of Chinese writing are divinatory texts carved on bones and shells. Later inscriptions, cast in bronze vessels, are also extant. Both date from the Shang dynasty (18th to 11th c. B.C.).
2 . The Shi Jing (Classic of Poetry, Book of Songs), the collection of songs that inaugurates Chinese literature, contains some works that date from as early as 1000 B.C.
3 . It must be made clear from the outset that our presentation is not based solely on etymology. Our point of view is semiological: what we seek to demonstrate are the significant graphic links that exist between the signs.
4 . On the manner in which the linguistic signs and their functions are viewed, explicitly or implicitly, within the Chinese rhetorical tradition (a problem that deserves a systematic study of its own, but that is beyond the framework of this study), one should consult, most notably, the Wen Fu (Essay on Literature) of Lu Ji (A.D. 261–303) and the Wen-xin diao-long (Wen-hsin tiao-lung, The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons) of Liu Xie (Liu Hsieh, 465–522). What should be emphasized above all is the affirmation of the place of man in the bosom of the universe. Man, heaven, and earth constitute, for the Chinese, the Three Talents (San Cai); these participate in a relationship of both correspondence and complementarity. The role of man consists not only of “fitting out” the universe, but of interiorizing all things, in re-creating them so as to rediscover his own place within. In this process of “co-creation,” the central element, with regard to literature, is the notion of wen. This term is found in many later combinations signing language, style, literature, civilization, and so forth. Originally it designated the footprints of animals or the veins of wood and stone, the set of harmonious or rhythmic “strokes” by which nature signifies. It is in the image of these natural signs that the linguistic signs were created, and these are similarly called wen. The double nature of wen constitutes an authority through which man may come to understand the mystery of nature, and thereby his own nature. A masterpiece is that which restores the secret relationships between things, and the breath that animates them as well.
5 . .
6 . The image of the eye is an important one within the Chinese conception of art. We may recall the anecdote of the painter who neglected to draw the eye of the dragon. When asked the reason, he responded, The instant that I add the eye, the dragon will fly away.
7 . In this regard, let us cite, for example, the line of Li He: (The brush finishes the creation; heaven doesn’t have all the merit).
8 . “Xin-yi wu.”
9 . See this page for a translation of this poem.
10 . “Re san-shou.”
11 . “Chun jiang hua yue ye.” See my study of this poem in “Analyse formelle de l’oeuvre poétique d’un auteur des T’ang: Zhang Ruo-xu.”
12 . The theory of the unique stroke, which was already contained in the Li-dai ming-hua ji of Zhang Yan-yuan (810–880?), was developed by other painters, notably Shi Tao (1671–1719) in his Hua-yu lu.
13 . “Qi-yun.”
14 . For literature, see the statement of Cao Pi (187–226), Wen yi Qi wei zhu (“In literature the breath is of primary importance”), in his Tian-lun lun-wen, generally considered the earliest work of Chinese literary criticism. See also the chapter Yang Qi (Nourishing the Breath) in the Wen-xin diao-long of Liu Xie. For painting, we may simply recall the famous expression qi-yun sheng-dong (“animate the rhythmic breath”) of Xie He (ca. 500).
15 . More particularly of Taoist philosophy.
16 . The tradition of reflecting upon the grammar, founded in the distinction of the xu-zi and the shi-zi, began very earl
y. From the Han dynasty, in the commentaries of the Shi Jing (or, more precisely, on the Mao-zhuan) by Kong An-guo (and Cheng Xuan), one encounters remarks on the specific use of certain xu-zi. For the period of the Six Dynasties and the Tang, we might point out such works as the Guang Ya of Zhang Yi, the Wen-xin diao-long of Liu Xie, the Wen-jing mi-fu of the monk Hai Kong, the Jing-tian shi-wen of Lu De-ming, and the commentaries of Li Shan on the Wen-xuan. From the Song dynasty onwards, there were two types of works which devoted a great deal of space to the problem of the xu-zi: in addition to the shi-hua, there were many works which were primarily lexicographical studies. Among these latter from the Song were the Wen-ze of Chen Kui, the Ci-yuan of Zhang Yan, and the He-lin yu-lu of Luo Da-jing. Lexicographical works of the Ming include the Zi-xue yuan-yuan of Yuan Zi-rang, the Zhu-yu-ci of Lu Yi-wei, and the Zheng-zi-tong of Zhang Zi-lie. Qing works include the Zhu-zi bian-lüe of Liu Qi, the Jing-zhuan shi-ci of Wang Yin-zhi, and the Xu-zi shuo of Yuan Ren-lin. The interested reader can usefully consult the very complete compilation of Zheng Dian and Mai Mei-qiao: Gu han-yu yu-fa-xue hui-bian. One point ought to be underlined here: the definition of xu-zi varies from author to author and from period to period; our analysis is based on a consensus.
17 . For the interpretation of the Three from the Taoist perspective, that of the great commentators of different epochs go along the same lines. Thus, following Huai-nan-zi, Wang Chong in his Lun Heng, Wang Bi in his Lao-zi zhu, He Sheng-gong in his Lao-zi zhu, Si-ma Guang, of the Song, in his Dao-de lun-shu yao, Fan Ying-yuan, of the Song, in his Dao-de-jing gu-ben ji-zhu, and Wei Yuan, of the Qing, in his Lao-zi ben-yi.
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