130 t He siX Dy na s t i e s
be sure, Xie’s landscape poems are based on physical and intimate contact with
the subject at hand. He toured the magnificent landscapes of Zhejiang with admi-
rable enthusiasm, even designing a type of wooden clog for hiking up and down
mountains.
One late Six Dynasties critic, Liu Xie (ca. 465–ca. 522), observed that during the
early part of the Liu Song dynasty (420–479), “Laozi and Zhuangzi retreated into
the background, while mountains and waters came to flourish.”12 This influen-
tial statement refers to the replacement of abstruse poetry by landscape poetry as
the dominant literary mode, and it has generally been interpreted to recount the
vanishing of Daoist philosophy from poetry. While it is true that landscape poetry
propounds more the aesthetic appraisal of natural scenes than a view of nature as
mere metaphor for metaphysical notions, the modern scholar Wang Yao has ar-
gued that this shift in literary trend does not mark a transformation in poets’ ideas
about life and the cosmos but signals a change in poetic material.13 Mountains and
waters make ideal vehicles for the manifestation (or contemplation) of the Dao, or
Way. Indeed, Xie’s landscape poems almost invariably conclude with some kind of
philosophical meditation. Hence, Lao–Zhuang philosophy did not in fact retreat
into the background but masqueraded itself in the guise of mountains and waters,
as Wang has put it.14 Landscape poetry may nevertheless be distinguished from
plain philosophical verse, characterized by the Six Dynasties critic Zhong Rong
(ca. 469–518) as insipid and dicta-like, by its lush descriptions of mountains and
waters and a certain emotive lyricism.
Xie’s landscape poems are laden with artfully crafted lines, strictly parallel cou-
plets, obscure words, and literary allusions. Their erudition and denseness make
them difficult to read in the original and unfortunate to read in translation. Yet
there are great rewards for working through his verse: beautiful representations
of natural landscapes that truly enliven his subject and profound insights into na-
ture’s workings and their correlation to man. I discuss three of Xie’s best-known
landscape poems to illustrate his aesthetic representation and understanding of
nature. In “Climbing Yongjia’s Green Crag Mountain,” the poet describes in full
a journey into a mountain in Yongjia (modern Zhejiang), where he held a post in
exile in 422 and 423:C 6. 5
Climbing Yongjia’s Green Crag Mountain 登永嘉綠嶂山 (dēng yŏng jiā lǜ zhàng shān)I packed some provisions and grabbed a light staff, 裹糧杖輕策 (guŏ liáng zhàng qīng cè)
2 Following the winding path, I climbed to my hidden
abode. 懷遲上幽室 (huái chí shàng yōu shì)
As I proceeded upstream, the path wound further
away, 行源逕轉遠 (xíng yuán jìng zhuăn yuăn)
4 When I reached the peak, my emotions were not yet
exhausted. 距陸情未畢 (jù lù qíng wèi bì)
Gentle ripples congeal in wintry beauty, 澹瀲結寒姿 (dàn liàn jié hán zī)