152 t He siX Dy na s t i e s
have been tortured by suspicion and fear about the inconstancy of the beloved;
now that they are together again, there is a moment of pause before they rush into
each other’s arms, a moment of hesitation, even abashment, before old memories
revive and a new passion is awakened. Although the poem was written more than
1,500 years ago, the lovers’ sentiments as portrayed in it are fresh and familiar, as
if it had been composed only yesterday.y u x i nYu Xin grew up in the southern elite culture; his father, a famous poet, was one
of Xiao Gang’s closest companions, and Yu Xin himself had enjoyed Xiao Gang’s
favor and patronage. After the Hou Jing Rebellion, Yu Xin went to Jiangling (in
modern Hubei) and served under Xiao Gang’s younger brother, Xiao Yi (Emperor
Yuan of the Liang [r. 552–555]). In 554, Yu Xin was sent on a diplomatic mission
to Chang’an (modern Xi’an), the Western Wei (535–556) capital, and was subse-
quently detained. While Yu Xin was there, Jiangling fell to the Western Wei army;
on January 27, 555, Emperor Yuan was brutally killed. Shortly afterward, the new
Liang emperor was deposed by a powerful southern general, Chen Baxian (Em-
peror Wu of the Chen [r. 557–560]), who founded the Chen dynasty (557–589),
the last of the Southern Dynasties. Yu Xin was never able to return to his native
land. The Western Wei was soon overthrown and replaced by the Northern Zhou
dynasty (557–581), and Yu Xin held a number of official positions under the new
regime. He was treated with affection and respect by the Zhou princes, who loved
poetry, but the poems of Yu Xin’s later years are marked by sadness over the fate of
the south and the Liang princes and by a profound sense of survivor’s guilt.
Yu Xin was a consummate southern court poet, a master of elegant, restrained
expression, which was the legacy of the fifth-century aristocratic poet Xie Tiao.
In Yu Xin’s later poems, the intricate parallelism developed by the Liang court
poets is employed with a much simplified diction and an apparently casual ease,
which, combined with his frequent description of a bleak, sparse northern land-
scape in autumn and winter, convey a particular emotional force. Nevertheless, Yu
Xin manages to frame the intensity of his feelings with a cultivated grace that is
the hallmark of the southern courtier, and his poetry achieves powerful poignancy
precisely because of such decorous restraint. Yu Xin’s works not only became a
model for the northern poets of the late sixth century, but also produced a far-
reaching influence. Du Fu (712–770), the great Tang poet, was an admirer of Yu
Xin and praised him in the following lines: “Yu Xin, all his life, was most forlorn:
/ In his old age, his poetry and rhapsodies moved rivers and passes.”C 7. 9
A Cold Garden: On What I See 寒園即目 (hán yuán jí mù)A cold garden among dwellings like scattered stars, 寒園星散居 (hán yuánxīngsànjū)
2 In the little village, with leaves falling. 搖落小村墟 (yáo luò xiăo cūn xū)
Painting of roaming immortals covering half a wall; 遊仙半壁畫 (yóu xiān bàn bì huà)