How to Read Chinese Poetry A Guided Anthology

Qu P oe t ry : s ong P oe m s o F tHe y uan Dy na s t y 335

nial ambience. The implication of the contrast between these two sets of images,
however, renders itself fully only when readers come to line 3.
Compared with the concrete images (although not without their symbolic con-
notations) in the two foregoing lines, the images in line 3 are less specific and
appear more like symbols. The ancientness of the road, something not actually
discernible, leads readers beyond the scope of the scene at hand and lets them see
in their mind’s eye the endless road extending into other spaces and other times.
The “west wind” not only indicates the time of year but also implies the sadness
felt during the season of decay—that is, all the burden carried by the image of au-
tumn in the Chinese literary tradition. Most significantly, the synecdochical use
of the “lean horse,” in turn, puts readers in the place of a weary traveler in order to
feel the hardship he endures. Line 3 thus allows readers—from a traveler’s point
of view—to interpret and comment on the situation presented in the couplet pre-
ceding it:7 the homey scene in line 2 appears so inviting simply because it is a
familiar scene that the weary traveler sees, however, in an unfamiliar and forbid-
ding setting (represented by the images in line 1) in his journey. It touches off his
memory of home; yet, paradoxically, it also reminds him that his own home and
its comforts are in another place far beyond reach.
The sight of the crows at dusk at the end of line 1 makes clear the time of day. As
if this were not enough, however, the time is pronounced again in line 4: “The eve-
ning sun goes down in the west.” This line is the shortest in the song, and it con-
tains the only action verb, whose function is to convey with a sense of urgency and
inevitability the message: the day is running out, just as the year is approaching its
end. It is at such times that the traveler most keenly feels he should be home. But,
alas, everything he sees tells him that home is at the other “end of the earth.”
The following song poem is by Zhang Yanghao (1269–1329), whose reputation
as an upright high-ranking official perhaps threatens to eclipse his literary achieve-
ments. His rich personal experience, on the one hand, empowers his sanqu works
with an insight into history and human suffering and, on the other, makes his
song poems on withdrawal and retirement seem more genuine and sincere.

C 1 6. 4

To the Tune “Sheep on Mountain Slope” [zhonglü key]:

Meditation on the Past at Tong Pass

Peaks and ridges press together,
2 Waves and torrents rage,
Zigzagging between the mountains and the river runs the road through Tong
Pass.
4 I look to the Western Capital,
My thoughts linger.
6 It breaks my heart to come to the old place of the Qin and the Han.
Now palaces and terraces have all turned to dust.