8 i n t roDuC t ion
in such a narrative or descriptive continuum (C1.14). So it is no accident that fu
later became the name of a new poetic genre—rhapsodies—particularly known
for its grandiose narrative/descriptive scheme. Rhapsodic structure tends to be
temporal-logical where events are recounted and spatiotemporal-logical where ob-
jects and places are exhaustively described (C3.1). The vigorous operation of fu as a
principle of global structuring not only is conspicuous in the genre that bears its
name, but also is clearly visible in yuefu poetry, fu’s immediate descendant, and in
ci poetry, arguably its distant descendant. Many of the yuefu and ci poems in this
anthology (chaps. 4, 13, and 14) exhibit a sustained temporal-logical fu structure.
The analogical-associational structural principle figures even more promi-
nently in the Book of Poetry, especially in its airs. Frequently in this collection, we
come across a bipartite structural block: two lines of natural description and two
or more lines of emotional expression, brought together purely on an analogical-
associational basis. In traditional Chinese literary criticism, this bipartite com-
bination of line clusters is called bi-xing or sometimes bi (analogical mode) and
xing (associational mode) separately. Unlike its companion term fu, bi-xing did
not evolve into the name of a genre, nor was it broadened to denote a principle
of global structuring. When traditional Chinese critics employ this term, they are
merely thinking of a bipartite combination of disparate line clusters.
In my view, the term bi-xing can be fruitfully reconceptualized to describe the
customary bipartite combination of natural scenes (jing) and emotional expres-
sions (qing) in Chinese poetry. A survey of the 143 poems reveals more often than
not such a bipartite nature–emotion combination. In shi poems, the two parts are
usually quite balanced in length and intended to enhance each other as analogues
or correlatives. Such a bipartite structure seems to be modeled on the old bi-xing
formula, even though the two parts are less forcibly yoked together. In any event,
this bipartite structure signifies a transformation of bi-xing into a global structural
principle (C5.6). In ci and qu poems, the nature–emotion combination is often
radically reconfigured. A shi-like balance in some poems contrasts with a delib-
erate, dramatic dissymmetry between the two aspects in others. In one poem, we
might see natural description kept to a minimum, while emotional expression
fills out the remainder of the poem (C13.4). In another, we might observe a pre-
ponderance of natural images, with emotional expression reduced to one or two
lines (C16.3). Such an asymmetrical combination of natural images and emotions
may nonetheless be characterized as a bi-xing structure, although a much mutated
one.
If we plot the fu and bi-xing structures on two perpendicular axes, we shall find
that relatively few poems in this anthology are strictly aligned with a single axis.
The majority can be seen to lie somewhere between the two. As a rule, poems of
a global fu structure also tend to contain analogical-associational blocks within
them. This is especially true of works composed by lyrically inclined poets. Qu
Yuan’s “On Encountering Trouble” (C2.3) is perhaps the earliest famous example
of this kind of admixture. Conversely, a poem of a global bi-xing structure usually