How to Read Chinese Poetry A Guided Anthology

388 a s y n tHe sis

of a pentasyllabic line. So he classifies heptasyllabic lines into seven major types,

according to the parts of speech and positioning of the two additional characters.8

In my view, the 4 + 3 and 2 + 2 + 3 rhythms are not one and the same, as com-

monly believed, but represent two distinct rhythms of heptasyllabic poetry. As I

shall demonstrate in the following, they co-arise with different kinds of syntax and

produce very different aesthetic effects.

The 2 + 2 + 3 rhythm consists of a core 2 + 3 rhythm plus an auxiliary 2. Of the

first four characters, which two are to be considered auxiliary could sometimes be

a rather arbitrary decision. Yet a simple rule seems to work well in most cases: the

auxiliary 2 should be the two characters that could be taken out with the least im-

pact on a line’s meaning. Applying this rule, we can easily identify the auxiliary 2

in each line of the following poem by Li Shangyin (813–858):

C 1 8. 1

Sui Palace

Purple Spring’s palace halls lay locked in the twilight mist;

2 He wished to make the Overgrown City a home of emperors.

The jade seal: if it had not somehow become the Sun-horn’s,

4 Brocade sails, then, would have reached heaven’s end.

To this day the rotten grass is without fireflies’ flash,

6 From antiquity lie the drooping willows, with the sunset crows.

Beneath the earth, if he would run into the Latter Lord of Chen,

8 How could it be fitting to ask about “Rear Courtyard Flowers”?

[QTS 16:539.6161; also translated and discussed under C9.6]

隋宮 (suí gōng)

(purple spring) palace hall lock mist rosy clouds (紫泉)宮殿鎖湮霞 (zĭ quán gōng diàn suŏ yān xiá)
(wish take) overgrown city take as emperor home (欲取)蕪城作帝家 (yù qŭ wú chéng zuò dì jiā)
jade seal (not due to) belong sun horn 玉璽(不緣)歸日角 (yù xĭ bù yuán guī rì jiăo)
brocade sail (ought to be) arrive at heaven end 錦帆(應是)到天涯 (jĭn fān yīng shì dào tiān yá)
(up to today) rotten grass not have firefly fire (於今)腐草無螢火 (yú jīn fŭ căo wú yíng huŏ)
(since antiquity) drooping willow have sunset crow (終古)垂楊有暮鴉 (zhōng gŭ chuí yáng yŏu mù yā)
earth beneath (if run into) Chen latter lord 地下(若逢)陳後主 (dì xià ruò féng chén hòu zhŭ)
(how could fitting) again ask rear courtyard flower (豈宜)重問後庭花 (qĭ yí chóng wèn hòu tíng huā)
[Tonal pattern Ia, see p. 172]

The auxiliary 2, as shown by the parentheses, appears at the beginning or in the

middle of a line, giving rise to two distinct patterns: (2) + 2 + 3 and 2 + (2) + 3.

Without the auxiliary 2, this poem would be essentially a jumble of descriptive

fragments relating to the Sui emperor Yang (Yang Guang, 569–618). With the aux-

iliary 2, the poet manages to construct two mutually intertwined frameworks of

contrast—between past and present and between reality and imagination—within

which all the fragments coalesce into a whole.