r Hy tHm, s y n taX , anD v ision oF C H i ne s e P oe t ry 391
C 1 8. 2
Crossing the Sea of LonelinessAll the hardships I’ve encountered—they began with one classic;
2 Shields and dagger-axes have grown few and far between—four cycles of
stars.
Rivers and mountains are shattered—bits of fluff blown in the wind;
4 My life drifts and swirls—patches of duckweed beaten by the rain.
Along the Bank of Fears I told of fears,
6 On the Sea of Loneliness I sighed over loneliness.
Whose life, ever since antiquity, is without death?
8 Let my loyal heart shine on the bamboo tablets!
[QSS 68:3598.43025]
過零丁洋 (guò líng dīng yáng)
hardship — meet with arise one classic 辛苦遭逢起一經 (xīn kŭ zāo féng qĭ yì jīng)
shield dagger-ax few few four cycle star 干戈落落四周星 (gān gē luò luò sì zhōu xīng)
mountain river broken shattered wind blow bits of fluff 山河破碎風拋絮 (shān hé pò suì fēng pāo xù)
self history drift swirl rain beat duckweed 身世飄搖雨打萍 (shēn shì piāo yáo yŭ dă píng)
fear — bank on speak of fear — 皇恐灘頭說皇恐 (huáng kŏng tān tóu shuō huáng kŏng)
loneliness — ocean on sigh loneliness — 零丁洋裏嘆零丁 (líng dīng yáng lĭ tàn ling dīng)
human life since antiquity who has no death 人生自古誰無死 (rén shēng zì gŭ shuí wú sĭ)
leave get red heart shine sweat green 留取丹心照汗青 (liú qŭ dān xīn zhào hàn qīng)
[Tonal pattern IIa, see p. 172]
This poem was written by Wen Tianxiang (1236–1283), a Song loyalist who
bravely fought against the Mongols and died a martyr’s death. The poem begins
with an unusual series of four topic + comment lines. As shown by the dashes,
the two parts of lines 1–4 are not spatiotemporally or logically linked and must be
understood in terms of topics and comments. Moving down the tetrasyllabic col-
umn, we see the changing topics of the poet’s deepening reflection: his career path,
his recent military action, the country’s present condition, and his present condi-
tion. As the topics move from past to present, the poet’s comments (the trisyllabic
column) become more and more emotionally charged. The first comment, “they
began with one classic,” is largely explanatory. It tells us that his career began with
his study of the Confucian classics. The other three comments enact a montage-
like leap to a concrete image. In line 2, “four cycles of stars” primarily denotes the
span of four years during which Wen Tianxiang ceaselessly waged battles against
the Mongols despite the vanishing of military resistance across the country. It also
carries a spatial connotation—the starlit sky above the deserted battlegrounds. In
line 3, “bits of fluff blown in the wind” turns the topic, the country’s destruction,
into a heartrending image. The weighty “rivers and mountains” (a metaphor for
the country) are now turned into soft, weightless “bits of fluff ” irretrievably blown