392 a s y n tHe sis
away. In line 4, “patches of duckweed beaten by the rain” works in the same fash-
ion; it changes the topic, the rise and fall of the poet, into a pathetic image of a
rootless, constantly battered plant.
The second half of the poem exhibits a change to subject + predicate construc-
tions. The tetrasyllabic and trisyllabic segments of all four lines are merged to
form declarative statements. Lines 5–7 are simple subject + predicate lines, but
the last line is a complex twin subject + predicate. In lines 5 and 6, the tetrasyllabic
segments are extended adverbials of place, while the trisyllabic segments are the
core subject (implied) + predicate. When an adverbial is extended from two (as
in pentasyllabic poetry) to four words, it becomes the focus of a line. This fore-
grounding of adverbials works perfectly at this juncture of the poem. The “Bank of
Fears,” on the Gan River in the southern province of Jiangxi, is a place Wen Tian-
xiang passed through in 1277 in a hasty retreat after losing a battle to the Mongols.
So the poet is not speaking about the present but reminiscing about his recent tell-
ing of fear in that place named Fears. The next adverbial, however, brings the time
frame to the present. The “Sea of Loneliness” is none other than the bay Wen Tian-
xiang was crossing when writing the poem two years later. Once again, the emo-
tive import of a place-name amazingly coincides with what the poet was feeling
in that place. Being escorted back to northern China by the Mongols as a trophy
of their complete conquest of China, the poet felt the extreme pain of humiliation
and loneliness. The ending couplet marks a dramatic turning in the poet’s mood.
The sublimation of his sorrow into heroic defiance is achieved through an impas-
sioned contemplation on life’s meaning. Line 7 advances the premise, “Whose life,
ever since antiquity, is without death?” and line 8 presents the conclusion: “Let
my loyal heart shine on the bamboo tablets [history books]!” Ever since the poet’s
death, this couplet has become probably the best-known Chinese motto for heroic
action and sacrifice. To this day, Wen Tianxiang is remembered and admired by
millions of Chinese for this great couplet as well as for his heroic action.
My analysis of the two heptasyllabic poems reveals an inherent relationship be-
tween the two heptasyllabic rhythms and certain syntactic constructions. The 2 +
2 + 3 rhythm usually co-arises with a single but fully developed subject + predi-
cate, often complete with adverbials of time or place. This rhythm is not particu-
larly conducive to and, in fact, not frequently used for the construction of a topic
+ comment line. For instance, there is none in Li Shangyin’s “Sui Palace.” Con-
versely, the 4 + 3 rhythm often goes with a complex twin subject + predicate. Only
when the tetrasyllabic segment is an extended adverbial or nominal phrase do we
see a simple subject + predicate in 4 + 3 lines. Thanks to the long pause between
its tetrasyllabic and trisyllabic segments, a 4 + 3 line also readily lends itself to the
topic + comment construction. As just shown, half of Wen Tianxiang’s “Crossing
the Sea of Loneliness” is made up of topic + comment lines.Ci Poetry
The dominance of the shi rhythms (2 + 3, 2 + 2 + 3, and 4 + 3) remained unchal-
lenged until the rise of ci poetry during the Late Tang and the Song. Unlike the sao,