r e C e n t-s t y l e Sh i P oe t ry : P e n ta s y l l a biC r e gul at eD v e r s e 179Wang Wei’s brilliant employment of these four terms in this poem attests to his
consummate achievement as a visionary poet. With a touch of genius, he turns
each of the four abstract philosophical terms into a lively verse eye, a pivotal word
that animates an entire poetic line (thematic table of contents 4.2). Together, these
four verse eyes engender a sustained play of perceptual illusion. The first two verse
eyes, he (converge) and wu (disappear), render the atmospheric images of clouds
and haze ever so elusive that their very existence becomes a question. Next, the
other two verse eyes, bian (change) and shu (become different), turn the valleys and
the plain into a spectacle of changing shapes and colors. This play of perceptual
illusion culminates in the final couplet. There, we are led to envision a dwelling
of man hidden in the woods, and yet we cannot actually see it and have to ask the
woodcutter for its whereabouts. We seem to see a woodcutter out there, and yet
we cannot get close and have to shout across the valley brook. The echoes of our
own call in the empty valley, we surmise, may be the only answer we get. As this
perceptual illusion reaches its climax, a sensitive reader may experience some-
thing like Buddhist enlightenment, or at least share the Buddhist insight into the
illusory nature of existence and emptiness, the universe and the self. For this per-
fect fusion of the artistic and religious, the sensory and suprasensory, Wang Wei is
rightly honored with the title “poet-Buddha” (shifo).
Zong-qi Cai
notes- All entering tones end with an unaspirated consonant: p, t, or k. Although prevalent during
Tang and Song times, entering tones no longer exist in modern standard Chinese but are pre-
served in many regional Chinese dialects like Cantonese and Hakka. Owing to its loss of entering
tones, modern standard Chinese is considered by many to be less desirable than a dialect like
Cantonese for reading Tang regulated verse out loud. (See, at the end of this volume, “Phonetic
Transcriptions of Entering-Tone Characters.”) - I am deeply indebted to my teacher Professor Yu-kung Kao for his insightful comments on
the three rules. - The fifth and sixth possible line types (│ │ ─ ─ ─ and ─ ─ │ │ │) are not employed in recent-
style shi poetry.
suggest eD reaDings
e ng l i sH
Kao, Yu-kung. “The Aesthetics of Regulated Verse.” In The Vitality of the Lyric Voice: Shih Poetry
from the Late Han to the T’ang, edited by Shuen-fu Lin and Stephen Owen, 332–385. Princeton,
N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1986.
Kao, Yu-kung, and Mei Tsu-lin. “Meaning, Metaphor, and Allusion in T’ang Poetry.” Harvard
Journal of Asiatic Studies 38, no. 2 (1978): 281–356.
———. “Syntax, Diction, and Imagery in T’ang Poetry.” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 31
(1971): 49–136.
Owen, Stephen. The Great Age of Chinese Poetry: The High T’ang. New Haven, Conn.: Yale
University Press, 1981.
Varsano, Paula M. Tracking the Banished Immortal: The Poetry of Li Bo and Its Critical Reception.
Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2003.