2 i n t roDuC t ion
continues to figure prominently in later poetry and criticism. At the same time,
the beautiful woman often appears as a tangible, pleasurable object of a male po-
et’s gaze (C12.5). By depicting her with evocative yet elegant diction, a male poet
seeks to play out his erotic fantasy in a “cultured” fashion. This aestheticization of
erotic engagement, real or imagined, is a prominent feature of countless poems
about palace ladies and courtesans. According to many critics, some poems on
palace ladies written by the Liang poets were also, if not solely, meant to convey
the Buddhist belief about the illusory nature of human existence (C7.6). In these
poems, the allegorical and the sensual, the sacred and the profane, seem to be
intertwined.
“The Abandoned Woman” is a theme that usually involves female imperson-
ation by literati poets. It is true that many anonymous yuefu and ci poems on this
theme strike us as authentic self-expressions of real-world abandoned women. If
composed by a male literatus, however, a poem on the abandoned woman is most
likely a thinly veiled lamentation of his own. By using the persona of an aban-
doned woman, a literatus hoped to touch his estranged patron and thus increase
his chances of regaining his favor (C5.4–7).
“Eulogy and Admonition” is probably a major ancient theme that ceased to be
prominent after the Han. Most of the great odes and hymns in the Book of Poetry
are eulogies to dynastic founders, mythical or historical (C1.13). Along with praise
for dynastic founders, these poems often contain admonitory passages, usually a
general warning to the Zhou people rather than a full-fledged admonition directed
to a specific ruler. The theme of eulogy and admonition reaches its high point in
the large fu (dafu) of the Han. In the grand fu on the Han capitals by Ban Gu (32–
92) and Zhang Heng (78–139), we see a profound transformation of the eulogistic
tradition. If the odes and hymns in the Book of Poetry praise the ancient rulers by
enumerating their heroic deeds, these famous fu works eulogize the living Han
emperors through an encyclopedic display of the splendors of their empire. The
transformation of the admonitory tradition is equally profound in the large fu. In
“Fu on the Imperial Park” (C3.1), by Sima Xiangru (179–117 b.C.e.), for instance,
we observe the author tactfully admonishing the emperor for his indulgence in
hunting by telling a story about an extravagant imperial hunting excursion. Lord
No-such and the Son of Heaven, two key figures of that story, mirror the author
and his intended reader or listener, Emperor Wu. This admonitory poem is a far
cry from the general, impersonal admonitions of the Book of Poetry.
New themes on the lives of the literati rose to take center stage during the Six
Dynasties period. These themes reflect the three worlds in which the literati lived:
the worlds of culture and politics, of nature, and of the imagination.
“The Wandering Man” (youzi) is an enduring theme about the world of culture
and politics. It comprises a broad array of depressing topos and motifs: the physical
hardships of travel on official duty, the unreliability of political patrons, the treach-
erousness of court politics, the spectacle of famine and exploitation, the incessant
frontier wars, the prolonged introspection of an insomniac man, the departure of
a beloved friend, and, above all, the constant homesickness of a scholar-official.