How to Read Chinese Poetry A Guided Anthology

c i P oe t ry : long s ong ly riC s on ob j eC t s 287

song lyric called yongwu ci (song lyrics on objects), which became popular and im-
portant during the late Song.
Broadly speaking, the term yongwu ci refers to a song lyric that depicts an ob-
ject. The word wu, translated as “object” here, is the term for anything that can be
apprehended or perceived by the xin (mind). It is opposed to wo (the self ) and xin
(the mind), which refer to the experiencing subject. Thus wu connotes all concrete
entities and phenomena in the material world and in human affairs, as well as
abstract ideas and unreal and imaginary things. But the term yongwu ci has been
used by poets and critics in a much narrower sense. It refers primarily to song
lyrics on small objects in nature—such as flowers, birds, or insects—and never
to landscapes and events in the poet’s life or in history. In the thirteenth century,
however, the poetic process involved in writing yongwu ci was extended far beyond
the confines of lyric composition.
In writing a yongwu song lyric, the poet withdrew from the direct expression of
his own experience, which constitutes the core of a poem; rather, he became an
observer of his own complex inner state. The yongwu mode that emerged in the
late Song represented a significant new development within the lyrical tradition.
Although there were thematic links between yongwu ci and the two earlier sub-
genres, yongwu shi (poems on objects) and yongwu fu (rhapsodies on objects), that
flourished in the late fifth century, because of differences in form and in the poetic
process, yongwu shi and yongwu fu did not develop along the lines of late Song
yongwu song lyrics. As the following examples demonstrate, representative lyrics
on objects in the late Song are usually cast in the so-called spatial mode.

Turning now to works that best illustrate the new aesthetics of the song lyric in the
Southern Song, the following is a pair of poems on the plum blossom by Jiang Kui,
who also wrote the accompanying preface and composed the music for them:

In the winter of the year xinhai [1191], I took a ship through the falling snow

to visit Stone Lake [style of Fan Chengda (1126–1193)]. After I had stayed for

a month, he handed me paper, requesting poetry and new tunes. I composed

these two song lyrics, which Stone Lake held, fondling them in his hands, un-

willing to put them down. He ordered a musician and a singing girl to practice

them. The melodies were harmonious and graceful, and he entitled them “An-

xiang” [Secret Fragrance] and “Shuying” [Dappled Shadows].

C 1 4. 1

Secret Fragrance

The moonlight of the old days,
2 How many times has it shone upon me
Playing the flute by the plum trees?
4 I called my jade lady to rise,
Ignoring the chill, to pick blossoms with me.

❀