Sao P oe t ry : t He Lyr i cS of c h u 43correlatives of fine subjective qualities, and the act of gathering and applying them
is meant to be understood as a symbol or metaphor for moral cultivation.
The interpretation of “Fairest” (meiren) has caused a lot of controversy. In an-
cient Chinese, the phrase is ambiguous in gender. Some scholars regard it as a
reference to King Huai, while others maintain that it refers to the poet himself.
On a textual level, both interpretations seem to work. This ambiguity is charac-
teristic of the allegorical nature of “On Encountering Trouble” in that, like the
“fragrant plants and fair one” in these stanzas, many of its sections clearly invite
understanding at another level. Chinese critics have been eager to demonstrate
the usage’s affiliations with the Shijing. They regard this rhetorical device as being
identical with the bi-xing (compare and evoke) convention in the Shijing (chap. 1).
Since the subject is important to our understanding of the allegorical and symbolic
framework of the poem, it is necessary to consider the matter in some detail.
Bi (to compare) usually refers to an explicit comparison of two things or situa-
tions, and xing (to evoke) refers to an image or a situation that evokes certain as-
sociations in the reader’s mind. Both bi and xing relate to comparisons between
two things, but the former is associated with the more obvious, whereas the latter
is concerned with the subtler. The boundary between the two, however, is some-
times not clear-cut. In the Shijing, objects or situations are merely juxtaposed. Any
connections between them are evoked by their proximity, and there is no attempt
in the text to direct our interpretation in a certain way. In the preceding and other
passages in “On Encountering Trouble,” however, the poet explicitly informs his
audience that a certain object or situation is intended to be compared with another.
If xing is the dominant trope in the Shijing, “On Encountering Trouble” presents bi
as its central device.
Since early times, critics have identified this xiangcao meiren trope as the central
symbolic device in “On Encountering Trouble” and have used it as a guide to their
allegorical readings of the poem. Wang Yi, for example, claimed that “On Encoun-
tering Trouble” “draws on types to make comparisons. Thus fine birds and fragrant
plants [are used to] equate loyalty and steadfastness, wicked creatures and foul
objects [are used to] compare with slanderous and villainous people, and godly and
fair ones [are used to] equate with the monarch.... Dragon steeds, heavenly birds,
and phoenixes [are used to] represent gentlemen, and whirlwinds and clouds [are
used to] refer to villains.”19 This method of symbolic presentation has had tremen-
dous influences on both the creation and the interpretation of Chinese poetry.
At the end of this section, the poet offers himself as a guide to “show the way” to
his king. This prepares us for the numerous journeys on which the poet will take
us throughout the poem in his quest for his ideals:
25 The three kings of old were most pure and perfect,20 昔三后之純粹兮 (xī sān hòu zhī chún cuì xi)
Then indeed fragrant flowers had their proper place. 固眾芳之所在 (gù zhòng fāng zhī suŏ zài)
They brought together pepper and cinnamon, 雜申椒與菌桂兮 (zá shēng jiāo yŭ jūn guì xi)
And had more than mere heliotrope and angelica. 豈維紉夫蕙茝 (qĭ wéi rèn fú huì zhĭ)