a well, the speaker becomes the well denizen and the reference shifts to
a different image in the Daoist palette, that of someone “carefree”
¢在. This carefree tone (a laudable ideal by Daoist standards but not
to be confused with Zhuangzi’s frog metaphor) of embracing life and
lingering in the luminescence of the star-filled night is an example of
how vivid Zheng’s imagination can be. But the memory of the well
frog always lurks in the background of the learned reader’s mind; thus,
there is a sense of irony in the delusions of grandeur that the speaker
exhibits as s/he boasts her/his power against the northern forces of
nature. In contrast to “In Dreamland,” the speaker in “Skylight,”
when faced with the freezing snow and water poured upon him, liter-
ally brushes it aside, equating himself with the more temperate
weather of the spring that will soon return to defeat the cold of winter.
A more social and less contemplative poem is Zheng’s “Uncouth
Bar” ÑÒ, which depicts the general state of rootlessness in an ironic
and poignant manner. Julia Lin comments on the “nomadic” sensibil-
ity in this poem, suggesting it may be rooted in the transient conditions
that Zheng, and many of his generation, had to endure while growing
up in war-torn China (Lin 1985b: 2). Whether beneficial or not, early
in his life, Zheng Chouyu was subjected to the trying experience of
being forced to move with little notice and never being able to develop,
much less maintain, a sense of home on either an individual/familial or
a national level. This began with frequent relocations in mainland
China, extended to his late teen years in Taiwan (a place he is inextri-
cably associated with yet does not consider his home), and has ended
with his immigration to the United States. But the nomadic lifestyle to
which Lin refers, which Yang Mu (Yang 1974: 44) feels is more force-
fully verbalized in Zheng’s poetry than in any of the others of his age
(unusual, since most of his peers shared this rootless upbringing), can-
not simply be attributed to his own or his peers’ personal experiences
during the war years in China and subsequent retreat to Taiwan. Even
though that may have provided the necessary foundation for this sen-
sibility, the poem itself firmly places the burden on the shoulders of the
poet in a rather perceptive prosopoetic query that sets the tone for the
entire lyric:
Zheng Chouyu and Lyric Poetry 39Who is it that bequeathed the
poet’s trade
Hanging a lantern in the dusk
Ah, they’re here - - - - - -
Camels with fate dangling
from the necks
EÓÔb這 P的Ö×
ØÙ挂ÛsÜÝ¡, *c- - - - - -
有Þß垂在頸間的áâ
有45ã在ä的åR
EÓ挂Û的這ÜÝ¡