Each song is then further enriched by the larger context found in
—————
9. “The Great Wind” became a song of remembrance for Liu Bang and was
performed annually in the imperial ancestral temple by the youth of Pei, thus allowing him to persist as the audience of his song even in death. The text of the song was carved into a stone stele there.
10. The shape of a narrative often bears the imprint of a poem; note how the narrative frame for Xiang Yu’s song must make a slight digression to explain the identity of Lady Yu and Dapple Gray before the poetic performance can be depicted.
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78
Baring the Soul
the Han History’s accounts of Xiang Yu and Liu Bang’s rebellion
against Qin, their own subsequent power struggle, and the eventual
founding of the Han dynasty by Liu Bang. A reciprocal relationship
emerges: the song lends the narrative an emotional vividness, while
the narrative increases the depth of appreciation for the song. But
there is more than enriched reading here—the narrative frame for a
song can lead to a better understanding of contemporary concepts of
what a song was and what one could plausibly do with it. The very
different representations of song performance in these two passages
suggest that concepts of the song form in the Han were multivalent
and require greater attention. Fortunately, the Han History has
preserved accounts of a number of song performances, most of
which are by members of the Han royal family (the Liu clan and
their wives and concubines). From these accounts it is possible to
gain a sense of the expectations surrounding song performance
during the Former Han dynasty (206 b.c.e.–23 c.e.).
II
Every historical narration of song performance is mediation be-
tween “how it was” and “how it should be.” The compilers of the
Han History were fully aware of “how it should be” and took great pains to explicitly spell out canonical principles of poetic production and song performance. The “Treatise on Literature” 藝文志
found in the Han History quotes from the Documents 書 in providing the following brief exposition on the Poems:
The Documents say, “The poems should articulate intent, singing should intone the words.” Thus, when a mind is moved in a state of sorrow or joy, the notes of singing and intoning will issue forth. If one recites the words, then it is called a poem; if one intones the notes, then it is called a song.
Thus, in ancient times there were officials who gathered poems; through
them the rulers could observe the customs of their people to know their
own successes and failures so that they might examine and rectify them-
selves. 11
—————
11. Ban, Han shu, juan 30, p. 1708.
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79
書曰。詩言志。歌詠言。故哀樂之心感。而歌詠之聲發。誦其言謂之詩。
詠其聲謂之歌。故古有采詩之官。王者所以觀風俗。知得失。自考正也。
This gloss on the canonical definitions of poetry and song makes
two important points. First, poetry and song are two forms of the
same thing—an articulation of the mind in a state of excited emo-
tion—and differ only in their performative aspect. When feelings are
stirred in the mind, the notes of song naturally issue forth; emphasis
on reciting the words is a poem, while emphasis on singing the notes
is a song. 12 Simply put, a poem comprises the words to a song, which can stand alone without musical accompaniment. The gloss
implies, however, that singing is the most natural, spontaneous way
to produce and perform a poem. 13 Judging by accounts in the Han History, singing was the most common way of uttering a poem at
the Han court.
The second point states that rulers collected poems (that is, verbal
remnants of songs, which would later be set to music at court) by
their people as a gauge of the quality of their rule. Thus, a poem is a
reliable means of finding out what people are thinking and feeling.
Just as the rulers would collect poems as a window into the minds of
their subjects, so too do the historians of the Han History collect poems to provide windows into the minds of their subjects, who
often include rulers.
The reliability of the poem as a transparent medium for reflecting
the interior derives from its being an involuntary production, an
“issuing forth” ( fa 發). This canonical concept of the “poem/song”
( shi ge 詩歌)—as words/sounds spontaneously issuing forth in re-
sponse to an emotional reaction—can be called the “outburst song.”
Its most explicit formulation is found in the “Great Preface” 大序 to
the Poems:14
—————
12. For the sake of clarity, I will reserve the term “poem” to refer to the text or verse of a song and the term “song” to refer to the musical performance of a poem.
13. The clauses in the sentence, “Thus, when a mind is moved in a state of sorrow or joy, the notes of singing and intoning will issue forth,” are explicitly joined by the particle er 而, indicating that the mind being moved is the necessary and persistent condition under which the sounds of song will naturally issue forth.
14. The “Great Preface” is the opening section of the “Preface to the Mao Poems” 毛詩序, which also contains over three hundred “Lesser Prefaces” 小序, This content downloaded from 130.111.46.54 on Sat, 03 Aug 2019 08:34:20 UTC
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Baring the Soul
When feelings are stirred within, they take on outward form in spoken
words. When speaking them is not enough, then one sighs them. When
sighing them is not enough, then one intones and sings them. When in-
toning and singing them is not enough, then, unconsciously, the hands
dance them and the feet tap them. 15
情動於中而形於言。言之不足。故嗟歎之。嗟歎之不足。故永歌之。永
歌之不足。不知手之舞之。足之踏之也。
What the “Great Preface” promises with its model of spontaneous
poetic production through the “outburst song” can be summarized
in three unities: (1) unity of person, which holds that a person is
uttering a poem of his or her own composition; 16 (2) unity of time, which holds that a person’s performance of a song is simultaneous
with its production (that the composition is spontaneous and the
performance is not deferred); and (3) unity of voice, which holds
that the voice that speaks in a poem is the voice of the person who
performs the song. As with the three dramatic unities in Aristote-
lean literary theory—of time, place, and action—these three unities
of the outburst song are often violated in practice, but it is upon this template that the Han History builds its representations of poetic production and performance.
There is another influence shaping the template of the outburst
song and that is the template for the Han History itself, namely the Historical Records 史記 by Sima Qian 司馬遷 (ca. 145–86? b.c.e.). In
&nbs
p; his “Letter in Reply to Ren An” 報任安書 and his “Grand Histo-
rian’s Account of Himself” 太史公自序, Sima Qian outlines his
theory that literary production stems from feelings of overwhelm-
—————
one for each of the entries in the Poems. The “Preface” likely reached its present form in the first century of the Common Era, but is putatively based on ideas passed down from one of Confucius’s disciples and is certainly a synthesis of ideas that predated the Eastern Han.
15. Ruan Yuan, Shisan jing, vol. 2, p. 270.
16. The “Great Preface” does not explicitly state that a poem must be a new composition, and it is possible to concede that these principles could also apply to the performance of poetry through quotation. It is interesting to note, however, that every song performance depicted in the Han History is of a new composition, although other people then perform some of the poems subsequent to the initial moment of production.
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Baring the Soul
81
ing frustration, a theory that is quoted at length in his biography in
the Han History. Sima Qian lists a series of canonical literary works and argues that each work was produced by an author suffering
profound frustration caused by a sense of impotence. He ends his
list with the Poems and then sums up the general principle:
The three hundred Poems were largely composed as a result of worthy men and sages venting their outrage. These people all had something pent up
inside their thoughts but were unable to find a way to put it into action.
Thus, they related what had happened to them in the past in consideration of those to come in the future. 17
詩三百篇。大氐賢聖發憤之所為作也。此人皆意有所鬱結。不得通其道。
故述往事。思來者。
Sima Qian’s own thoughts on literary production were surely
shaped by the suffering he underwent as a result of being castrated
for gainsaying Emperor Wu. Again and again in his accounts of
pre-Han figures—Boyi and Shu Qi, Confucius, Qu Yuan, and Jing
Ke, among others—people caught in trying circumstances reach a
crisis point and then burst forth into song. Sima Qian seems to have
had a particular affinity for those figures in history whose noble
intentions were frustrated by circumstances. The song form, to him,
becomes the most potent way for historical writing to capture those
intentions, or at least the frustration that resulted from failing to
achieve them. This model of poetic production—a song arises from
suffering frustration in extreme situations—was surely the other
main influence on the template of the outburst song found in the
Han History. For while the canonical gloss in the “Treatise on Literature” explains that a song arises when “a mind is moved in a state
of sorrow or joy,” there is not a single joyful song in the entire Han History, only the venting of frustration and outrage.
III
Proceeding chronologically, the next song by a member of the Han
royal family to appear in the Han History is also by Liu Bang
—————
17. Ban, Han shu, juan 62, p. 2735.
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Baring the Soul
(Emperor Gaozu 高祖, or Gaodi 高帝) and was performed by him
at court just six months after he performed “The Great Wind” in Pei
Palace. The Han History records that Liu Bang took a favorite
concubine, known as Lady Qi 戚夫人, by whom he had a son. Liu
Bang felt that this son was more akin to him than was the “kind but
weak” heir apparent he had by Empress Lü 呂后. Lady Qi was
aware of the emperor’s feelings and requested that her son be in-
stalled as heir apparent instead. Liu Bang would have indulged her if
not for four venerable advisors who pledged their allegiance to the
son of Empress Lü as a result of her machinations on the advice of
the Marquis Zhang Liang 張良. Liu Bang realized that he could not,
in good conscience, depose an heir apparent who was able to gain
the loyalty of four such men. In the following passage, he informs
Lady Qi of his decision at a court banquet:
The four men finished wishing the emperor long life and scuttled off. The emperor looked after them as they left, summoning Lady Qi to his side.
Pointing them out to her, he said: “I want to replace the heir apparent, but those four men have come to his aid. Now that he has gained these wings it will be difficult to move him from his position. Empress Lü truly is in
charge now.” Lady Qi wept and the emperor said to her, “Perform a Chu
dance for me, and I will perform a Chu song for you.” He sang,
The wild swan soars on high,
with one beat he covers a thousand leagues.
He goes on his wings,
and can cross the four seas.
He can cross the four seas,
so what more can I do?
Though I may have a snare arrow,
still, how could I use it?
He sang the song through several times until Lady Qi began to sob and
weep. Then the emperor rose to leave, bringing an end to the meal. In the end, his not replacing the heir apparent was because of the influence of these four men, who had been originally summoned by Zhang Liang. 18
—————
18. Ban, Han shu, juan 40, p. 2036.
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83
四人為壽已畢。趨去。上目送之。召戚夫人指視曰。我欲易之。彼四人
為之輔。羽翼已成。難動矣。呂氏真乃主矣。戚夫人泣涕。上曰。為我
楚舞。吾為若楚歌。歌曰。
鴻鵠高飛
一舉千里
羽翼以就
橫絕四海
橫絕四海
又可奈何
雖有矰繳
尚安所施
歌數闋。戚夫人歔欷流涕。上起去。罷酒。竟不易太子者。良本招此四
人之力也。
This song is also in Chusheng meter, which was favored by Han
royalty in their songs because, under the influence of Li sao 離騷, it came to be seen as the proper mode for making a lament. 19 The Chusheng meter must have also come readily to southerners such as the Liu clan in their personal compositions because it was the native
song meter of the south; it was clearly marked as such in com-
parison to the tetrasyllabic form found in the Poems from the
north. 20 The song contained in this passage, which came to be known as “The Wild Swan” after the first line, appears to be in
tetrasyllabic meter despite being explicitly labeled as a “Chu song.”
Suzuki explains this by saying that there are examples of tetra-
syllabic songs in the Lyrics of Chu 楚辭 (notably the “Heavenly
Questions” 天問) and that if one inserts a xi 兮 character at the line breaks, the song resembles those found in the “Nine Sections” 九章
of the Lyrics of Chu. 21 These explanations may be superfluous. In
—————
19. Suzuki Shūji makes this observation and refers to Chusheng poetry as the
<
br /> “whining genre” of the Han court ( Kan Gi shi no kenkyū, p. 15).
20. Elsewhere in the Han History the long tetrasyllabic poem (rather than song) is still submitted in written form as a formal mode of remonstration by officials at court. See Ban, Han shu, juan 73, pp. 3101, 3105, 3110.
21. There are numerous examples in which the xi character was dropped from Chu songs in the process of transmission. This happened to “The Great Wind,”
which was converted to a heptasyllabic song without the xi by the time it found its This content downloaded from 130.111.46.54 on Sat, 03 Aug 2019 08:34:20 UTC
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84
Baring the Soul
light of the Han History’s definition of song as “intoning the notes”
and considering the name of the Chusheng meter itself, which may be literally translated as “Chu notes,” the essence of a Chu song
seems not to lie so much in the textual residue recorded in the pages
of history as in the very thing that cannot be captured in writing: the
musical performance. What distinguishes a Chu song from other
sorts of songs and poems is not simply the presence of a xi character, but a whole mode of performance predicated on singing, which often includes instrumental accompaniment and dancing. The texts of
these songs are never simply chanted or written down for reading;
they are produced and received as songs first and foremost. This is
why it is crucial to read them in situ, for while a narrative can never
hope to capture a musical performance, it can at least describe it.
Liu Bang’s performance of “The Wild Swan” adheres to the
principle that an outburst song is produced out of feelings of frus-
tration, but the notion of spontaneity is complicated here, as it is in
the case of “The Great Wind.” Liu Bang is certainly frustrated as he
finds himself backed into a corner, unable to make his favorite son
the heir apparent because of the machinations of the empress. His
statement to Lady Qi that “Empress Lü truly is in charge now” is a
startling admission of his political impotence in the face of his wife
and hints at the absolute power she will soon enjoy after his death.
Words Well Put Page 13