The Poetics of Sovereignty
Page 46
焉。144
Stephen Owen has commented that Shangguan may have won fame for
his court poetry, but that “his finest lines were not written to imperial
command.”145 While this matching poem may suffer from the confining
strictures of the imperial occasion, it does, nevertheless, avoid and revise
the kinds of poetic conventions that even Xu Jingzong—something of a
poetic predecessor to Shangguan Yi—unquestioningly follows. In history,
he would be celebrated for his opposition to Xu and his political martyr-
dom during Empress Wu’s reign.146
With its combination of allusive density, inventive use of ornamental
periphrasis, ambiguity of image, and temporal complexity, Shangguan’s
poem stands out among the five matching poems. Whether or not the poem
succeeds as a court poem is another question altogether. His poem reads:
Presented by His Subject, Shangguan Yi, Assistant in the Palace Library
and Auxiliary Hongwen Academician
秘書郎弘文館直學士臣上官儀上
The Whip-star is half-hidden at the empyrean’s zenith,
策星映霄極，147
Flying geese banners cover the terrestrial realm.
飛鴻浹地區。148
—————
144. Jiu Tang shu, 80.2743.
145. Owen, Poetry of the Early T’ang, p. 75.
146. For Shangguan Yi’s biography, see Jiu Tang shu, 80.2743–44; and Xin Tang shu, 105.4035.
147. The Whip-star is located next to the Wang Lang 王良 (named after the famed Spring and Autumn period horse-driver) constellation. See Jin shu, 11.297.
148. “Flying geese banners” were used by chariots and cavalry. According to Kong Yingda, this was because the soldiers’ orderly ranks resembled those of the geese drawn on the banners. See Li ji xunzuan, 1.40.
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The Significance of Court Poetry
Across Wei River, You spurred on the Zhou carriage,
鮪水騰周駕，149
Atop Zhuolu, You gave warning with Xuan’s bow.
涿鹿警軒弧。150
At the radiant River, You took up the autumn seal,
榮河開秋篆，151
At Liugu, You were presented with the celestial tally.
柳谷薦靈符。152
The celestial journey was directed with a mighty whip,
天遊御長策，153
At Wushi was brought about the peoples’ revival.
侮食被來蘇。154
—————
149. According to the Lüshi chunqiu, the Wei River is where King Wu launched his attack on the Shang, which led to the overthrowing of the tyrant Zhou. See Lüshi chunqiu xinjiaoshi, 15.7.934. In the annotations, Chen Qiyou warns against conflating the Wei 鮪 with the Wei 洧. The phrase Zhou jia 周駕 is a variation on Zhou yu 周御, an allusion to the legend of King Mu of Zhou, whose carriage traveled throughout the empire. For example, see the poem “To Command: Poem on Viewing the Harvest at North Lake”
應詔觀北湖田收詩 by Yan Yanzhi in Wen xuan, 22.1049.
150. This was the site where the Yellow Thearch killed Chiyou. See Shi ji, 1.3. Xuan 軒 is short for Xuanyuan 軒轅, the personal name of the Yellow Thearch. For the legend of his bow, “Cry of Sorrow,” see Shi ji, 28.1394. It should also be noted that the Yellow Thearch is often credited with the invention of the bow.
151. In the Han apocryphal text Shang shu Zhonghou 尚書中侯 ( “Lord Zhong” Chapter of the Classic of Documents), there is reference to the Yellow River as being radiant ( rong 榮) when the River Diagram was produced. See Pi Xirui 皮錫瑞 (1850–1908), ed., Shang shu Zhonghou shuzheng 尚書中侯疏證, pp. 8a–8b, in Xuxiu Siku quanshu, vol. 55, p.
850. The radiance of the Yellow River is also mentioned by Zhangsun Wuji in his “Memorial on Presenting the Correct Meanings of the Five Classics” 進五經正義表; see Quan Tang wen, 136.1374b. The “autumn seal” perhaps refers to the seal authorizing Taizong (then the Prince of Qin) to lead forces against Xue Ju. Autumn was traditionally considered the season of punishments, and it was also the season in which Taizong began his campaign.
152. Liugu 柳谷 (variant names Liugu 柳穀 and Meigu 昧谷) is the place where the sun
sets in the west. See Shi ji, 1.16.
153. On the term “mighty whip,” see note 134.
154. Wushi 侮食 was the name of one of the cities or regions in the kingdom of Dongyue 東越, which was established in part by the Han empire to control its southeastern frontier.
When the king of Dongyue began an uprising and proclaimed himself di 帝 in 112 bc, the Han empire forcibly deposed him and quelled the rebellion. See Shi ji, 114.2984; and Yü Ying-shih, “Han Foreign Relations,” pp. 455–57. The phrase lai su 來蘇 is an allusion to the joyous reception of the Shang founder Tang in the “Announcement of Zhonghui” 仲虺
之誥 in the Classic of Documents: “We awaited our lord, and now that our lord is come, we may be restored!” 徯予后，后來其蘇. In Shang shu zhengyi, 8.49c, in Shisanjing zhushu, p. 161.
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The Significance of Court Poetry
261
On the autumn steppes, You harbored the eightfold
秋原懷八陣，155
formations,
At the War Academy, You illuminated the art of the
武校燭三驅。
three-sided
battu.
You had stones hurled to mound up old earthworks,
投石堙舊壘，
And trees cut down to maintain the wilderness paths.
削樹委荒途。
Empyrean phosphorescence suddenly falls throughout
極野驚霄燐，156
the wilds,
The evening crows cry out from the dilapidated walls.
頹墉噪晚烏。
The fierce currents are obscured in the cool rain,
毒涇晦涼雨，
The cold wells are covered over by wilderness moss.
寒井蔽荒蕪。
Serene feelings shine as if from the golden mirror,
沖情朗金鏡，157
Sagely blossoms are as depthless as the dark pearl.
睿藻邃玄珠。158
Steeped in your grace, I serve among the imperial files,
沐恩奉御什，159
Examining myself, I fear I merely fake the Qi reeds.
撫己濫齊竽。160
—————
155. The bazhen 八陣 are described in the eponymously titled seventh chapter of the Sun Bin bingfa 孫臏兵法 ( Sun Bin's Art of War), though the central point of the text is to argue that the True King discerns the principle of the eight formations and goes to battle only when he can “see” ( jian 見) victory. See Lau and Ames, Sun Bin: The Art of Warfare, pp.
114–15. David Graff has pointed out in a personal communication that the Sun Bin bingfa had been lost by Tang times, and that Shangguan’s reference to the bazhen is likely meant as praise for Taizong’s general knowledge of the military arts.
156. The phrase xiaolin 霄燐 is probably an elegant variation on xiaoguang 霄光, which refers to the bright moon.
157. “Golden mirror” is used here as a metaphor for the Way, but it is also the title of an essay on sovereignty Taizong wrote early in his reign. The term “golden mirror,” more generally, is often used as a generic name for writings that address proper comportment and morality.
158. “Dark pearl” is a metaphor used by Daoists and Buddhists to name the implementation of the Way, which is to say, its teachings. The “Heaven and Earth”
天地 chapter of the Zhuangzi has the following passage: “The Yellow Thearch roamed north of the Red River, ascended the peaks of Kunlun and gazed south. Upon his return, he found that he left his
‘dark pearl’ behind. He had Knowing to search for it, but Knowing was not able to find it; he had Li Zhu search for it, but Li Zhu was not able to find it; he had Disputation search for it, but Disputation was not able to find it. At last, he ordered Form Forgotten, and Form Forgotten was able to find it. The Yellow Thearch said, ‘How strange! How is it that Form Forgotten was able to find it?’” See Zhuangzi jishi, 12.414.
159. The character mu 沐, partially missing in the original manuscript (only the water radical remains), is an editorial conjecture by Chen Shangjun. “Imperial files” for yu shi 御什 is probably a figural reference to the palace guard, as a shi 什 is two squads of five ( wu 伍).
160. “Faking the Qi reeds” is an allusion to the Han Feizi, in which a certain “Recluse of the Southern Wall” was discovered to have been faking his talent on the yu-reeds all along.
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The Significance of Court Poetry
We already see Shangguan’s interest in wit and poetic invention in the
opening couplet, which avoids what has become a conventional invoca-
tion of dynastic change. Instead Shangguan calls attention to the “Whip-
star” (策星) high above in the sky, and then draws the gaze back down-
wards to the sight of “flying geese banners” ( feihong 飛鴻) that cover the
empire. The Whip-star is held by the constellation of Wang Lang, the ce-
lestial chariot-driver, and it ambiguously evokes both the imperial tour
that Taizong has undertaken in the present and the achievements of the
Tang military in the past (to which Shangguan will return later in the
poem). The balancing image of the banners that cover the earth—as if
demarcating the empire’s territory—is equally ambiguous, referring both
to the grandeur of Taizong’s present procession and the forces that he led
against Xue Ju. The parallelism between celestial and terrestrial emblems
is not rigid, however, as the image of Wang Lang’s chariot is completed by
the flying geese banners below, and as the flying geese depicted on the
banners point back up to the sky, with the result that the couplet’s rhe-
torical antithesis is folded in upon itself.
In the second couplet, Shangguan continues to develop the topic of Tai-
zong’s imperial tour. The landscape is, as in the other poems, seen through
the hermeneutical lens of historical geography, though not in a literally ac-
curate manner. Thus, the poem depicts Taizong as traversing the Wei Riv-
er, where King Wu of Zhou defeated the tyrannical last ruler of the Shang,
and stopping at Zhuolu, the site where the Yellow Thearch killed Chiyou.
However, the poet does not stop here: not only do the actual sites become
reinvested with mythic meaning, but the actor himself is made indistin-
guishable from his legendary models. Taizong is represented as driving the
“Zhou carriage” of King Mu, as well as taking up the bow of the Yellow
Thearch. Shangguan Yi’s use of allusion does not merely anchor the pre-
sent moment in the greater significance of the past; he calls attention to the
archaic antecedents of present acts and deeds through the construction of
palimpsestic images. He perhaps overdoes it in the third couplet, in which
Tang Gaozu’s command to Taizong (the Prince of Qin) to lead the Tang
armies against Xue Ju is recast as the appearance of the “River Diagram”
and the granting of the “celestial tally” from the god of the sun.
—————
The phrase is used here as the courtier’s polite expression of talentlessness. See Zengding Han Feizi jiaoshi, 5.415.
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The Significance of Court Poetry
263
The image of the whip returns in the fourth couplet, where Shangguan
turns the figure of King Mu’s roaming into a martial crusade that sup-
presses rebellion and grants restoration to the people. One might recall
that the same phrasing of the “mighty whip” had been used as an image of
imperial power in Xu Jingzong’s poem; here, it provides unity to the po-
etic conceit, joining together the celestial charioteer Wang Lang,
Taizong’s imperial tour of inspection, the legend of King Mu’s travels,
and the memory of the past battle. However, instead of alluding to the
legendary Cinnabar Banks and the story of the Yellow Thearch’s victory
over the cruel Miao, Shangguan opts for a historical allusion to the Han
victory over Dongyue, whose king had set himself up as a counter-
emperor in 112 bc. Though Shangguan forgoes the comparison to the Yel-
low Thearch, he has managed to find a more apt comparison for
Taizong’s victory, as well as for the enemy Taizong defeated. One might
consider the faulty allusions of Yang Shidao and Chu Suiliang, and how
an imperfect command of allusion might undermine the act of praise.
Shangguan elaborates his praise for Taizong’s military prowess in the
fifth couplet, where he turns to the emperor’s mastery of the military arts
and his moral restraint, as illustrated by the use of the three-sided battu.
He does not directly introduce the expected descriptions of scenery,
which would follow upon the battle victory, but instead first points to
how the past preparations for war violently transformed the natural land-
scape: stones were hurled onto the old earthworks and trees cut down for
the roadways. Yet as soon as he recalls this scene, he immediately whisks it
away, awakening suddenly in the present with the appearance of moon-
light and the sound of the crows cawing from where the earthworks once
stood. Moreover, whereas the other court poets used natural imagery to
praise the Tang peace, Shangguan seems lost in a fascination with hid-
denness, noting first how the rain obscures the river, and then how the
moss conceals the wells.
It is difficult to say exactly what the poet intends by this unexpectedly
dark scene, which runs counter to the expected conventional descriptions
of verdant scenery and auspicious landscape. The stillness of the poetic
scene may serve to contrast with the violence of the past, but it also seems
to negate the possibility of praise. Yet it is this stillness that allows Shang-
guan to move inwards, to introduce the interiority that court poetry does
not usually express. Thus, in the ninth couplet, Shangguan shares his
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The Significance of Court Poetry
“serene feelings” that shine from Taizong’s “golden mirror.” The image of
the “golden mirror” is a metaphor for the ruler’s virtuous conduct, but it
is obviously also the title of Taizong’s essay on sovereignty. The reference
to Taizong’s youthful composition brings Shangguan back to the matter
at hand, and he praises the imperial poem as a “sa
gely blossom,” one that
is as profound as the Yellow Thearch’s “dark pearl”—a figure for the Dao.
In the first line of the last couplet, the poet makes the conventional
gesture of thanks to the sovereign for allowing him to serve among the
“imperial files.” More remarkable, however, is the last line, which under-
takes to rewrite Taizong’s own closing line.161 Taizong, in using the
phrase fu gong 撫躬 (“examining my self”), announced a contentment
that was nonetheless tempered by the knowledge of pleasure’s ephemeral-
ity. Shangguan explicitly imitates Taizong by using the variant phrase fu ji
撫己, but then goes on to admit how he has merely “faked” playing the
“Qi reeds.” The official’s confessed lack of talent throws greater glory
onto the sovereign, who is thereby cast as winning the empire single-
handedly. At the same time, however, Shangguan’s appropriation of the
emperor’s own poetic diction takes liberties that no other court poet at
this occasion has dared to take. Shangguan tweaks Taizong by reenacting
the emperor’s boastful closing line as a deflating gesture. What is even
more daring is that the courtier conceives of his own poem not as a
matching poem for Taizong, but as its sole poetic response.
Shangguan’s poem stands out in the set of matching poems because it
does not do what is expected of court poetry. Yet, if the poem veers too
close to poetic originality for courtly decorum, it nevertheless does so
through exemplary treatments of standard courtly tropology. It is this
mastery of the rhetorical rules—and the sense of how far one might bend
those rules—that explains why Taizong relied on Shangguan for literary
advice. What is missing, however, from Shangguan’s treatment of the as-
signed topic is any sense that he is writing as part of a community. His
poem eschews the other poets’ gestures of shared gratitude to claim a di-
rect and singular relationship to the emperor’s poem. With this poem,
one might say, Shangguan has effectively cleared the field of literary rivals
to the emperor’s attention.