by Tu Fu
20 Ch’in: the Ch’ang-an region, once controlled by the ancient state of Ch’in.
34 Sky-Blue Seas: Koko Nor (Chinghai Hu), a large lake on a plain in the Tibetan highlands of western China.
Weeping of old ghosts: Until men killed in battle are buried, their spirits linger nearby weeping.
CROSSING THE BORDER
T Another example of the yüeh-fu ballad. The speaker in this sequence is a young man, or perhaps several young men, drafted into military service. Originally, yüeh-fu were folk songs, often critical of the government, which were collected by the Han emperor Wu’s Music Bureau (“yüeh-fu” means “Music Bureau”) to gauge the sentiments of the common people. Hence, as poets adopted the form, using a common person as the poem’s speaker became a convention (pp. 37, 46).
3.7 Unicorn Pavilion: where portraits of China’s great heroes and statesmen hung.
5.6 Mongol: Though not an entirely satisfactory solution, “Mongol” seems to be the best rendering of “hu,” which refers to the whelter of barbarian tribes which had lived north and west of China. For Tu Fu, “hu” was as much a general term of scorn as it was a proper name, so it called up the entire historic succession of these threatening tribes.
NEW YEAR’S EVE AT TU WEI’S HOME
T Being with one’s family for New Year’s Eve was of great importance (Tu Wei was only a distant cousin, not part of Tu Fu’s immediate family). The family stayed up all night celebrating. Every light in the house was kept burning and, to keep evil spirits out, doors and windows were sealed closed with strips of paper until just before dawn, when everyone went outside.
5 On New Year’s Day, the first day of spring, all Chinese counted themselves a year older.
MEANDERING RIVER: THREE STANZAS, FIVE LINES EACH
T Meandering River: After flowing through southeast Ch’ang-an, Meandering River entered a lake, which was part of a large park in the southeast corner of the capital. Somewhat confusingly, the stream, lake, and park were all known by the same name: Meandering River. The park served as a lavish country resort for those privileged enough to own homes along the lakefront there. In late autumn, when this poem was written, the park was abandoned and the houses were closed up for winter.
2.1 Neither modern nor ancient: The poem’s title is in the same form as that used for the ancient poems in the Shih Ching (Classic of Poetry). However, the poems themselves are in the seven-character quatrain form (broken by the addition of a fifth line), a very recent invention.
3.3 South Mountain: In the Shih Ching, South Mountain literally refers to the mountains near Tu Fu’s home. However, it also carries figurative connotations in such passages as “like the timelessness of South Mountain” (Shih Ching—166/6). This figurative sense becomes predominant in later writers, most notably T’ao Yüan-ming (see p. 137, e.g.).
3.4 Li Kuang: Han Dynasty military commander (d. 125 B.C.) who lived in the mountains near Tu-ling. He once encountered a fierce tiger and shot an arrow at it. But when the arrow hit its target, Li saw that the tiger was, in fact, only a stone. Li rarely spoke.
9/9, SENT TO TS’EN SHEN
T 9/9: festival celebrated on the 9th day of the 9th month. Chrysanthemum wine (believed to enhance longevity), poetry composition (often on the subject of chrysanthemums), and the contemplation of absent friends and relatives played an important part in the holiday observances. Ts’en Shen: Tu Fu’s friend, still highly respected for his poetry. Like Tu Fu, he was banished in 758 because of his association with Fang Kuan.
17 Tu Fu is playing on a couplet written by T’ao Yüan-ming
-20 (T’ao Ch’ien—365–427), the great poet-recluse, whom Tu admired very much. It is from the fifth in a sequence entitled “Drinking Wine”:
Picking chrysanthemums at my eastern hedge,
I glimpse South Mountain in the distance.
AUTUMN RAIN LAMENT
3 Ox… horse: borrowed from Chuang Tzu 42/17/1:
The time of the autumn floods came and the hundred streams poured inthe Yellow River. Its racing current swelled to such proportions that, looking from bank to bank or island to island, it was impossible to distinguish a horse from a cow. Then the Lord of the River was beside himself with joy, believing that all the beauty in the world belonged to him alone.
(Watson, 175)
4 Ching… Wei: major rivers which converge just northeast of Ch’ang-an, then flow into the Yellow River.
FENG-HSIEN RETURN CHANT
4 Chi and Chieh: archetypal ministers who served Emperors Yao and Shun.
5 Hui Tzu: a hair-splitting logician and favorite target of Chuang Tzu. In Chuang Tzu 2/1/37 (cf. 3/1/42), Hui Tzu says to Chuang Tzu:
The king of Wei gave me some seed of a huge gourd. I planted them, but when they grew up, the fruit was big enough to hold five piculs. I tried using it for a water container, but it was so heavy I couldn’t lift it. I split it in half to make dippers, but they were so large and unwieldy that I couldn’t dip them into anything. It’s not that the gourds weren’t fantastically big—but I decided they were no use and so I smashed them to pieces.
(Watson, 34)
16 Yao or Shun: mythic rulers (reigns 2357–2255 and 2255–2208 B.C.) who came to be deified. Their names call up the Golden Age of China.
29 Ch’ao and Yu: paradigmatic recluses who lived during Emperor Yao’s reign. He offered the throne to each of them; each refused and hurried away to wash his ears clean.
39 Hua-ching Palace, the emperor’s mountain resort, was on Tu’s route.
40 Ch’ih Yu banners: Ch’ih Yu was an infamous rebel who tried to overthrow the mythic emperor Huang Ti and was defeated in 2698 B.C. Ch’ih Yu banners carried an image of Ch’ih Yu and were used to chase away demons. For Tu, it must have been clear by now that the outbreak of the An Lu-shan rebellion was imminent.
43 Jasper Lake: the palace hot spring. Hsi Wang Mu (p. 154), queen of the Taoist immortals, lives in a palace at Jasper Lake in the mythic K’un-lun Mountains. Tu Fu uses this name with considerable sarcasm.
64 Koto: I use “koto” to translate “ch’in” and “se,” two similar instruments which are the koto’s Chinese ancestors.
100 South Mountain: see p. 136.
CH’ANG-AN II
MOONLIT NIGHT
5–6 This is perhaps the first Chinese poem to address such romantic sentiments to a wife (it is especially striking here because the poem is a lü-shih). The tropes Tu uses to describe his wife had often been used to describe courtesans and court women, the conventional objects of such romantic feelings.
CH’EN-T’AO LAMENT
T Ch’en-t’ao: site just west of Ch’ang-an where a large imperial army suffered a disastrous defeat on November 17. The army, which was under the command of Pang Kuan, had been sent to recapture the capital.
SPRING LANDSCAPE
5 Beacon-fires: In times of war, neighboring garrisons would light beacon-fires each night at the same time to signal one another that they were still secure.
ABBOT TS’AN’S ROOM, TA-YÜN MONESTARY
T In an untranslated poem, Tu Fu says he is hiding in this large Zen monestary to avoid being forced into service for the rebel government.
7 Jade String: a constellation in our Ursa Major.
8 Temple phoenix: The temple roof was apparently decorated with a large iron phoenix—perhaps a type of weather vane.
P’ENG-YA SONG
T This poem recounts the flight of the Tu family from Fenghsien to Fu-chou just after the rebels captured Ch’ang-an. They made their journey, which was about 140 miles long, in 756, one year prior to the poem’s composition.
32 It was generally thought that the soul left the body when a person was surprised or frightened.
35 It was also thought that in sleep the soul drifted away (p. 142).
JADE-BLOSSOM PALACE
T These ruins were on the route from Feng-hsiang to Fu-chou. Tu Fu’s journey along this route is recounted in “The Journey North” (31). As Tu kn
ew well, this palace was built by Emperor T’ai-tsung, the founder of the T’ang Dynasty, who used it to escape the summer heat in Ch’ang-an.
6–7 Earth’s ten thousand airs: the music of earth, as opposed to the music of man (that played at the palace in its days of splendor, e.g.). It is described in Chuang Tzu 3/2/3:
The Great Clod belches out breath and its name is wind. So long as it doesn’t come forth, nothing happens. But when it does, then ten-thousand hollows begin crying wildly. Can’t you hear them, long drawn out? In the mountain forests that lash and sway, there are huge trees a hundred spans around with hollows and openings like noses, like mouths, like ears, like jugs, like cups, like mortars, like rifts, like ruts. They roar like waves, whistle like arrows, screech, gasp, cry, wail, moan, and howl, those in the lead calling out yeee!, those behind calling out yuuu! In a gentle breeze they answer faintly, but in a full gale the chorus is gigantic. And when the fierce wind has passed on, then all the hollows are empty again. Have you never seen the tossing and trembling that goes on?
(Watson, 36–7)
THE JOURNEY NORTH
T This is the inner section (lines 19–92) of an unusually long poem, a little more than half of its 140 lines. This inner section is framed by rather courtly accounts of the circumstances surrounding Tu’s journey and his vision of the dynasty’s future return to glory. The journey from Feng-hsiang to Fu-chou, where he had left his family in Ch’iang Village, was about 215 miles long. Tu was only able to acquire a horse at Pin-chou, so the first third of his journey was on foot.
1 Heaven and Earth: Ch’ien-k’un, the cosmological manifestations of the principles yang and yin, whose interaction makes up occurrence, the process of change. Often translated as “the universe.
25 Peach Blossom: T’ao Yüan-ming’s classic fable, “Peach Blossom Spring,” tells of a fisherman who discovers a secluded farming village, unknown to the outside world, where people live in peace and contentment, untroubled by the world’s concerns.
31 Owls call: The owl’s voice resembles that of a ghost or spirit; so, when it calls, it is thought to be calling the spirit of a dying person away.
35 T’ung-kuan Pass: where the armies defending Ch’ang-an suffered their disastrous defeat in 756 (p. 121)—not actually on Tu Fu’s route.
38 Ch’in: p. 135.
MEANDERING RIVER
1.5–6 The palatial homes in Meandering River Park (p. 136) would have been one of the first targets for rebel plundering when the capital fell. The park itself was neglected and little-used at this time.
Unicorns: One of China’s four great mythical animals, unicorns (ch’i-lin) appear only in times of benevolent rulers and great sages. Stone unicorns were placed beside tombs to protect the dead from evil.
2.1 Because the rebellion had exhausted the government’s resources and destroyed its tax base, it could only afford to pay its officials irregularly.
DREAMING OF LI PO
3 Li Po had become involved, perhaps unwittingly, with the leader of a minor rebellion in the southeast. Once the rebellion had been put down, Li was banished to a waste region in the far southwest—an exile few survived.
7 Spirit: It was widely believed that the soul could leave the body during sleep and when a person is frightened or surprised (pp. 29, 50). So long as the person is alive, the soul is quite restricted in its movements. The soul of a dead person, on the other hand, has complete freedom of movement, even over vast distances, hence Tu Fu’s worry.
FOR THE RECLUSE WEI PA
2 Scorpio and Orion: One of these constellations sets just before the other rises, so they never “see” each other.
THE CONSCRIPTION OFFICER AT SHIH-HAO
8 Yeh: the city where loyal armies had recently suffered a devastating defeat (p. 124).
PARTING IN OLD AGE
T For the yüeh-fu speaker, see p. 135.
CH’IN-CHOU/T’UNG-KU
CH’IN-CHOU SUITE
1.2 Wei Hsiao: a first-century warlord and inveterate rebel.
3.1 K’un-lun: a mythic mountain range in the far west where the Taoist queen of the immortals (Hsi Wang Mu—p. 154) lives.
3.3 Ch’iang: one of the Tibetan tribes near Ch’in-chou which had ostensibly submitted to the T’ang government.
Wu’s envoy: The Han Emperor Wu sent Chang Ch’ien to find the source of the Yellow River. According to one legend, he sails to Hsi Wang Mu’s palace. Another version of the story has it that he eventually finds himself on the Celestial River (Milky Way), which is the empyrean continuation of the Yellow River (p. 152).
MOONLIT NIGHT THINKING OF MY BROTHERS
2 Goose: a conventional symbol for autumn and letters from loved ones far away.
3 White Dew: the two-week period following the Mid-Autumn Festival.
AT SKY’S-END THINKING OF LI PO
7 Ill-used ghost: Ch’ü Yüan (343–278 B.C.), China’s first great poet. An admirable minister and patriot in the southern state of Ch’u, Ch’ü Yüan was slandered by members of the court and, as a result, banished. He became the archetypal exile for scholar-officials, who inevitably compared themselves to him when they suffered the very frequent sentence of banishment themselves. His exile caused him such grief that he eventually drowned himself in the Mi-lo, a river in the Tung-t’ing Lake region where Li Po was at the time. The legend of Ch’ü Yüan survives in the Ch’u Tz’u (Songs of the South), an anthology of poems which is one of the two landmarks of ancient Chinese poetry.
STAYING THE NIGHT WITH ABBOT TS’AN
T Tu Fu’s note: “Exiled, the abbot of Ch’ang-an’s Ta-yün Monastery is peacefully settled here.” See p. 27.
THE NEW MOON
5 Heaven’s River: the Milky Way.
POUNDING CLOTHES
T This yüeh-fu ballad is surprising because it is a lü-shih, the most literary of forms.
2 Pulling-stones: To make clothes, women would full cloth by beating it on a stone with a stick or mallet. When it appears in poetry, fulling cloth generally indicates a woman’s longing for a distant lover (the man for whom the clothes are being made), no doubt because of the act’s unmistakable eroticism. It is usually linked with autumn and war because fulling heavy cloth to make winter clothes for soldiers fighting on the frontier was a kind of grief-filled autumn ritual for the women who were left alone at home.
SEVEN SONGS AT T’UNG-KU
1.1 Tzu-mei: Tu Fu’s literary name.
1.3 Tsu the monkey sage: an allusion to Chuang Tzu 5/2/37:
But to wear out your brain trying to make things into one without realizing that they are all the same—this is called “three in the morning.” What do I mean by “three in the morning?” When the monkey trainer was handing out acorns, he said, “You get three in the morning and four at night.” This made all the monkeys furious. “Well, then,” he said, “you get four in the morning and three at night.” The monkeys were all delighted. There was no change in the reality behind the words, and yet the monkeys responded with joy and anger. Let them, if they want to. So the sage harmonizes with both right and wrong and rests in Heaven the Equalizer.
(Watson, 41)
1.7 These songs are all in the standard, 8-line ancient-style form. However, the seventh line of each song has an extra character added—a significant breach of form.
4.1 Chung-li: a district just south of the Huai River, which flows east through Anhui.
5.8 Soul gone: cf. pp. 142, 157.
6.1 Dragon: In Chinese mythology, the dragon descends into deep waters in autumn. It hibernates there until spring, when it rises and ascends into the sky. The dragon embodies the spirit of change, that is, of life itself, so its awakening is equivalent to the awakening of spring and the return of life to the earth.
This poem also contains a political allegory which is dependent upon its more basic mythological structure. The snakes represent the rebels, who came from the east, and the dragon represents the emperor. With the coming of spring, then, the dragon would rise and destroy
the snakes.
6.5–6 This couplet recalls a story in Han Shu (History of the Former Han Dynasty) IA:6b—7a. In the story, Kao-tsu, who was to become the first emperor of the Han Dynasty, was traveling through some marshes when he encountered a huge snake blocking the road. He bravely drew his sword and cut the snake in two. Kao-tsu’s victory symbolically prophesied the victory of the Han over the Ch’in. In Tu Fu’s mind, the T’ang Dynasty was always linked to the great Han.
7.1 Another breach of form occurs here, where Tu has added two characters at the beginning of the song’s first line.
CH’ENG-TU
ASKING WEI PAN TO FIND PINE STARTS
T Pine: Because they are large, strong, and ever green, pines represent permanence and constancy, a stoicism which perseveres under the harshest conditions.
FOUR QUATRAINS
2.1–2 Cloud… rain: induced by dragons which have become active and risen from the bottom of the stream where they had been hibernating.
3.4 Wu: the coastal region where the Yangtze flows into the sea, once controlled by the ancient state of Wu.
4.4 The healing effects of medicinal herbs and roots were thought to derive from their resemblance to other things in shape. For example, ginseng was thought to resemble the form of human beings, hence its power to promote longevity.
THE PLUM RAINS
T The plum rains arrive each year when the plums ripen, in late spring or early summer, depending on the location.
1 Southern Capital: Ch’eng-tu had been declared the Southern Capital because Emperor Hsüan-tsung went into exile there when the rebel armies captured Ch’ang-an.