Appreciation Dictionary of Three Hundred Tang Poems

Author: Xiao Deti
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-01
Features: [Wild Gaze] Wang Jie gazes at the eastern moor at dusk, pacing uncertainly, where to rely? Every tree is autumn-colored, every mountain bathed in the setting sun. Shepherds drive back their calves, hunters return with game. Looking at each other, no one knows each other, singing a long song, remembering the gatherers of wild greens. Wild Gaze depicts the autumn scenery in the mountains and fields, with a leisurely mood tinged with hesitation and melancholy, making it Wang Jie's masterpiece. "Gazing at the eastern moor at dusk, pacing uncertainly, where to rely?" The moor refers to land by the water. The eastern moor refers to a place in Longmen, Jiuzhou, his hometown. After retiring, he often visited the northern mountains and the eastern moor, and called himself "The Eastern Moor Master." "Pacing uncertainly" means lingering. "Where to rely?" is an allusion to Cao Cao's "Short Song" from the Three Kingdoms period "Bright moon, few stars, magpies fly south. Circling the trees three times, which branch can I rely on?" It expresses a restless and aimless mood. The next four lines describe the scenery seen at dusk: "Every tree is autumn-colored, every mountain bathed in the setting sun. Shepherds drive back their calves, hunters return with game." Looking around, everything is autumn-colored, and under the afterglow of the setting sun, it appears even more desolate. Against this tranquil backdrop, the close-ups of the shepherd and the hunter carry a pastoral atmosphere, bringing the entire scene to life. These four lines resemble a painting of an autumn evening in the mountain home, with light and color, distant and near views, and static and dynamic elements perfectly balanced. However, Wang Jie could not find solace in the countryside like Tao Yuanming of the Jin Dynasty, so he ended with: "Looking at each other, no one knows each other, singing a long song, remembering the gatherers of wild greens." He expressed his loneliness and isolation in reality, resorting to singing "The Gatherers of Wild Greens" to convey his feelings. The Book of Songs states in "The Grass Insect" from the Zao section: "Climbing the southern mountain, I gather wild greens. Not seeing the nobleman, my heart aches." He was truly heartbroken for lacking such kindred spirits. Those familiar with Tang poetry might not see any special merit in this poem. However, if read in the order of poetic history, from the Southern Dynasties of Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen, suddenly encountering "Wild Gaze," one would praise its simplicity. Southern poetry was mostly ornate and flamboyant, like a noblewoman draped in silk and jewels. Emerging from a crowd of noblewomen, suddenly encountering a village girl in a simple hairpin and coarse clothes, her unadorned beauty would possess a unique charm. Wang Jie's "Wild Gaze" has such a quality of simplicity. The poem is written in a five-character regulated verse. Since the Yongming era of the Southern Qi Dynasty, Shen Yue and others applied the theory of phonology to poetic creation, the regulated verse had been brewing as a new form. By the early Tang Dynasty, Shen Jianqi and Song Zhiwen had standardized it, establishing it as an important poetic form. Yet, over sixty years before Shen and Song, Wang Jie had already written such a mature regulated verse, demonstrating his willingness to experiment with new forms. The poem's first and last couplets express emotion and narrate events, while the middle couplets depict scenery. The repetition of emotion-scenery-emotion deepens the poem's meaning, which aligns with a fundamental structure of regulated verse. (Yuan Xingpei) P1-2