“Dreams in the Mortal World Still Unawakened”: An Analysis of the Beauty and Sorrow in Chiung Yao’s Poetry .......... 319
“Poetic Alum for Clarifying the Turbid and Elevating the Pure”
Xiao Xiao
In the 1980s of the twentieth century, I came to know a young poet who gave himself a strikingly memorable pen name: Chen Qufei (Chen Chaosong, 1963– ). I have always been fond of names that embody self-awakening and self-vigilance. Qufei—to “remove what is wrong,” to cast off falsity, untruth, injustice, and all that deviates from what is right.
Because of the name Qufei, I was reminded of ancient generals such as Huo Qubing (140–117 BCE) and Xin Qiji (1140–1207), whose names likewise carried the meaning of casting off illness and affliction, expressing hopes for physical well-being. The association could not help but bring a knowing smile.
Huo Qubing’s name, “Removing Illness,” is said to have originated when his mother carried him in and out of the imperial palace. Her sister, Wei Zifu, was Empress to Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che (157–87 BCE). At the time, the emperor was bedridden with illness and required quiet rest, yet the sudden, piercing cries of the infant startled him awake, causing him to break into a cold sweat—after which his body paradoxically felt relieved. As a result, both the mother, Wei Shao’er, and the unnamed child were summoned before the emperor, who bestowed upon the infant the vigorous and auspicious name Qubing. Whether this story is factual or apocryphal, the meanings of removing illness, removing impurity, casting off all worries, and attaining freedom from blemish are, at heart, the deepest blessings elders bestow upon the young.
As for Xin Qiji, no such imperial naming legend is known, yet his courtesy name was You’an (“Young Peace”). Perhaps it was precisely because of frailty in childhood that there arose such wishes as abandoning illness, turning toward fortune, personal peace, and peace for the people. The Song dynasty—especially the Southern Song—was a pallid, ailing era, a weakened regime perpetually driven southward by the Jin and later the Mongols. Yet from this bloodless age emerged a man who may not have been physically robust in youth but who, as an adult, embodied the spirit of “golden lances and iron horses, his momentum devouring ten thousand miles like a tiger.” Because of Xin Qiji, the history of the Song was spared monochrome pallor; indeed, because of him, Song lyric poetry was rescued from the monotony of mere delicacy and softness.
Removing illness, abandoning affliction—these seek to sever physical burdens, discomfort, and pain. But what of Qufei? Qufei aims to eliminate intellectual bias, misjudgment, and moral distortion. In difficulty, this task is no less formidable than curing the body itself. To remove illness or abandon disease—does one merely distance oneself from personal suffering, or must one also cast off society’s maladies and the nation’s pain? To remove what is wrong—does it not require excising one’s own past errors while also confronting the deviations and estrangements of the poetic field?
When Chen Qufei took up this name and ventured into the world, did he harbor such deep self-expectations? Did he hope that his endeavors would startle the poetry world into a cold sweat, effecting a sudden cure? Did he aspire to brave hardship so as to remove pests and diseases from the poetic ecosystem? Did Chen Qufei hold such aspirations? In the 1980s, I could not see into his heart.
Only recently has he gathered together his poetry criticism written over the past several years into a single volume, titled New Poetry: Creation, Criticism, and Appreciation. I was fortunate to read it in advance, and only then did I realize that his journeys through the literary world were backed by genuine accumulation and preparation. This was no idle chatter or casual scribbling.
New Poetry: Creation, Criticism, and Appreciation is divided into four major parts. The first, “Theories of New Poetry Creation and Criticism,” branches outward from theoretical foundations, exploring the formal evolution of Chinese-language new poetry, with focused attention on structure, imagery, musicality, syntax, and genre. This is solid groundwork, not castles in the air or impressions floating on the surface. Spring gives rise, summer brings growth.
The book then enters its second part, “Studies of Rhetorical Devices in New Poetry.” Following his earlier major works on poetic rhetoric—Aesthetics of Expressive Techniques and Aesthetics of Formal Design, published after his master’s thesis was organized in 2007—Chen here draws extensively on poets’ works, linking surrealism, symbolism, children’s poetry, and ballad forms; connecting figures such as Lo Fu, Yang Huan, Yu Kwang-chung, Ya Xian, and Zheng Chou-yu; and integrating rhetorical techniques including synesthesia, symbolism, analogy, irony, presentation, and parallelism. By uniting theory with concrete examples, he opens up a renewed horizon for the rhetoric of new poetry. These two parts, devoted to poetic creation, are the most solid and incisive.
The remaining sections may be seen as leaves and fruit spreading outward from the trunk of theory and rhetoric. The third part, “Discourses on New Poetry Criticism,” and the fourth, “Appreciations of New Poetry Works,” correspond to autumn harvest and winter storage—embodying the “criticism and appreciation” promised by the book’s title, and offering practicable paths for applying theory.
Chen Qufei came of age after the 1980s, and thus the poets discussed in this volume largely belong to earlier generations, with only a few newer voices emerging from the internet. What of the middle generation and the younger contemporaries? Among mid-career poets, only Li Min-yong and Xiang Yang appear. Poetry societies that rose around the same time as Chen—such as Horizon, Kindling Fire, New Land, Elephant Group, and Mandala—as well as many peers with whom he should be intimately familiar, are largely absent, save for Chen Fei-wen and Xu Huizhi. From the perspective of literary history, such omissions are evident. Yet from the poets and examples he chooses, one can clearly discern Chen Qufei’s personal predilections. Let us therefore use this book to examine the poetic vision and horizon he steadfastly upholds.
Judging from New Poetry: Creation, Criticism, and Appreciation, Chen Qufei’s ambition may not lie in offering a comprehensive aerial survey of poetic history, but rather in clarifying and transmitting “correct” knowledge. Though a native of Qingshui, Taichung, Chen also frequently writes under another pen name: Chen Qingyang. The qing (clarity) here is not merely an echo of his hometown’s name; qingyang—clarity raised aloft—marks his true resolve. One may say that the writing and publication of this book aim at “clarifying the turbid and elevating the pure” in knowledge itself, washing away impurities, and even at performing such clarification for the ecosystem of new poetry—seeking a lineage he recognizes as authentic.
Qufei, Qingyang. In this book, one can clearly perceive the author’s temperament as a teacher. Much of the impatience heard in his online voice has been stripped away. Step by step, he paces the classroom of new poetry like alum—clarifying water, sterilizing, disinfecting, deodorizing—though, for certain skins, it may still cause irritation.
Written on May 22, 2018,
on Dunhou Dàhuà Road.
字體：小 中 大
