ChineseStudy

46. Song of Luntai: Seeing Off General Feng on the Western Campaign | Cen Shen

Contents

Text

English translation

At night the horn sounds on the Luntai wall; north of Luntai the Barbarian Star goes down.

The Barbarian Star was read as the nomads' star, and its falling as their coming defeat. The poem opens on an omen.

A feathered dispatch passed Quli last night; the Shanyu is already west of the Gold Mountains.

A feathered dispatch is a military order flagged for urgency. Place names come one after another, packing the distance into a single line.

From the watchtower, dust rises black to the west; the Han troops are camped north of Luntai.

One line scouts the enemy, the next reports his own side. Both are military intelligence, read down like dispatches.

The high general takes up his staff and goes west; at daybreak a flute sounds and the great army moves.

The staff with its yak-tail pennant marks the commander's authority. A flute at the start gives the march a beat.

Drums beat on every side and the snow sea surges; the whole force shouts and the Yin Mountains shake.

Drum and shout are amplified together: drums make the snow sea swell, the shout moves a mountain. Both exaggerations are written for morale.

On the enemy frontier the war clouds gather against the sky; on the old battlefield white bones cling to grass roots.

One line is killing intent, the other a field from an older war — a reminder of what follows a campaign.

On the Sword River the wind is sharp and the snowflakes broad; at the Sand Mouth the stones freeze and horseshoes come off.

Broad snowflakes give the size of the snow, horseshoes coming off gives cold enough to make iron brittle. Both are plainly terrible.

The vice-chancellor serves the throne and takes the hardship gladly; he swears to repay his lord and quiet the frontier dust.

Vice-chancellor is Feng Changqing, ranked just under the chief minister. After all the hardship, this line says why he bears it.

Who has not seen the names in the history books? Today we see a merit and fame that outdoes the ancients.

The close is a congratulation, as farewell poems often end. The praise is high, and it discharges the poem's errand.

赏析 · Commentary

前六句全是军情 · The First Six Lines Are All Intelligence

这首诗前面不写景，不写情，全在报军情：号角、星象、急报、单于的位置、烟尘、我军的驻地。读起来像一封封军报往下念，句子短、信息密。岑参把战事的紧迫感放在这些事实里，比任何一句「形势危急」都管用。

The poem's opening does not write scenery or feeling; it reports. Horn, star, dispatch, where the Shanyu is, dust, where our troops are camped. It reads like dispatches handed down, lines short and information packed. Cen Shen puts the pressure of the war inside these facts, which does more than any line saying the situation was grave.

鼓声和喊声 · Drum and Shout

写士气，岑参挑了鼓和喊两样最响的东西，又各配一个夸张的后果：鼓一响雪海涌，喊一声阴山动。这两句不写实况，写的是心里的气势。紧接着下一句就转到战场白骨，热闹和惨酷挨在一起，中间不隔一行。

To write morale, Cen Shen picks the two loudest things, drum and shout, and gives each an exaggerated consequence: drums beat and the snow sea swells, the shout goes up and a mountain shakes. Neither line reports a fact; both report a feeling of force. Then immediately comes the white bones on the battlefield, and the bustle and the horror sit side by side with no line between them.

青史里的名字 · A Name in the Histories

结尾用一句祝词收：你的功名要胜过古人。送别出征，通常要夸一番，这是礼数。岑参把这句话放在最末，前面写过血、写过冻，最后落到一个后人会记住的名字上。夸词是熟套，可放在这一串军情之后，分量还是落得住。

The close is a congratulation: your merit and name will outdo the ancients. Seeing a general off to war usually calls for a compliment, and this is the form. Cen Shen puts it last, after the blood and the freezing, and it lands on a name later men will remember. The compliment is a stock piece, but set after all that intelligence it still carries weight.

Feedback