Abstract:
The way to compare literary arts to military affairs originates from shece(射策,a civil official examination compared to shooting an arrow) in the Han Dynasty. Du Fu developed it into a particular way to create poetic images and explained on poetic theory which affected the later ages. According to the different vehicles, it may be divided into two kinds: one is riding and shooting, and the other is a battle. With regard to the former, Du Fu likened writing in the proper way to podi (破的,hit the target), expressing his aesthetic tendency of pursuing strength by feidong(飞动,the state of the arrow rustling in the air), and converting the cliche like shece(射策) into such lively images like chuanyang(穿杨,shoot a polar leaf in the distance). With the latter, Du Fu used zhanshen(战胜,to defeat),bizhen(笔阵,arrangements in writing compared to military planning),milei(靡垒,to approach siege works),xianfeng(先锋,vangard) and xianfeng(铦锋,a sharp cutting edge) to express his selfconfidence to challenge the ancients and to pursue a robust style, which was adopted by Yuanzhen, Bai Juyi, Han Yu and Liu Yuxi in the middle Tang and Lu Guimeng in the Late Tang, especially when they composed verses in correspondence with each other. While the poets in the middle and late Tang Dynasty mentioned above attached more importance to the vehicle(battle) itself with rich details, literary quotations, and dramatic descriptions, these was not much discussion of the art of poetry itself, which was different from that of Du Fu. Such difference shows the limitation of the poets’learning from Du Fu, and the complicated influence of popular competitive and factionalism on poem writing.
