Out of Sight: The Personal Tang Style
Late Tang poets took the old theme and made intimate art
Out of Sight
Hu Zeng
.
There's always some disturbance at Jade Pass
So he joined up
Very young
Marched out to fight and never came back home
Now dust lies thick inside our summer house
And by the lake
Where we sang
The incense at the bandstand turned to ash
Outside the window, nights fade and moons wane
But he remains
Out of sight
The swallows come; a spring breeze stirs the blinds
Across a thousand empty miles, no word
No letter
No news
I will endure; my heart won't turn to ash
Out of Sight was a title used by many poets, all writing on the theme of a woman missing her husband who has been away for many years. This may be because he loves another, or is away at war, or has gone to work for the emperor. Only one poem with this title was judged good enough to be included in the 300 Tang Poems, but the Complete Tang Poems includes nine with this title, and they form a fascinating series, dating back to the 6th century, before the beginning of the Tang.
Often, the title of a poem gave name of the tune to which it should be sung. However, that doesn't seem to be the case for Out of Sight: some of the poems are very short, while others are medium length; some use short lines, others long. Instead, the poems are linked by two themes: the loneliness of a woman whose husband is away, and rich lifestyles. Both themes are brought out most clearly by Shen Quanqi in the single Out of Sight poem collected in the 300 Tang Poems.
Hu Zeng was born in 839, but his date of death is unknown.
By the late Tang Dynasty, poets were using the intimate details of upper-class life to keep the focus of the poem much more firmly on female character's feelings of sadness.
胡曾
玉关一自有氛埃，年少从军竟未回。
门外尘凝张乐榭，水边香灭按歌台。
窗残夜月人何处，帘卷春风燕复来。
万里寂寥音信断，寸心争忍不成灰。