Wang Wei brings the martial energy

More than just a landscape poet

Ballad of the Old General
Wang Wei

Fifteen or twenty years he was at that time,
When he marched into the middle of the enemy men
And helped himself to a Mongol horse.
He hunted and killed a tiger in the hills
Blazed with white on its brow; he couldn’t bear
To rank behind the hero with the blonde beard.
A thousand miles this man travelled
From battle to battle, and he brought up short
A million men with the might of his sword.
Our imperial fighters flew as fast
As thunder and lightning; the threat of our thorns
Had the savage horsemen scrambling for safety.
But generals can suffer strange fates:
Wei Qing, unbeaten in battle, was cherished;
Li Guang was given no gratitude for his greatness.

Since his sovereign sent him away,
He’s physically decayed. The frustration of his career
Has given him grey hair.
Once his fletched arrows would find
The right eye of a sparrow; recently he’s sprouted
A livid excrescence on his left elbow.
By the side of the street he sometimes sells
Cantaloupes, like a former count; out front
He has rows of willows, like a retired writer.
He lives on a lowly lane, lined with
Withered wood; outside his windows
A forlorn landscape of frigid hills.
But this man swore to make a spring flow
In Kashgar. He could not now become
A drunk, as the duke from Yingchuan did.

In the Helan Hills, hordes of enemies
Are massing. Urgent messages, marked
With feathers fly from first light till dusk.
By the rivers of the empire, the Emperor’s officers
Grab raw recruits. On the roads of the empire
Captains come at the Emperor’s call.
He grabs his breastplate, gleaming bright as snow,
To assess its fit. He seizes his sword,
With its pattern of stars; he parries and strikes.
His best wish is a bow from Yan
To shoot their generals; he’s ashamed that the shouts
Of enemies have offended the Emperor’s ears.
Don’t forget the governor of Yunzhong
Who suffered slights once: a single battle,
One great rout, will bring glory and renown.

王维  老将行
少年十五二十时，步行夺得胡马骑。
射杀中山白额虎，肯数邺下黄须儿。
一身转战三千里，一剑曾当百万师。
汉兵奋迅如霹雳，虏骑崩腾畏蒺藜。
卫青不败由天幸，李广无功缘数奇。
自从弃置便衰朽，世事蹉跎成白首。
昔时飞箭无全目，今日垂杨生左肘。
路旁时卖故侯瓜，门前学种先生柳。
苍茫古木连穷巷，寥落寒山对虚牖。
誓令疏勒出飞泉，不似颍川空使酒。
贺兰山下阵如云，羽檄交驰日夕闻。
节使三河募年少，诏书五道出将军。
试拂铁衣如雪色，聊持宝剑动星文。
愿得燕弓射天将，耻令越甲鸣吴军。
莫嫌旧日云中守，犹堪一战取功勋。

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In the course of his official career, Wang Wei inevitably spent some time on military posting. In the year of 737, when he was 36 years old, he was stationed out on the northwest frontier, in what is now Gansu. His time with the soldiers made him appreciate how hard and arbitrary life was for them, and one of the results was this poem.

It’s very nicely written for us as outsiders, because it doesn’t require you to know the backstories. Wang creates a fictional general, and assigns to him stories that raise the ghosts of historical heroes. Almost every line references some historical fable of military prowess, but they’re all self-explanatory enough that you can get the sense without the details. For those who are interested, the poem opens up little windows into the military exploits of the past. I’ll try to give the basics on as many of the stories as possible in the notes.

Marched into the middle: This would make readers think of Li Guang, a Han Dynasty general from about 100 BCE. He was injured in battle, but picked himself up, walked up to a Xiongnu cavalry rider, threw him off his horse, and rode the horse back to the safety of his own camp.

Killed a tiger: Zhou Chu, a general from the Jin Dynasty in the mid-3rd century, killed a particularly fierce tiger with a white blaze on its forehead.

Hero with the blonde beard: Cao Zhang (189-223), third son of Cao Cao.

Wei Qing: A contemporary of Li Guang, much decorated by the Han emperor.

Li Guang: A successful general who ultimately killed himself because he did not have the support of the emperor.

Right eye of a sparrow: Wu Jia bet the mythical archer Yi that he couldn’t shoot out a sparrow’s left eye. Yi was extremely embarrassed when he missed and shot out its right.

Left elbow: In a story in the Zhuangzi, two daoists are unbothered by growths on their left elbows, because it is all part of the cycle of life and death.

Former count: Shao Ping, who was a nobleman during the bried Qin Dynasty, but was left penniless when the Han came to power.

Retired writer: Tao Qian, who wrote about how great it would be to get out of the ratrace and plant a nice garden - and then actually did it!

Make a spring flow in Kashgar: Geng Gong (1st century CE) was under siege in Kashgar. Desperate for water, he called for a spring, and immediately his men dug up a well. The Xiongnu army were so impressed by his magic powers that they lifted the siege.

Duke from Yinchuan: Guan Fu (2nd century BCE) was a fighter and a drunkard. After losing his commission, he was just a drunkard.

Marked with feathers: Urgent military communiques, particularly those announcing invasions or troop mobilisations, were marked with a feather.

Pattern of stars: The plough (big dipper) was a popular motif to carve onto a sword.

Bow from Yan: Yan (near modern Beijing) was reputed to make the best bows.

Offended the emperor’s ears: During the Warring States, Yue invaded Qi. The Qi general Yongmen Zidi apologised to the Qi king for allowing the noise of the invasion to disturb the king, and requested permission to commit suicide. After his death, the Yue army was so impressed that it abandoned the invasion.

Governor of Yunzhong: Wei Shang (2nd century BCE). An effective commander who was brought down by slander. When the Han emperor learned of his mistake, he reinstated Wei Shang.

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Here is the reading by Cinix, which makes clear how perfect the ballad form is. The poem divides into three stanzas of five couplets each, each stanza starting with a rhyming couplet, and the rhyme is held constant (at the end of the second part of each couplet) through the stanza. I would have loved to copy this rhyme scheme, but I couldn’t make it work. I think the Beowulf-style alliterative meter works OK, but if I ever get time I might come back and try to upgrade this one.