How the Story is Told and Who is Telling: Reading Li Bai’s “Ballad of Changgan” and “Ballad of Jiangxia”

T'ang Studies 12 (1994) H o w th e S to ry is T o ld a n d W h o is T e llin g : R e a d in g L i B a i's "B a lla d o f C h a n g g a n " a n d "B a lla d o f J ia n g x ia " SHELLEY W. CHAN UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, BOULDER "Narrative poetry constitutes a significant category of T'ang literature."l To this category Li Bai $8 (701-762?) has made his contribution, since "yueh-fu and 'songs' (ko-hsing ~ff) make up about one-fifth of [his] collection in its present form."2 Yuefu and "songs," classified as guti shi "i5t1~(ancient-style poetry) in contrast with jinti shi llilU'if (modem- or recent-style poetry), are usually considered the most appropriate forms for narrative. As C.H. Wang observes, "In comparison with the modern-style poetry, the ancientstyle appears to be more inclined to narrativity" as "a long poem written in the ancient style is clearly provided with the mechanisms necessary to develop a plot and with the other elements required of the narrative."3 This paper intends to make close readings of two of Li Bai's long narrative poems, namely, "Changgan xing" *Tff or "Ballad of Changgan" (the first of the two), and "Jiangxia xing" ~I8!1f or "Ballad of }iangxia," and to display how the narrative structure together with poetic devices construct the stories. In addition, we will also consider the notion of the speaking voice in a literary text. Let us start with "Ballad of Changgan." 1 Ching-hsien Wang, liThe Nature of Narrative in Tang Poetry," in The Vitality of the Lyric Voice: Shih Poetry from the Late Han to the T'ang, ed. Lin and Owen {Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1986),217. 2 Stephen Owen, The Great Age of Chinese Poetry: The High Tang (New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1981), 119. 3 Wang, 229. 39 Chan: Li Bai' 5 Changgan xing and Jiangxia xing Ballad of Changgan4 When my hair just fringed my forehead, I plucked flowers in front of the gate at play. The boy came riding on a bamboo horse, 4 Round about the couch, we fooled with green plums. Together living in Changgan village, Both too young to arouse rumor or gossip.s At fourteen I became my lord's wife; 8 My bashful countenance never relaxed. Hanging my head, I faced the dark wall, Not once did I answer his thousand calls. At fifteen I started to extend my eyebrows, 12 And wished to be together like dust with ashes.6 Always maintaining the faith of "clinging to the post,"7 How could I climb the "gazing-for-husband" terrace?8 {no stanza break} 4 This is an old yuefu title. In Guo Maoqian ~~fR (fl. 12th cent.), camp. Yuefu shiji ~Jf..f~~, there is an anonymous "Changgan qu," and the Tang poet Cui Hao ,*ii (d. 754) has four poems under this title. These poems are all about the lives of boatwomen . See Yuefu shiji, 4 vols. (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1979), 72.1030. Changgan is the name of a village located near present-day Nanjing. 5 After reaching seven years of age, boys and girls were traditionally forbidden to have direct contact. For information about this taboo, see Li ji 1ttil (Shisan jing zhushu edn.), 28.1471a. 6 The line may also be translated" And wished to be together till we became dust and ashes." Regardless, the meaning of the poem is not altered. 7 The allusion comes from Zhuang zi. The story tells: "Wei Sheng made a tryst with a girl under a bridge; the girl did not come, when the rising waters reached him he would not leave, and died clinging to a post of the bridge." See Zhuang zi jijie m:.:r#!ft¥,comm. Wang Xianqian x.;t~(1842-1917) (Taibei: Sanmin, 1974), 29.17778 . The translation is from A.c. Graham, Chuang-tzu: The Inner Chapters (London: Unwin, 1981), 238. S Several folktales tell of a woman who stands on the top of a mountain, gazing off after...