4 - Juxtaposition II: A biographical analogue

Summary

It is possible now to seek a reconnection between the disjunctive parts of a juxtaposition poem. That poems as varied as the examples given in Chapter 3 should share a method of composition suggests that reconciliation of the parts of a poem is not to be obtained in poetic terms. This leaves the alternative that it is to be made through the person of the poet. In other words, reconnection of the parts of a poem is brought about by the same process as in traditional reconciliations, where the development of a poem by Tu Fu is explained in terms of the poet's mood and personality. Earlier I pointed out that traditional explications such as P'u Ch'i-lung's of “Seeking out Ts'ui Chi and Li Feng,” though ostensibly concerned with the poem, are couched in ad hominem terms. It may seem, therefore, that we have merely arrived at the conclusion with which tradition began. The detour has value, though, in that the isolation of disjoint poems will enable us to validate truisms about Tu Fu in a more precise way, rendering them truths as well as truisms. The concept of disjunction makes clear that a poem's continuity in the poet's mind is posited as a theory rather than assumed as a convention. Whether supposition or convention, identical preoccupations are attributed to Tu Fu, but theory supplies in addition a principle that unites a number of diverse issues.

The sheer difficulty of describing the obvious in Tu Fu's poetry tempts us to assume that the task is unnecessary.