Title

The Call of Beauty and Fragrant Grass: On Metaphor and Romance in Lian Heng’s Fragrant Trousseau Style

Author

Yu Yu-ting

Genre

Article

Pages

483-509

DOI

10.6503/THJCS.202009_50(3).0003

Download

PDF

Language

Chinese

Key words

the fragrant trousseau style, Taiwanese classical poetry, erotic poetry, metaphor, beauty and fragrant grass

Abstract

Taiwan was colonized by Japan in 1895. Oddly enough, following Taiwan’s colonization, “fragrant trousseau” (xianglian 香奩) poetry, a classical style dating back to the ancient past, did not vanish, but instead became increasingly popular. This article investigates the poetic oeuvre of Lian Heng連橫 (1878-1936) as an example of this phenomenon, not only because he was an important Taiwanese poet, but also because he wrote a substantial amount of poetry in the fragrant trousseau style. Lian discussed the fragrant trousseau style in his works on poetic theory, where he confronted the pedigree of, and the problems within, fragrant trousseau poetry. Through a reconstruction of the style’s pedigree and an analysis of its derivation from fengya discourse, I interrogate its hidden sprit of resistance. I moreover investigate the specific zeitgeist this gorgeous style expressed through its poetic aesthetics. The coexistence of glory and eroticism in Lian’s poetry reflected the resistance, compromise and anxiety of Taiwanese literati under the colonial regime.