Gao Shi

Life

His father is variously named Gao Congwen and Gao Chongwen. Born into poor circumstances, he lived in Lingnan with his father in his youth; at about twenty he went to Chang’an seeking office but failed, then travelled north to Jimen and through Yan and Zhao, before spending a long period in Songcheng, Songzhou (present-day Shangqiu, Henan), moving among fishermen and woodcutters.

In 749, the eighth year of Tianbao, the governor of Suiyang, Zhang Jiugao, recommended him; he passed the Youdao examination and was appointed magistrate of Fengqiu. In 753, the twelfth year of Tianbao, he entered the Hexi–Longyou staff of Geshu Han, serving as a secretary and also holding the post of Left Xiaowei military clerk, elsewhere listed simply as a guard military clerk.

When the An Lushan rebellion broke out, Gao Shi assisted Geshu Han in defending Tong Pass. After the pass fell, he reached the travelling court and successively served as Left Reminder, Investigating Censor, Palace Censor, and Admonition Grandee, before becoming military governor of Huainan. He was then made Junior Chamberlain of the Heir Apparent and stationed in the eastern capital, later serving as prefect of Pengzhou in 759 and of Shuzhou in 760. In 763 he became military governor of Jiannan Xichuan and also held the concurrent responsibility for Dongchuan; recalled to Chang’an in 764, he served as Vice Minister of Justice, transferred to Left Cavalier-attendant-in-ordinary, and was enfeoffed as Marquis of Bohai County.

He died in Chang’an in the first month of 765, the first year of Yongtai, and was posthumously granted the rank of Minister of Rites and the name Zhong. He crossed the frontier three times, associated with Li Bai and Du Fu, and was also counted among Yu Ti’s friends.

Poetry

After the age of fifty, during the Tianbao era, Gao Shi began to devote serious attention to poetry; within a few years his poetic manner had changed and his work was admired for its distinctive force, with each new piece being recited by literary enthusiasts. He specialized in poems of frontier and military life, wrote more than forty frontier poems, and was ranked with Cen Shen as one of the representative poets of the High Tang frontier tradition; “Yan Ge xing” was especially admired.

His verse is direct and forceful, marked by qigu, or poetic backbone, and by a generally tragic and substantial tone. His seven-character archaic poems and song forms are especially vigorous; his five-character regulated verse likewise shows force, while his seven-character regulated verse is comparatively calm, graceful, and full. Yin Fan said that his poetry was admired both at court and among the people, Du Fu judged it capable of standing alongside Cao and Liu, and Weng Fanggang praised its plain, mature solidity; later criticism also emphasized that, despite their being paired as Gao and Cen, Gao Shi and Cen Shen had different poetic styles.

Works

The twenty-volume Gao Yun ji is lost. Later editors transmitted Gao Changshi ji, for which a ten-volume edition is also reported; recorded titles also include Gao Shi ji and Gao Changshi shiji. More than two hundred poems survive, most composed before his rise to prominence, with broad subjects and substantial intellectual content; the Quan Tang shi arranged his poems in four volumes, while the Quan Tang shi waibian and Quan Tang shi xu拾 added twelve poems and four fragments. Later annotated and critical editions include Liu Kaiyang’s chronological notes to Gao Shi’s poetry and Sun Qinshan’s collated Gao Shi collection.