Few questions about Tang poetry

[Pravit]

I've been reading some Classical Chinese texts on Wengu. I usually have no trouble reading the Analects or at least seeing how they got the translations they did, but when it comes to Tang poetry I usually can't understand anything; it just seems like a jumble of randomly picked characters. I think the problem is that the CEDICT definitions are a bit lacking when it comes to Classical Chinese - they made a lot more sense when I read them in my Classical Chinese reader, which provided more contextual definitions. Does anyone know of any good online resources that focus primarily on Classical Chinese meanings of characters?

Some of the English translations of Tang poetry seem like quite a long shot, and other times I wonder if Bynner wasn't occasionally making things up to translate particularly ambiguous passages. Of course, it could just be because I don't know enough Classical Chinese yet. As an example, here's Li Bo's poem 玉階怨 :

玉階怨

玉階生白露， 夜久侵羅襪。

卻下水晶簾， 玲瓏望秋月。

And here is the English translation(Bynner):

Her jade-white staircase is cold with dew;

Her silk soles are wet, she lingered there so long....

Behind her closed casement, why is she still waiting,

Watching through its crystal pane the glow of the autumn moon?

I'm pretty confused by every line. 玉階生白露 I understood as "white/clear dew forms on the jade staircase", because of the 生, but I would have never guessed "jade-white" or "cold."

夜久侵羅襪

I have absolutely no clue what 侵 means here; CEDICT gives the definition "invade", and using the chineseetymology.org site doesn't help much; out of the definitions there, I would have only guessed "encroach" or "to proceed gradually." 羅襪 I'm guessing to mean "silk stockings."

卻下水晶簾

Euhh...a crystal curtain as clear as water? I have no clue. Did a curtain fall, or is it already closed and she is lingering behind it?

玲瓏望秋月

CEDICT gives the definition of 玲瓏 as "the tinkling of gems", although there is no reference to it in the Bynner translation. If I had to guess, I would translate this line as "Her gems tinkling, she looks at the autumn moon."

Would appreciate any comments. Thanks!

[JVGruat]

Trying to apprehend the meaning of Tang poems and render this in western language is always a fascinating experience !

http://www.chinese-tools.com/chinese/poetry/tang/poem/26/yujieyuan.html provides some useful hints.

In fact, as often is the case, the story is quite simple - and this translation seems to render it better:

"White dew grows on the marble steps,

And in the long night, soaks into my stockings.

But now I let the crystal curtain down,

And gaze through it at the autumn moon. "

玉階生白露， 夜久侵羅襪。

卻下水晶簾， 玲瓏望秋月。

The lady is tired of waiting, her sock are wet with the dew. Still, autumn moon light is so exquisite, viewed across the crystal curtain. I must say I do not really undeerstand this crystal curtain, and why it should be down ...

[Guest realmayo]

Could the crystal curtain not be light rain or dew falling? ... through which the speaker sees the moon?

[davidzq]

Here is a mouse over help on each character of the poem:

http://afpc.asso.fr/wengu/wg/wengu.php?l=Tangshi&no=255

Although this shows Bynner's version... JV posted Ezra Pound's version (note the first person useage), which Pound translates from the japanese.

Here is Hinton's translation, who often stays close to the original:

Night long on the jade staircase, white

dew appears, soaks through guaze stockings.

She let's down crystalline blinds, gazes out

through jewel lacework at the autumn moon.

I think Bynners use of jade-white misplaces the white to jade, instead of to dew; and his use of cold is commentary on the long night; if dew is inside the house, it must be 'cold' !

You reference , 玲瓏 as "the tinkling of gems", can also be exquisite or detailed; see MDBG Chinese-English http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php

Here is what The Penguin Classics Li Po and Tu Fu edition says on the poem:

Jade is also the epithet for a beautiful woman's smooth skin. The 'white dew' thus suggests the tears on her cheek but white dew is also the name of one of the half moons in the chinese lunar calendar(early Sept), giving a hint the lady is no longer young. The crystal blinds suggests the tears in her eyes, as well as the curtain with rock crystals that she had in the imperial Seraglio, to which the jade staircase led. She can be recognized as an Imperial Concubine who is losing the Emperor's attentions...