Grand Poetry Memorization Project

[rezaf]

Recently we had a discussion here:

http://www.chinese-f...rth-memorizing/about the benefits of memorizing Chinese texts and naturally memorizing poetry came up in the discussion. That's why I have decided to start a project for memorizing and reciting Chinese poems. In this project we are going to choose 10 Chinese poems and we will memorize one of them every week.

This project is mainly aimed at intermediate and advanced learners but everyone is welcome to participate. The main objective of the project as the title says is memorizing poems but it is not necessarily limited to that. Basically we can discuss the meaning, history background, the poet's biography and other useful information about the poem. In addition to that we can record ourselves reciting the poem and share it with others for discussing the pronunciation and recitation. Reciting is preferable but of course those who don't want to memorize (especially beginners) are welcome to just read them aloud.

As both my English and Chinese are not very good I am going to need your help for making vocabulary lists and those of you who want to practice translation are also welcome to send your own translations of the poems.

Lastly I would like to know your suggestions about the list of the poems. I basically want to start from easier poems and

put the more difficult ones like 關雎 at the end, however as I want this project to be a little bit challenging I won't accept the poems that are too easy or too short.

Project #1 溪居:

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/35178-grand-poetry-memorization-project-1-溪居/

[Hofmann]

Some poems are so good one can't help but memorize them. To me, reciting or reading ancient poetry aloud is pretty pointless unless you can hear the features in the language you're using. That's why I'd be hesitant to recite an Old Chinese poem, as reconstructions aren't very precise. Middle Chinese is much better off, with the initials and codas pretty much set in stone. I know it might sound intimidating, but I encourage you to read Tang and Song poetry in Middle Chinese. Here's one that everybody knows, with Baxter's reconstruction and my tones:

床前看月光

dʐjaŋ˧ dzen˧ kʰan˧ ŋjwot˧ kwaŋ˧

疑是地上霜

ŋi˧ dʑje˩˥ dij˥˩ dʑjaŋ˥˩ ʂjaŋ˧

舉頭望山月

kjo˩˥ duw˧ mjwaŋ˥˩ ʂɛn˧ ŋjwot˧

低頭思故鄉

tej˧ duw˧ si˧ ku˥˩ xjaŋ˧

Tones:

平˧ 上˩˥ 去˥˩ 入˧

Notes:

Yes, 看 is 平 and 是 is 上.

看 is also read kʰan˥˩, but that means "cover eyes with one's hand." 上 is also read dʑjaŋ˩˥ but that is usually a verb meaning "ascend" or "give" or the rising tone as in 上聲.

[rezaf]

It's a pity that I don't speak Middle Chinese but it would be interesting to know how the poems would sound like so you are welcome to recite them in Middle Chinese. However reciting the poems is just optional and the main point is to memorize them. Even if you don't like to recite you can still help in vocabulary, grammar, ... if you like.

[skylee]

床前看月光

舉頭望山月

The 看 and 山 are not in the Li Bai poem that I have learnt. What I know is that they should be 明 instead. Is yours another poem? Or another version of the popular poem? Or is the popular one a wrong version? Could you explain?

[skylee]

I have read the 溪居 thread, and I wonder what your criteria are for choosing the poems.

[Hofmann]

rezaf, I don't speak Middle Chinese. I looked up initials and finals in 廣韻 and looked up their values here.

skylee, I chose that version based on stuff like this and this.

[rezaf]

I have read the 溪居 thread, and I wonder what your criteria are for choosing the poems.

Mostly according to the suggestions that people will write here but I prefer poems that express a clear meaning and concept. Also I prefer honest poems not those full of clichés. For example in 溪居 the poem shows 柳宗元's honest feelings about being in exile in a very simple and poetic way.

[Guest realmayo]

I would like to suggest the first part (or even both parts) from Bai Juyi's 池上, partly because the language is simple, partly because the poet is famous, but mainly because it's my favourite! However I don't think it's very well-known so there may be fewer kudos points for casually slipping it into conversation with Chinese friends than you'd get for the more famous poems . For similar reasons I'd also suggest 花非花 by the same guy.

池上 (1)

山僧对棋坐，局上竹阴清。

映竹无人见，时闻下子声。

池上 (2)

小娃撑小艇，偷采白莲回。

不解藏踪迹，浮萍一道开。

花非花

花非花，雾非雾，

夜半来，天明去。

来如春梦不多时，

去似朝云无觅处。

Other than those there are more famous ones I'd suggest (because I like them ) such as 鹿柴 by Wang Wei, 春晓 by Meng Haoran and 春望 by Du Fu.

[Guest realmayo]

Also, whilst no doubt Hoffman's suggestion of looking at the original pronunciation of these things is not without value, I'm not sure I'd find it necessary: while 'war is too important to be left to the generals', so these poems are too important to be left to the linguists! (though of course they all have their part to play etc etc.)

[skylee]

I love Bai Juyi's poems.

[Guest realmayo]

Cool. Out of interest skylee, do you know that 池上 one? I know he wrote so many poems that no one's going to know them all (so I'm not testing you haha) but I'm just curious about how well-known, or not, that one is.

[skylee]

no i don't. never heard of it. i only know the most popular / famous poems.

[rezaf]

Thanks realmayo for your suggestions, I especially liked 春望 and I'm gonna memorize it next week but unfortunately it seems that there is no one interested in this project, so probably I won't continue it on this forum.

花非花 is also great, just memorized it ：

花.mp3