April Little Poetry Reading Challenge

[Luxi]

3 hours ago, edelweis said:

not sure what's going on here

 

Maybe in this poem Li Shangyin assumes the voice of the wife waiting for him in Sichuan. That would explain the 君 : she asks him when is he (君) coming back.

 

[Luxi]

I have to bring in my favourite: Su Shi (Su Dongpo), a Song Dynasty poet - and well known gourmet, among other talents. Since there's talk about Spring tea, here's a Su Shi poem about brewing tea with river water.

 

Quote

汲江煎茶
苏轼
活水还须活火烹，自临钓石取深清。
大瓢贮月归春瓮，小杓分江入夜瓶。
雪乳已翻煎处脚，松风忽作泻时声。
枯肠未易禁三碗，坐听荒城长短更。

 

Detailed explanations etc.:
https://baike.baidu.com/item/汲江煎茶
https://www.teapoems.com/song/3968

 

Translation and pinyin:
https://www.teasenz.com/chinese-tea/su-shi-su-dong-po-simmering-tea-dipping-river-water.html

 

Quote

 

Simmering Tea with Fresh River Water
(Alternative title: Dipping water from the river and simmering tea)

Fresh river water should be boiled over open flames;
I lean over the fishing rock, dip the deep clear river current;
Store the reflection of the large Spring moon, return it to the jar;
Divide the night stream with a little dipper, drained into the kettle.
White frothy water, simmering, whirls bits of tea;
Pour and hear the sound like wind through the pines.
Three bowls will not necessarily penetrate my withered entrails;
I sit and hear, from the remote town, the striking of the hour.

 

 

No problems with this translation.  
I'm intrigued about the Song Dynasty tea-brewing method and what sort of tea was Su Shi brewing? Tea leaves boiling with the water and producing a white froth? (See Note 4 in the commentary) . Su Shi was a tea connoisseur and, according to the commentary, the white froth indicates that this was a fine tea...

 

A few more tea-poems:

https://www.teapoems.com/

 

...and even a tea song with lyrics and all.
https://www.teapoems.com/100/1061

[edelweis]

Thanks for the links!

 

17 hours ago, Luxi said:

Tea leaves boiling with the water and producing a white froth?

I tried a baidu search but the only tea with white froth I could find was tea with milk in it... very mysterious.

 

[Luxi]

April not gone yet. Su Shi's tea poem may have been too difficult. This very well-known Tang poem is much easier. There are hundreds of English translations but the Chinese original trumps them all by a long distance.

 

Drinking Alone by Moonlight 

Li Bai (Li Po) [李白（701年2月28日—762年）]

 

Quote

 

月下独酌  yuè xià dú zhuó, 

 

花间一壶酒，独酌无相亲。
举杯邀明月，对影成三人。
月既不解饮，影徒随我身。
暂伴月将影，行乐须及春。
我歌月徘徊，我舞影零乱。
醒时同交欢，醉后各分散。
永结无情游，相期邈云汉。

 

 

Explanation and commentary:

https://baike.baidu.com/item/月下独酌其一

pinyin:

http://www.echineselanguagelearning.com/chinese-culture/chinese-poems/300-tang-poems-libai-yue-xia-du-zhu.html

 

translation & traditional characters:

https://28utscprojects.wordpress.com/2011/01/21/006/

 

Recited (with subtitles) :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_P9wWX-zLc
 2015 Autumn Festival Gala, performer: Zhang Yi (张译)

 

Translation by Arthur Waley:

花间一壶酒。 A pot of wine, under the flowering trees;
独酌无相亲。 I drink alone, for no friend is near.
举杯邀明月。 Raising my cup I beckon the bright moon,
对影成三人。 For her, with my shadow, will make three people.
月既不解饮。 The moon, alas, is no drinker of wine;
影徒随我身。 Listless, my shadow creeps about at my side.
暂伴月将影。 Yet with the moon as friend and the shadow as slave
行乐须及春。 I must make merry before the Spring is spent.
我歌月徘徊。 To the songs I sing the moon flickers her beams;
我舞影零乱。 In the dance I weave my shadow tangles and breaks.
醒时同交欢。 While we were sober, three shared the fun;
醉后各分散。 Now we are drunk, each goes their way.
永结无情游。 May we long share our eternal friendship,
相期邈云汉。 And meet at last on the paradise.  

 

The last line uses the compound 雲漢 = 银河 = Milky Way, this seems lost in the English translations. 

 

 

[Tomsima]

This thread has made me realize Song poetry is worth making the effort. Moving, thanks for sharing

[edelweis]

Author 张九龄

title 《望月怀远》

 

Another poem about missing people who are far away.

It seems the first verse 海上生明月， 天涯共此时 is famous.

Actually reading it made me choose this poem for today, as the first half is easy!

 

Simplified

http://www.baike.com/wiki/望月怀远&prd=button_doc_entry

Traditional with pinyin and zhuyin

http://cls.lib.ntu.edu.tw/300/BIN/ti_brow.asp?auid=000046&id=00000255

 

[Luxi]

Beautiful poem @edelweis

 

Quote

望月怀远 - Zhang Jiuling (Tang)

海上生明月， 天涯共此时。

情人怨遥夜， 竟夕起相思

灭烛怜光满， 披衣觉露滋。

不堪盈手赠， 还寝梦佳期

 

Since I have some spare time I can add a few links

 

pinyin and explanation in English: 
https://cn.hujiang.com/new/p469554/
 

Some English translations 
http://language.chinadaily.com.cn/trans/2014-09/04/content_18540802.htm
http://chinaenglish.com.cn/html/englishliterature/2013-07/50597.html
 

Made into a Kunqu style song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNIy8HNZsME

( can probably be found searching for 望月怀远-张九龄张军 in Youku)

 

 

[edelweis]

Oh wow, that youtube song

 

[Luxi]

Another great Tang poet who couldn't be missing here: Wang Wei (699-759), poet, painter, government official and devout Ch'an (Zen) Buddhist. The poem is easy to read and seems quite simple, but there's a lot more to it than just a landscape description.

 

"Passing by Xiangji (Piled Incense) Temple"

 

 

Quote

过香积寺  - 王维

不知香积寺，数里入云峰；
古木无人径，深山何处钟？
泉声咽危石，日色冷青松；
薄暮空潭曲，安禅制毒龙。

 

 

The usual baidu/ wiki page with full explanation and notes:

https://baike.baidu.com/item/过香积寺

 

Trad. characters, pinyin and a translation by Red Pine (from his book: Poems of the Masters)

http://www.mountainsongs.net/poem_.php?id=831

 

Recited nice and clear here:

Recited: http://www.ximalaya.com/2452186/sound/70808821/

 

 

[Luxi]

It's still April, sun is shining, birds are singing, and somehow a large pile of books on Chinese poetry has sprung on my desk...So here is another one.

A very short, easy and simple landscape poem by the Tang poet Wang Zhihuan: Climbing Stork Tower (a pagoda in Shanxi very much admired for the views from its tower).

 

Quote

 

登鹳雀楼 (王之涣）
 

白日依山尽，黄河入海流。
欲穷千里目，更上一层楼。

 

 

Link to the Baike wiki page:

https://baike.baidu.com/item/登鹳雀楼/5590

 

Translation, pinyin and traditional characters:  
https://eastasiastudent.net/china/classical/wang-zhihuan-stork-tower/  

 

The 穷 in line 3 puzzled me, but, as the commentary explains, here (before a location noun) 穷=尽 = to the greatest extent, furthest.

 

The poem seems too simple to have been selected from among 1000s for the great "300 Tang Poems" compilation, doesn't it? The Baike wiki commentary explains why, as usual with classical Chinese poetry, there's more than meets the eye. 
Pasting the text in either Baidu Translate or Google Translate, with the additional assistance of a popup dictionary, gives a fair idea of the commentary. Baidu's translation seems to read better and clearer than Google's in this case: 
https://fanyi.baidu.com/

 

Finally, a character by character explanation by Ben Hedges with Itaki. (No, not the same Ben!) This Ben has quite a few interesting clips, I like his chengyu series.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0mttUpW1OM

 

 

[Luxi]

April 28, enough time for another chance or 2 to spam the Forums with Chinese poetry. 

 

This is an easy one by another Tang poet that I very much like - as a person as well as for his poems, Bai Juyi （772-846). Although simple and direct, I think  this is poem extremely beautiful in every way.  

 

The full title is <得古原草送别 >> --- something like:  "Poetic essay. Ancient plain grass farewell", but it's also known as 草 (Grass)

 

Quote

离离原上草，一岁一枯荣。野火烧不尽，春风吹又生。
远芳侵古道，晴翠接荒城。又送王孙去，萋萋满别情。

 

 

Baidu wiki page:  

https://baike.baidu.com/item/赋得古原草送别/2873148

 

Pinyin, translation and trad. characters:
https://eastasiastudent.net/china/classical/bai-juyi-farewell-grassland/

 

The only difficult term is '王孙' (dict: 'child/ren of the nobility') but, according to the commentary, the meaning here is taken from The Songs of Chu, where it is used as a general term for travellers.

 

Here, in song:  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPeTnhHkWZI
 

 

[edelweis]

@Luxi thanks for all these great recs!

[Luxi]

@edelweis how about we come back with more poems in the Autumn Festival week? 

 

In case anybody wants to look more into Classical Chinese poems, the introductions in these 2 books by Edward C. Chang give a nice summary of the structure of Tang poems, features to look for and some of the questions arising in translation. Hint: Amazon.com's 'Look Inside' feature lets one read the introduction and a few poems in both books online.

How To Read A Chinese Poem: A Bilingual Anthology of Tang Poetry

The Best Chinese Ci Poems: A Bilingual Approach to Interpretation and Appreciation

 

[Luxi]

On 4/30/2018 at 8:40 PM, Luxi said:

@edelweis how about we come back with more poems in the Autumn Festival week? 

 

中秋节快乐 everybody! The moon last night exceeded expectations. To celebrate, here are 3 poems that shouldn't be missing, I hope we are all able to sing them by this time next year:

 

https://www.ximalaya.com/ertong/3533672/125069381

 

to expand the text, click on the .多全部 link