Modern Chinese Poetry

[skylee]

This one should be the best (or one of the best) -

"斷章" (卞之琳)

你站在橋上看風景，

看風景的人在樓上看你。

明月裝飾了你的窗子，

你裝飾了別人的夢。

[trooper]

Good to see some modern poetry.

Why, when people talk about Chinese poetry, do they only talk about classical poetry? Is everything that's less than several hundred years old no good?

Does ancient always mean good?

[cometrue]

一代人（顾城）

黑夜给了我黑色的眼睛

我却用它寻找光明

ONE GENERATION

darkness gave me the black eyes

i’m using it looking forward to bright

who would offer a better translation？ i was restricted by my english level

[markalexander100]

Restricted by my Chinese level ;-) , but:

The black night gave me black eyes;

But I use them to seek the light.

[trooper]

Nice translation, markalexander100, but I think 光明 suggests a "bright future" as well as bright light here.

[geoffkhan]

Heh -- my translation:

The black night gave me dark eyes

I use them to find the bright light

I like this poem. Nice and easy to remember.

[OM3RTA]

This one should be the best (or one of the best) -

"斷章" (卞之琳)

你站在橋上看風景，

看風景的人在樓上看你。

明月裝飾了你的窗子，

你裝飾了別人的夢。

Has always been fascinated by chinese poems, but know nuts about it

Can someone translate the meaning of the above poem? Do know how to read but dun understand.

thanks in advance

[39degN]

This one should be the best (or one of the best) -

"斷章" (卞之琳)

你站在橋上看風景，

看風景的人在樓上看你。

明月裝飾了你的窗子，

你裝飾了別人的夢。

Has always been fascinated by chinese poems' date=' but know nuts about it

Can someone translate the meaning of the above poem? Do know how to read but dun understand.

thanks in advance[/quote']

let me give a try:

you standing on the bridge looking at scenery

the man who looking at scenery is looking at you

the bright moon decorates your window

you decorates the other's dream

[ananda]

Good to see some modern poetry.

Why' date=' when people talk about Chinese poetry, do they only talk about classical poetry? Is everything that's less than several hundred years old no good?

Does ancient always mean good?[/quote']

Even 100 years ago, the 'bai2 hua4' was treated as language style used

by illiterates and only for speaking, which was advocated greatly by the

revolutionary youth. And till now, there're no great poets/poems

generated, so definitely the 'ancient' is better than the 'modern'. Well,

the human being's feeling is not so different between the ancient and

the modern, so it's difficult for the latter to generate great products, if

only the styles are different(To be worse, the modern style is treated as

wordily and easier for illiterates, it's nothing from the point of view of

literature ...), the content are the same, people won't praise it more.

[Guest eventide]

首先，modern poetry指现代体诗还是现代产生的诗歌？如果是的话，苏曼殊的也该算？“画楼宁负美人恩”……。

还读到过有人为金庸小说诸女子写的古体诗，应该算contemporary当代，有些也很不错

[OM3RTA]

39degN: Thks for the translation, but watz the meaning of the poem? I catch no balls... thks in advance.

QUOTE:

let me give a try:

you standing on the bridge looking at scenery

the man who looking at scenery is looking at you

the bright moon decorates your window

you decorates the other's dream

[skylee]

My interpretation is - while you are looking around (at the scenery, probably searching for what/who is in your dream), there is someone far away looking at you, observing you and thinking about you. Without knowing it, you have adorned someone else's dream like the moon decorates one's window (yet you are still looking for something out there).

You can actually visualize this poem. And of course the beauty of poetry is that everyone can interpret it differently. The perfect ending of the situation described in this poem would be, IMHO, like what described in a famous poem of Song Dynasty "眾裡尋他千百度,驀然回首,那人卻在燈火闌珊

處" (having searched for him hundreds and thousands of times in the crowd, suddenly you turn back, and he is there by the dim light.)

BTW, the writer of this poem, Bian Zhilin, was a famous expert in English/Chinese two-way translation. And according to the information on the internet, he had translated his own poems to English, including this one which was called, if I am not mistaken, "Poems (a Draft)". However I have not been able to find out more about the author's own translated version.

[OM3RTA]

Thks skylee for clarification...real meaningful.

I will try search 4 his (Bian Zhilin) poems/works on the net. Hoping to read more then....

[39degN]

thank you skylee, see, i have the potential to become a poet. becuase of if you cant express yourself very well, try poem.

[39degN]

hey, i found a version on the net, but i m not sure if that was himself's one.

FRAGMENT

Bian Zhilin.

You are standing on a bridge enjoying the view;

Someone's watching you from a balcony

The moon adorns your window;

You adorn someone else's dream.

august 1934

[Guest 瀟湘晴]

There was a famous modern writer called 徐志摩

He had written a lot of famous poems like <再別康橋＞and <偶然>

His poems are well-written and very romantic!

<再別康橋＞

輕輕的我走了,

正如我輕輕的來;

我輕輕的招手,

作別西天的雲彩.

那河畔的金柳,

是夕陽中的新娘;

波光裡的艷影,

在我的心頭蕩漾.

軟泥上的青荇,

油油的在水底招搖:

在康河的柔波裡,

我甘心做一條水草!

那榆蔭下的一潭,

不是清泉,是天上虹

揉碎在浮藻間,

沈澱著彩虹似的夢.

尋夢?撐一支長篙,

向青草更青處漫溯,

滿載一船星輝,

在星輝斑斕裡放歌.

但我不能放歌,

悄悄是別離的笙簫;

夏蟲也為我沈默,

沈默是今晚的康橋!

悄悄的我走了,

正如我悄悄的來;

我揮一揮衣袖,

不帶走一片雲彩.

<偶然>

我是天空裡的一片雲,

偶爾投影在你的波心---

你不必訝異,

更無須歡喜---

在轉瞬間消滅了蹤影.

你我相逢在黑夜的海上,

你有你的,我有我的,方向;

你記得也好,

最好你忘掉,

在這交會時互放的光亮!

[Lu]

I like poetry by 韩东. Maybe I'll post some next time.

But my favorite is this one (unfortunately I couldn't find all the characters):

这些天我干了些什么

我发现夜晚又长又滑

每个梦都拧的出水来

我发现你从我的下面掏出来棉花

对此我没有解...

我发现我坐在一把椅子上晃来晃去，身上散发的味道

并不像你说的那么好闻

我发现我...在阳光的临...里不停的写实

我对见到的每个人说--

不要让一首诗轻易的结束

To be seen here

[nyleda]

你站在橋上看風景

看風景的人在樓上看你

明月裝飾了你的窗子

你裝飾了別人的夢

On a bridge you are attracted to the scenery and

while enjoying it,

you are unaware that you become part of the scenes with the bridge when

being looked down from an opened window above which is

tinted by the silver moonlight, yet

all the moon is doing tonight is to make up a dream of which you will be a part.