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Post by Admin on Sept 9, 2020 3:27:09 GMT
Song by Yue Girl. This is an ancient poem that is very popular until now. I like this poem because of the guqin song. And this song/poem also appeared at Chen Kaige's The Banquet Film - when they had the dancing with white mask (almost like Japanese pantomime, but apparently, it WAS Tang style of dancing. 今夕何夕兮,搴舟中流 what evening is this evening that I could roam in this Qian River? 今日何日兮,得与王子同舟 what day is today that I could be in the same boat with a prince? 蒙羞被好兮,不訾诟耻 be granted favour, the prince did not give me a cold shoulder, nor look down on me although I am merely a boatman 心几烦而不绝兮,得知王子 my heart is perturbed since I know that he is a prince 山有木兮木有枝兮,心悦君兮君不知 hills have their trees. trees have their branches. deep inside my heart I like you, but you just don't know it I personally think this is the best Yue Ren Ge song. I play this song in guqin, but I can't sing it. Not easy to sing it (at least for me) This poem inspired me to write my historical fiction though: www.webnovel.com/book/records-of-the-immortals_17011867105133305
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Post by Admin on Feb 22, 2022 7:22:28 GMT
From Nalan Xingde - translation by kyc 納蘭性德《採桑子‧而今才道當時錯》 而今才道當時錯, 心緒淒迷。 紅淚偷垂, 滿眼春風百事非。 情知此後來無計, 強說歡期 一別如斯, 落盡梨花月又西。 My translation: NALAN XINGDE To the Tune: “Gathering Mulberries” Only now do I know that we were wrong. Forlorn, grief-stricken, her shedding crimson tears in secret. Anticipating delights to come yet all went wrong. Knowing that things from then on would be lost we forced ourselves to talk of blissful coming days then parted ways as we did. All fallen the pear blossoms: in the west that same moon yet again.
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Post by kyc on Feb 22, 2022 7:36:36 GMT
I forgot about this thread, lol. I'm posting a revised version of the Xu Zhimo poem I translated here before. I managed to get parts of the poem to rhyme (hurray!). It was written for Lin Huiyin (林徽因, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lin_Huiyin ). Nothing came out of their relationship, because Lin rejected him. 徐志摩《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。 XU ZHIMO Chance
I am a cloud in the sky casting a chance shadow on your rippling heart. You shouldn’t feel surprised, still less be delighting: I shall vanish completely the moment we part. Out at sea on a dark night we met: you have your destination and I have mine. You may remember but had best forget the light we shed on each other when we once aligned. (1916)
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Post by Admin on Feb 22, 2022 7:46:17 GMT
Another poem by Nalan Xingde from 南乡子·为亡妇题照 泪咽却无声, 只向从前悔薄情, 凭仗丹青重省识 盈盈, 一片伤心画不成 swallowed tears without a sound could only regret that in the past I didn't treasure our love through this old painting, wishing to get to know you once again sob, sob.. could not paint this broken-hearted feeling Once I saw a picture of Ayunga's observing a painting, and I recalled this poem. So I put this poem on his picture
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Post by kyc on Feb 22, 2022 11:26:16 GMT
This is the wonderful Liang Yusheng poem that opens The Legend of the White-Haired Demoness.梁羽生 《沁園春》(《白髮魔女傳》卷首詞)
一劍西來,千巖拱列,魔影縱橫。問明鏡非台,菩提非樹,境由心起,可得分明? 是魔非魔?非魔是魔?要待江湖後世評!且收拾,話英雄兒女,先敘閒情。 風雪意氣崢嶸,輕拂了寒霜嫵媚生。嘆佳人絕代,白頭未老,百年一諾,不負心盟。 短鋤栽花,長詩佐酒,詩酒年年總憶卿。天山上,看龍蛇筆走,墨潑南溟。LIANG YUSHENGTo the Tune: “Bracing Spring in Garden” (opening poem to The Legend of the White-Haired Demoness) A sword from the west: thousand boulders in a semi-circle— a demon’s intersecting shadow trails. Since a bright mirror has no stand, the Bodhi isn’t a tree, how does one clarify the state that arises from the mind? Is she demon? Or no demon? Not a demon? Or really one? Leave it for the future jianghu generations to judge! Get ready to talk about our hero and heroine and speak first of their romance: valiant spirit soaring like lofty mountains in blizzards, softly caressing cold frost to beget radiant blooms. Sigh at her peerless beauty, white-haired before she has aged; the oath of a century not denied in the hearts’ union. A short hoe to tend flower, a long poem to go with wine, recalling her by sword and wine each year. On Mount Heaven, watching brush strokes meander like snakes and dragons, splattering ink as it drizzles in the south. EDIT: Adding a few explanatory notes to the poem: A sword from the west: Referring to Lian Nichang (later the White-Haired Demoness) from Mount Heaven in the west. "Sword" in Liang Yusheng often refers to swordsman or swordswoman. thousand boulders in an embrace: I don't know what this means too. I think it alludes to a Qing Dynasty poem with the lines 群峰爭嵯峨,拱列同星垣。"Thousand boulders" means mountain peaks. Someone on the Internet explains this line as Lian Nichang being attacked by highly-skilled martial artists (metaphorically "mountains" or "boulders") early in the novel and beating them. bright mirror... Bodhi... state... the mind: referring to Sixth Patriarch Huineng's Zen Buddhist verse. See www.buddhistdoor.com/OldWeb/bdoor/archive/zen_story/zen3.htm. In short, the poet is asking us not to judge Lian Nichang without first understanding her state of mind. the oath of a century: the White-Haired Demoness lives to a hundred years old. A short hoe to tend flower: Zhuo Yihang waiting for the Youtan Flower to bloom, tending by its side. The Youtan Flower is able to make Lian Nichang's hair black again.
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Post by siuyiu on Feb 22, 2022 23:16:30 GMT
and this is one of the reasons why no one has translated LYS's works into english.
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Post by kyc on Apr 19, 2022 12:40:34 GMT
ENDING POEM to The Legend of the White-haired Demoness
Zhuo Yihang wrote this poem on a cliff face at the end of the novel:
別後音書兩不聞,預知諧諑必紛紜。 只緣海內存知己,始信天涯若比鄰。 歷劫了無生死念,經霜方顯傲寒心! 冬風盡折花千樹,尚有幽香放上林。
After parting, I neither heard nor received a letter from you, knowing for sure there will be diverse talks from much slander. As long as the one who knows me exists in the four seas, I always believe she’s nearby, even if at the ends of the earth. After such tribulations, dying and living are not in my thoughts, only by braving frost can one see this proud heart in the cold. The winter wind is snapping all flowers on a thousand trees with just a secret fragrance blooming in the imperial gardens.
Explanatory note:
As long as the one... at the ends of the earth: an allusion to a famous poem by Tang poet Wang Bo. The lines are: 「海內存知己,天涯若比鄰」
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Post by kyc on Apr 19, 2022 13:47:45 GMT
Another poem by Nalan Xingde from 南乡子·为亡妇题照 泪咽却无声, 只向从前悔薄情, 凭仗丹青重省识 盈盈, 一片伤心画不成 swallowed tears without a sound could only regret that in the past I didn't treasure our love through this old painting, wishing to get to know you once again sob, sob.. could not paint this broken-hearted feeling Once I saw a picture of Ayunga's observing a painting, and I recalled this poem. So I put this poem on his picture This poem probably existed because of Ayunga alone.
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Post by kyc on Jul 30, 2022 8:47:23 GMT
陸游《釵頭鳳 · 紅酥手》
紅酥手,黃縢酒,滿城春色宮牆柳。 東風惡,歡情薄。一懷愁緒,幾年離索。 錯!錯!錯!
春如舊,人空瘦,淚痕紅浥鮫綃透。 桃花落,閒池閣。山盟雖在,錦書難托。 莫!莫!莫!
Lu You
To the Tune: "Phoenix Hairpin" ("Her soft flushed hand")
Her soft flushed hand, yellow labeled wine.
Spring filled the city, willows by palace walls.
The eastern wind was baleful, the love and joy went cold.
A heart of dismal sorrow, many years apart.
Wrong, wrong, wrong!
The same spring again and she is now thinner.
Tear-stains moisten rouged cheeks, drenching her chiffon handkerchief.
The plum blossoms fall, scattering by pond pavilion.
Our eternal vows still stand, but her letters are no longer delivered.
Don't, don't, don't!
唐琬《釵頭鳳 · 世情薄》
世情薄,人情惡。 雨送黃昏花易落。 曉風乾,淚痕殘。 欲箋心事,獨語斜欄。 難!難!難!
人成名 [各],今非昨。 病魂長似鞦韆索。 角聲寒,夜闌珊。 怕人尋問,咽淚裝歡。 瞞!瞞!瞞!
Her Reply:
Tang Wan
To the Tune: "Phoenix Hairpin" ("The ways of the world are cold")
The ways of the world are cold, the hearts of people malicious.
The rain sends the dusk off and flowers easily fall. At dawn, the wind dries the tear-stains that still linger.
I wish to write my feelings in a letter but can only talk to myself, leaning on railings.
It's hard, hard, hard!
That fame has been achieved [or A couple has been separated], but today is not yesterday. My sickly soul is long and tangled like a swing's rope.
The sound from the horn is cold, the night is waning. I choke back tears, afraid of questions, feigning happiness.
Only conceal, conceal, conceal!
--
P. S. Tang Wan died one year after writing this poem. You can see from the line "My sickly soul" that she was down with a chronic illness.
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Post by Admin on Aug 4, 2022 2:59:53 GMT
kyc : thanks a lot for this wonderful translation of this poem. "Phoenix Hairpin" poem is so tragic, romantic and beautiful
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Post by siuyiu on Aug 22, 2022 5:09:47 GMT
I've thought of the shortest translation of Li Bo's famous Silent Night poem--it's not poetic at all, but it gives a sense of how condensed the poem is:
Bed's end moonlight Frost-seeming Gazing at the moon Bowing in homesickness
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Post by kyc on Sept 5, 2022 9:55:28 GMT
I've thought of the shortest translation of Li Bo's famous Silent Night poem--it's not poetic at all, but it gives a sense of how condensed the poem is: Bed's end moonlight Frost-seeming Gazing at the moon Bowing in homesickness Interesting translation, siuyiu. And one of the hardest poems to translate because it is so simple. Now that we are on this subject, the poem we were mostly taught as children wasn't really the real authentic Li Bai poem. LI BAI Thoughts on a Still Night 李白《靜夜思》(Version most taught to present-day children, found in Three Hundred Tang Poems. It first appeared in the Ming Dynasty.) 床前明月光,疑是地上霜。
舉頭望明月,低頭思故鄉。
(Version found in the earliest extant anthologies, almost certainly the original untouched poem by Li Bai.) 床前看月光,疑是地上霜;
舉頭望山月,低頭思故鄉。A few characters changed here and there. The fact is that the Ming Dynasty editors were itchy-fingered and wanted to "improve" a good poem - hence, the version we now have is almost definitely not the original. Do you think they did a good job in "improving" the poem? Though highly popular among schoolchildren, this poem has never been counted among Li Bai's greatest poems among the critics, I think.
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Post by siuyiu on Sept 5, 2022 17:22:36 GMT
yes, i've read that his original poem is not the one we were taught in school--one of the most obvious issues with the revised version is that 明月 "bright moon" is repeated in the same poem, which was bad form. the poem is written in the 五言絕句 "five-character quatrain" style, and the tonal pattern follows this scheme: 第一種:平起入韻式 平平仄仄平,仄仄仄平平。 仄仄平平仄,平平仄仄平。 based on the tonal pattern, the revised one doesn't follow it as well as the original (obviously). so, in short, no, the ming editors did not improve the poem. source: zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BA%94%E8%A8%80%E7%B5%95%E5%8F%A5#:~:text=%E4%BA%94%E7%BB%9D%E5%85%B1%E6%9C%89%E5%9B%9B%E5%BC%8F%EF%BC%8C%E5%85%B6%E4%B8%AD,%E4%B8% %E5%85%A5%E9%9F%B5%E4%B8%BA%E6%AD%A3%E6%A0%BC%E3%80%82&text=%E5%B9%B3%E5%B9%B3%E4%BB%84%E4%BB%84%E5%B9%B3%EF%BC%8C%E4%BB%84,%E5%B9%B3%E4%BB%84%EF%BC%8C%E5%B9%B3%E5%B9%B3%E4%BB%84%E4%BB%84%E5%B9%B3%E3%80%82&text=%E5%B9%B3%E5%B9%B3%E5%B9%B3%E4%BB%84%E4%BB%84%EF%BC%8C%E4%BB%84%E4%BB%84%E4%BB%84%E5%B9%B3%E5%B9%B3%E3%80%82
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Post by kyc on Sept 10, 2022 10:31:41 GMT
I never get the 平仄 rule, so maybe I should get some primer on Tang poetry and read more about it. But even JY didn't get the rule at first, not to mention GL. LYS was the one who told JY he broke the 平仄 rule when JY first wrote certain serialized chapter headings in The Book and the Sword if I remember right.
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Post by siuyiu on Sept 10, 2022 16:52:50 GMT
i'm not entirely sure on 平仄 either, but reading the poem while scrutinizing the patterns listed, the one i chose seemed closest. of course, the tang dynasty pronunciation and the modern ones differ (esp for mandarin), so it's just a guess! my basic understanding is that 平 means you say the word using its most common tone, but if the word falls into the 仄 slot of the pattern, you have to say it with an alternate tone in order to keep the tonal rhythm that is fixed. but which alternate tone to use: my chinese isn't that good!
nowadays, people just read the words as is.
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