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Little Primer of Du Fu, Poems 1-5
This week we start David Hawkes' Little Primer of Du Fu. I'll replicate the poems themselves here, but this book contains considerable exegesis, so I do advise you to grab this copy.
Because this exegesis is relatively substantial, let's start by reading poems 1 through 5, inclusive. There are 35 poems in the collection, so this should take us about seven weeks (unless we scale either up or down, after speaking about it).
I'm gathering additional research materials, but for this first week I'd like us to concentrate on Hawkes' introduction and the first of these poems.
Because this exegesis is relatively substantial, let's start by reading poems 1 through 5, inclusive. There are 35 poems in the collection, so this should take us about seven weeks (unless we scale either up or down, after speaking about it).
I'm gathering additional research materials, but for this first week I'd like us to concentrate on Hawkes' introduction and the first of these poems.
5. 哀王孫 Āi wáng-sūn
Āi wáng-sūn
長 安 城 頭 頭 白 烏
1. Cháng-ān chéng-tóu tóu-bái wū,
夜 飛 延 秋 門 上 呼
2. Yè fēi Yán-qiū-mén-shàng hū.
又 向 人 家 啄 大 屋”
3. Yòu xiàng rén-jiā zhuó dà-wū,
屋 底 達 官 走 避 胡
4. Wū-dǐ dá-guān zǒu bì hú.
金 鞭 斷 折 九 馬 死
5. Jīn biān duàn-zhé jiǔ mǎ sǐ,
骨 肉 不 得 同 馳 驅
6. Gǔ-ròu bū-dé tóng chí-qū.
腰 下 寶 玦 青 珊 瑚
7. Yāo-xià bǎo-jué qīng shān-hú,
可 憐 王 孫 泣 路 隅
8. Kě-lián wáng-sūn qì lù-yú.
問 之 不 肯 道 姓 名
9. Wèn zhī bù-kěn dào xìng-míng,
但 道 困 苦 乞 為 奴
10. Dàn dào kùn-kǔ qǐ wéi nú.
已 經 百 日 竄 荊 棘
11. Yǐ-jīng bǎi-rì cuàn jīng-jí,
身 上 無 有 完 肌 膚
12. Shēn-shàng wú-yǒu wán jī-fū.
高 帝 子 孫 盡 隆 準
13. Gāo-dì zǐ-sūn jìn lóng-zhǔn,
龍 種 自 與 常 人 殊
14. Lóng-zhǒng zì yǔ cháng-rén shū.
豺 狼 在 邑 龍 在 野
15. Chái-láng zài yì lóng zài yě,
王 孫 善 保 千 金 軀
16. Wáng-sūn shàn bǎo qiān-jīn qū!
不 敢 長 語 臨 交 衢
17. Bù-gǎn cháng-yǔ lín jiāo-qú,
且 為 王 孫 立 斯 須
18. Qiě wèi wáng-sūn lì sī-xū.
昨 夜 東 風 吹 血 腥
19. Zuó-yè dōng-fēng chuī xuè-xīng,
東 來 橐 駞 滿 舊 都
20. Dōng-lái tuó-tuó mǎn jiù-dū.
朔 方 健 兒 好 身 手
21. Shuò-fāng jiàn-ér hǎo shēn-shǒu,
昔 何 勇 銳 今 何 愚
22. Xī hé yǒng-ruì jīn hé yú!
竊 聞 天 子 已 傳 位
23. Qiè-wén tiān-zǐ yǐ chuán-wèi,
聖 德 北 服 南 單 于
24. Shèng-dé běi fú Nán-chán-yú,
花 門 剺 面 請 雪 恥”
25. Huā-mén lí-miàn qǐng xuě-chǐ.
慎 勿 出 口 他 人 狙
26. Shèn-wù chū-kǒu tā-rén jū!
哀 哉 王 孫 慎 勿 疏
27. Āi-zāi wáng-sūn shèn-wù shū!
五 陵 佳 氣 無 時 無
28. Wǔ-líng jiā-qì wú-shí wú!
Read Aloud: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXaBXTljeLU
The Unfortunate Prince
Hooded crows from the battlements of Ch’ang-an flew cawing by night over the Gate of Autumn and thence to the homes of men, pecking at the great roofs, warning the high ministers who dwelt beneath to flee from the barbarian. Golden whips were flailed until they snapped and the royal horses sank dead with exhaustion beneath them; but many of the Emperor’s own close kin were unable to gallop with him.
With a precious jade emblem and blue coral pendant at his waist, a pitiful young prince stands weeping at the corner of the street. Questioned, he is unwilling to tell me his name; he will only say that he is in great distress, and begs me to take him as my slave. He has already been lying in concealment for a hundred days amongst the thorn-bushes and has not a whole piece of skin on his body; but descendants of the August Emperor all have the imperial nose; the Seed of the Dragon are not as other men are.
Wolves and jackals now occupy the city; the dragons are out in the wilds: Your Highness must take care of his precious person! I dare not talk very long with you here beside the crossroads, but I will stand with Your Highness just a little while.
Last night the east wind carried a stench of blood and the ‘former capital’ was full of camels from the east. The Shuo-fang veterans were splendid soldiers. How bold and keen they were a while ago, and how foolish they look today! I’ve heard tell that the Son of Heaven has abdicated. And they say that in the North the Khan is so indebted for the favours shown him by his Sacred Majesty that at Hua-men he and all his warriors slashed their faces and vowed to wipe out this humiliation. But we must mind what we say, with so many spies about. Alas, poor prince! Be on your guard! May the protecting power that emanates from the Imperial Tombs go always with you!
Re: 5. 哀王孫 Āi wáng-sūn
Huh why not lament for the young prince
“Parks” why parks? Like—outdoor statuary? Was there a lot? How do you LOOT that?
“The executions were carried out publicly, the hearts of the condemned being torn from their bodies and offered in sacrifice to the ghost of An Ch’ing-tsung, a son of An Lu-shan who had been married to a princess of the imperial family, and whom the Emperor had put to death as a reprisal when An Lu-shan rebelled.” WOW wow wtfffff
“some of them by having the tops of their heads prised off with iron claws. ” The FUCK even is this
“while princes and princesses of the blood were callously left behind” I mean /his own grandkids??/ fuck
Yeah I think if Du Fu had truly played the encounter like this he’d have been too shamed to publicise it, and it doesn’t really fit with him having hauled *ass* across the country to offer his service. Also he’s already REALLY suffered in this invasion so he’s hardly like, untried. It is super interesting that he’d choose to adopt a weaselly persona!
“Notice that in Chinese verse it is usually the couplets not the lines which are end-stopped. Translators often come unstuck through ignorance of this simple rule.” Huh
“Gǔ-ròu, literally ‘bone and flesh’, is the Chinese equivalent of our ‘flesh and blood’ in expressions like ‘his own flesh and blood turned against him’.”: this feels like a wiki note like a thing that comes UP in webnovel translations Nephrite is one of the two distinct minerals commonly known as jade.
“a Han parallel is regularly employed by a T’ang poet when he wishes to speak of the T’ang sovereign or his family or affairs.” Who the fuck is alive and active enough to censor you??
Ordos loop: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordos_Plateau
“The honorifics and humilifics in which Chinese speech once abounded are not, of course, to be translated literally unless one is deliberately aiming at an exotic, ‘Kai Lung’ effect.” wow who's gonna tell webnovel translators
“Kai Lung (開龍) is a fictional character in a series of books by Ernest Bramah, consisting of The Wallet of Kai Lung (1900)” Hey so is this basically like—Pu Songling for and by white ppl?
Tumuli: an ancient burial mound; a barrow. “favours shown him by his Sacred Majesty that at Hua-men he and all his warriors slashed their faces and vowed to wipe out this humiliation.” I was NOT gonna get this without help
How does the tomb emanation work, in their magical conception thereof?
Re: 5. 哀王孫 Āi wáng-sūn
The nominal founder of the T’ang dynasty was as a matter of fact also called Kao-tsu, but I don’t think he had a particularly famous nose - Hawkes is mistaken here. Kao-tsu (or Gaozu in contemporary pinyin) is not a personal name; it's a temple name often given to the founder of a dynasty, hence why there are so many 'Gaozus' in Chinese history.
Re: 5. 哀王孫 Āi wáng-sūn
Re: 5. 哀王孫 Āi wáng-sūn
Baike glosses wangsun (which Hawkes speaks of as if it's the /literal/ emperor's grandson) as just descendants of princes/aristocrats.
In contrast to Hawkes saying that Du Fu must have felt indignation that the nobles were left behind, Baike is also very convinced that Du Fu normally detests the luxurious lifestyle led by nobles (and by extension, the nobles), and the sympathy he feels for the prince here is a human sentiment in contrast to his normal opinions.
Re: 5. 哀王孫 Āi wáng-sūn
But at the same time, a White Russian reading of Du Fu, which makes him accessible re like Chang Kai-Shek partisans, would be absolutely what we could expect the Anglo-sphere to arrive at.
Re: 5. 哀王孫 Āi wáng-sūn
There is also a cultural ideal of being the lone (or one of few) incorruptible officials in among the decadent nobility, which I can't help but feel would have shaped his self-image.