Little Primer of Du Fu, Poems 6-10

[x_los]

This is week 2/7 on 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.

This week we're reading poems 6 through 10, inclusive.

How to Read Chinese Poetry in Context's Chapter 15, "Du Fu: The Poet as Historian", is relevant to Hawkes' focus. (Next week's Additional Readings are more focused on poetics.)

Comments

8. 春宿左省 Chūn sù zuǒ-shěng

[x_los]

春宿左省
Chūn sù zuǒ-shěng

花 隱 掖 垣 暮
1. Huā yǐn yè-yuán mù,
啾 啾 棲 鳥 過
2. Jiū-jiū qī niǎo guò.
星 臨 萬 戶 動
3. Xīng lín wàn-hù dòng,
月 傍 九 霄 多
4. Yuè bàng jiǔ-xiāo duō.
不 寢 聽 金 鑰
5. Bù-qǐn tīng jīn-yuè,
因 風 想 玉 珂
6. Yīn fēng xiǎng yù-kē.
明 朝 有 封 事
7. Míng-zhāo yǒu fēng-shì,
數 問 夜 如 何
8. Shuò wèn yè rú-hé.”

Read Aloud: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb6tjgJuLMI

“Spring Night in the Imperial Chancellery

Evening falls on palace walls shaded by flowering trees, with cry of birds flying past on their way to roost. The stars quiver as they look down on the myriad doors of the palace, and the moon’s light increases as she moves into the ninefold sky. Unable to sleep, I seem to hear the sound of the bronze-clad doors opening for the audience, or imagine the sound of bridle-bells borne upon the wind. Having a sealed memorial to submit at tomorrow’s levée, I make frequent inquiries about the progress of the night.”

Re: 8. 春宿左省 Chūn sù zuǒ-shěng

[x_los]

- You know I really appreciate Hawkes having clumped a few temporally linked ones together, to create a sense of evolving narrative.
- Huh I like this recurring imagery of grand houses as ‘many doors’
- Remembrancer: a person who reminds another of something. a person engaged to do this. a reminder; memento; souvenir. (usually initial capital letter) King's Remembrancer.
- Omissioners: not a typo. Crops up in more Tang historical texts. I can’t really find out what IS though. Possibly memorisation specialists?
- Levée: The levee (from the French word lever, meaning "getting up" or "rising")[1] was traditionally a daily moment of intimacy and accessibility to a monarch or leader. It started out as a royal custom, but in British America it came to refer to a reception by the sovereign’s representative, which continues to be a tradition in Canada with the New Year's levee; in the United States a similar gathering was held by several presidents. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levee_(ceremony)#For_the_aristocracy)
- *Sighs in SV* yeah I—also know Yuan is wall.
- Jiū-jiū: this fucking guy again!
- “little bells which hung beneath the eaves of the palace roofs.”: Oh, huh
- ninefold sky: ?

Re: 8. 春宿左省 Chūn sù zuǒ-shěng

[superborb]

Remembrancer seems to be the translation for the zuoshiyi (left admonisher) and I think omissioner is the right version of this. During the Tang dynasty, the left is the higher ranked.

Re: 8. 春宿左省 Chūn sù zuǒ-shěng

[pengwern]

ninefold sky 九重天 is a set phrase, as baidu explains nine is a stand in for multi/myriad/the largest number, so the manifold sky? all those layers of clouds... very fantasy novel fuel material
https://baike.baidu.com/item/九重天/5195

Re: 8. 春宿左省 Chūn sù zuǒ-shěng

[x_los]

Oooh, cloud layering. I got stuck on the nine and some set cosmology rather than going, Chinese likes Large Scale Numbers.