Oct. 4th, 2021 02:06 pm
Little Primer of Du Fu, Poems 6-10
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dankodesThis 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.)
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.)
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6. 春望 Chūn wàng
Chūn wàng
國 破 山 河 在
1. Guó pò shān-hé zài,
城 春 草 木 深
2. Chéng chūn cǎo-mù shēn.
感 時 花 濺 淚
3. Gǎn shí huā jiàn lèi,
恨 別 鳥 驚 心
4. Hèn bié niǎo jīng xīn.
烽 火 連 三 月
5. Fēng-huǒ lián sān yuè,
家 書 抵 萬 金
6. Jiā-shū dǐ wàn jīn.
白 頭 搔 更 短
7. Bái tóu sāo gèng duǎn,
渾 欲 不 勝 簪
8. Hún yù bù-shēng zān.
Read Aloud:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIFLqA10w2o or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=va1-4IlolqU
Spring Scene
The state may fall, but the hills and streams remain. It is spring in the city: grass and leaves grow thick. The flowers shed tears of grief for the troubled times, and the birds seem startled, as if with the anguish of separation. For three months continuously the beacon-fires have been burning. A letter from home would be worth a fortune. My white hair is getting so scanty from worried scratching that soon there won’t be enough to stick my hatpin in!”
Re: 6. 春望 Chūn wàng
This bit about the different usages of beacon signalling is interesting, it would not have occurred to me on my own.
7. 哀江頭 Āi jiāng-tóu
Āi jiāng-tóu
少 陵 野 老 吞 聲 哭
1. Shào-líng yě-lǎo tūn-shēng kū,
春 日 潛 行 曲 江 曲
2. Chūn-rì qián-xíng Qū-jiāng qū.
江 頭 宮 殿 鎖 千 門
3. Jiāng-tóu gōng-diàn suǒ qiān mén,
細 柳 新 蒲 為 誰 綠
4. Xì liǔ xīn pú wèi shuí lǜ?
憶 昔 霓 旌 下 南 苑
5. Yì xī ní-jīng xià Nán-yuàn,
苑 中 萬 物 生 顏 色
6. Yuàn-zhōng wàn-wù shēng yán-sè.
昭 陽 殿 裏 第 一 人
7. Zhāo-yáng-diàn-lǐ dì-yī rén,
同 輦 隨 君 侍 君 側
8. Tóng-niǎn suí jūn shì jūn cè.
“輦 前 才 人 帶 弓 箭
9. Niǎn-qián cái-rén dài gōng-jiàn,
白 馬 嚼 齧 黃 金 勒
10. Bái mǎ jué-niè huáng-jīn lè;
翻 身 向 天 仰 射 雲
11. Fān-shēn xiàng tiān yǎng shè yún,
一 笑 正 墜 雙 飛 翼
12. Yí xiào zhèng zhuì shuāng fēi yì.
明 眸 皓 齒 今 何 在
13. Míng-móu hào-chǐ jīn hé zài?
血 污 遊 魂 歸 不 得
14. Xuè-wū yóu-hún guī-bù-dé.
清 渭 東 流 劍 閣 深
15. Qīng Wèi dōng liú Jiàn-gé shēn,
去 住 彼 此 無 消 息
16. Qù zhù bǐ-cǐ wú xiāo-xī.
人 生 有 情 淚 霑 臆
17. Rén-shēng yǒu qíng lèi zhān yì,
江 水 江 花 豈 終 極
18. Jiāng-shuǐ jiāng-huā qǐ zhōng-jí?
黃 昏 胡 騎 塵 滿 城
19. Huáng-hūn hú-jì chén mǎn chéng,
欲 往 城 南 望 城 北
20. Yù wǎng chéng-nán wàng chéng-běi.
Read Aloud: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBtPTL3EVFA
“By the Lake
The old fellow from Shao-ling weeps with stifled sobs as he walks furtively by the bends of the Serpentine on a day in spring. In the waterside palaces the thousands of doors are locked. For whom have the willows and rushes put on their fresh greenery?
I remember how formerly, when the Emperor’s rainbow banner made its way into the South Park, everything in the park seemed to bloom with a brighter colour. The First Lady of the Chao-yang Palace rode in the same carriage as her lord in attendance at his side, while before the carriage rode maids of honour equipped with bows and arrows, their white horses champing at golden bits. Leaning back, face skywards, they shot into the clouds; and the Lady laughed gaily when a bird fell to the ground transfixed by a well-aimed arrow. Where are the bright eyes and the flashing smile now? Tainted with blood-pollution, her wandering soul cannot make its way back. The clear waters of the Wei flow eastwards, and Chien-ko is far away: between the one who has gone and the one who remains no communication is possible. It is human to have feelings and to shed tears for such things; but the grasses and flowers of the lakeside go on for ever, unmoved. As evening falls, the city is full of the dust of foreign horsemen. My way is towards the South City, but my gaze turns northwards.
Re: 7. 哀江頭 Āi jiāng-tóu
- Huh so chang’an the imperial capital forever has a Serpentine Lake in its major park; London also has a river sculpted/terraformed into such a shape and called that. Is theirs translated like that after ours, is it a random coincidence, is ours called that after theirs, or was our current park design a post opium war conscious and modelled attempt to aesthetically build an imperial capital? No idea but it’s interesting.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Serpentine
It’s interesting bc this would have been a period of chinoiserie circa the rising popularity of tea in upper class circles:
“Chinoiserie entered European art and decoration in the mid-to-late 17th century; the work of Athanasius Kircher influenced the study of orientalism. The popularity of chinoiserie peaked around the middle of the 18th century when it was associated with the rococo style and with works by François Boucher, Thomas Chippendale, and Jean-Baptist Pillement. It was also popularized by the influx of Chinese and Indian goods brought annually to Europe aboard English, Dutch, French, and Swedish East India Companies.”
- “Yì xī ní-jīng xià Nán-yuàn
I remember formerly rainbow-banner descending-to South-park”
Du Fu used to ship Cartman/Kenny, huh
- This sounds silly, but this movement from rainbow banner as a metonymy/symbol and stand in for the emperor to 'but every creature in the park was adding to its colour' really strikes me in this fresh way re what metonymy can do in a piece, the strategy and care with which it can operate. The parallel here between the emperor's colour and finery and the colour and finery of the people/creatures of his realm doubles back onto that traditional image of the emperor as the quintessence of his land, a barometer and lodestone.
- “maids of honour equipped with bows and arrows” interesting gender point
8. 春宿左省 Chūn sù zuǒ-shěng
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
- 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: ?
9. 至德二載甫自京金光門出，間道歸 Zhì-dé èr-zǎi Fǔ zì Jīng Jīn-guāng-mén ch
Zhì-dé èr-zǎi Fǔ zì Jīng Jīn-guāng-mén chū, jiàn-dào guī
鳳翔。乾元初從左拾遺移華州掾。
Fèng-xiáng. Qián-yuán chū cóng zuǒ-shí-yí yí Huá-zhōu yuán.
與親故別，因出此門。有悲往事。
Yǔ qīn-gù bié, yīn chū cǐ mén. Yǒu bēi wǎng-shì.
此 道 昔 歸 順
1. Cǐ dào xī guī-shùn,
西 郊 胡 正 繁
2. Xī-jiāo hú zhèng fán.
至 今 猶 破 膽
3. Zhì-jīn yóu pò dǎn,
應 有 未 招 魂
4. Yīng yǒu wèi zhāo hún.
近 侍 歸 京 邑
5. Jìn-shì guī jīng-yì,
移 官 豈 至 尊
6. Yí guān qǐ zhì-zūn?
無 才 日 衰 老”
7. Wú-cái rì shuāi-lǎo,
駐 馬 望 千 門
8. Zhù-mǎ wàng qiān-mén.
Read Aloud: https://www.bilibili.com/s/video/BV1364y1d76F (Cantonese) (Can't find Mandarin.)
In the second year of Chih-te (757), I left the capital by the Gate of Golden Light and made my way secretly to the court at Feng-hsiang. At the beginning of Ch’ien-yüan (758), I was transferred from the post of Remembrancer in the Imperial Chancellery to that of a subordinate official in the prefectural government of Hua-chou. In order to take leave of friends and relations, I left the city by this same gate, a circumstance which brought back sad memories of past events.
When last year I made my way to grace by this same road, the western outskirts of the city were full of barbarian soldiers. To this day my nerves remain shattered, and I think some of my souls must still be in need of recall. I returned to the capital in the entourage of the Emperor. I am sure my present removal was not the doing of his Sacred Majesty. Lacking in ability, growing increasingly old and useless, I rein in my horse and gaze sadly towards the Imperial palace.
Re: 9. 至德二載甫自京金光門出，間道歸 Zhì-dé èr-zǎi Fǔ zì Jīng Jīn-guāng-mé
Gotta avoid: 粤语
- I don’t feel I really get this year name stuff. Like “chosen arbitrarily”, really? This, from the most symbolically-overdetermined culture in the business? If you say so.
- “it is customary to leave year-names untranslated because in a great many cases it is impossible to discover what their inventors meant by them.”: Okay so it’s probably something but we don’t know
- “Instrument of Abdication” ?
- “Dǎn: literally ‘gall-bladder’—the seat of courage. To have a broken gall-bladder means to have lost one’s nerve.” Huh. Wait is that dan as in dantian?
- “Zhāo hún: illness or shock may cause a person’s soul to leave his body, in which case the proper rituals must be performed for recalling it. Actually we ought to say ‘souls’ rather than ‘soul’, though; because according to popular theory a person had not one but ten souls: three spiritual souls (hún) and seven animal souls (pò).” Huuuuh, this again (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hun_and_po)
- So what IS Du Fu’s poetic reputation at this point? Like does everyone know he’s a big deal?
10. 贈衛八處士 Zèng Wèi Bā chǔ-shì”
Zèng Wèi Bā chǔ-shì
人 生 不 相 見
1. Rén-shēng bù xiāng-jiàn,
動 如 參 與 商
2. Dòng rú shēn yǔ shāng;
今 夕 復 何 夕
3. Jīn-xī fù hé xī,
共 此 燈 燭 光
4. Gòng cǐ dēng-zhú guāng?
少 壯 能 幾 時
5. Shào-zhuàng néng jǐ-shí?
鬢 髮 各 已 蒼
6. Bìn-fà gè yǐ cāng.
訪 舊 半 為 鬼
7. Fǎng jiù bàn wéi guǐ,
驚 呼 熱 中 腸
8. Jīng-hū rè zhōng-cháng.
焉 知 二 十 載
9. Yān zhī èr-shí zǎi,
重 上 君 子 堂”
10. Chóng shàng jūn-zǐ táng!
昔 別 君 未 婚
11. Xī bié jūn wèi hūn,
兒 女 忽 成 行
12. Ér-nǚ hū chéng háng!
怡 然 敬 父 執
13. Yí-rán jìng fù-zhí,
問 我 來 何 方
14. Wèn wǒ lái hé-fāng.
問 答 乃 未 已
15. Wèn-dá nǎi wèi yǐ,
驅 兒 羅 酒 漿
16. Qū ér luó jiǔ-jiāng.
夜 雨 剪 春 韭
17. Yè yǔ jiǎn chūn jiǔ,
新 炊 間 黃 粱
18. Xīn chuī jiàn huáng-liáng.
主 稱 會 面 難
19. Zhǔ chēng huì-miàn nán,
一 舉 累 十 觴
20. Yì-jǔ lěi shí shāng;
十 觴 亦 不 醉
21. Shí shāng yì bú zuì,
感 子 故 意 長
22. Gǎn zǐ gù-yì cháng.
明 日 隔 山 岳
23. Míng-rì gé shān-yuè,
世 事 兩 茫 茫
24. Shì-shì liǎng máng-máng.
Read Aloud: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os6xUsE34Mo
To the Recluse, Wei Pa
Often in this life of ours we resemble, in our failure to meet, the Shen and Shang constellations, one of which rises as the other one sets. What lucky chance is it, then, that brings us together this evening under the light of this same lamp? Youth and vigour last but a little time.—Each of us now has greying temples. Half of the friends we ask each other about are dead, and our shocked cries sear the heart. Who could have guessed that it would be twenty years before I sat once more beneath your roof? Last time we parted you were still unmarried, but now here suddenly is a row of boys and girls who smilingly pay their respects to their father’s old friend. They ask me where I have come from; but before I have finished dealing with their questions, the children are hurried off to fetch us wine. Spring chives are cut in the rainy dark, and there is freshly steamed rice mixed with yellow millet. ‘Come, we don’t meet often!’ you hospitably urge, pouring out ten cupfuls in rapid succession. That I am still not drunk after ten cups of wine is due to the strength of the emotion which your unchanging friendship inspires. Tomorrow the Peak will lie between us, and each will be lost to the other, swallowed up in the world’s affairs.
Re: 10. 贈衛八處士 Zèng Wèi Bā chǔ-shì”
I TOTALLY RECOGNISED OH WHAT AN EVENING THIS EVENING IS!! take that shi jing
Re: 6. 春望 Chūn wàng
Re: 6. 春望 Chūn wàng
国破山河在
guó pò shānhé zài
The country is war torn, but its mountains and rivers remain;
城春草木深
chéng chūn cǎomù shēn
it is spring, yet the city’s grass and trees grow untamed.
感时花溅泪
gǎn shí huā jiàn lèi
Grief at the times spills over as tears at the sight of new blossoms,
恨别鸟惊心
hèn bié niǎo jīng xīn
loathe to part, now the sound of birdsong only troubles my heart.
烽火连三月
fēnghuǒ lián sān yuè
When the flames of war have blazed for three months
家书抵万金
jiāshū dǐ wàn jīn
a letter from home is worth more than ten thousand in gold.
白头搔更短
báitóu sāo gèng duǎn
I tug and pull at white hair that has grown so sparse
浑欲不胜簪
hún yù bù shèng zān
that there’s hardly enough left for a hair-pin.
How to Read Chinese Poetry in Context's Chapter 15, "Du Fu: The Poet as Historian"
Re: How to Read Chinese Poetry in Context's Chapter 15, "Du Fu: The Poet as Historian"
Just regional shit re the Turkic people involved?
So Du Fu gets his civil service job via poetry.
‘Carved open his bedridden father’s belly’ …the fuck? ??
'turned into fish' is this that fish on a stick cooking method people use in CQL and Word of Honour? like--skewered like a fish on a stick by a lance?
parabolic as in, of or expressed in parables.
apostrophic as in: Apostrophe is an exclamatory figure of speech. It occurs when a speaker breaks off from addressing the audience and directs speech to a third party such as an opposing litigant or some other individual, sometimes absent from the scene. Often the addressee is a personified abstract quality or inanimate object
Interesting that this camp follower substitution works for the officer. Does *she* have a better chance of coming home?
"an assumption of autobiographical truth" tbh I feel we could be a BIT cannier about that than Hawkes often is
hair still in knots--is this some youthful way of dressing it?
Is the old man going to war out of patriotism, nihilism or bc his wife gets a bonus she needs?
this post-apocalyptic return to a vanished village is striking and very unusual in Western poetic conceit
what does 'how could i still count as one of the common folk?' mean?
Re: 6. 春望 Chūn wàng
And this is one of the longest 'famous review' sections for one of these poems yet.
Re: 7. 哀江頭 Āi jiāng-tóu
Re: 7. 哀江頭 Āi jiāng-tóu
The bit about sharing the same carriage is a breach of etiquette, as no one should be riding with the emperor
Baike glosses the maids of honor as women officials.
The bit about the pair of birds falling might be foreshadowing about the emperor and Yang Guifei's fate.
His way is towards South City bc that's the part of the city he lives in. Baike suggests he's so sad he's mixing up north and south.
Re: 8. 春宿左省 Chūn sù zuǒ-shěng
Re: 9. 至德二載甫自京金光門出，間道歸 Zhì-dé èr-zǎi Fǔ zì Jīng Jīn-guāng-mé
Re: 10. 贈衛八處士 Zèng Wèi Bā chǔ-shì”
Also, I realized that the video player at the top of a lot of these articles is the recitation of the poem?? I wasn't paying attention until I clicked it accidentally...
Baike notes:
"and our shocked cries sear the heart": can interpret as the warm feelings of seeing old friends or the upset at learning about the dead ones.
The chives in the rainy dark is a reference to a Han dynasty story about a person whose friend unexpectedly visited and so he cut some chives in the rain.
Also, Baike claims this is different from most of Du Fu's poetry, and more similar to the simpler Han and Wei poetry. It is apparently common to describe his poetry as 沉郁顿挫, but that is... not very helpful... in figuring out what it means.
Re: How to Read Chinese Poetry in Context's Chapter 15, "Du Fu: The Poet as Historian"
Re: How to Read Chinese Poetry in Context's Chapter 15, "Du Fu: The Poet as Historian"
Re: How to Read Chinese Poetry in Context's Chapter 15, "Du Fu: The Poet as Historian"
The hair in knots is the way they're translating the way people would "bind their hair on coming of age" (dictionary defn).
Counting as a common person I think is roughly the equivalent of being able to hold your head up / looking at yourself in the mirror?
Re: 8. 春宿左省 Chūn sù zuǒ-shěng
https://baike.baidu.com/item/九重天/5195
Re: 8. 春宿左省 Chūn sù zuǒ-shěng