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[personal profile] x_los posting in [community profile] dankodes
This is week 3/7 on David Hawkes' Little Primer of Du Fu. I'll replicate the poems themselves here, but as this book contains considerable exegesis I advise you to grab this copy.

 

This week we're reading poems 11 through 15, inclusive.

 

How to Read Chinese Poetry has two chapters on forms Du Fu uses extensively:

 

Ch 8, Recent Style Shi Poetry, Pentasyllabic Regulated Verse (Wuyan Lüshi

Ch 9, Recent Style Shi Poetry, Heptasyllabic Regulated Verse (Qiyan Lüshi

 

Three other chapters on other verse forms that Du Fu sometimes employs, or which people quoting Du Fu employ, also mention him:

 

Ch 10,  Recent Style Shi Poetry, Quatrains (Jueju): some mention of Du Fu’s “Three Quatrains, No. 3”

Ch 14, Ci Poetry,  Long Song Lyrics on Objects (Yongwu Ci): some mention of Du Fu's “Beautiful Lady” (Jiaren)

Ch 18, A Synthesis:  Rhythm, Syntax, and Vision of Chinese Poetry: some mention of Du Fu’s poem “The Jiang and Han Rivers” 

 

Additional Reading for this Week: Chapter 8

Date: 2021-10-16 08:42 pm (UTC)

Re: 11. 月夜憶舍弟 Yuè-yè yì shè-dì

ehyde: (Default)
From: [personal profile] ehyde
The translation I have says "from this night on, dew will whiten to frost" (although this version seems to be going for something more poetic than literal). The "look, a clue!" commentary was weird tbh but on the other hand, associating it with a holiday that would normally be spent with family adds to the loneliness of it, whether it was literally written then or not.
Date: 2021-10-17 11:05 pm (UTC)

Re: 11. 月夜憶舍弟 Yuè-yè yì shè-dì

superborb: (Default)
From: [personal profile] superborb
The term he uses is younger brothers, but Baike's gloss names all four siblings, so...

She-di is specifically younger brother, so different from shidi.

Yes on the frost.
Date: 2021-10-17 11:01 pm (UTC)

Re: 11. 月夜憶舍弟 Yuè-yè yì shè-dì

superborb: (Default)
From: [personal profile] superborb
Baike notes:

Glosses that geese were a metaphor for brothers, and so a lone goose indicates the brothers have been scattered.

Du Fu's family residence had been destroyed by the rebellion.

Baike goes with the 759 date
Date: 2021-10-18 12:20 am (UTC)

Re: 12. 佳人 Jiā-rén

superborb: (Default)
From: [personal profile] superborb
Baike suggests this poem is dealing with how Du Fu sees his situation reflected in her.

Baike mentions in their analysis that the flickering light is a metaphor for time passing rapidly and the world changing.

Baike says multiple possible interpretations of the spring water line. In addition to the interpretation that Hawkes takes, there's also the interpretation that she is the clear water and the husband the muddy, and by staying on the mountain, she's refusing to become muddy. Or it's about chastity, or the two wives.

Baike's gloss is the tall bamboo is a metaphor for the noble principles of the lady.
Date: 2021-10-18 01:07 am (UTC)

Re: 13. 夢李白 Mèng Lǐ Bái (1)

superborb: (Default)
From: [personal profile] superborb
Baike says that the dragon line is to say that the situation is dangerous, that he should be afraid of misfortunes, and to be careful.
Date: 2021-10-18 02:44 pm (UTC)

Re: 13. 夢李白 Mèng Lǐ Bái (1)

superborb: (Default)
From: [personal profile] superborb
Mmm but isn't it just following the line of allusion?
Date: 2021-10-18 01:41 am (UTC)

Re: 14. 夢李白 Mèng Lǐ Bái (2)

superborb: (Default)
From: [personal profile] superborb
Baike notes:

The floating clouds are glossed as the wanderer floating about -- this is a common metaphor.

Hawkes tone for the last line is a bit more negative than I feel like the original (or the baike vernacular tl) is?
Date: 2021-10-18 02:08 am (UTC)

Re: 15. 天末懷李白 Tiān-mò huái Lǐ Bái

superborb: (Default)
From: [personal profile] superborb
Yeah, Qu Yuan is dragon boat guy. Easier to google in pinyin, smh Hawkes
Date: 2021-10-18 02:06 am (UTC)

Re: 15. 天末懷李白 Tiān-mò huái Lǐ Bái

superborb: (Default)
From: [personal profile] superborb
Baike does NOT think those goblins are literal goblins -- the gloss is villains or evil criminals. Also I think this word must be archaic, as Baike gives pinyin and defines it as hobgoblin.

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