Little Primer of Du Fu, Poems 21-25
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dankodes
This week we're reading poems 21 through 25, 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 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 10
21. 登樓 Dēng lóu
Dēng lóu
花 近 高 樓 傷 客 心
1. Huā jìn gāo lóu shāng kè xīn:
萬 方 多 難 此 登 臨
2. Wàn-fāng duō nán cǐ dēng-lín!
錦 江 春 色 來 天 地
3. Jǐn-jiāng chūn-sè lái tiān-dì,
玉 壘 浮 雲 變 古 今
4. Yù-léi fú-yún biàn gǔ-jīn.
北 極 朝 廷 終 不 改
5. Běi-jí cháo-tíng zhōng bù gǎi,
西 山 寇 盜 莫 相 侵
6. Xī-shān kòu-dào mò xiāng-qīn!
可 憐 後 主 還 祠 廟
7. Kě-lián Hòu-zhǔ huán cí-miào,
日 暮 聊 為 梁 父 吟
8. Rì-mù liáo wéi Liáng-fù-yín.
Read Aloud: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho7QbnG4YZQ (weird mechanical voice)
On the Tower
Flowers near the high tower sadden the heart of the visitor. It is at a time when the Empire is everywhere beset by troubles that he has climbed up to see this view. The Brocade River scene, dressed in spring’s colours, brings a whole universe before his eyes, whilst the floating clouds above Marble Fort Mountain seem to unfold all time in their mutating shapes. The Court of the Northern Star remains unchanged. Let the marauders from the Western Mountains cease their raiding! Even the poor Second Ruler still has his shrine. As evening falls I shall sing a song of Liang-fu.
Re: 21. 登樓 Dēng lóu
Affluent (geography), a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake
Chu-ko Liang again: (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhuge_Liang)
“Flowers near the high tower sadden the heart of the visitor. ” Why exactly?
A TOUGH one, without explication.
Kind of arrogant for the poetic speaker to think they can be the Chu-ko Liang!
Re: 21. 登樓 Dēng lóu
Baike says the line where the floating clouds are changing shows how fickle the political situation and people's lives have always been.
22. 宿府 Sù fǔ
Sù fǔ
清 秋 幕 府 井 梧 寒
1. Qīng qiū mù-fǔ jǐng wú hán,
獨 宿 江 城 蠟 炬 殘
2. Dú sù jiāng-chéng là-jù cán.
永 夜 角 聲 悲 自 語
3. Yǒng yè jiǎo shēng bēi zì-yǔ,
中 天 月 色 好 誰 看
4. Zhōng tiān yuè-sè hǎo shuí kān?
風 塵 荏 苒 音 書 絕
5. Fēng-chén rěn-rǎn yīn-shū jué,
關 塞 蕭 條 行 路 難
6. Guān-sài xiāo-tiáo xíng-lù nán.
已 忍 伶 俜 十 年 事
7. Yǐ rěn líng-pīng shí nián shì,
強 移 棲 息 一 枝 安
8. Qiǎng yí qī-xī yì zhī ān.
Read Aloud: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gm6LzpR1l0o
A Night at Headquarters
In the clear autumn air, the wu-t’ung trees beside the well in the courtyard of the Governor’s headquarters have a chilly look. I am staying alone here in the River City. The wax candle is burning low. Through the long night distant bugles talk mournfully to themselves, and there is no one to watch the lovely moon riding in the midst of the sky. Protracted turmoils have cut us off from letters, and travelling is difficult through the desolate frontier passes. Having endured ten years of vexatious trials, I have perforce moved here to roost awhile on this single peaceful bough.
Re: 22. 宿府 Sù fǔ
“obtained for him the nominal court position which would enable him to assume once more, after five years’ unemployment, the uniform and insignia of official rank” what a millennial
“Notice the bisyllabic alliterative or homoioteleutic” no.
清秋 (Clear autumn) that IS, however, Qingqiu spelled right, so this may well be where the name is from
Tho D says “Qingqiu is a pretty common formulation tho; Like wine-dark sea”
wut’ung trees: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernicia_fordii
How do they look chilly?
Re: 22. 宿府 Sù fǔ
23. 丹青引 贈曹將軍霸 Dān-qīng yǐn Zèng Cáo jiāng-jūn Bà
Dān-qīng yǐn Zèng Cáo jiāng-jūn Bà
將 軍 魏 武 之 子 孫
1. Jiāng-jūn Wèi-wǔ zhī zǐ-sūn,
於 今 為 庶 為 清 門
2. Yú-jīn wéi shù wéi qīng-mén.
英 雄 割 據 雖 已 矣
3. Yīng-xióng gē-jù suī yǐ-yǐ,
文 采 風 流 今 尚 存
4. Wén-cǎi fēng-liú jīn shàng cún:
學 書 初 學 衛 夫 人
5. Xué shū chū xué Wèi-fū-rén,
但 恨 無 過 王 右 軍
6. Dàn hèn wú guò Wáng-yòu-jūn.
丹 青 不 知 老 將 至
7. Dān-qīng bù zhī lǎo jiāng zhì,
富 貴 於 我 如 浮 雲
8. Fù-guì yú wǒ rú fú-yún!
開 元 之 中 常 引 見
9. Kāi-yuán zhī zhōng cháng yǐn-jiàn,
承 恩 數 上 南 熏 殿
10. Chéng-ēn shuò shàng Nán-xūn-diàn.
凌 煙 功 臣 少 顏 色
11. Líng-yān gōng-chén shǎo yán-sè,
將 軍 下 筆 開 生 面
12. Jiāng-jūn xià-bǐ kāi shēng-miàn.
良 相 頭 上 進 賢 冠
13. Liáng xiàng tóu-shàng jìn-xián-guān,
猛 將 腰 間 大 羽 箭
14. Měng jiàng yāo-jiān dà-yǔ-jiàn.
褒 公 鄂 公 毛 髮 動
15. Bǎo-gōng È-gōng máo-fà dòng,
英 姿 颯 爽 來 酣 戰
16. Yīng zī sà-shuǎng lái hān zhàn.
先 帝 御 馬 玉 花 驄
17. Xiān-dì yù-mǎ Yù-huā-cōng,
畫 工 如 山 貌 不 同
18. Huà-gōng rú shān mào bù tóng.
是 日 牽 來 赤 墀 下
19. Shì-rì qiān-lái chì-chí-xià,
逈 立 閶 闔 生 長 風
20. Jiǒng lì chāng-hé shēng cháng fēng.
詔 謂 將 軍 拂 絹 素
21. Zhào wèi jiāng-jūn fú juān-sù,
意 匠 慘 淡 經 營 中
22. Yì-jiàng cǎn-dàn jīng-yíng-zhōng.
斯 須 九 重 真 龍 出
23. Sī-xū jiǔ-chóng zhēn lóng chū,
一 洗 萬 古 凡 馬 空
24. Yì-xǐ wàn-gǔ fán mǎ kōng!
玉 花 却 在 御 榻 上
25. Yù-huā què zài yù-tà-shàng,
榻 上 庭 前 屹 相 向
26. Tà-shàng tíng-qián yì xiāng-xiàng.
至 尊 含 笑 催 賜 金
27. Zhì-zūn hán-xiào cuī cì-jīn,
圉 人 太 僕 皆 惆 悵
28. Yǔ-rén tài-pú jiē chóu-chàng.
弟 子 韓 幹 早 入 室
29. Dì-zǐ Hán Gān zǎo rù-shì,
亦 能 畫 馬 窮 殊 相
30. Yì néng huà mǎ qióng shū xiàng.
幹 惟 畫 肉 不 畫 骨
31. Gān wéi huà ròu bú huà gǔ,
忍 使 驊 騮 氣 凋 喪
32. Rěn shǐ Huá-liú qì diāo-sàng!
將 軍 善 畫 蓋 有 神
33. Jiāng-jūn shàn huà gài yǒu shén,
必 逢 佳 士 亦 寫 真
34. Bì féng jiā-shì yì xiě-zhēn.
即 今 漂 泊 干 戈 際
35. Jí-jīn piāo-bó gān-gē jì,
屢 貌 尋 常 行 路 人
36. Lǚ mào xún-cháng xíng-lù rén.
窮 塗 反 遭 俗 眼 白
37. Qióng-tú fǎn zāo sú yǎn bái,
世 上 未 有 如 公 貧
38. Shì-shàng wèi yǒu rú gōng pín.
但 看 古 來 盛 名 下
39. Dàn kàn gǔ-lái shèng-míng-xià,
終 日 坎 纏 其 身
40. Zhōng-rì kǎn-lǎn chán qí shēn.
Read Aloud: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcfHc-N6edk
A Song of Painting. To General Ts’ao Pa
You, General, are a descendant of Emperor Wu of Wei, but now, a commoner, live in humble circumstances. Though the heroic empire-building of your ancestor is long past, his brilliant culture and elegant style live on in you. In calligraphy you first studied under the Lady Wei, your only regret being that you could not excel Wang Hsi-chih. Painting, you forget the advance of old age: to you wealth and rank are as insubstantial as floating clouds.
During the K’ai-yüan period (713–42) you were often summoned to court. Frequently you were favoured with invitations to the Hall of Southern Fragrance. When the colours in the portraits of distinguished statesmen and soldiers in the Rising Above the Mists Gallery had become faded, you, with your brush, gave them a new, fresh look. On the heads of good ministers you painted ‘Promotion of the Worthy’ hats; at the belts of fierce generals you painted ‘Big Feather’ arrows. The Duke of Pao and the Duke of O, their beards and hair bristling, appeared, from their heroic and forbidding expressions, to be drunk with many battles.
Our late Emperor’s horse Jade Flower was painted by artists as numerous as the hills, but the paintings were not good likenesses. One day he was led out below the Red Terrace. As he stood far off there in the gates, a great wind seemed to have entered the palace. An order was given commanding you to prepare your silk for a painting. With deep intensity your artist’s mind pondered and planned a while, and then, quite suddenly, the veritable dragon emerged from the pregnant sky, annihilating in a trice a myriad ordinary horses painted from old times up to now.
When the portrait was taken up and hung behind the throne, the Jade Flower above the throne and the one in the forecourt faced each other proudly. His Imperial Majesty with a smile hurried those who were to fetch the reward. And how out of countenance all the grooms and stable-boys looked! Your disciple Han Kan long ago graduated to the ‘inner sanctum’; but he paints only the outward flesh: he does not know how to suggest the bone within, and is quite capable of allowing a Hua-liu to lose all its life and spirit.
Your excellence as a painter is divinely inspired. You used also to paint portraits, though only if you met an unusual person. Today, drifting about in an age of violence, you often make likenesses of quite ordinary people, and in your present dire straits have to endure sour looks from vulgar eyes. Surely there can be no one in the world quite as poor as you! However, if one but examines those who have been famous from ancient times to the present, one finds that they were constantly enmeshed in hardships and difficulties.
Re: 23. 丹青引 贈曹將軍霸 Dān-qīng yǐn Zèng Cáo jiāng-jūn Bà
oblique tone?
Lady Wei—interesting, a woman
“When the colours in the portraits of distinguished statesmen and soldiers in the Rising Above the Mists Gallery had become faded, you, with your brush, gave them a new, fresh look. “ Oh so they value art restoration as a painting skill
“Our late Emperor’s horse Jade Flower was painted by artists as numerous as the hills, but the paintings were not good likenesses” the inherent comedy of important horse painting
“Surely there can be no one in the world quite as poor as you!” yeah du fu this is what I wanna hear in a poem in my honour, hit me with that good reminder I am poor
“Tu Fu’s use of the heptasyllabic Ballad Style for this sort of descriptive study […] was an entirely novel departure, quite different, it should be noted, from the ‘dramatic encounter’ found in the Ballad of the Army Carts (No. 2), the Ballad of Lovely Women (No. 3), and The Unfortunate Prince (No. 5), which are much closer in style to the ballad of tradition. Tu Fu’s motive for adopting so improbable a medium for a poem about a painter can only be guessed at” maybe compare with like, Dar Williams’ Rothko Song, Cohen’s Suzanne
“Jūn” oh hey is this the jun as in—xianxia jun titles?
“Qīng-mén ‘cold-door’: a poor man” wonder quite what the etymology is on that, it’s nearly guessable but not fully
“Fēng-liú, which can be either an adjective or a noun, is always a difficult word to translate: ‘stylish’, ‘romantic’, ‘glamour’, ‘panache’, ‘refinement’ are a few of its meanings.” Nice
Ooooh NOT the real Lady Wei
“Hall of Southern Fragrance” strikes me as an odd name, but there’s a similar one in CQL
“duke of O” surely there’s not a place just called: O
“Yù-mǎ: yù is one of the honorifics used in court language when referring to objects belonging to the Emperor. Thus his reading is yù-lǎn ‘Imperial surveying’, his writing yù-bǐ ‘Imperial brushwork’, and his seal yù-bǎo ‘the Imperial treasure’.” Okay but you could use this for some dodgy fic, right, where is the Ranwan—
“nine-fold true dragon emerges” here and in the final translation, this is a bit opaque to me
Gōng ‘duke’: not how I’ve heard it used, but continue
Re: 23. 丹青引 贈曹將軍霸 Dān-qīng yǐn Zèng Cáo jiāng-jūn Bà
This is a different jun. Someday you'll start learning characters and it will be all downhill from there.
"Door" is a metonym for a family/household. As qing no longer has 'cold' as a top level meaning, the modern Chinese equivalent (per Baike) is 寒门, "cold-door".
Regret to inform that the pinyin version is of O is E. :)
Per baike's gloss, the nine heavens is referring to the palace, and the ancients thought horses over 8 chi became dragons. Baike's vernacular says "for a moment, the dragon-horse of the heavens appeared on the silk"
Re: 23. 丹青引 贈曹將軍霸 Dān-qīng yǐn Zèng Cáo jiāng-jūn Bà
"Regret to inform that the pinyin version is of O is E." ...........
24. 韋諷錄事宅觀曹將軍畫馬圖 Wéi Fěng lù-shì zhái guān Cáo jiāng-jūn huà mǎ-t
Wéi Fěng lù-shì zhái guān Cáo jiāng-jūn huà mǎ-tú
國 初 以 來 畫 鞍 馬
1. Guó-chū yǐ-lái huà ān-mǎ,
神 妙 獨 數 江 都 王
2. Shén-miào dú shǔ Jiāng-dū-wáng.
將 軍 得 名 三 十 載
3. Jiāng-jūn dé míng sān-shí zǎi,
人 間 又 見 真 乘 黃
4. Rén-jiān yòu jiàn zhēn Chéng-huáng.
曾 貌 先 帝 照 夜 白
5. Céng mào xiān-dì Zhào-yè-bái,
龍 池 十 日 飛 霹 靂
6. Lóng-chí shí rì fēi pī-lì.
內 府 殷 紅 瑪 瑙 盤
7. Nèi-fǔ yān-hóng mǎ-nǎo pán,
婕 妤 傳 詔 才 人 索
8. Jié-yú chuán zhào cái-rén suǒ.
盤 賜 將 軍 拜 舞 歸
9. Pán cì jiāng-jūn bài-wǔ guī,
輕 紈 細 綺 相 追 飛
10. Qīng wán xì qǐ xiāng-zhuī fēi.
貴 戚 權 門 得 筆 跡
11. Guì-qī quán-mén dé bǐ-jì,
始 覺 屏 障 生 光 輝
12. Shǐ jué píng-zhàng shēng guāng-huī.
昔 日 太 宗 卷 毛 騧
13. Xī-rì Tài-zōng Juǎn-máo-guā,
近 時 郭 家 獅 子 花
14. Jìn-shí Guō-jiā Shī-zi-huā:
今 之 新 圖 有 二 馬
15. Jīn zhī xīn tú yǒu èr mǎ,
復 令 識 者 久 歎 嗟
16. Fù lìng shí-zhě jiǔ tàn-jiē.
此 皆 騎 戰 一 敵 萬
17. Cǐ jiē qí-zhàn yī dí wàn,
縞 素 漠 漠 開 風 沙
18. Gǎo-sù mò-mò kāi fēng-shā.
其 餘 七 匹 亦 殊 絕
19. Qí-yú qī pǐ yì shū-jué,
逈 若 寒 空 雜 霞 雪
20. Jiǒng ruò hán kōng zá xiá xuě.
霜 蹄 蹴 踏 長 楸 間
21. Shuāng tí cù-tà cháng qiū jiān,
馬 官 斯 養 森 成 列
22. Mǎ-guān sī-yǎng sēn chéng liè.
可 憐 九 馬 爭 神 駿
23. Kě-lián jìǔ mǎ zhēng shén-jùn,
顧 視 清 高 氣 深 穩
24. Gù-shì qīng-gāo qì shēn-wěn.
借 問 苦 心 愛 者 誰
25. Jiè-wèn kǔ-xīn ài-zhě shuí?
後 有 韋 諷 前 支 盾
26. Hòu yǒu Wéi Fěng qián Zhī Dùn.
憶 昔 巡 幸 新 豐 宮
27. Yì xī xún-xìng Xīn-fēng-gōng,
翠 花 拂 天 來 向 東
28. Cuì-huā fú tiān lái xiàng dōng;
騰 驤 磊 落 三 萬 匹
29. Téng-xiāng lěi-luò sān-wàn pǐ,
皆 與 此 圖 筋 骨 同
30. Jiē yǔ cǐ tú jīn-gǔ tóng.
自 從 獻 寶 朝 河 宗
31. Zì-cóng xiàn bǎo cháo Hé-zōng,
無 復 射 蛟 江 水 中
32. Wú fù shè jiāo jiāng-shuǐ-zhōng.
君 不 見 金 粟 堆 前 松 柏 裏
33. Jūn bú jiàn Jīn-sù-duī-qián sōng bǎi lǐ,
龍 媒 去 盡 鳥 呼 風
34. Lóng-méi qù jìn niǎo hū fēng!
Read Aloud: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgV4rT5p-Zk
On Seeing a Horse-painting by Ts’ao Pa in the House of the Recorder Wei Feng
Among painters of saddle-horses who have won recognition since the beginning of our dynasty, the Prince of Chiang-tu was for long the only one who could be reckoned an inspired painter. Then, thirty years after General Ts’ao first won a name for himself, the world once more beheld a true Ch’eng-huang in its midst.
On one occasion, when he painted our late Imperial Majesty’s grey, Night Shiner, thunders rolled for ten days over the face of the Dragon Pool. Ladies-in-waiting conveyed an Imperial Command and maids-of-honour made search for a certain dish of dark red agate in the Inner Treasury.
The dish bestowed, our grateful General performed his dance of obeisance and returned home, soon followed by a rain of fine silks and satins from the households of the Imperial kinsmen and all the most powerful in the land, who felt that their screens would acquire no lustre until graced with some sample of his handiwork.
Two famous horses, one, T’ai-tsung’s dun horse Curly, of former times, the other, Kuo Tzu-i’s dappled grey Lion, of more recent date, are now to be seen in this new painting of the General’s, drawing cries of admiration from the connoisseur and looking, both of them, a match for ten thousand in mounted combat. The white silk ground behind them seems to open out into a vast expanse of wind-blown sand.
The other seven horses in the painting are also magnificent specimens. Remote above them, sunset and snow commingle in a wintry sky. Their frosty hooves paw and trample a road lined with tall catalpa trees. By them, in rows, stand their grooms and stable-boys.
Nine splendid horses, close-matched in godlike mettle, their glances proud and free, their spirits firm and deep-seated! And who have been the most devoted lovers of these creatures? Wei Feng in latter times; in earlier days, Chih Tun.
I remember the Imperial progress to the palace at Hsin-feng in the old days, the halcyon banner brushing the sky on its eastward journey and the undulating throng on throng of the thirty thousand trotting horses, each bone for bone and sinew for sinew a peer of the horses in this painting. But since the state visit to the River Lord and the offering of precious things, there has been no more shooting of dragons in the waters. Have you not seen? The Dragon’s Messengers have all departed from amidst the pines and cypresses that stand in front of the Hill of Golden Grain. Only the birds are left, crying on the wind.
Re: 24. 韋諷錄事宅觀曹將軍畫馬圖 Wéi Fěng lù-shì zhái guān Cáo jiāng-jūn huà m
“Su Tung-p’o (1036–1101)” ayyyy, I know that guy
Man their hard-up for horse situation has made them like. KEEN.
“T’ang court etiquette prescribed, for very ceremonious occasions, a dance of obeisance which combined a quite complicated series of balletic movements.” …What
it's necessary! in some imperial circumstances! if someone is being a stickler about protocol! to do /ballet/ to show your proper respect?? how HOW is this not a fic thing like
obeisance /ə(ʊ)ˈbeɪs(ə)ns/ noun deferential respect. —Double checked
catalpas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalpa
Ostlers 1. a person who takes care of horses, esp. at an inn.
“On one occasion, when he painted our late Imperial Majesty’s grey, Night Shiner, thunders rolled for ten days over the face of the Dragon Pool.” What’s this thunder bit?
Re: 24. 韋諷錄事宅觀曹將軍畫馬圖 Wéi Fěng lù-shì zhái guān Cáo jiāng-jūn huà m
It was SO GOOD it summoned thunder sounds.
Re: 24. 韋諷錄事宅觀曹將軍畫馬圖 Wéi Fěng lù-shì zhái guān Cáo jiāng-jūn huà m
how elaborate can those even get tho?
"It was SO GOOD it summoned thunder sounds."
does that just--happen?
25. 古柏行 Gǔ bǎi xíng
Gǔ bǎi xíng
孔 明 廟 前 有 老 柏
1. Kǒng-míng miào-qián yǒu lǎo bǎi,
柯 如 青 銅 根 如 石
2. Kē rú qīng-tóng gēn rú shí.
霜 皮 溜 雨 四 十 圍
3. Shuāng pí liù yǔ sì-shí wéi,
黛 色 參 天 二 千 尺
4. Dài sè cān tiān èr-qiān chǐ.
君 臣 已 與 時 際 會
5. Jūn-chén yǐ yǔ shí jì-huì,
樹 木 猶 為 人 愛 惜
6. Shù-mù yóu wéi rén ài-xī.
雲 來 氣 接 巫 峽 長
7. Yún lái qì jiē Wū-xiá cháng,
月 出 寒 通 雪 山 白
8. Yuè chū hán tōng Xuě-shān bái.
憶 昨 路 繞 錦 亭 東
9. Yì zuó lù rào Jǐn-tíng dōng,
先 主 武 侯 同 閟 宮
10. Xiān-zhǔ Wǔ-hóu tóng bì-gōng.
崔 嵬 枝 幹 郊 原 古
11. Cuī-wéi zhī-gàn jiāo-yuán gǔ,
窈 窕 丹 青 戶 牖 空
12. Yǎo-tiǎo dān-qīng hù-yǒu kōng.
落 落 盤 據 雖 得 地
13. Luò-luò pán-jù suī dé-dì,
冥 冥 孤 高 多 烈 風
14. Míng-míng gū-gāo duō liè-fēng.
扶 持 自 是 神 明 力
15. Fú-chí zì shì shén-míng lì,
正 直 元 因 造 化 工
16. Zhèng-zhí yuán yīn zào-huà gōng.
大 厦 如 傾 要 梁 棟
17. Dà shà rú qīng yào liáng-dòng,
萬 牛 迴 首 邱 山 重
18. Wàn niú huí shǒu qiū-shān zhòng.
不 露 文 章 世 已 驚
19. Bú lù wén-zhāng shì yǐ jīng,
未 辭 剪 伐 誰 能 送
20. Wèi cí jiǎn-fá shuí néng sòng?
苦 心 豈 免 容 螻 蟻
21. Kǔ xīn qǐ miǎn róng lóu-yǐ,
香 葉 終 經 宿 鸞 鳳
22. Xiāng yè zhōng jīng sù luán-fèng.
志 士 幽 人 莫 怨 嗟
23. Zhì-shì yōu-rén mò yuàn-jiē:
古 來 材 大 難 為 用
24. Gǔ-lái cái dà nán wéi yòng.
Read Aloud: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prqZkoAnIgo
Ballad of the Old Cypress
In front of the temple of Chu-ko Liang there is an old cypress. Its branches are like green bronze; its roots like rocks. Around its great girth of forty spans its rimy bark withstands the washing of the rain. Its jet-coloured top rises two thousand feet to greet the sky. Prince and statesman have long since paid their debt to time; but the tree continues to be cherished among men. When the clouds come, continuous vapours link it with the mists of the long Wu Gorge; and when the moon appears, the cypress tree shares the chill of the Snowy Mountains’ whiteness.
I remember a year or so ago, where the road wound east round my Brocade River pavilion, the First Ruler and Chu-ko Liang shared the same shrine. There, too, were towering cypresses, on the ancient plain outside the city. The paintwork of the temple’s dark interior gleamed dully through derelict doors and windows. But this cypress here, though it holds its ground well, clinging with wide-encompassing, snake-like hold, yet, because of its lonely height rising into the gloom of the sky, meets much of the wind’s fierce blast. Nothing but the power of Divine Providence could have kept it standing for so long; its straightness must be the work of the Creator himself! If a great hall had collapsed and beams for it were needed, ten thousand oxen might turn their heads inquiringly to look at such a mountain of a load. But it is already marvel enough to astonish the world, without any need to undergo a craftsman’s embellishing. It has never refused the axe: there is simply no one who could carry it away if it were felled. Its bitter heart has not escaped the ants; but there are always phoenixes roosting in its scented leaves. Men of ambition, and you who dwell unseen, do not cry out in despair! From of old the really great has never been found a use for.
Re: 25. 古柏行 Gǔ bǎi xíng
“Frosty bark’ is of course metaphorical” how so? (Rimy is covered in frost) Maybe he’s trying to talk about how the ridged bark of a cyprus looks
“the bitter core of the cypress wood” ?
“Tu Fu’s very first childish attempt at verse was a little poem about a phoenix” how do we know, did someone ask his mom??
I like the end
Re: 25. 古柏行 Gǔ bǎi xíng
From Baike:
Yes, the swapping of lines 5+6 with 7+8 was suggested by Song era Liu Xuxi. Qiu Zhao'ao follows this by inverting these four lines too. Huang Shen dismissed this as a child's opinion.
Hah, your thinking aligns with Baike. The gloss for the frosty bark is 'pale ash gray colored' and the rainy bit is 'glossy/smooth'.
Baike says that the core of the cypress is bitter tasting. But also it's to contrast with the fragrant leaves, to show the feeling of life experience.
Re: 25. 古柏行 Gǔ bǎi xíng
Ch 10, Recent Style Shi Poetry, Quatrains (Jueju): some mention of Du Fu’s “Three Quatrains, N
This chapter is shit at clearly presenting what a wujue is vs the other category in a memorable way
Deixis
Modality
‘Fixed length’ this bit claiming this is new is a bit wacky because the physical process of setting anything to music is fairly determinative
There have to be so many shitty chess is life poems in Chinese because they’re both (well, Breath, but) some variant of Qi
I don’t quite see the pear blossoms rendered as snow aren’t they more likely the line’s fragrant spring?
juyan: verse eyes
bottom 205,Wang Wie, cold plum
‘‘Li Bai (701–762)—brilliant, insouciant, frequently inebriated, and mostly unemployed’ aren’t we all, buddy
‘By far, Li Bai’s favorite topic was Li Bai.’ He’s dead you can stop roasting
‘Li Bai presents himself as a figure of fun—the drunken poet covered in flowers and following the moon’s reflection in the stream. The vignette is utterly charm- ing. Yet poems like this should make us ask ourselves: Is the Li Bai who appears in his poems the real Li Bai or a fictional construct? This is an important issue in the Chinese context, as the root of the poetic impulse is said to be shi yan zhi (poetry expresses intent), which would suggest that poems are always spontaneous, true reflections of the writer’s inner being.’ Both an interesting use of charm and an intriguing explication of hawkes’ tendency to read composition ‘inspirations’ very literally
Again with the nomad flute
Use 10:16 for BingGe*
What's an entering tone??
Closure
Turn/zhuan
I'm not really getting a ton out of this chapter, the poem types are unclear to me (tho admittedly I've read in bits)
Hope he sums up
Jin Changxu's Spring lament comes back to the yellow birds as the symbol of the deaths of young men in combat*
Readers trained to expect closure