Little Primer of Du Fu, Poems 26 - 30
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This week we're reading poems 26 through 30, 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 18
26. 寄韓諫議注 Jì Hán Jiàn-yì Zhù
Jì Hán Jiàn-yì Zhù
今 我 不 樂 思 岳 陽
1. Jīn wǒ bū lè sì Yuè-yáng,
身 欲 奮 飛 病 在 牀
2. Shēn yù fèn-fēi bìng zài chuáng.
美 人 娟 娟 隔 秋 水
3. Měi-rén juān-juān gé qiū-shuǐ,
濯 足 洞 庭 望 八 荒
4. Zhuó zú Dòng-tíng wàng bā-huāng.
鴻 飛 冥 冥 日 月 白
5. Hóng fēi míng-míng rì yuè-bái,
青 楓 葉 赤 天 雨 霜
6. Qīng fēng yè chì tiān yǔ shuāng.
玉 京 群 帝 集 北 斗
7. Yù-jīng qún-dì jí běi-dǒu,
或 騎 麒 麟 翳 鳳 凰
8. Huò qí qí-lín yì fèng-huáng.
芙 蓉 旌 旗 煙 霧 落
9. Fú-róng jīng-qí yān-wù luò,
影 動 倒 景 搖 瀟 湘
10. Yǐng dòng dào-jǐng yáo Xiāo Xiāng.
星 宮 之 君 醉 瓊 漿
11. Xīng-gōng zhī jūn zuì qióng-jiāng,
羽 人 稀 少 不 在 旁
12. Yǔ-rén xī-shǎo bú zài páng.
似 聞 昨 者 赤 松 子
13. Sì wén zuó-zhě Chì-sōng-zǐ,
恐 是 漢 代 韓 張 良
14. Kǒng shì Hàn-dài Hán Zhāng Liáng.
昔 隨 劉 氏 定 長 安
15. Xī suí Liú-shì dìng Cháng-ān,
帷 幄 未 改 神 慘 傷
16. Wéi-wò wèi gǎi shén cǎn-shāng.
國 家 成 敗 吾 豈 敢
17. Guó-jiā chéng-bài wú qǐ gǎn!
色 難 腥 腐 餐 楓 香
18. Sè-nán xīng-fǔ cān fēng-xiāng.
周 南 留 滯 古 所 惜
19. Zhōu-nán liú-zhì gǔ suǒ xī,
南 極 老 人 應 壽 昌
20. Nán-jí lǎo-rén yīng shòu-chāng.
美 人 胡 為 隔 秋 水
21. Měi-rén hú-wèi gé qiū-shuǐ?
焉 得 置 之 貢 玉 堂
22. Yān dé zhì zhī gòng yù-táng?
Read Aloud: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUkU_gazr2c
For the Admonisher, Han Chu
Today I am downcast and my thoughts turn to Yo-yang. My body wants to rouse up and fly there, but illness holds me to my bed. There stands the Beloved One of the radiant looks, beyond the waters of autumn, washing his feet in Tung-t’ing’s shallows and gazing towards the world’s eight ends. A wild swan flies in the dark depths of heaven; the sun is moon-white; frost descends on the reddening leaves of the green maples.
In the City of Jade the rulers of the sky are assembling about the Pole Star, some riding on unicorns and some on phoenixes, their lotus banners drooping in the mists. The movement of their fleeting forms casts an inverted image in the waters and makes a commotion on the still surface of the Hsiao and Hsiang. The lords of the starry palace are drunk with immortal wine. Few of the Winged Ones are missing from that company.
Yet I seem to have heard a while past of one Master of the Red Pine, whom I guess to be none other than Chang Liang of Han of our own dynasty. Once he followed Liu Pang in the settlement of Ch’ang-an. Now his great plan remains unchanged, but the spirit that informed it has been crushed. He did not presume to prognosticate concerning the fortunes of our state; he left, revolted by the stink of corruption, to sweeten his mouth with a diet of liquidambar.
Yet the delay in Chou-nan has been deplored throughout the ages; and the Old Man of the Southern Sky promises long and glorious years. So why should the Beloved One tarry beyond the waters of autumn? How can we have him placed, a meet and acceptable offering, in the Hall of Jade?
Re: 26. 寄韓諫議注 Jì Hán Jiàn-yì Zhù
“Jì: ‘send to’, ‘address’. Poems entitled ‘Zèng …’ (e.g. No. 23) were usually presented personally, whilst those entitled ‘Jì …’ were usually sent by post.” neat
“The imagery of this poem is strongly reminiscent of the ‘spirit journeys’ which are so familiar a feature of the third century B.C. poetry of Ch’u.” Is this that Chu Ci thing? Is he going hard on DAOISM bc he’s addressing a noted Daoist?
the Beloved One of the radiant looks: this is a Lot, for the elderly? official he is addressing
gazing towards the world’s eight ends: so why is he gazing towards the ends of the earth/all points of the compass? Just—away from the capital?
“A wild swan flies in the dark depths of heaven; the sun is moon-white; frost descends on the reddening leaves of the green maples.” Is this just—autumn is coming on?
north-dipper/Pole Star: oh, hey cwn
Then some shenmo shit happens
for the Immortal Translation Debate, Hawkes is rendering Du Fu's 'winged immortals', “Yǔ-rén xī-shǎo bú zài páng” as Winged Ones (trans more literally as Feathered-men)
“羽 人 稀 少 不 在 旁”
“Taoists aspired to attain bodily immortality by confining their diet to herbs, drugs, dew, and vapours.” I guess this is where we get all the inedia shit
Ssu-ma Ch’ien: what is with this ss?
“When Emperor Wu inaugurated the much-debated sacrifices on T’ai-shan and other magical rites and ceremonies designed to confirm the power of his dynasty over the spirit world, Ssu-ma T’an, who was deeply interested in these matters, was left behind in Chou-nan. His chagrin at not being invited to accompany the court brought on a sickness from which he never recovered.” huge kidney story energy
“Gòng: literally ‘tribute’, here a verb, ‘offer as tribute” gong is a wily one, like 8 fucking things
“Gòng: literally ‘tribute’, here a verb, ‘offer as tribute’. In former times successful examination candidates and other meritorious or distinguished persons sent up to the capital by the provincial governments for employment at court were considered as part of the ‘tribute’ of the area from which they came." I am begging the Tang dynasty to stop giving me dodgy fic material. please. PLEASE.
Re: 26. 寄韓諫議注 Jì Hán Jiàn-yì Zhù
Yujing (City of Jade) is a Daoist mountain of immortals
"he left, revolted by the stink of corruption" is glossed with a particular fable about... an owl eating a rotten mouse that I think is meant to explain the Daoists practicing inedia?