Nineteen Ways of Looking at Wang Wei, Week 2 of 2

[x_los]

This week, we're finishing Eliot Weinberger's "Nineteen Ways of Looking at Wang Wei". This short book discusses many ways to translate a single, brief Tang dynasty poem and the choices involved therein. This week, we'll look at the last ten poems. 

I'll reproduce the translations under discussion here, but c/ping from the pdf is not very reliable and frequently introduces errors. I'm including the text here primarily as a reference point for our discussions: I advise you to look at the book file itself for your reading.

Comments

13. Deer Enclosure

[x_los]

Empty mountain: no man is seen,
But voices of men are heard.
Sun's reflection reaches into the woods
And shines upon the green moss.

- Wai-Lim Yip, 1972

Re: 13. Deer Enclosure

[x_los]

Mm yes the *singular* Natural Language we all have, sure

Re: 13. Deer Enclosure

[forestofglory]

Indeed.

Re: 13. Deer Enclosure

[superborb]

I kinda like "reaches into", but despite his poor phrasing of the crit, I agree with Weinberger that this isn't as pleasant sounding a poem.