The Works of Li Qingzhao, Ci Poems 3.9 - 3.16

[x_los]

This week we continue working with Li Qingzhao’s ci poetry. As usual, the book is freely available via De Gruyter's Library of Chinese Humanities in Mandarin and English and via several publication formats, including two open access options (the pdf appears to be better formatted than the ebook). We're reading the poems 3.9 through 3.16 inclusive.

Three of this week’s poems have endnotes, but these offer only small points of Chinese language exegesis. 

How to Read Chinese Poetry has three chapters on the ci forms Li Qingzhao uses here:

 

Chapter 12, Ci Poetry: Short Song Lyrics (Xiaoling) 

Chapter 13, Ci Poetry: Long Song Lyrics (Manci) 

Chapter 14, Ci Poetry: Long Song Lyrics on Objects (Yongwu Ci)

From next week, we’ll be looking at these as recommended reading.

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Comments

3.16

[x_los]

鷓鴣天

寒日蕭蕭上鎖窗。
梧桐應恨夜來霜。
酒闌更喜團茶苦
夢斷偏宜瑞腦香。

秋已盡
日猶長。
仲宣懷遠更淒涼。
不如隨分尊前醉 莫負東籬菊蕊黃。

To the tune “Partridge Sky”

The cold sun is bleak, climbing the lattice window. The paulownia tree must resent last night’s frost. After wine, the tea’s bitterness tastes even better;
my dream interrupted, the camphor incense smells just right.
Though autumn has ended,
the days are still long. 
Missing his homeland made Zhongxuan more dispirited.
Better to get tipsy beside the jug whenever you want,
 and not be untrue to yellow chrysanthemums along the eastern fence.

Re: 3.16

[x_los]

“The paulownia tree must resent last night’s frost.” ?

Huh, is her wine sweet, that the tea is comparatively bitter?

Re: 3.16

[superborb]

Baike suggests this is projection of human loneliness onto the trees losing their leaves.

Baike says that the tea is a hangover cure. But also I think the tea of that era was still quite bitter?

Re: 3.16

[superborb]

Baike glosses the camphor incense as ambergris.

Also, the tree seems to be the Chinese parasol tree, unsure where paulownia comes from? Baike has no gloss on that.

Re: 3.16

[douqi]

I think of 梧桐 (the parasol tree) as the sad tree in Chinese poetry basically. There's this poem, and then there's Li Yu's 寂寞梧桐深院锁清秋 (very roughly: held captive in the autumnal depths of the courtyard among the lonely parasol trees). Semantically, it almost has yew tree vibes (minus the rebirth part) for me.