The Works of Li Qingzhao, Ci Poems 3.17 - 3.24

[x_los]

The thrilling third instalment of Li Qingzhao’s ci poetry. This 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 3.17 through 3.24, inclusive.

Four 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)

This week, we look at Chapter 12 as recommended additional reading. 

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Comments

3.24

[x_los]

清平樂

年年雪里。
常插梅花醉。
挼盡梅花無好意。
贏得滿衣清淚。
今年海角天涯。
蕭蕭兩鬢生華。
看取晚來風勢
故應難看梅花。

To the Tune “Clear and Peaceful Music”

Year after year, in late snow
 I put plum blossoms in my hair and drink too much. Touching them only spoils them, bringing no pleasure.
4 All I get is a blouse full of tear stains!
This year, at the edge of the sea and end of the sky, the hair at my temples shows streaks of grey. Watching now as the evening winds arise,
8 it will be hard to look at plum blossoms anymore.

Re: 3.24

[x_los]

“edge of the sea and end of the sky” this is both a similar image to last time and reminiscent of her earlier remarks on the mist at this junction—why is someone with only a limited exposure to the ocean so forcefully aware of the ocean?

“Watching now as the evening winds arise, it will be hard to look at plum blossoms anymore.” What is she watching, and why in particular is this hard? How are the blossoms connected to her sadness at ageing?

Re: 3.24

[superborb]

Interesting that it's translated to 'touching' the flowers-- the original word is more like 'rub'. Modern connotation would pick 'crumple' as well, but the Baike gloss suggests rub is more accurate.

The sentence translated to "edge of the sea and end of the sky" is a set phrase meaning "the ends of the earth," but Baike says that it is referring to Lin'an, a city in Hangzhou. Hangzhou does border the ocean, but modern-day Lin'an does not.

"streaks of grey" is MUCH less poetic than the original "growing flower", which Baike says means flower hairs = white hairs.

Baike says the "evening winds" are a reference to the continued Jin army advance on the Southern Song. Similarly, though the plum blossoms are on the surface a reference to the hair ornament and [object of sorrow?], they have a symbolic meaning. The exegesis later specifies this meaning to be that the plum blossoms symbolize beautiful things, so the difficulty of looking at them indicates the misfortunes of the state; with the hardships endured, she doesn't have the leisurely mood to admire the plum blossoms.