#古诗

[maggiecheungs]

spring-spun thoughts by li bai

(my translation; original and notes under the cut)

for you, the jade silk grasses of yan province

for me, the mulberries of qin with their drooping green bows

dear sir, in all your dreams of homecoming

do you spare any thought for your heartsick love?

i’m troubled by the spring breeze (no acquaintance of mine!)

that slips, unbidden, within my silk-gauze screens

春思（李白）

燕草如碧絲 秦桑低綠枝 當君懷歸日 是妾斷腸時 春風不相識 何事入羅幃

notes on the translation:

this translation is a little looser/more daring than other poems i've tried my hand at before... i'm not usually brave enough to strongly push my own interpretation in my translation, but i did this time because 1) it's a li bai poem so there are already countless other more traditional english translations available and 2) if you can't make fun, slightly risqué interpretations/translations of li bai, then who else is there?

the context: it is spring! a gentleman has gone to yan province (in the army) while his lover is left alone in qin. sad!

the title: 春思 is usually just translated as 'spring thoughts', but i wanted to somehow capture the parallel between the homonyms 思 (sī, 'thoughts', 'yearning') and 絲 (sī, 'silk') that's in the original. i don't know how well it carries over, but i tried to make that connection between 'spring-spun thoughts (of an absent lover)' and the jade silk grasses of yan. i also wanted to preserve the sense of causality (which is an important part of the chinese poetic tradition but not necessarily evident to the english language reader): the specific brand of yearning that she’s feeling right now is specifically caused by her sorrow that he’s not there to enjoy the spring with her

the poem: translators seem to favour reading this as a fairly typical poem of yearning, but when i read it i felt there was a slightly... arch edge to the speaker's voice? it's very possible to read it as a straight lament at their distance, but i feel like you can also imbue it with a slightly sarcastic or accusatory tone, so i wanted to let both interpretations remain open in my version. hence my translation of the second couplet in second person, to give it a slightly more confrontational edge than a simple neutral statement of fact.

the final couplet was tricky, because it seems like such a non-sequitur. i made two possible interpretations: 1) that the spring wind in her bedchamber is just another reminder of her lover's absence from her side; or alternatively, and slightly more daringly, 2) that she's obliquely warning her lover that he's left her open and unprotected, and that she's been receiving unwelcome attentions from other men while he's gone (depending on whether you read the poem as sincere or snarky, this could be a genuine warning... or a mischievous, innuendo-laden hint that he should get his arse in gear and come back home to stop her running off with someone else. i think this last interpretation is a bit out-there, but i'm quite fond of it—and also, i'm pretty sure i read somewhere that 春風 (spring wind) is a euphemism for sex, which would lend credence to my theory...). it also strikes me that my slightly irreverent reading lends itself to a third possible interpretation of the final couplet: she’s coyly warning him that if he’s gone too long, she won’t recognise him when he returns to her bed lmao. but idk! i might be reading too much into it. or maybe not! the possibilities are endless

[joyfulcollectionarcade]

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[noisywizarddestiny]

約 約 約

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[sassybeartraveler]

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[jovialfoxbouquet]

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世界一体化，竞争性价比。 服务分对象，地区有特产。

The world is integrated and competition is cost-effective. Services are divided into objects, and regions have specialties.

[91sedu]

残门锈锁久不开，灰砖小径覆干苔。 无名枯草侵满院，一股心酸入喉来。 忽忆当年高堂在，也曾灶头热锅台。 恍觉如今形影只，家中无人诉情怀。

[maggiecheungs]

Sending off Xin Jian at Furong Tower by Wang Changling

(my translation; original and my notes under the cut)

Cold rains flood the river as night comes to Wu;

We part ways at dawn in the mountains of Chu

Tell my kin in Luoyang—should inquiries be made—

Of my heart, pure as ice, in its cradle of jade

...

王昌龄 《芙蓉楼送辛渐》

寒 雨 连 江 夜 入 吴 ，

平 明 送 客 楚 山 孤 。

洛 阳 亲 友 如 相 问 ，

一 片 冰 心 在 玉 壶。

notes:

this poem is written in regluated verse rather than ancient style verse (meaning it has a fixed rhyme scheme and tonal pattern) so i decided to translate it with rhyme and metre to try and preserve the musicality of the original

the first line might also be translated as "the night you came to wu" but that didn't fit with my metre, so i went with the version you see above

"part ways" is my translation of 送, which is difficult to translate concisely as we don't really have an english equivalent (送 means to accompany someone for the first stretch of their journey when they leave). basically, the context of the poem is: his friend xin jian is returning to the capital city of luoyang, where the poet's family lives, but he's an official and needs to stay alone in wu, so he can only accompany him as far as the chu mountains before sending xin jian off alone while he remains behind.

"cradle of jade": okay, so this is a metaphor for a person who is honest and uncorrupt. the word actually used here is 壺, which refers to a sort of wine jar, and at one point had ceremonial or even ritualistic connotations. i toyed with translating it as 'vessel' (partly because i loved the double interpretation of drinking vessel versus sailing vessel, which i thought meshed nicely with the river imagery at the beginning and the general theme of travel). ultimately, however, i opted for 'cradle of jade', largely because the internal rhyme is so lovely and sort of replicates the assonance of the original line. but i also wanted the positive connotations of 'cradle' to soften the image of the 'icy' heart—having a heart like ice is generally a negative descriptor in english, but the imagery of the final line is so striking and pivotal that i didn't want to alter it, so i tried to offset it instead. might change it again later! idk!

[lighterr]

人发怒，是为什么呢？

在中国历史中人发怒的例子 鲁迅骂人事件 这可是近代最著名的发怒事件之一。1927年,鲁迅在一次演讲后遭到围攻。他一怒之下写了《骂》这篇文章,里面的措辞可谓犀利至极。什么”杂种”、”流氓”、”无赖”之类的词儿,那是张口就来。这篇文章可以说是把骂人上升到了文学的高度! 陆游的《示儿》 南宋诗人陆游晚年写的这首诗,字里行间都透着对金国的愤怒。”王师北定中原日,家祭无忘告乃翁“这句话,简直就是把怒火传给了下一代。这哪是在教育儿子啊,分明是在点燃民族复仇的火种! 张飞骂夏侯惇 长坂坡之战张飞骂:”癞头鼋,你敢来吗?”这骂人时用的字，和张飞大砍刀的功夫一样,绝对一流! 文天祥的《正气歌》…

[foggylandcreation]

約砲

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[noisywizarddestiny]

WhatsApp 60-11 6098 3325

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[wd18]

25 古诗兩音。

[tenacioustalerebel]

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