Chinese poetry

[skylee]

Thanks, nnt. 林則徐's poem is great.

[markalexander100]

Thanks, skylee- something for me to think about.

Here's one by 樂甫：

今曉日兼雨

土芳當腳臟

故鄉隔天末

异客應爽心

[cometrue]

here is a lyric written by li3yu4

浪淘沙

帘外雨潺潺，春意阑珊。

罗衾不耐五更寒。

梦里不知身是客，一晌贪欢。

独自莫凭栏，无限江山，

别时容易见时难。

流水落花春去也，天上人间。

李煜（９３７－９７８），初名从嘉，字重光，号钟隐，南唐中主第六

子。徐州人。宋建隆二年（９６１年）在金陵即位，在位十五年，世称李后

主。他嗣位的时候，南唐已奉宋正朔，苟安于江南一隅。宋开宝七年（９７

４年），宋太祖屡次遣人诏其北上，均辞不去。同年十月，宋兵南下攻金陵

。明年十一月城破，后主肉袒出降，被俘到汴京，封违命侯。太宗即位，进

封陇西郡公。太平兴国三年（９７８）七夕是他四十二岁生日，宋太宗恨他

有“故国不堪回首月明中”之词，命人在宴会上下牵机药将他毒死。追封吴

王，葬洛阳邙山。

后主前期词作风格绮丽柔靡，还不脱“花间”习气。国亡后在“日夕只

以眼泪洗面”的软禁生涯中，以一首首泣尽以血的绝唱，使亡国之君成为千

古词坛的“南面王”（清沈雄《古今词话》语），正是“国家不幸诗家幸，

话到沧桑语始工”。这些后期词作，凄凉悲壮，意境深远，已为苏辛所谓的

“豪放”派打下了伏笔，为词史上承前启后的大宗师，如王国维《人间词话

》所言：“词至李后主而眼界始大，感慨遂深。”至于其语句的清丽，音韵

的和谐，更是空前绝后的了。

后主本有集，已失传。现存词四十四首，其中几首前期作品或为他人所

作，可以确定者仅三十八首。

　

[skylee]

These (plus the one quoted by cometrue) are probably the most famous of 李煜's poems, which I suppose describe how he sad he was after he had lost his country (封違命侯, poor guy) -

"虞美人"

春花秋月何時了，往事知多少。小樓昨夜又東風，故國不堪回首月明中。

雕欄玉砌應猶在，只是朱顏改。問君能有幾多愁，恰似一江春水向東流。

(This has been made into a song, sung by Teresa Tang.)

"相見歡"

無言獨上西樓，月如鉤。寂寞梧桐深院鎖清秋。

剪不斷，理還亂，是離愁。別是一般滋味在心頭。

But since he had spent his time writing sensual poems like these, probably he deserved it -

"菩薩蠻"

(1) 花明月黯籠輕霧，今霄好向郎邊去！衩襪步香階，手提金縷鞋。

畫堂南畔見，一向偎人顫。奴為出來難，教君恣意憐。

(2) 蓬萊院閉天台女，畫堂晝寢人無語。拋枕翠雲光，繡衣聞異香。

潛來珠鎖動，驚覺銀屏夢。臉慢笑盈盈，相看無限情。

(3) 銅簧韻脆鏘寒竹，新聲慢奏移纖玉。眼色暗相鉤，秋波橫欲流。

雨雲深繡戶，來便諧衷素。宴罷又成空，魂迷春夢中。

[cometrue]

and this one is famous too...

乌夜啼

林花谢了春红，

太匆匆，

无奈朝来寒雨晚来风。

胭脂泪，相留醉，

几时重。

自是人生长恨水长东。

封違命侯, poor guy

yeah, i do think that's a little funny, there were lots of funny official titles in ancient china

i would say, 封此侯，毋宁死！

[cometrue]

actually i d rather like 词 THAN 诗, because 词's rhythm is so beautiful and much more musical...how about 李清照的婉约派词？

醉花阴 李清照

薄雾浓云愁永昼，瑞脑消金兽。

佳节又重阳，玉枕纱厨，半夜凉初透。

东篱把酒黄昏后，有暗香盈袖。

莫道不消魂，帘卷西风，人比黄花瘦

声声慢 李清照

寻寻觅觅，

冷冷清清，

凄凄惨惨戚戚。

乍暖还寒时候，

最难将息。

三杯两盏淡酒，

怎敌他、晚来风急？

雁过也，

正伤心，

却是旧时相识。

满地黄花堆积。

憔悴损，

如今有谁堪摘？

守著窗儿，

独自怎生得黑？

梧桐更兼细雨，

到黄昏、点点滴滴。

这次第，

怎一个、愁字了得！

i also like 姜夔jiang1kui2's 扬州慢

扬州慢

淮左名都，竹西佳处，解鞍少驻初程。

过春风十里，尽荠麦青青。

自胡马窥江去后，废池乔木，犹厌言兵。

渐黄昏，清角吹寒，都在空城。

杜郎俊赏，算而今、重到须惊。

纵豆蔻词工，青楼梦好，难赋深情。

二十四桥仍在，波心荡、冷月无声。

念桥边红药，年年知为谁生。

[skylee]

April 4th this year is Qingming Jie (清明節), A public holiday in HK. As usual the traffic on the roads to cemetaries is heavy every weekend during early March and early April. For this day, there is this very famous Tang poem (strangely despite its popularity this is not one of the 300 Tang poems) -

清明 - 杜牧

清明時節雨紛紛 ﹐

路上行人欲斷魂 ﹒

借問酒家何處有 ﹖

牧童遙指杏花村 ﹒

清明節 is also known as 寒食節, although strictly speaking they are not the same. Here is more information on 清明節.

PS - Hey you can listen to a song on this poem here. Cute.

[39degN]

somebody changed that to

清明時節雨

紛紛路上行人

欲斷魂

借問酒家何處

有牧童遙指

杏花村

[skylee]

That has to do with the arrangement of punctuation marks. Like -

清明時節雨，紛紛路上行人，欲斷魂，

借問酒家何處？有牧童，遙指杏花村。

OR

〔時間〕清明時節。

〔布景〕雨紛紛。

〔地點〕路上。

〔人物〕行人（欲斷魂）：借問酒家何處有？

　　　　牧童（遙指）：杏花村。

[ananda]

The poem in "poem bible"(shi1 jing1)I like very much is:

“。。。。。。

昔我往矣

杨柳依依

今我来思

雨雪霏霏

行道迟迟

载渴载饥

我心伤悲

莫知我哀

。。。。。

"

It's described the mood of a soldier around the whole war

[mermaid_sea5]

terrific!!!

feel like thousand thoughts jumping in my mind,

poorly.. i can't catch any of it...

江城子

倦雨疲云不消寒

云烟里 画墨兰

伫临纱窗但觉风来晚

可怜海棠妆已残

不能语 倚阑干

泣烛素笺思悄然

欲落笔 何处谈

只恼窗外风雨声声缠

纵有千言亦难尽

风雨路 思茫茫　

still don't think anyother form of character would be able to translate the deepest imply meaning in Chinese Poetry~

[shimingchunjianzhong]

How to translate

洛阳亲友如相问

一片冰心在玉壶

Jade kettle? ice heart? Straight translasion is obviously not proper at all.

But how to make the translation matched with the meaning inside the poem?

[amperel]

anyone know 大珠小珠落玉盘? i think it's by 白 居 易 if i remember it right.

[skylee]

anyone know 大珠小珠落玉盘?

It is from 琵琶行. Check out this link for the whole poem and an English translation.

How to translate

洛阳亲友如相问

一片冰心在玉壶

Consider this English translation.

[ananda]

It is from 琵琶行. Check out this link for the whole poem and an English translation.

Quote:

How to translate

洛阳亲友如相问

一片冰心在玉壶

Consider this English translation.

I think there're many errors in that link.

寒雨連江夜入吳， 平明送客楚山孤。

洛陽親友如相問， 一片冰心在玉壺。

With this cold night-rain hiding the river, you have come into Wu.

In the level dawn, all alone, you will be starting for the mountains of Chu.

Answer, if they ask of me at Loyang:

"One- hearted as ice in a crystal vase."

I think it's not 'you come into Wu', it should be the rain.

Because the guest would leave, so even Mount. of Chu would feel lonely, in

fact, it's the poet who would feel lonely, it's an implicit way and often used

in Tang poems.

The last sentence's meaning is to describe that the poet still sticked to his

faith, which is pure as 'ice in a jade kettle'.

I don't think it's a good translation.

[amperel]

here is a more contemporary poem by 除志摩:

再别康桥

轻轻的我走了，

　　　正如我轻轻的来；

　　我轻轻的招手，

　　　作别西天的云彩。

　　那河畔的金柳

　　　是夕阳中的新娘

　　波光里的艳影，

　　　在我的心头荡漾。

　　软泥上的青荇，

　　　油油的在水底招摇；

　　在康河的柔波里，

　　　我甘心做一条水草

　　那树荫下的一潭，

　　　不是清泉，是天上虹

　　揉碎在浮藻间，

　　　沉淀着彩虹似的梦。

　　寻梦？撑一支长篙，

　　　向青草更青处漫溯，

　　满载一船星辉，

　　　在星辉斑斓里放歌

　　但我不能放歌，

　　　悄悄是别离的笙箫；

　　夏虫也为我沉默，

　　　沉默是今晚的康桥！

　　悄悄的我走了，

　　　正如我悄悄的来；

　　我挥一挥衣袖，

　　　不带走一片云彩。

this is his most famous poem and it's also set to a song - which can be found here.

康桥 means cambridge (university, of which 除志摩 is an alumni). u can see from the poem he is quite the romatic soul. even his name 志摩 sounds romantic.

[bhchao]

Did Li Bai really drown after trying to catch a reflection of the moon while being drunk? Supposedly he died at 马鞍山 falling from his boat on the Yangtze. I am not sure whether this is true.

[Ian_Lee]

In my opinion, Cao Cao's poem is splendid and more heroic/human/ humble than that of Mao's. Read this excerpt from the Romance of Three Kingdoms:

《三國演義》第四十八回《宴長江曹操賦詩 鎖戰船北軍用武》的描述，當時是「建安十三年冬十一月十五日，天氣晴朗，平風靜浪。操令﹕『置酒設樂於大船之上，吾今夕欲會諸將。』天色向晚，東山月上，皎皎如同白日。長江一帶，如橫素練……操見南屏山色如畫，東視柴桑之境，西觀夏口之江，南望樊山，北覷烏林，四顧空闊，心中歡喜……遙指南岸曰﹕『周瑜、魯肅﹕不識天時。』……又指夏口曰﹕『劉備、諸葛亮﹕汝不料螻蟻之力，欲撼泰山，何其愚耶﹗……吾今新構銅雀臺於漳水之上，如得江南，當娶二喬置之臺上，以娛暮年，吾願足矣。』」

　「曹操正談笑間，忽聞鴉聲望南飛鳴而去……時操已醉，乃取槊立於船頭上，以酒奠於江中，滿飲三爵，橫槊謂諸將曰﹕『我持此槊，破黃巾、擒呂布、滅袁紹。深入塞北，直抵遼東，縱橫天下，頗不負大丈夫之志也。今對此景，甚有慷慨。吾當作歌，汝等和之。』歌曰﹕『對酒當歌，人生幾何。譬如朝露，去日苦多。慨當以慷，憂思難忘。何以解憂，唯有杜康。青青子衿，悠悠我心。但為君故，沉吟至今。呦呦鹿鳴，食野之苹。我有嘉賓，鼓瑟吹笙……月明星稀，烏鵲南飛，遶樹三匝，無枝可依。山不厭高，水不厭深。周公吐哺，天下歸心。』」

[Dancer]

are there any poetry publications out there suitable for beginners?

those that compiled poems that are not too difficult to understand..perhaps?

[Xiao Yu]

Waah...my Chinese isn't good enough to enjoy all the great poetry you guys are putting up, and I can't contribute any...the only one I recognize is Li Bai's in the beginning.

Though actually, now that I think of it, I do really like one that's historically famous; my Dad told me the story behind it, though some parts are fuzzy to me. I think it's known as the "7 Step Poem," correct me if I'm wrong. It was spoken by the brother of a general/king(?); the guy wanted wanted to kill the brother in fear that he would steal his throne some day. So he basically said, that unless you give me reason not to kill you in 7 steps...off with the head And after 7 steps, he said the poem, which moved his brother so much that he spared his life. What a cool story! No way you could do that with English poetry, methinks

I know the pinyin for it...

"Ju3 dou4 ran2 dou4 qi2

Dou4 zai4 fu3 zhong1 qi4

Ben3 shi4 tong2 gen1 sheng1

Xiang1 jian1 he2 tai4 ji2?"

Ah...the last two lines are so touching

I did want to say that I think Chinese poetry is amazing in its place in history and society. Unlike English poetry, I think, it has a lot more respect. Famous poets are always known as fabulously talented, learned folk, and making up dui lian/poems have always been held in high esteem among all classes. I think the closest thing that I can think of in English would be rap-offs, like in 8 Mile, and they're usually full of crude rather than clever words.