![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drpanda99Happy lunar new year everyone! I have two poetry translations cross-posted from tumblr (thanks to dragongirlg for the idea). These were the poetry club poems related to the new year that we recently did! Readings are included as well.
己酉元旦
南宋・陆游
夜雨解残雪，朝阳开积阴。
桃符呵笔写，椒酒过花斟。
巷柳摇风早，街泥溅马深。
行宫放朝贺，共识慕尧心。
New Year's Day in the Fourty-Sixth Year
Southern Song poem by Lu You
The evening’s rain despoils the melting snow,
‘fore morning sun breaks through a clouded sky.
I sigh and write a peach charm with my brush,
as pepp’ry wine over the flowers flow.
An early wind shakes the willow-lined lane,
mud o’ the road splashes the horse flanks dark.
Inside the palace wait the court’s own gifts,
from common reverence for King Yao’s heart.
I used iambic pentameter for the first translation because the original poem doesn't rhyme, but is written in meter. I did this to preserve some of the original flow and feeling of the poem (bonus that each line is 5 characters which is like almost 10 right??) I was completely unable to format a table in the tumblr text editor, so here we are...
1. 行宫 or xinggong is the temporary imperial residence. (I'm not bothering with diacritics here because idk how to type them lol)
2. 深 or shen means deep (distance), dark (colour), or rich. This could mean the horses sink deeply into the mud as well, but I took it as splashing the horse's sides with mud.
3. 慕 or mu meaning to admire or to yearn for.
4. 尧 or Yao references Emperor Yao who lived from 2356 to 2355 BCE and was known for being benevolent and morally upright. He also supposedly invented weiqi or go. I don't know much Chinese history tbh, I looked this stuff up.
5. 心 or xin literally meaning heart. It also can mean one's character, one's morals, one's inner thoughts, etc. I translated this more literally, but I believe this references the goodness of the emperor and how just/kind he was.
I don't pretend to have the perfect translation notes or anything. These were some of the things that stood out to me.dragongirlg translated the same poem and she included much more detailed translation notes. Please check her work out too!
新年作
刘长卿 (唐代〕
乡心新岁切，天畔独潸然。
老至居人下，春归在客先。
岭猿同旦暮，江柳共风烟。
已似长沙傅，从今又几年。
A New Year’s Work
Tang poem by Liu Changqing
Home grows another year older,
Alone across the earth, I cry.
The old came before new dwellers,
The youth return before I fly.
Like mountain apes through dusks and dawns,
the willows splash from winds like tears.
My life transformed like Changsha’s pawn,
From today, another few years.
This poem was written with iambic tetrameter in mind, but I wasn't always able to do so. I actually wanted to use a ballad meter, hence the rhyming. Didn't quite work out, but ah well! I did lose more in the translation by keeping to my meter than I would usually like, so that was the main downside. It was a fun attempt, however!
1. 心 or xin meaning heart. Rather ambiguous meaning here; I took this to mean the poet's heart is in his hometown, whether that's a lover, family, or his affection for his home.
2.岁 or sui meaning years but in a "I'm x-years-old" way.
3. 老 or lao meaning old. Ambiguous as to who this means, but given the rest of the poem, I took it to be the poet calling himself the old one or someone who has grown old in the place he works (away from home).
4. 居人 or ju ren literally meaning inhabitants. Baike told me that, in this case, it's likely a reference to the newer officials who have been sent to where the speaker is working. So they are the newer inhabitants, but they are specifically the people sent to do a similar job as the speaker.
5. 下 or xia meaning down. This was meant to mean the speaker is considered below the newer officials despite having been there longer and being older.
6. 客 or ke meaning guest. Baike again tells me that this is the speaker referring to himself (since he considers himself a guest where he is living). Also, I was quite happy with how I was able to mirror the structure of this line and the last!
7. Ok, this line was the one I was most unhappy about given how much was lost. I took the meaning to be "the wind blows mist/fog (like smoke) through the willows over the river" but there was no way to convey this in my meter. I tried to get the meaning across as well as I could while missing out on some of the imagery. Ah well.
8. 长沙傅 or changsha fu meaning the official from Changsha. This is referencing Jia Yi (200 – 169 BCE) who was a poet and statesman exiled/demoted because of false slander going around. He was exiled from his home and sent to be a statesman in Changsha. He was eventually un-exiled by the emperor in 172 BCE. The poet is comparing his situation to Jia Yi's in this line.
dragongirlg for the idea). These were the poetry club poems related to the new year that we recently did! Readings are included as well.己酉元旦
南宋・陆游
夜雨解残雪，朝阳开积阴。
桃符呵笔写，椒酒过花斟。
巷柳摇风早，街泥溅马深。
行宫放朝贺，共识慕尧心。
New Year's Day in the Fourty-Sixth Year
Southern Song poem by Lu You
The evening’s rain despoils the melting snow,
‘fore morning sun breaks through a clouded sky.
I sigh and write a peach charm with my brush,
as pepp’ry wine over the flowers flow.
An early wind shakes the willow-lined lane,
mud o’ the road splashes the horse flanks dark.
Inside the palace wait the court’s own gifts,
from common reverence for King Yao’s heart.
I used iambic pentameter for the first translation because the original poem doesn't rhyme, but is written in meter. I did this to preserve some of the original flow and feeling of the poem (bonus that each line is 5 characters which is like almost 10 right??) I was completely unable to format a table in the tumblr text editor, so here we are...
1. 行宫 or xinggong is the temporary imperial residence. (I'm not bothering with diacritics here because idk how to type them lol)
2. 深 or shen means deep (distance), dark (colour), or rich. This could mean the horses sink deeply into the mud as well, but I took it as splashing the horse's sides with mud.
3. 慕 or mu meaning to admire or to yearn for.
4. 尧 or Yao references Emperor Yao who lived from 2356 to 2355 BCE and was known for being benevolent and morally upright. He also supposedly invented weiqi or go. I don't know much Chinese history tbh, I looked this stuff up.
5. 心 or xin literally meaning heart. It also can mean one's character, one's morals, one's inner thoughts, etc. I translated this more literally, but I believe this references the goodness of the emperor and how just/kind he was.
I don't pretend to have the perfect translation notes or anything. These were some of the things that stood out to me.
dragongirlg translated the same poem and she included much more detailed translation notes. Please check her work out too!新年作
刘长卿 (唐代〕
乡心新岁切，天畔独潸然。
老至居人下，春归在客先。
岭猿同旦暮，江柳共风烟。
已似长沙傅，从今又几年。
A New Year’s Work
Tang poem by Liu Changqing
Home grows another year older,
Alone across the earth, I cry.
The old came before new dwellers,
The youth return before I fly.
Like mountain apes through dusks and dawns,
the willows splash from winds like tears.
My life transformed like Changsha’s pawn,
From today, another few years.
This poem was written with iambic tetrameter in mind, but I wasn't always able to do so. I actually wanted to use a ballad meter, hence the rhyming. Didn't quite work out, but ah well! I did lose more in the translation by keeping to my meter than I would usually like, so that was the main downside. It was a fun attempt, however!
1. 心 or xin meaning heart. Rather ambiguous meaning here; I took this to mean the poet's heart is in his hometown, whether that's a lover, family, or his affection for his home.
2.岁 or sui meaning years but in a "I'm x-years-old" way.
3. 老 or lao meaning old. Ambiguous as to who this means, but given the rest of the poem, I took it to be the poet calling himself the old one or someone who has grown old in the place he works (away from home).
4. 居人 or ju ren literally meaning inhabitants. Baike told me that, in this case, it's likely a reference to the newer officials who have been sent to where the speaker is working. So they are the newer inhabitants, but they are specifically the people sent to do a similar job as the speaker.
5. 下 or xia meaning down. This was meant to mean the speaker is considered below the newer officials despite having been there longer and being older.
6. 客 or ke meaning guest. Baike again tells me that this is the speaker referring to himself (since he considers himself a guest where he is living). Also, I was quite happy with how I was able to mirror the structure of this line and the last!
7. Ok, this line was the one I was most unhappy about given how much was lost. I took the meaning to be "the wind blows mist/fog (like smoke) through the willows over the river" but there was no way to convey this in my meter. I tried to get the meaning across as well as I could while missing out on some of the imagery. Ah well.
8. 长沙傅 or changsha fu meaning the official from Changsha. This is referencing Jia Yi (200 – 169 BCE) who was a poet and statesman exiled/demoted because of false slander going around. He was exiled from his home and sent to be a statesman in Changsha. He was eventually un-exiled by the emperor in 172 BCE. The poet is comparing his situation to Jia Yi's in this line.
no subject
Date: 2023-02-10 07:31 pm (UTC)I wanted to say that I love both of your translations! My favorite of the two was “己酉元旦,” and the iambic pentameter helps it flow really well. I think my favorite part is the lines “I sigh and write a peach charm with my brush, / as pepp’ry wine over the flowers flow.” For the second poem, I think you also did a great job, especially since there is so much ambiguity as you explain in your notes. My favorite part for this second poem is actually the lines “Like mountain apes through dusks and dawns, / the willows splash from winds like tears,” and I think you did manage to capture the imagery really effectively.
Finally, the charts for both poems were so neat, and your translation notes are super helpful!!! ♥♥♥
no subject
Date: 2023-02-12 06:35 am (UTC)I'm so glad you enjoyed the charts! They are basically a copy of what I handwrite when I go through the poems the first time, minus the pinyin hahaha. My translation is far from perfect, but I've been learning so much while going through these. I appreciate you taking the time to read them and I'm so glad you liked some of the word choices! =D