24 replies to this topic

[Yun]

We have translated two poems from Li Yu's early phase (961-975), when he was still the emperor of Southern Tang. One was an erotic piece, and the other a sadder one said to be expressing longing for his brother who was away on a diplomatic mission to the Song court. This week we will read and translate a poem from Li Yu's brief but more famous late phase (975-978). In 975, he surrendered to the invading Song army and was taken into captivity in Kaifeng, where he spent the next few years in anguished nostalgia for his former life of freedom and ease. Several of the poems that he wrote at this time to express his sorrows are regarded as masterpieces of ci literature, and this week's poem is one of them. It is said that eventually, one of the poems led the Song emperor to see Li Yu's resentment as a threat, and he forced Li Yu to commit suicide by drinking poisoned wine in 978.

浪淘沙令 (李煜)

簾外雨潺潺，
春意闌珊。
羅衾不耐五更寒。
夢裡不知身是客，
一晌貪歡。

獨自莫憑欄，
無限江山，
別時容易見時難。
流水落花春去也，
天上人間。

Simplified script:
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。

[Yun]

An added treat:


Wu Zhiqing, a Taiwanese lady who worked as a news reader in Singapore in the early 1980s, is here singing the poem in the classical style and supposedly according to its original score.

More biographical info on Wu Zhiqing, in Chinese:

吳至青 Chih-Ching Wu, Ph.D.
祖籍廣東恩平、生於台灣高雄，畢業於台北市金華女中、北一女中、政大新聞系，曾任《大華晚報》記者、《仕女雜誌》編輯，八○年代受聘於新加坡廣播電視台任職新聞主播，兩年後轉赴美國求學，先後就讀紐約市立大學亨特學院(Hunter College, CUNY)碩士班，及私立紐約大學(NYU)博士班，主修語言病理學。目前在紐約的私人診所執業。

除了專業語言治療之外，吳至青博士也是專業療癒師。在台灣的培訓己進行八年，近三年也為「香港大學行為健康教研中心」提供療癒培訓課程。她與賽博士結褵二十二年，育有一雙兒女賽明寰和賽宗寰。

http://www.cite.com....authors_id=9829

[Yun]

BTW, does anyone remember the term 闌珊 from poem translation #2? We see it here again!

[Tang Scholar]

We have translated two poems from Li Yu's early phase (961-975), when he was still the emperor of Southern Tang. One was an erotic piece, and the other a sadder one said to be expressing longing for his brother who was away on a diplomatic mission to the Song court. This week we will read and translate a poem from Li Yu's brief but more famous late phase (975-978). In 975, he surrendered to the invading Song army and was taken into captivity in Kaifeng, where he spent the next few years in anguished nostalgia for his former life of freedom and ease. Several of the poems that he wrote at this time to express his sorrows are regarded as masterpieces of ci literature, and this week's poem is one of them. It is said that eventually, one of the poems led the Song emperor to see Li Yu's resentment as a threat, and he forced Li Yu to commit suicide by drinking poisoned wine in 978.

浪淘沙令 (李煜)

簾外雨潺潺，
春意闌珊。
羅衾不耐五更寒。
夢裡不知身是客，
一晌貪歡。

獨自莫憑欄，
無限江山，
別時容易見時難。
流水落花春去也，
天上人間。

Simplified script:
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。

The Pinyin:

làng táo shā lìng ( Lǐ Yù )


lián wài yǔ chán chán ，

chūn yì lán shān 。

luó qīn bù nài wǔ gēng hán 。

mèng lǐ bùzhī shēn shì kè ，

yī shǎng tān huān 。

dúzì mò pínglán ，

wúxiàn jiāngshān ，

bié shí róngyì jiàn shí nán 。

liúshuǐ luòhuā chūn qù yě ，

tiānshàng rénjiān 。

[Yizheng]

I really like this poem. I didn't know about Li Yu's life. I was just reading about Song Huizong and his fate, and imagining what it must have been like to have the memories of splendid Kaifeng as he made his way north in captive despair, and this poem coincided with my thoughts.

Here is my translation.

簾外雨潺潺，
春意闌珊。
羅衾不耐五更寒。
夢裡不知身是客，
一晌貪歡。

Beyond the curtain, soft sound of rain,
Quiet murmur of spring on the wane.
Fine-spun quilt too thin,
For the cold of the fifth hour, dawn creeping in.
In dreams my exile erased,
Brief moment of sweet joyful taste.

獨自莫憑欄，
無限江山，
別時容易見時難。
流水落花春去也，
天上人間。

Do not lean against the railings all alone,
Mountains, rivers, endless stretch beyond,
So easy once to bid it farewell,
So hard now when only memories swell.
Like the water flows on and the flowers die,
Spring too leaves our midst, deserts the sky.

[Yun]

Nice one, Yizheng! We had the same idea for rhyming the first two lines

簾外雨潺潺，
春意闌珊。
羅衾不耐五更寒。
夢裡不知身是客，
一晌貪歡。

Beyond the curtain, the murmuring rain
Tells me that spring is on the wane;
I wake, my quilt of silk too thin
Against the bitter cold at night.
I'd dreamt that I was back at home
And briefly indulged in lost delight.

獨自莫憑欄，
無限江山，
別時容易見時難。
流水落花春去也，
天上人間。

Alone, I shrink from the balcony rail,
Lest I glimpse the boundless land of my birth.
Easy it seemed then to leave it behind -
Now out of sight, but never out of mind.
The flowers fall; spring is gone, like a river flowing east,
And I, once up in heaven, am left down here on earth.

[Yun]

Yizheng, it's been some time since you chose a poem for us. Would you like to choose the next one?

[manjuniyalma]

浪淘沙令 (李煜)
A Short Lyric to the Tune of Waves Washing the Sand
by Li Yu

帘外雨潺潺，
Outside the curtain, the rain is babbling
春意阑珊。
Spring waning
罗衾不耐五更寒。
The silk quilt is too thin for the chill before dawn
梦里不知身是客，
In my dream, I was oblivious of being a nonnative
一晌贪欢。
For the whole morning, I had been fond of joy

独自莫凭栏，
When you are alone, do not lean on a railing and gaze
无限江山，
For those endless rivers and mountains
别时容易见时难。
Are easy to leave yet hard to see again
流水落花春去也，
Along with flowing water and falling flowers, gone is the spring
天上人间。
As though I have fallen from heaven to the mortal world

Edited by manjuniyalma, 07 February 2009 - 02:29 AM.

[Yizheng]

Ok, I'll see what I can find.
Yes, the falling rain and image of spring on the wane seemed to beg for the lines to rhyme. I started off not rhyming it, but then went back and changed it because it seemed to have a certain melody that fitted better.
By the way, nice to have that link to the poem being sung. There seem so many poems that are written to this or that tune, was it the usual thing to sing the poems rather than speak them?

[Yun]

There seem so many poems that are written to this or that tune, was it the usual thing to sing the poems rather than speak them?

The ci genre, to which most of Li Yu's poems belong (as well as most of those of Xin Qiji and Su Shi), specifically involved writing new lyrics to pre-existing tunes. This genre emerged in late Tang and took off in the Song period. It freed poets from the constraints of having to use the same number of words in each line, while still providing the challenge of having to follow the rhythm of the tune.

One line I found interesting to discuss is 羅衾不耐五更寒. There are two ways to read it, since in the Chinese system of dividing time, there are a total of five geng 更 in every night:
1) 五更寒 means the cold throughout the whole night
2) 五更寒 means the cold during the fifth geng of the night, i.e. the period just before dawn

I opted for the first reading, while Yizheng and Manjuniyalma opted for the second.

[Yizheng]

One line I found interesting to discuss is 羅衾不耐五更寒. There are two ways to read it, since in the Chinese system of dividing time, there are a total of five geng 更 in every night:
1) 五更寒 means the cold throughout the whole night
2) 五更寒 means the cold during the fifth geng of the night, i.e. the period just before dawn

I opted for the first reading, while Yizheng and Manjuniyalma opted for the second.

Yes, I see what you mean of there being two ways to read it. I didnt really think about it, I saw it as the night having come to the fifth geng, the one just before dawn, and it seemed fitting because often the night does seem to suddenly grow colder in those final moments, and it also a time when dreams come (for me it is this way, anyway). I pictured him with the night drawing to a close too, the discomfort of cold seizing him as the dawn approaches, but at the same time this fleeting moment of his dream that steals him into brief happiness, from which he will wake shivering with another unhappy day soon to rise.

[Seclusive]

I try translating the poem to express the poet Li Yu's thoughts.
Please feel free to give your opinions on the translation.
Thanks in advance.

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

浪淘沙令
Short lyrics of "remaining sand from waves"

李煜
by Li Yu (937-978, Southern Tang in southern China)

簾外雨潺潺
春意闌珊
羅衾不耐五更寒
夢裏不知身是客
一晌貪歡
Rain mourning for
Spring flowers fade,
Awaken cold at dawn
From a sweet dream,
I know it's all gone.

獨自莫憑欄
無限江山
別時容易見時難
流水落花春去也
天上人間
Don't view alone
The familiar scenes
Too easy to disappear,
As if petals on streams
Sleep into another dream.

Edited by Seclusive, 26 February 2009 - 03:28 AM.

[Tang Scholar]

Seclusive,
I am so glad to see you here.
I like the compactness of your translation. It becomes so effective, poetically.
I hope you will keep on participating frequently in our weekly poetry workshop.

[Seclusive]

Seclusive,
I am so glad to see you here.
I like the compactness of your translation. It becomes so effective, poetically.
I hope you will keep on participating frequently in our weekly poetry workshop.

Thank you.

I like the poetry garden.

[Seclusive]

The Pinyin:

làng táo shā lìng ( Lǐ Yù )


lián wài yǔ chán chán ，

chūn yì lán shān 。

luó qīn bù nài wǔ gēng hán 。

mèng lǐ bùzhī shēn shì kè ，

yī shǎng tān huān 。

dúzì mò pínglán ，

wúxiàn jiāngshān ，

bié shí róngyì jiàn shí nán 。

liúshuǐ luòhuā chūn qù yě ，

tiānshàng rénjiān 。

羅　衾　不　耐　五　更　寒
luó qīn bù nài wǔ gēng hán

I think "不" above should read in a tune between "bú" and "bǔ" to keep in harmony with "nài 耐".

Edited by Seclusive, 27 February 2009 - 12:50 AM.