Chinese Poems Part 1

Chinese Poems.

by Various.

PREFACE

_The initiative of this little book was accidental. One day in the early part of last summer, feeling weary of translating commercial doc.u.ments, I opened a volume of Chinese poetry that was lying on my desk and listlessly turned over the pages. As I was doing so my eye caught sight of the phrase, 'Red rain of peach flowers fell.' That would be refreshing, I said to myself, on such a day as this; and then I went on with my work again. But in the evening I returned to the book of Chinese poetry and made a free translation of the poem in which I had seen the metaphor quoted above. The translation seemed to me and some friends pleasantly readable; so in leisure hours I have translated some more poems and ballads, and these I now venture to publish in this volume, thinking that they may interest readers in other lands, and also call forth criticism that will be useful in preparing a larger volume which I, or some better qualified scholar, may publish hereafter; for it can hardly be said that the field of Chinese poetry has been widely explored by foreign students of the Chinese language._

_Many of the translations in this book are nearly literal, excepting adaptations to meet the exigencies of rhyme and rhythm; but some are expanded to enable readers to understand what is implied, as well as actually written, in the original; for, after all, the chief aim of the translator of poetry should be to create around the mind of the reader the sensory atmosphere in which the mind of the poet moved when he wrote the poem. Whether I have attained a measure of success in such a very difficult task must be decided by the readers of these translations._

_It should be borne in mind by students more or less familiar with the Chinese language that there are many versions of the stories and legends related in these poems, and these versions, again, have been variously interpreted by Chinese poets. A little reflection of this kind will often save a critic from stumbling into difficulties from which it is not easy to extricate himself._

_A few notes are given at the end of each poem to explain historical names, &c., but not many other notes are required as the poems explain themselves. Indeed, the truth of the saying, 'One touch of nature makes the whole world kin,' has been impressed on my mind deeply by this little excursion into the field of Chinese poetry, for the thoughts and words of such poems as the 'Journey Back,' 'A Maiden's Reverie,' 'Only a Fragrant Spray,' 'The Lady Lo-Fu, 'Conscripts leaving for the Frontier,'

'The River by Night in Spring,' 'Reflections on the Brevity of Life,'

'The Innkeeper's Wife,' 'A Soldier's Farewell to his Wife,' &c., show us that human nature two or three thousand years ago differed not a whit from human nature as it is to-day._

_CHARLES BUDD._

_Tung Wen Kwan Translation Office,_ _Shanghai, March, 1912._

A FEW REMARKS ON THE HISTORY AND CONSTRUCTION OF CHINESE POETRY

The earliest Chinese poems which have been preserved and handed down to posterity are contained in the 'Shi-King', or Book of Poetry.

Translations of this book were first made by Roman Catholic missionaries, and later by Dr. Legge whose translation, being in English, is better known.

The Shi-King contains three hundred odd poetical compositions, or odes, as they might more correctly be described, most of them being set to music and sung on official and public occasions.

But many more odes than those in the Shi-King existed at the dawn of Chinese literature. Some native scholars think that several thousand odes were composed by princes, chiefs, and other men of the numerous petty States which were included in Ancient China; and that criticism and rejection by later literary compilers, especially Confucius, reduced the number deemed worthy of approval to 305, which make up the Shi-King.

It is, however, quite impossible to say how many odes were composed in that early period; many more than those preserved in the Shi-King undoubtedly were made, and we can only regret that, when later scholars began to collect and criticize these earliest poetical effusions of their ancestors, political and other motives induced them to prune or lop off whole branches of the nascent tree of poetry with such unsparing hands. Fragments of a few early odes not contained in the Shi-King remain, but such fragments are not numerous.

As to the value of these early odes critics differ widely. By some Western writers they have been compared favourably with the Psalms, the Homeric poems, &c., while other writers think that they do not rise above the most primitive simplicity. Some of the odes are undoubtedly of considerable poetical value; and all critics must acknowledge that the Shi-King contains a great deal of valuable information respecting the States of Ancient China, and the people who inhabited them in the earliest stages of their existence.

It has been necessary to give this brief account of the Shi-King because it has loomed so largely in the eyes of students of Chinese literature as to exclude from their vision the vast field of Chinese poetry in which hundreds of famous Chinese poets have, at different periods, wandered, and mused, and sung, for two or three thousand years, and their wanderings are described and their musings sung in thousands of poems which are unknown to foreign students of Chinese literature. They have heard of the Shi-King, a few even have read it; but of the great poets of China, who have in a long succession appeared and done immortal work and pa.s.sed away during nearly three thousand years, they know but little or nothing at all. My object in publishing this little book is to correct this false perspective, not by a.s.sailing the Shi-King, but by bringing into view a few of the poets and a few of their poems (which can only be very inadequately set forth in translations by a writer who is not a poet), and thus make a beginning in an undertaking that will be, I hope, continued and perfected by men who have more leisure and greater poetical skill and inspiration than I possess.

After the compilation of the 300 odes by Confucius, there was a period of about one hundred years during which but little attention was given to the making of poetry. The earliest poetical compositions handed down after those preserved in the Shi-King are the 'Li-Sao' by Kuh-Yuen, of the Tsu State, 280 B.C., several poems by Su-Wu and Li-ling, and nineteen poems by unknown writers. All these were composed during the Han Dynasty or earlier, and they are regarded as poetical compositions of great worth by native scholars, although they do not conform to the rules which have guided Chinese poets in writing poetry since the T'ang Dynasty. Indeed, one commentator has described their perfection as 'the seamless robe of heaven', i.e. the dome of heaven--the sky. These early poetical compositions are marked by greater simplicity of language, deeper feeling, and more naturalness than the poetry of later dynasties, which is often cramped by the highly elaborate technique introduced by the poets of the T'ang Dynasty.

'The Journey Back,' 'Only a Fragrant Spray,' 'The Swallow's Song,' 'The Innkeeper's Wife,' 'A Song of Tze-Yuh,' 'A Maiden's Reverie,' 'Su Wu's Farewell to his Wife,' 'Reflections on the Brevity of Life,' are specimens of this period.

During the later Han Dynasty, especially in the reign of Kien-An (A.D.

196), and in the reign of Hw.a.n.g-T'su (A.D. 220) of the Wei Dynasty, several poets of conspicuous ability arose, and their compositions compare favourably with the three hundred odes and the ancient poems following the odes.

From the Wei Dynasty to the T'sin Dynasty, and on through the 'Luh-Chao'

(Six Dynasties--the Wu, Tsing, Sung, T'si, Liang, and Chen, covering the period from A.D. 220 to 587), one poet after another gained an ascendancy and each found many imitators; but the poetry of this period is more elaborate and florid than deep and natural.

From the Chen Dynasty (A.D. 557-587) to the end of the Sui Dynasty (A.D.

589-618) there was but little good poetry produced: it was, in fact, a time of literary decadence which continued even into the beginning of the T'ang Dynasty. Then a change took place, and great poets arose who formed the T'ang School of Poetry, and the poetical technique of that school has been more or less closely copied by all writers of poetry to this day; and during the most flourishing years of the T'ang Dynasty the production of poetry was so rich and abundant that that period is regarded by the Chinese as the Golden Age of Poetry.

One native commentator has likened the development of poetry to a tree: 'The three hundred odes of the Shi-King may be regarded as the root: the poems of Su-Wu and Li-ling as the first sprout from the root, and those of the Kien-An period as the increasing growth of the sprout into a stem, while the poems of the Six Dynasties are the first branches and leaves; then in the T'ang Dynasty the branches and leaves became more and more abundant, and flowers and fruit appeared crowning the n.o.ble tree of perfect poetry.' He then goes on to say: 'Students of poetry should carefully study the matter, and form, and style of the poetry of this period, as they show the source and development, the root and the full-grown flourishing tree of poetry. The root must not be lost sight of in the profusion of branches and leaves, that is, students must not read the poems of the T'ang period and neglect those of ancient times; both must be studied together in order to understand the poetry of the later periods.'

Another native critic writes: 'The poets of the T'ang Dynasty developed a style of their own in poetry different from those that preceded it.'

The leading poets of the T'ang period had ability to seize all that was best in ancient poetry and embody it in a style of their own which is a natural development and not a slavish imitation.

The most prominent among the men of genius who effected this great change were Chen Tze-ang, Chang Kiu-ling, Li-Peh, Wei Ying-wuh, Liu Tsong-Yuen, Tu-Fu, Han-Yu, Tsen-T'san, w.a.n.g-Wei, w.a.n.g-Han, Li-Kiao and Chang-Shoh; and of these Li-Peh is regarded by all Chinese as a heaven-born genius--'an Immortal banished to earth,' while Tu Fu is the scholarly poet, deeply versed in all branches of Chinese literature, which gives depth, and breadth, and style, and infinite variety to his poetical compositions, which, however, though very numerous, form but a part of his contributions to the literature of his country.

The glory of the T'ang poetry dimmed somewhat towards the end of the dynasty; but during the Song Dynasty (A.D. 960-1278), which followed the brief epoch of the Five Dynasties (A.D. 907-960), Eo Yang Siu, w.a.n.g-An-shih, Hw.a.n.g Ting-kien, Ch'ao Pu-chi, Luh-Yu, and other poets added fresh l.u.s.tre to the glory of Chinese literature by producing many poetical compositions which could not be omitted from a large anthology containing all the best Chinese poems; but in this small book s.p.a.ce for two or three only can be found.

It should be remembered that the great poets of the T'ang and later dynasties did not always follow the new poetical technique of the T'ang Dynasty. Many of their best poems are written in the ancient style; and I have written 'ancient style' against a few of such poems among the translations, but not against all of them.

An introduction to Chinese poetry, reviewing extensively its rise and progress, the style of each period, and the characteristics of the work of each poet, would fill a large volume--several volumes indeed would hardly suffice for an exhaustive review of such a vast field of work.

But the very brief review contained in the preceding pages will enable readers to see that the three hundred odes are by no means the whole of Chinese poetry; they are, indeed, only the beginning--the source of a great river whose countless branches, some deep and pure, others shallow and sparkling, have flowed down the ages, fertilizing and beautifying every period of Chinese life and thought, and producing a vast reservoir of poetry which has inspired many in every generation with higher sentiments of nature, country, love, friendship, and literature.

As this book of translations is chiefly intended for readers who do not understand the Chinese language, no attempt has been made to insert the Chinese characters for the names, &c., printed in the Romanized form; but, following the advice of friends who are well versed in Chinese themselves, I hope, hereafter, to publish a small volume containing the Chinese text of the translated poems only, with a few notes which may be useful to beginners. To reprint the Chinese text and notes with the English translations in one volume would add considerably to the cost of the book, while only a comparatively small number of readers--students of the Chinese language--would find the Chinese text and notes useful.

THE TECHNIQUE OF CHINESE POETRY

Form of 7-character Luh poem beginning in the Ping tone:

A. Ping ping tseh tseh tseh ping ping Tseh tseh ping ping tseh tseh ping Tseh tseh ping ping ping tseh tseh Ping ping tseh tseh tseh ping ping Ping ping tseh tseh ping ping tseh Tseh tseh ping ping tseh tseh ping Tseh tseh ping ping ping tseh tseh Ping ping tseh tseh tseh ping ping.

Form of 7-character Luh poem beginning in the Tseh tone:

B. Tseh tseh ping ping tseh tseh ping Ping ping tseh tseh tseh ping ping Ping ping tseh tseh ping ping tseh Tseh tseh ping ping tseh tseh ping Tseh tseh ping ping ping tseh tseh Ping ping tseh tseh tseh ping ping Ping ping tseh tseh ping ping tseh Tseh tseh ping ping tseh tseh ping.

Form of 5-character Luh poem beginning in the Ping tone:

C. Ping ping tseh tseh ping Tseh tseh tseh ping ping Tseh tseh ping ping tseh Ping ping tseh tseh ping Ping ping ping tseh tseh Tseh tseh tseh ping ping Tseh tseh ping ping tseh Ping ping tseh tseh ping.

Form of 5-character Luh poem beginning in the Tseh tone:

D. Tseh tseh tseh ping ping Ping ping tseh tseh ping Ping ping ping tseh tseh Tseh tseh tseh ping ping Tseh tseh ping ping tseh Ping ping tseh tseh ping Ping ping ping tseh tseh Tseh tseh tseh ping ping.

In order to understand this arrangement of characters, it should be borne in mind that Chinese characters are distinguished not only by the phonetic sounds, but also by tones resembling musical notes.

Of these only four are generally recognized in poetical compositions:

(1) The Ping-sheng, or low and even note.

(2) The Shang-sheng, or sharp and ascending note.