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Ebook has 556 lines and 27902 words, and 12 pages
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 space 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 L?h 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 L?h 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 L?h 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 L?h 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:
The Ping-sheng, or low and even note.
The Shang-sheng, or sharp and ascending note.
The Kh?-sheng, or clear and far-reaching note.
The Ruh-sheng, or straight and abruptly finished note.
These tones help to distinguish words which have the same phonetic sound but different meanings. For instance, the word--
In written Chinese each of these words is distinguished by a different character, and the tone is, therefore, of secondary importance; but occasionally a character has two tones--a ping and a kh?, for instance, and then each tone indicates a difference of meaning, or distinguishes the use of the word as a substantive from its use as a verb.
But in poetry these tones are used to make rhythm as well as to express meaning, and when used for this purpose they are divided into ping and tseh, the ping representing the ping or low, even tone, and the tseh the other three tones, Shang, Kh?, and Ruh. This brief explanation will enable the reader, I think, to perceive what is regarded by Chinese as the rhythm of a poem. In the diagrams given above, the first line consists of two ping tones, followed by three tseh tones, which are followed by two ping tones; and the arrangement of the characters in each line in terms of ping and tseh forms the rhythm of Chinese poetry. When compared, it will be seen that there are lines or couplets which are in contrast to, or harmonize with, other lines, &c.
But it is not necessary that the tones of all the characters in each couplet should agree, excepting the first and last lines which always agree exactly--tone for tone. In the other lines, the tones of the first, third, and fifth characters in a seven-character line, and the first and third in a five-character line, may be varied--ping for tseh, or tseh for ping; but the second, fourth, and sixth characters in seven-character poems, and the second and fourth in five-character poems must not be changed; when the ping tone should be used it must be used, the tseh may not be substituted for it, and when the tseh should be used it must be used, the ping may not be substituted for it. And when the opening tone of the first line is a ping, the opening tone of the line following must be tseh, and vice versa.
The following two poems are perfect specimens of the 'Ts?eh', or poem of four lines, which may be regarded as the unit of Chinese poetical composition. The first specimen shows a 'ts?eh' beginning in the Ping tone; and the second specimen a 'ts?eh' beginning in the Tseh tone:
As I have stated above the 'ts?eh' of four lines, whether the line is composed of five or seven characters, may be regarded as the unit of Chinese poetical composition. In order to make a 'l?h' poem four more lines, composed exactly according to the ping-tseh arrangement of tones in the ts?eh, are added to the ts?eh; while a 'p'ai-l?h' poem is made by continuing this process beyond eight lines.
Besides the ping and tseh arrangement of tones in each line to form the metre or rhythm, the final characters of the first, second, and fourth lines of the ts?eh may rhyme with each other; but these rhymes are also controlled by the ping-tseh tones. For instance, in the specimen of a perfect ts?eh given above, the final characters of the first, second, and fourth lines are kwan, ts'an, and shan, and these sounds rhyme in Chinese; but it will be observed that all three words belong to the ping tone, and this is the rule generally followed in the technique of modern poetry, that is, poetry made according to the new rules introduced by the poets of the T'ang Dynasty; but in ancient poetry, words both in ping and tseh tones were used for rhymes; and poets of all periods have used both systems--ancient and modern--in their poetical compositions. The tendency in recent dynasties, however, has been to follow the elaborate technique of the modern school of poetry in which great skill in the art of poetical composition is too often more highly prized than true poetry, and consequently mere cleverness is mistaken for genius.
It is doubtful, indeed, whether the information which I can crowd into a few introductory pages will help readers to gain an insight into Chinese poetry in the making, or utterly confuse them; but I am loath to send forth the translations without an introduction, and I must, therefore, remind readers again that this introduction gives only the barest outline of the rise and progress of Chinese poetry, and of a few of the factors which are required by modern technique in the construction of poetical compositions since the revival of literature and poetry in the T'ang Dynasty.
It should be observed that no attempt has been made to reproduce the technique outlined above in the English translations of Chinese poems in this book, as it would be impossible to restrict the translations to lines of five and seven words. In Chinese each character is a word of one syllable only, therefore a five-character line of poetry contains only five monosyllabic words, and a seven-character line seven monosyllabic words; but as many articles, pronouns, prepositions, auxiliary verbs, &c., which are understood in the Chinese, must be inserted in the English translation in order to connect the meaning of the five or seven monosyllabic words which form a line of Chinese poetry, it is obvious that, in most cases, the length of the line in the translation must be longer than that in the original Chinese. Some Chinese poems might be rendered into English in lines of five or seven syllables without doing much violence to the meaning of the original, but in most cases, the five or seven monosyllabic line in Chinese is translated into English far more correctly and accurately by a line of eight, ten, or more syllables, because the Chinese reader mentally inserts connecting parts of speech which must be written in English to make the grammar correct and the meaning of a line complete.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES OF A FEW OF THE MORE EMINENT CHINESE POETS
LI PEH.
Li Peh lived during the T'ang Dynasty, probably from A.D. 699 to 762, and he is regarded as the most brilliant of all Chinese poets.
He was connected by descent in the ninth generation with the Imperial family of the T'ang Dynasty, but was born in a remote part of the Empire now included in the Szechwan Province.
When but ten years old Li Peh was familiar with poetry and other branches of literature, and, as he grew older, his ability and genius attracted the attention and praise of the highest in the land. When introduced to the Court at Chang-an, Ho Chi-chang, one of the courtiers, exclaimed:--'He is one of the immortal genii banished to earth.' For a short time, too, he was greatly favoured by the Emperor, Hs?en-Tsung, but, having incurred the enmity of the Emperor's chief concubine, he had to withdraw from the Court and relinquish all hopes of official promotion.
He then travelled widely, writing many poems on the beauties of nature, and also in praise of wine and music, to the former of which he was too strongly addicted.
In the later part of his life, it seems, he became involved in political intrigues, for which offence he was banished to a distant region. But in his old age he was allowed to return, and he ended his days peacefully at T'ang-t'u , whose governor was a kinsman named Li Yang-ping.
CHANG KIU-LING.
Chang Kiu-ling was the son of an official in the T'ang Dynasty. At a very early age he displayed great ability, and while still comparatively young, took a high literary degree , and then held high office under the Emperor Hs?en-Tsung, with whom he sometimes ventured to remonstrate for his licentious life. Once when all the courtiers presented valuable gifts to the Emperor on his birthday, Chang Kiu-ling presented him with a book written by himself and styled 'The Thousand Year Mirror', showing the causes of success and failure in former dynasties. His advice, however, was not seriously heeded at the time, but after his death his faithfulness was appreciated and he was ennobled and afterwards canonized by the Emperor.
It is recorded by one writer that Chang Kiu-ling, when a youth, trained pigeons to carry letters to his friends.
WEI YING-WUH.
Wei Ying-wuh was a native of Honan during the T'ang Dynasty, and his poetical skill ranks very high even in that famous period. During the Cheng-Yuen reign he was appointed Prefect of Suchow, where his beneficent rule and devotion to literature called forth the gratitude and admiration of the people.
Su Shi , A.D. 1036-1101, was a native of Mei-shan in Szechwan. He won the highest literary degrees, and was advanced from one official office to another until he became a Minister of State; but, owing to political feuds and intrigues, he was degraded from his high office in the capital and sent to fill inferior posts in distant parts of the Empire, where he wrote poetry and diffused a love of literature among the people he ruled.
TU FU .
Tu Fu was the son of Tu Fan-yen, a high official in the T'ang Dynasty. In the estimation of his countrymen he ranks next to Li Peh among the great poets of the Tang Dynasty, and a few critics would give him a still higher place.
When Tu Fu's literary ability and poetical genius were made known to the Emperor, office and honours were bestowed on him.
In the poetical composition known as the Seven-character Pai-l?h, Tu Fu is the most famous of all the poets of the T'ang Dynasty, if not of all Chinese poets.
EO YANG SIU .
Eo Yang Siu was a famous scholar of the Song Dynasty; and he filled high official posts both in the capital and provinces, under the Emperor Ren-Tsong.
Being a man of integrity and independence he remonstrated with his Imperial master on several occasions, and sometimes suffered temporarily for his courage. His character, however, was appreciated by the Emperor, and restoration to favour followed every temporary eclipse. After his death he was canonized as Wen Chong Kong. His literary works are numerous.
SU WU .
Su Wu lived in the Han Dynasty. When sent on a mission to the Khan of the Hsiung-nu he was seized by that ruler and ordered to renounce his allegiance to the Han Emperor; and on refusing to do this he was cast into prison. Afterwards he was banished for many years to the desert region around Lake Balkash, where he was compelled to tend the flocks of the Hsiung-nu; but he persisted in his loyalty to the Han Dynasty. On his return to China, when a grey-headed old man, he was greatly honoured by the Emperor, and his portrait was hung up in the Khi-lin Koh .
He is held up as a pattern of loyalty by Chinese writers. His poetical compositions are ancient but not numerous.
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