The dynasty was permanently enfeebled and the Empire
greatly curtailed by foreign incursions.
greatly curtailed by foreign incursions.
Waley - 170 Chinese Poems
Innumerable poems record
"Reflections on Visiting a Ruin," or on "The Site of an Old City," etc.
The details are ingeniously varied, but the sentiments are in each case
identical. Another feature is the excessive use of historical allusions.
This is usually not apparent in rhymed translations, which evade such
references by the substitution of generalities. Poetry became the medium
not for the expression of a poet's emotions, but for the display of his
classical attainments. The great Li Po is no exception to this rule.
Often where his translators would make us suppose he is expressing a
fancy of his own, he is in reality skilfully utilizing some poem by T'ao
Ch'ien or Hsieh Ti'ao. It is for his versification that he is admired,
and with justice. He represents a reaction against the formal prosody of
his immediate predecessors. It was in the irregular song-metres of his
_ku-shih_ that he excelled. In such poems as the "Ssech'uan Road," with
its wild profusion of long and short lines, its cataract of exotic
verbiage, he aimed at something nearer akin to music than to poetry. Tu
Fu, his contemporary, occasionally abandoned the cult of "abstract
form. " Both poets lived through the most tragic period of Chinese
history. In 755 the Emperor's Turkic favourite, An Lu-shan, revolted
against his master. A civil war followed, in which China lost thirty
million men.
The dynasty was permanently enfeebled and the Empire
greatly curtailed by foreign incursions. So ended the "Golden Age" of
Ming Huang. Tu Fu, stirred by the horror of massacres and conscriptions,
wrote a series of poems in the old style, which Po Chu-i singles out for
praise. One of them, "The Press-gang," is familiar in Giles's
translation. Li Po, meanwhile, was writing complimentary poems on the
Emperor's "Tour in the West"--a journey which was in reality a
precipitate flight from his enemies.
_Sung. _--In regard to content the Sung poets show even less originality
than their predecessors. Their whole energy was devoted towards
inventing formal restrictions. The "tz'? " developed, a species of song
in lines of irregular length, written in strophes, each of which must
conform to a strict pattern of tones and rhymes. The content of the
"tz'? " is generally wholly conventional. Very few have been translated;
and it is obvious that they are unsuitable for translation, since their
whole merit lies in metrical dexterity. Examples by the poetess Li I-an
will be found in the second edition of Judith Gautier's "Livre de Jade. "
The poetry of Su Tung-p'o, the foremost writer of the period, is in its
matter almost wholly a patchwork of earlier poems. It is for the musical
qualities of his verse that he is valued by his countrymen.
"Reflections on Visiting a Ruin," or on "The Site of an Old City," etc.
The details are ingeniously varied, but the sentiments are in each case
identical. Another feature is the excessive use of historical allusions.
This is usually not apparent in rhymed translations, which evade such
references by the substitution of generalities. Poetry became the medium
not for the expression of a poet's emotions, but for the display of his
classical attainments. The great Li Po is no exception to this rule.
Often where his translators would make us suppose he is expressing a
fancy of his own, he is in reality skilfully utilizing some poem by T'ao
Ch'ien or Hsieh Ti'ao. It is for his versification that he is admired,
and with justice. He represents a reaction against the formal prosody of
his immediate predecessors. It was in the irregular song-metres of his
_ku-shih_ that he excelled. In such poems as the "Ssech'uan Road," with
its wild profusion of long and short lines, its cataract of exotic
verbiage, he aimed at something nearer akin to music than to poetry. Tu
Fu, his contemporary, occasionally abandoned the cult of "abstract
form. " Both poets lived through the most tragic period of Chinese
history. In 755 the Emperor's Turkic favourite, An Lu-shan, revolted
against his master. A civil war followed, in which China lost thirty
million men.
The dynasty was permanently enfeebled and the Empire
greatly curtailed by foreign incursions. So ended the "Golden Age" of
Ming Huang. Tu Fu, stirred by the horror of massacres and conscriptions,
wrote a series of poems in the old style, which Po Chu-i singles out for
praise. One of them, "The Press-gang," is familiar in Giles's
translation. Li Po, meanwhile, was writing complimentary poems on the
Emperor's "Tour in the West"--a journey which was in reality a
precipitate flight from his enemies.
_Sung. _--In regard to content the Sung poets show even less originality
than their predecessors. Their whole energy was devoted towards
inventing formal restrictions. The "tz'? " developed, a species of song
in lines of irregular length, written in strophes, each of which must
conform to a strict pattern of tones and rhymes. The content of the
"tz'? " is generally wholly conventional. Very few have been translated;
and it is obvious that they are unsuitable for translation, since their
whole merit lies in metrical dexterity. Examples by the poetess Li I-an
will be found in the second edition of Judith Gautier's "Livre de Jade. "
The poetry of Su Tung-p'o, the foremost writer of the period, is in its
matter almost wholly a patchwork of earlier poems. It is for the musical
qualities of his verse that he is valued by his countrymen.
