A Brief Introduction to Ancient CHINESE POETRY(中国古代诗歌简介)

A Brief Introduction to Ancient CHINESE POETRY

Chinese poetry has its origin from Shijing (詩經) or Book of Songs. It was the first major collection of Chinese poems, consisting mostly folksongs (the "Songs"). They are composed of four-character (四言) lines. It comprises 305 poems, covering the period from eleven century to six century B.C. Some of the most popular ones are taught in schools nowadays. With the help of some annotations they are not difficult to understand and appreciate despite their antiquity. Poetry is the most popular form of literature since the beginning of written Chinese and is still popular today. It has developed into many forms throughout history and reached its zenith in the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907 A.D.) when poetry was the main subject in the imperial civil examination. In our present time anyone who has gone to school can recite some of them. The classical forms of poetry mostly consist of lines of five-character (五言) or seven-character (七言) poems with special rules concerning rhythm, rhyme, tone and balance.

Chinese poetry has several distinct features which are derived from the special features of the Chinese language. Chinese is a monosyllabic language. Each character has a single sound. Putonghua (or Mandarin) which is the official language and the most common one, has four tones. The sound of a character can be represented by one to three musical notes.

Each character sounds like a beat in music.

We can see that the Chinese classical form of poetry is very musical. Let us take a seven-word-line poem from late Tang Dynasty (9th century). The words are simple and so is the story that any primary school student today can understand it. It is a poem that can illustrate the basic features of classical poetry.

(Note 1)

Chinese: 去年 / 今日/ 此门中，

Meaning of Last year / to-day / this door centre,

each word:

Pinyin: qu (\) nian(/) / jin(--) ri(\) / ci(--) Men(/) zhong(--)

人面 / 桃花 / 相映红。

Human face / peach blossoms / mutually shine pink

ren(/) mian(\) tao(/) hua(-) xiang(-) ying(\) hong(/)

人面 / 不知 / 何处去，

Human face / don’t know / what place go

ren(/) mian(\) bu(-) zhi(-) he(/) chu(\) qu(\)

桃花 / 依旧 / 笑春风。

Peach blossoms / still old / smile spring wind

tao(/) hua(-) yi(-) jiu(\) xiao(\) chun(-) feng(-)

Translation:

Last year today at this doorway,

A maiden face and peach blossoms were shining bright and gay.

The face is here no more;

While the peach blossoms in the spring wind is smiling as before.

This poem was written by Cui Hu 崔護of late Tang period, about 1200 years ago. The title of the poem means writing on the wall of South Village in Du Town. It has since become a classic and is still very popular today. There is CD containing this poem recited by a 9- year old girl in Putonghua very beautifully. Because of its popularity many stories have been written made up about the poet’s romantic encounter. They can be seen online.

The beauty of this poem is its simplicity and economy of words. With 28 characters in four lines the poet creates a lovely story which reveals the first excitement of the encounter and the disappointment at the revisit.

There is no overt expression of emotion and yet the reader can feel it clearly. The rhymes and rhythms make it like a song. The mood is placid and subtle. The imagery of “maiden face and peach blossoms” is artistic and philosophical and is quoted often quoted its philosophical sense indicating life’s impermanence.

Appendix – Three Chinese poems with translation. (Note 2)

無念

心中 / 無一物,

Heart centre no one thing

煩惱 / 何處來?

Bother vex which place come

長住 / 無念中,

Long live / no thought centre

菩提 / 日日在.

Bodhi tree day day present

The Thoughtless Mind

In the mind no thought

So where’s the problem?

This thoughtless state stays

Each day -- a happy day.

枫桥夜泊唐?張繼

月落乌啼霜满天

江枫渔火对愁眠

姑苏城外寒山寺

夜半钟声到客船

Word by word literal translation:

Fang/Bridge/night/Berthing.

Moon/falling/crows/calling/frost/full/sky

Jian/Fang/fishing/lights/facing/sad/sleep

Su/ Zhao/city/outside/Cold/Hill/ Temple

Night/mid/bell/sound/arriving/passenger/boat.

Berthing by Fang Bridge at night ? Chang Ji (Tang Dynasty) Moon falling, crow cawing, frosty night.

Shivering fishing light by Jian and Fang bridges

The only companion of the traveler, sad and sleepy. Outside Suzhuo City

Cold Mountain Temple’s midnight bell tolls,

Echoing around the traveler’s boat.

飲酒之五?陶淵明

結廬在人境，而無車馬喧。

問君何能爾？心遠地自偏。

採菊東籬下，悠然見南山；

山氣日夕佳，飛鳥相與還。

此中有真意，欲辨已忘言。

Drinking Wine No. 5 by Tao Yuan Ming (4th century) I build a hut among the crowds

But I hear no noise of their carts and horses

You may ask why this is so

When my mind is afar my land is remote

Picking chrysanthemum under the eastern fence Leisurely I see West Mountain

Its colours at sunset are richer

And birds are flying home together

There is truth in all this

But trying to explain

I forget my words

Note( 1): The four tones in Putonghua

1. The first tone ( Level Tone) is denoted by a macron (-) added to the pinyin vowel such as ā

2. The second tone (Rising Tone) is denoted by an acute accent (/) such as á

3. The third tone (Falling-Rising Tone) is denoted by a hacek (v) such as ǎ.

4. The fourth tone (Falling Tone) is represented by a grave accent (\): such as à

Example

媽mā 麻má馬mǎ 罵mà ; meaning

"mother", "hemp", "horse", "scold"

For further detail and pronunciation see “pinyin”in Wikipedia.

Note (2): Classical forms of Chinese poetry is extremely difficult to translate into English without losing some special features unique to the

Chinese poetic language , which have no parallel in English . The two languages are very different and so are the poetic forms, styles and culture. In the course of translation, the form, rhythm, rhyme, balance and structure are mostly. Even more difficult are allusions and references which have historical contents. The best translator to is digest a poem and write down the

meaning as an English poet. Therefore it is said that Chinese classical forms of poetry are beyond

translation. The illustrations in this text may explain some of the difficulties.