江雪 - River Snow

江雪 - 柳宗元 [River Snow by Liu Zong-yuan]

千山鳥飛絕

萬徑人蹤滅

孤舟蓑笠翁

獨釣寒江雪

thousand mountains; flight of birds unseen

on ten thousand paths footprints vanish

lonely boat: old man in straw cloak and bamboo hat

fishing alone in the cold river snow 

This poem has the title ‘jiang [river] xue [snow]’. It was written in the 8^th or 9^th century. The poet, 柳宗元 [Liu Zong-yuan], lived from 773 – 819 and is one of the so-called Eight Great Prose Masters of the Tang and Song [dynasties]. 

The translation above is one that I put together myself. I tried to keep it as close to the original as possible. Any feedback would be welcome. There are many, many alternative translations online and in print.

The original poem can be found in the classical Chinese poetry collection Three Hundred Tang Poems, which was compiled in the 18^th century. This anthology, which actually contains over 300 poems, has come to represent the canon of classical Chinese poetry. The poems contained within it were written during the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907). 

caligraphy version of the poem - a bargain at $2,950 from this site

The poem has inspired many works of art, as seen below.

15th-century artwork from Zhou Wenjing, featuring part of the poem

artwork featuring the poem found here

artwork featuring the poem found here

李紳 - 憫農: Li Shen - Pity Farmers

A lot of effort goes in to growing the food that we eat. That may be obvious, but it can also be comforting to see continuity between what's obvious now and realities enshrined in poetry over 1,000 years ago. 

illustration depicting Li Shen's poem taken from www.diyad.cn

The following poem is one of the canonised classics of Chinese poetry that appear in the collection Three Hundred Tang Poems. The collection was first brought together in 1763.Despite what the title might lead readers to believe, this cornerstone anthology comprises 326 poems that were written during the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907). 

 

鋤禾日當午，

chú hé rì dāng wǔ,

weed grain during noon

汗滴禾下土。

hàn dī hé xià tǔ.

sweat drops grain down earth.

誰知盤中餐，

shuí zhī pán zhōngcān,

who would have thought one lunch,

粒粒皆辛苦。

lì lì jiē xīnkǔ.

each grain hard work.

This poem was written by Li Shen (李紳), who was an official of the Tang dynasty who served as chancellor for a time. During his lifetime Li Shen became renowned for his poems depicting rural life.

I like the following translation from Peter Wang, since it maintains the concise nature of the original .

Farmers weeding at noon,
Sweat down the field soon.
Who knows food on a tray
Thanks to their toiling day?

However, below is an alternative, from Andrew W.F. Wong. It elaborates well on the sense behind the text.

He heaves his hoe in the rice-field, under the noonday sun,

Onto the soil of the rice-field, his streaming sweat beads run.

Ah, do you or don’t you know it?  That bowl of rice we eat:

Each grain, each ev’ry granule, the fruit of his labour done.

illustration taken from Flickr user vacquey

 

taken from www.news.nen.com.cn

 

credit: 易界神刀

秋日登吳公臺上寺遠眺 - Climbing in Autumn for a View from the Temple on the Terrace of General Wu

秋日登吳公臺上寺遠眺

古 臺 搖 落 後

秋 日 望 鄉 心 

野 寺 人 來 少

雲 峰 水 隔 深

夕 陽 依 舊 壘

寒 磬 滿 空 林

惆 悵 南 朝 事

長 江 獨 至 今

This poem, written by Liu Changqing (劉長卿), was number 133 in the classic collection Three Hundred Tang Poems, which was compiled in roughly 1763, but features work from a period that began in the 7th century and spanned nearly three hundred years.

Here is a literal translation:

古 臺 搖 落 後 - old platform rocks drops back

秋 日 望 鄉 心 - autumn day hope country mind

野 寺 人 來 少 - field temple man come few

雲 峰 水 隔 深 - cloud peak water divide deep

夕 陽 依 舊 壘 - evening sun near old rampart

寒 磬 滿 空 林 - cold stone instrument fill empty forest

惆 悵 南 朝 事 - vexed regretful South face thing

長 江 獨 至 今 - long river single arrive now

And here is a translation from Chinapage.org:

So autumn breaks my homesick heart
Few pilgrims venture climbing to a temple so wild,
Up from the lake, in the mountain clouds. 

Sunset clings in the old defences,
A stone gong shivers through the empty woods. 

Of the Southern Dynasty, what remains?
Nothing but the great River. 

The poet, Liu Changqing, lived during the 8th century. He was a scholar who served under four different emperors and held the position of Governor of Suizhou in Hubei Province. Eleven of Liu's poems feature in Three Hundred Tang Poems.

劉長卿 - Liu Changqing

88 - 春曉

春眠不覺曉
處處聞啼鳥
夜來風雨聲
花落知多少

The poem above, 'Spring Dawn' was written by Meng Haoran, a Chinese poet who lived during the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907AD), an era renowned for its contributions to Classical Chinese poetry. The position of Meng's poetry in the Chinese poetical canon was perhaps confirmed by its inclusion in the 18th century anthology, Three Hundred Tang Poems, which has subsequently been reprinted many times.

It is hard for me to settle on a single translation, since the meaning of the poem is ambiguous to me. I will place a couple of alternative translations below. My Taiwanese friends agree that it is hard to discern the poem's exact meaning. This is comforting to me.

Here is a direct translation, word for word:

春眠不覺曉 - spring sleep unconcious dawn
處處聞啼鳥 - everywhere hear crying birds
夜來風雨聲 - night come wind and rain sound
花落知多少 - flowers drop know how many

Below is a translation by Andrew Wang-Fat Wong (黃宏發) whose excellent blog Classical Chinese Poems in English has been very helpful to me:

1  春眠不覺曉
2  處處聞啼鳥
3  夜來風雨聲
4  花落知多少
 
1/ In spring, I sleep, unaware morning is here,
2/ From near then far, trilling songbirds I hear.
3/ In the din of the wind and rain all through the night,
4/ How many blossoms fallen? Not few, I fear!

Finally, here is Hugh Grigg's translation, from the East Asia Student blog:

In Spring one sleeps, unaware of dawn;
everywhere one hears crowing birds.
In the night came the sound of wind and rain;
who knows how many flowers fell?