I. Social and
cultural background
II. Development of
New Chinese Poetry
A. Mao's poem
performed:
SNOW
--to the tune1 of Chin Yuan Chun
February 1936
North country scene:
A hundred leagues locked in ice,
A thousand leagues of whirling snow.
Both sides of the Great Wall
One single white immensity.
The Yellow River's swift current
Is stilled from end to end.
The mountains dance like silver snakes
And the highlands charge like wax-hued elephants,
Vying with heaven in stature.
On a fine day, the land,
Clad in white, adorned in red,
Grows more enchanting.
This land so rich in beauty
Has made countless heroes bow in homage.
But alas! Chin Shih-huang and Han Wu-ti
Were lacking in literary grace,
And Tang Tai-tsung and Sung Tai-tsu
Had little poetry in their souls;
And Genghis Khan,
Proud Son of Heaven for a day,
Knew only shooting eagles, bow outstretched
All are past and gone!
For truly great men
Look to this age alone.
note this tr. of last stanza in the pdf on main syllabus, tr. Willis Barnstone
Yet the emperors Shihuang and Wu Di
were barely able to write.
The first emperors of the Tang and Song dynasties
were crude.
Genghis Khan, man of his epoch
and favored by heaven,
knew only how to hunt the great eagle.
They are all gone.
Only today are we men of feeling.
the poem is from 1936 or 1945. see also the note on this poem in the pdf.
1. Reading:
2. Singing
Taking Leave of Cambridge Again
tr. Li Zhimin
Quietly I am leaving as
Quietly I have come
Quietly I wave farewell
To the gold clouds in Heaven.
The gold willows on Cam River
Are like brides in dusk
And
their reflections in the Cam
Wave gently in my heart.
The
green plants in the Cam
Are
dancing elegantly in the water
In the gentle caress of the Cam
I would like to be turned into a grass
That small pond in a green shade
Is not a spring, it is a heavenly rainbow
That has been melted among grasses
With
a sweet and colourful dream.
A dream? To take a long punt-pole
For searching more green in greenness
To carry a boatful of star-light
Singing in the marvellous starry night.
But I could not sing songs,
Quiet is the lute of leaving;
Even the summer insects keep quiet
Even Cambridge is quiet tonight.
Gently I will leave as
Gently I have come
Gently I wave my hands
Not to spoil the light of a cloud.
see Li Zhimin, "The One-Way Model of Cultural Interaction: Literary Interactions between China and Cambridge" in The Cambridge Quarterly, Volume 41, Number 1, March 2012, via Project Muse.
and here tr. Guohua Chen
Softly I am leaving,
Just as softly as I came;
I softly wave goodbye
To the clouds in the western sky.
The golden willows by the riverside
Are young brides in the setting sun;
Their glittering reflections on the shimmering river
Keep undulating in my heart.
The green tape grass rooted in the soft mud
Sways leisurely in the water;
I am willing to be such a waterweed
In the gentle flow of the River Cam.
That pool in the shade of elm trees
Holds not clear spring water, but a rainbow
Crumpled in the midst of duckweeds,
Where rainbow-like dreams settle.
To seek a dream? Go punting with a long pole,
Upstream to where green grass is greener,
With the punt laden with starlight,
And sing out loud in its radiance.
Yet now I cannot sing out loud,
Peace is my farewell music;
Even crickets are now silent for me,
For Cambridge this evening is silent.
Quietly I am leaving,
Just as quietly as I came;
Gently waving my sleeve,
I am not taking away a single cloud.
(6 November 1928)
more on this poem here
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