Saturday, 15 June 2019

lnhammer: the Chinese character for poetry, red on white background (Default)
Drive off the little oriole,
Don’t let it screech upon the branch.
It startled this one from her dream ...
I can’t depart for far Liaoning.

春怨
打起黄莺儿,
莫教枝上啼。
啼时惊妾梦,
不得到辽西。

Yay there’s a personal pronoun, the humble one used by a woman, especially when talking to a man. A common interpretation is that her husband is stationed in a Liaoning garrison on the northeast frontier, and she’d been dreaming of visiting him.

—L.

About

Warning: contents contain line-breaks.

As language practice, I like to translate poetry. My current project is Chinese, with practice focused on Tang Dynasty poetry. Previously this was classical Japanese, most recently working through the Kokinshu anthology (archived here). Suggestions, corrections, and questions always welcome.

There's also original pomes in the journal archives.

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