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Song of Lasting Regret lines 61-66, Bai Juyi (Tang Shi #71)
Thursday, 28 May 2020 10:51Spring winds removed at night the blossoms of plums and peaches,
The autumn rains scattered in season the wutong leaves—
West Palace and South Park had many withered plants,
Palace leaves filled up the stairs with unswept red—
Imperial opera singers now had hair gone white,
The empress’s attendants’ youthful looks were aged.
春风桃李花开夜，
秋雨梧桐叶落时。
西宫南苑多秋草，
宫叶满阶红不扫。
梨园弟子白发新，
椒房阿监青娥老。
Onward. West Palace and South Park are Taiji and Xingqing palaces, just outside Chang’an, where Xuanzong (in history, now retired after abdicating in favor of his son Suzong) initially stayed after the court returned to the capital. (They were both recently built, making them gaps in the Han Dynasty fig-leafing.) Idiom: withered (l.63) is literally “autumn”—an overtone as common to that season as wanton is to “spring” (for ex, in the lines around l.20). (Alas that “autumnal” doesn’t quite convey that sense.) Lost in translation: the opera singers are identified by their troupe name, the Pear Park Students, and the attendants are literally those of Pepper Hall, part of the empress consort’s quarters.
---L.
The autumn rains scattered in season the wutong leaves—
West Palace and South Park had many withered plants,
Palace leaves filled up the stairs with unswept red—
Imperial opera singers now had hair gone white,
The empress’s attendants’ youthful looks were aged.
春风桃李花开夜，
秋雨梧桐叶落时。
西宫南苑多秋草，
宫叶满阶红不扫。
梨园弟子白发新，
椒房阿监青娥老。
Onward. West Palace and South Park are Taiji and Xingqing palaces, just outside Chang’an, where Xuanzong (in history, now retired after abdicating in favor of his son Suzong) initially stayed after the court returned to the capital. (They were both recently built, making them gaps in the Han Dynasty fig-leafing.) Idiom: withered (l.63) is literally “autumn”—an overtone as common to that season as wanton is to “spring” (for ex, in the lines around l.20). (Alas that “autumnal” doesn’t quite convey that sense.) Lost in translation: the opera singers are identified by their troupe name, the Pear Park Students, and the attendants are literally those of Pepper Hall, part of the empress consort’s quarters.
---L.