Three Poems Presented When the Emperor Visited Xinfeng Hotsprings Palace #1, Shangguan Wan’er

[lnhammer]

The third month of the winter season, in the Jinglong Reign:
Ten-thousand chariots as sentry guards, departing from Ba River.
I see afar the lightnings frolic, dragons as their steeds—
I turn to stare at the frosty plains, the fields seemingly jade.

三冬季月景龙年，
万乘观风出灞川。
遥看电跃龙为马，
回瞩霜原玉作田。

Let’s do the other two poems of the series, while I’m at it. The emperor in question is Zhongzong, during his second reign (707-710), and the outing began on 16 January 709. To stand sentry on lookout is literally “watch the wind.” The Ba River (now called Bahe River) ran past the eastern wall of Chang’an. (Source)

---L.

Comments

[sovay]

I see afar the lightnings frolic, dragons as their steeds—

I like that. Is it echoing the register of the original language?

[lnhammer]

I think so. The words for afar and frolic are ones I can’t recall having met before, and to match I upped the register of steed (the original is the ordinary horse).

[sartorias]

Help a tin-eared get-a-clue: what do you mean by register?

Also, which hanzi is frolic?

[larryhammer]

How fancypants the language is. I gave that line a more elevated/literary vocabulary, to match what I think is rarer/fancier words in the original.

跃 (yuè) is jump/leap/skip/frolic.

[sartorias]

Ah, so register is word choice. Yes!

Thank you--somehow I missed that one.