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lnhammerHan’s Emperor valued looks, sought devastating beauty—
His household looked for years, but couldn’t find him one.
The House of Yang had a woman starting to mature,
Raised in the women’s quarters, where people didn’t know—
But for beauties born by Heaven, hiding oneself is hard:
One day she was selected for the monarch’s side.
A glance back, a single smile, a hundred charms were born—
The Six Palaces’s painted ladies were faces without looks.
長恨歌
汉皇重色思倾国，
御宇多年求不得。
杨家有女初长成，
养在深闺人未识。
天生丽质难自弃，
一朝选在君王侧；
回眸一笑百媚生，
六宫粉黛无颜色。
Though it claims to be set the Han Dynasty, this is really the thinly veiled and highly romanticized story of Yang Yuhan Guifei and Emperor Xuanzong. As part of the romanticization, it conveniently ignores that Yang Yuhan was for a few years consort to Xuanzong's son, the Prince of Shou, before Xuanzong married her himself (via a brief investiture as a Doaost nun) shortly after his previous Consort died. Idioms: a "devastating beauty" is literally "kingdom-wrecker" and "painted lady" is literally "face-paint eye-liner." The Six Palaces, if it's not clear from context, were the quarters of the imperial harem.
(One of Bai Juyi's salient qualities is his clarity -- this was strikingly easy to read and render. No, I'm not planning on doing the rest just yet, but eventually, it's one long-term goal of this whole translation project.)
---L.
His household looked for years, but couldn’t find him one.
The House of Yang had a woman starting to mature,
Raised in the women’s quarters, where people didn’t know—
But for beauties born by Heaven, hiding oneself is hard:
One day she was selected for the monarch’s side.
A glance back, a single smile, a hundred charms were born—
The Six Palaces’s painted ladies were faces without looks.
長恨歌
汉皇重色思倾国，
御宇多年求不得。
杨家有女初长成，
养在深闺人未识。
天生丽质难自弃，
一朝选在君王侧；
回眸一笑百媚生，
六宫粉黛无颜色。
Though it claims to be set the Han Dynasty, this is really the thinly veiled and highly romanticized story of Yang Yuhan Guifei and Emperor Xuanzong. As part of the romanticization, it conveniently ignores that Yang Yuhan was for a few years consort to Xuanzong's son, the Prince of Shou, before Xuanzong married her himself (via a brief investiture as a Doaost nun) shortly after his previous Consort died. Idioms: a "devastating beauty" is literally "kingdom-wrecker" and "painted lady" is literally "face-paint eye-liner." The Six Palaces, if it's not clear from context, were the quarters of the imperial harem.
(One of Bai Juyi's salient qualities is his clarity -- this was strikingly easy to read and render. No, I'm not planning on doing the rest just yet, but eventually, it's one long-term goal of this whole translation project.)
---L.
no subject
Date: 8 January 2020 21:22 (UTC)no subject
Date: 8 January 2020 23:37 (UTC)(Which is a appropriate thought, given that in Japan, the canonical three most beautiful women of history are Helen, Yang Guifei, and Ono no Komachi.)
no subject
Date: 8 January 2020 23:43 (UTC)no subject
Date: 8 January 2020 23:46 (UTC)