Song of Lasting Regret lines 91-96, Bai Juyi (Tang Shi #71)

[lnhammer]

Hearing there was an envoy from Han’s Son of Heaven,
She started awake from dreams inside her splendid curtains,
Grabbed robes, pushed off her pillow, rose and paced about,
Then left her pearl bead-curtain and silver folding-screen.
Cloud hair all half-askew because she just woke up
And headdress crooked, she descended to the hall.

闻道汉家天子使，
九华帐里梦魂惊。
揽衣推枕起裴回，
珠箔银屏逦迤开。
云鬓半偏新睡觉，
花冠不整下堂来。

Son of Heaven (l.91) is an appellation of the emperor. The only explicit persons are the envoy and emperor, but in the next lines the implied pronoun clearly refers to Yang Guifei rather than the attendants from the line before. Idioms: the splendid (l.92) curtains (which instead might be a canopy) are “nine-splendor” and the headdress (l.96) is a “flower hat/cap/crown” thingy, I’m not clear what kind. Lost in translation: the envoy (l.91) is called a daoist (or more literally a “dao” ... ooookaythen).

---L.

Comments

[sartorias]

There were specific headdresses for different occasions and ranks, that I've been learning. Bed curtains were a thing.

[lnhammer]

Yeah, but I've been unable to untangle what kind this one might have been -- commentaries haven't been helping. I get the impression it's vague in Chinese too.

"Canopy" would be clearer in English, but it clunks so, in that line.

[sartorias]

But bed curtains were a thing for ages in Western history. I think that works! But then I have about as poetic an ear as a hippo has ballet grace.

The headdress thing would be understood within court and likely by few others, and it did evolve over the dynasties. Also, the court robes were very specific for appropriate rituals, and you could get into trouble wearing the wrong one, but I've gained the impression that harem women waged subtle warfare with each other via their headdresses. Not that the poem is about that. It seems to remind us that a woman above a certain rank was never seen without her headdress.

[larryhammer]

:nod: I think I can leave it with the vague “headdress.”

[sartorias]

BTW I love the taut imagery and emotional underscoring to the action.

[lnhammer]

Oh yeah -- all throughout, Bai Juyi has been excellent with the telling details. If only her actual death -- or rather the decision around it -- had been given the same treatment ...

[sartorias]

There is SO. MUCH. legend around it, I wonder if the truth was known even in the immediate aftermath.

[larryhammer]

I think chronicles were set down as events unfolded, but how much the official history elaborated, I dunno.

[sartorias]

It's really hard to peek through the English-language keyhole.

[sovay]

Cloud hair all half-askew because she just woke up
And headdress crooked, she descended to the hall.

This is excellent detail.

[lnhammer]

It is.