Visiting the Farmhouse of an Old Friend, Meng Haoran (300 Tang Shi #128)

[lnhammer]

My old friend cooks his chicken and millet
And bids me visit at his farm.
Green trees surround the village edge,
Blue mountains wind outside the walls.
The window faces a courtyard garden—
Cups raised, we talk of silk and flax.
The day the Double Ninth arrives
I shall return for chrysanthemums.

过故人庄
故人具鸡黍，
邀我至田家。
绿树村边合，
青山郭外斜。
开轩面场圃，
把酒话桑麻。
待到重阳日，
还来就菊花。

Lost in translation: the window has an “open curtain” and faces a “threshing-floor” as well as a garden—which latter detail, having a food garden in the house’s courtyard, indicates this is a peasant farmer household. Interpretation: literally they talk about “mulberries,” which implies silk cultivation. One observance for the Double Ninth (9th day of the 9th lunar month) longevity festival included drinking chrysanthemum-infused wine, thought to prolong your life.

I’ve noticed that Meng often takes his last couplet in a totally new direction, but this time it, like, tonally comes out of nowhere.

---L.

Comments

[movingfinger]

I'm wondering whether there is a thread of meaningful connection between the garden, the work on the threshing floor, mulberries (what do they symbolize, or connotations? pleasure? the fruit is tasty and the fabric is a luxury), and thoughts about wanting to prolong one's life. I could probably spin that out in European poetry, but I don't know what the echoes would be for the audience for this poem.

[(Anonymous)]

The only association I’ve ever seen in Chinese for mulberries is strictly feeding the leaves to silkworms — and sericulture is hard work. Never a mention of the fruit at all.

I don’t know enough about peasant farm life to spin associations otherwise.

[lnhammer]

Whoops - that was me, somehow logged out.

[oracne]

The Double Ninth sounds very pleasant!

[lnhammer]

It does. See also #263 here.