How to Read Chinese Poetry Workbook by Cai Zong-qi Cui Jie

Author:Cai, Zong-qi, Cui, Jie
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: POE009000, Poetry/Asian, FOR003000, Foreign Language Study/Chinese
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2012-03-05T16:00:00+00:00

P51

Two Songs of Liangzhou, No. 1

[Tang Dyn.] Wang Han

The fine grape wine,

and a luminous cup—

I was about to drink it

when pipa was strummed

on horseback, urging me to hurry.

If I get drunk and lie on the battle ground

I beg you not to laugh,

Since ancient times from each expedition

how many made it back?

[ heptasyllabic regulated quatrain, tonal pattern la, see HTRCP, p. 171]

(Tr. Zong-qi Cai)

Vocabulary Notes

1. “Song of Liangzhou,” see P48 notes 1 and 2.

2. (style Zĭyŭ , 687?–726?), a famous High Tang poet known for his frontier poetry, especially this quatrain.

3. n. grape.

4. n. luminous cup.

5. n. a plucked string instrument with a fretted fingerboard. Before it was introduced to the Han people, was mainly played on horseback by the nomadic peoples in the northwest of ancient China. See also P80 note 20.

6.v. to urge. hurry. Go and hurry him up.

7. If adj. drunk, tipsy. He is drunk. See also P92 note 5.

8. v. to lie. MdnC: (tăng). He lay on the bed.

9. n. desert. Here it means “battlefield.”

10. v. don’t. See also P04 note 24.

11. v. to laugh. MdnC: (cháo xiáo) to laugh at. Don’t laugh at him.

12. n. to go on an expedition. See also P50 note 6. to go on a military expedition.

13. (zhēn) v. to pour (tea or wine) [formal].

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