Quan Deyu watches a departure

Jade Pavilion Songs (1)
Quan Deyu

The orchid blooms,
    A phoenix coos,
        Arcadia east,
            He perceives
The slanting sun
    On moist powder,
        Her regalia
            Plays in the breeze.
Emotion comes
    Unconsciously,
        He dimly halts
            His braided steed.


权德舆  玉台体十二首·其一
鸾啼兰已红，见出凤城东。
粉汗宜斜日，衣香逐上风。
情来不自觉，暗驻五花骢。

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OK, I’ve gone back and rechecked this series, so I’m hoping that the embarrassing translation mistakes have been weeded out now. Please do let me know if you spot any more!

This long series of poems is in a style called court poetry, which essentially means that it was not meant to be morally improving, but offered upper-class sensual pleasures. The name of the series, Jade Pavilion Songs, comes from an anthology of poetry in this style which was released during the period of disunity before the Tang. Conventionally, that period has been remembered as a time of general immorality, when the upper classes indulged themselves rather than running the world properly - hence the failure of the empire to hold together.

(This kind of moralising history sounds extremely suspect to me, and when I actually learn some history, I will probably want to learn different approaches. But for the purposes of understanding literature, you definitely need to know the conventional narrative, because it is part of the background knowledge assumed by many poems.)

This poem does not strike us as especially immoral, but it is luxurious and sensual - it looks at a woman with a lustful eye, and gives no heed to the duties or honour of a man.

This first one in the series seems to be from the perspective of a man, but is deliberately vague. It’s a sensory experience rather than a specific narrative. We know that we’re in luxurious surroundings - we hear phoenix cries, delicate flowers are blooming, and there is perfumed regalia on the women. We are invited to look at the physicality of a female body, where sweat and powder mix. A man is hinted at by the presence of a horse, and of strong emotions. But in court poetry, authors don’t feel the need to do anything so crass as actually tell you what happened. The intended audience are men of the world, who should be pretty familiar with these moments.