Yes, it really is. It shares a lot in common with one of my favourites (one of everyone's favourites)... egad! It turns out I haven't put my favourite Du Fu sequence up yet, so I don't have a link to my translation. I'm talking about the one that starts with him looking out of his window, and then sees the wide world as coming to him in his cottage: 两个黄鹂鸣翠柳，一行白鹭上青天。窗含西岭千秋雪，门泊东吴万里船。
Both that one and the poem translated above come from sequences that are fairly lightweight, and then this one poem seems to suddenly tap into a much grander artistic vision. It makes me feel like Du Fu was a constant seeker, bringing his powerful vision to bear on everything around him in the world, and just sometimes it lit on something that resonated and created these brilliant poems.
I haven't put mine up yet. Strangely enough, despite being very well-known, it looks like this poem hasn't been translated by the best translators at all. I don't think Burton Watson or David Young (perhaps my favourite translator of Tang poetry?) has done a version; nor Vikram Seth, whose book I really like.
Stephen Owen translated the complete works of Du Fu, and his version goes: A pair of yellow orioles sing in azure willows,/a line of white egrets rises to the blue heavens./The window holds the western peaks’ snow of a thousand autumns,/my gate moors for eastern Wu a ten-thousand league boat. It's a bit hard to follow.
An amazing poem. And difficult to translate!
Yes, it really is. It shares a lot in common with one of my favourites (one of everyone's favourites)... egad! It turns out I haven't put my favourite Du Fu sequence up yet, so I don't have a link to my translation. I'm talking about the one that starts with him looking out of his window, and then sees the wide world as coming to him in his cottage: 两个黄鹂鸣翠柳，一行白鹭上青天。窗含西岭千秋雪，门泊东吴万里船。
Both that one and the poem translated above come from sequences that are fairly lightweight, and then this one poem seems to suddenly tap into a much grander artistic vision. It makes me feel like Du Fu was a constant seeker, bringing his powerful vision to bear on everything around him in the world, and just sometimes it lit on something that resonated and created these brilliant poems.
That poem sounds so marvelous too! Is there a link to the english translation of that one?
I haven't put mine up yet. Strangely enough, despite being very well-known, it looks like this poem hasn't been translated by the best translators at all. I don't think Burton Watson or David Young (perhaps my favourite translator of Tang poetry?) has done a version; nor Vikram Seth, whose book I really like.
Stephen Owen translated the complete works of Du Fu, and his version goes: A pair of yellow orioles sing in azure willows,/a line of white egrets rises to the blue heavens./The window holds the western peaks’ snow of a thousand autumns,/my gate moors for eastern Wu a ten-thousand league boat. It's a bit hard to follow.
I blogged about it long ago at https://buxiebuxing.livejournal.com/36588.html, with a rough translation that went:
Two golden orioles sing in the green willows,
A row of white egrets against the blue sky.
My window holds western hills, white with snow a thousand years;
Ships tied up at my door have come a thousand miles from Wu.
So gorgeous and elegant. I think ky favorite of the ones I've experienced ala your sharings.
And I luv the MC Escher too. Very important in my development as an Artist.
Are you translating each character, but not adding words ?