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Chunwang (poem)

March 10, 2024

"Chunwang" (Chinese: 春望; pinyin: Chūnwàng) is a poem by Tang dynasty poet Du Fu, written after the fall of Chang'an to rebel forces led by An Lushan, as part of the civil war that began in 755. Literary critics have recognised it as one of Du's best and best-known works.

Background edit

Du Fu was a Chinese poet who was active in the Tang dynasty. In 755, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong, Du was in the capital city of Chang'an (present-day Xi'an) when the An Lushan Rebellion began.[1][2] "Chunwang" was written in 757,[3][4] nine months after the fall of Chang'an to An's army.[5] Its title comprises the Chinese characters for "spring" ("chun" or 春) and "looking into the distance" ("wang" or 望).[6] In the poem, Du laments the rapid defeat of the imperial forces and what, to his mind, signals the end of the Tang dynasty.[1]

Structure edit

國 破 山 河 在
城 春 草 木 深
感 時 花 濺 淚
恨 別 鳥 驚 心
烽 火 連 三 月
家 書 抵 萬 金
白 頭 搔 更 短
渾 欲 不 勝 簪

A kingdom smashed, its hills and rivers still here,
spring in the city, plants and trees grow deep.

Moved by the moment, flowers splash with tears,
alarmed at parting, birds startle the heart.

War's beacon fires have gone on three months,
letters from home are worth thousands in gold.

Fingers run through white hair until it thins,
cap-pins[a] will almost no longer hold.

— Du Fu (translated by Stephen Owen)[1]

"Chunwang" is an example of what was known in the Tang dynasty as wuyan lüshi (五言律詩),[b] a genre known for its strict and complex structural rules.[11] The poem is made up of eight lines consisting of five characters each,[12][13][14] creating four couplets, with the second and third couplets containing parallelism.[10][15] For instance, the verbs meaning "feel" and "hate" are paired together, as are the nouns for "bird" and "flower".[10] There is also a change of grammatical construction: the subjects of the second couplet ("bird" and "flower") appear in the middle of each line, whereas those of the third couplet ("beacon fire" and "letter from home") appear in the beginning of each line.[16]

However, the poem's exact rhyme scheme is unclear because the pronunciation of classical Chinese characters using pinyin (a modern transliteration system introduced in the 1950s) is distinct from what they would have sounded like in the Tang dynasty.[11] 21st-century Chinese literary critic Zong-Qi Cai posited that the poem follows a "conventional" ABCB DBEB pattern.[11]

Legacy edit

According to Timothy Wai Keung Chan, "Chunwang" is "one of Du Fu's most famous poems".[17] Alice Su of The Economist described it as "one of the greatest poems in the Chinese literary canon",[2] while Zong-Qi Cai called it one of the best-known and most commonly recited Chinese poems.[5]

In Matsuo Bashō's Oku no Hosomichi (1689), the opening lines of "Chunwang" are subverted to instead highlight the "instability of the nonhuman world and the resilience ... of poetry itself".[18] The opening scene of Fei Mu's Spring in a Small Town (1948) is, according to film critic Jie Li, patterned after "Chunwang".[4]

Translation edit

French translator Nicolas Chapuis remarked that "Chunwang" is "seemingly very simple but is one of the hardest poems to translate".[2] Similarly, British translator David Hawkes observed that the poem's "perfection of form lends it a classical grace which unfortunately cannot be communicated in translation".[15] Still, "Chunwang" has been translated into English multiple times, under titles as "Gazing in Spring",[19] "Spring Prospect",[20] "Spring Scene",[7] "The View in Spring",[21] and so forth.

American translator Burton Raffel considered "Chunwang" to be an appropriate case study of the "outer limits of syntactical translatability".[12] In particular, he wrote that Nee Wen-yei's "obviously half-desperate" translation "ruined the poetry" by contriving a "tense structure" while trivialising the "poignant wry humour" of the final two lines.[12] Raffel also criticised Arthur Cooper for his "exceedingly lame attempt to employ English meter and rhyme and even English quatrains".[12] However, Raffel complimented C. K. Kwock and Vincent McHugh's translation, which he thought "echoed not only the structure but also the bite and passion of the Chinese original."[12]

Notes edit

  1. ^ Until the seventeenth century, Chinese people "dressed their hair in a top-knot on the crown of the head", with the top-knot being held in place by a pin that passed through it.[7] David Hawkes translates this couplet thus: "My white hair is getting so scanty from worried scratching that soon enough there won't be enough to stick my hatpin in!"[8]
  2. ^ Zong-Qi Cai described the poem as "pentasyllabic regulated verse",[9] while Arthur Cooper likened it to a "Chinese sonnet".[10]

References edit

Citations edit

  1. ^ a b c Owen 1996, p. 420.
  2. ^ a b c Rennie & Su 2022.
  3. ^ Lee 1989, p. 259.
  4. ^ a b FitzGerald 2013, p. 207.
  5. ^ a b Furniss & Bath 2022, p. 519.
  6. ^ Wei 2019, p. 81.
  7. ^ a b Hawkes 2016, p. 53.
  8. ^ Hawkes 2016, p. 54.
  9. ^ Furniss & Bath 2022, p. 518.
  10. ^ a b c Furniss & Bath 2022, p. 521.
  11. ^ a b c Furniss & Bath 2022, p. 520.
  12. ^ a b c d e Raffel 2010, p. 48.
  13. ^ Eber 2019, p. 81.
  14. ^ Kim & Fouser 2016, p. 39.
  15. ^ a b Wong 2016, p. 444.
  16. ^ Hawkes 2016, p. 52.
  17. ^ Chan 2007, p. 478.
  18. ^ Thornber 2020, p. 225.
  19. ^ Lam 2022, p. 143.
  20. ^ Varsano 2017, p. 417.
  21. ^ Wu 2020, p. 102.

Works cited edit

Articles edit

  • Chan, Timothy (2007). "Wall Carvings, Elixirs, and the Celestial King: An Exegetic Exercise on Du Fu's Poems on Two Palaces". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 127 (4): 471–489. JSTOR 20297311.
  • Lam, Lap (2022). "Local Sensibility and Nostalgia: The Tanshe Poetry Society in Colonial Singapore". Journal of Chinese Overseas. 18: 118–152. doi:10.1163/17932548-12341458. S2CID 247993110.

Books edit

  • Eber, Irene (2019). Jews in China: Cultural Conversations, Changing Perceptions. Penn State University Press. ISBN 9780271085876.
  • FitzGerald, Carolyn (2013). Fragmenting Modernisms: Chinese Wartime Literature, Art, and Film, 1937–49. Brill. ISBN 9789004250994.
  • Furniss, Tom; Bath, Michael (2022). Reading Poetry: A Complete Coursebook. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781000548990.
  • Hawkes, David (2016). A Little Primer of Tu Fu. New York Review Books. ISBN 9789629966591.
  • Kim, Hung-Gyu; Fouser, Robert (2016). Understanding Korean Literature. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781315285320.
  • Lee, Gregory (1989). Dai Wangshu: The Life and Poetry of a Chinese Modernist. Chinese University Press. ISBN 9789622014084.
  • Owen, Stephen (1996). An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0393038238.
  • Raffel, Burton (2010). The Art of Translating Poetry. Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN 9780271038285.
  • Thornber, Karen Laura (2020). Empire of Texts in Motion: Chinese, Korean, and Taiwanese Transculturations of Japanese Literature. Brill. ISBN 9781684170517.
  • Varsano, Paula (2017). "Moments". In Li, Wai-yee; Denecke, Wiebke; Tian, Xiaofei (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Classical Chinese Literature (1000 BCE–900 CE). Oxford University Press. pp. 403–423. ISBN 9780199356591.
  • Wei, Weixiao (2019). An Overview of Chinese Translation Studies at the Beginning of the 21st Century: Past, Present, Future. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9780429559709.
  • Wong, Laurence K. P. (2016). Where Theory and Practice Meet: Understanding Translation through Translation. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 9781443899123.
  • Wu, Shengqing (2020). Modern Archaics: Continuity and Innovation in the Chinese Lyric Tradition, 1900–1937. Brill. ISBN 9781684170722.

Podcasts edit

  • Rennie, David; Su, Alice (19 December 2022). "Why a 1,000-year-old Chinese poem still resonates today" (Podcast). The Economist. Retrieved 21 December 2022.

March 10, 2024
chunwang, poem, chunwang, chinese, 春望, pinyin, chūnwàng, poem, tang, dynasty, poet, written, after, fall, chang, rebel, forces, lushan, part, civil, that, began, literary, critics, have, recognised, best, best, known, works, contents, background, structure, le. Chunwang Chinese 春望 pinyin Chunwang is a poem by Tang dynasty poet Du Fu written after the fall of Chang an to rebel forces led by An Lushan as part of the civil war that began in 755 Literary critics have recognised it as one of Du s best and best known works Contents 1 Background 2 Structure 3 Legacy 4 Translation 5 Notes 6 References 6 1 Citations 6 2 Works cited 6 2 1 Articles 6 2 2 Books 6 2 3 PodcastsBackground editDu Fu was a Chinese poet who was active in the Tang dynasty In 755 during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong Du was in the capital city of Chang an present day Xi an when the An Lushan Rebellion began 1 2 Chunwang was written in 757 3 4 nine months after the fall of Chang an to An s army 5 Its title comprises the Chinese characters for spring chun or 春 and looking into the distance wang or 望 6 In the poem Du laments the rapid defeat of the imperial forces and what to his mind signals the end of the Tang dynasty 1 Structure edit國 破 山 河 在 城 春 草 木 深 感 時 花 濺 淚 恨 別 鳥 驚 心 烽 火 連 三 月 家 書 抵 萬 金 白 頭 搔 更 短 渾 欲 不 勝 簪 A kingdom smashed its hills and rivers still here spring in the city plants and trees grow deep Moved by the moment flowers splash with tears alarmed at parting birds startle the heart War s beacon fires have gone on three months letters from home are worth thousands in gold Fingers run through white hair until it thins cap pins a will almost no longer hold Du Fu translated by Stephen Owen 1 Chunwang is an example of what was known in the Tang dynasty as wuyan lushi 五言律詩 b a genre known for its strict and complex structural rules 11 The poem is made up of eight lines consisting of five characters each 12 13 14 creating four couplets with the second and third couplets containing parallelism 10 15 For instance the verbs meaning feel and hate are paired together as are the nouns for bird and flower 10 There is also a change of grammatical construction the subjects of the second couplet bird and flower appear in the middle of each line whereas those of the third couplet beacon fire and letter from home appear in the beginning of each line 16 However the poem s exact rhyme scheme is unclear because the pronunciation of classical Chinese characters using pinyin a modern transliteration system introduced in the 1950s is distinct from what they would have sounded like in the Tang dynasty 11 21st century Chinese literary critic Zong Qi Cai posited that the poem follows a conventional ABCB DBEB pattern 11 Legacy editAccording to Timothy Wai Keung Chan Chunwang is one of Du Fu s most famous poems 17 Alice Su of The Economist described it as one of the greatest poems in the Chinese literary canon 2 while Zong Qi Cai called it one of the best known and most commonly recited Chinese poems 5 In Matsuo Bashō s Oku no Hosomichi 1689 the opening lines of Chunwang are subverted to instead highlight the instability of the nonhuman world and the resilience of poetry itself 18 The opening scene of Fei Mu s Spring in a Small Town 1948 is according to film critic Jie Li patterned after Chunwang 4 Translation editFrench translator Nicolas Chapuis remarked that Chunwang is seemingly very simple but is one of the hardest poems to translate 2 Similarly British translator David Hawkes observed that the poem s perfection of form lends it a classical grace which unfortunately cannot be communicated in translation 15 Still Chunwang has been translated into English multiple times under titles as Gazing in Spring 19 Spring Prospect 20 Spring Scene 7 The View in Spring 21 and so forth American translator Burton Raffel considered Chunwang to be an appropriate case study of the outer limits of syntactical translatability 12 In particular he wrote that Nee Wen yei s obviously half desperate translation ruined the poetry by contriving a tense structure while trivialising the poignant wry humour of the final two lines 12 Raffel also criticised Arthur Cooper for his exceedingly lame attempt to employ English meter and rhyme and even English quatrains 12 However Raffel complimented C K Kwock and Vincent McHugh s translation which he thought echoed not only the structure but also the bite and passion of the Chinese original 12 Notes edit Until the seventeenth century Chinese people dressed their hair in a top knot on the crown of the head with the top knot being held in place by a pin that passed through it 7 David Hawkes translates this couplet thus My white hair is getting so scanty from worried scratching that soon enough there won t be enough to stick my hatpin in 8 Zong Qi Cai described the poem as pentasyllabic regulated verse 9 while Arthur Cooper likened it to a Chinese sonnet 10 References editCitations edit a b c Owen 1996 p 420 a b c Rennie amp Su 2022 Lee 1989 p 259 a b FitzGerald 2013 p 207 a b Furniss amp Bath 2022 p 519 Wei 2019 p 81 a b Hawkes 2016 p 53 Hawkes 2016 p 54 Furniss amp Bath 2022 p 518 a b c Furniss amp Bath 2022 p 521 a b c Furniss amp Bath 2022 p 520 a b c d e Raffel 2010 p 48 Eber 2019 p 81 Kim amp Fouser 2016 p 39 a b Wong 2016 p 444 Hawkes 2016 p 52 Chan 2007 p 478 Thornber 2020 p 225 Lam 2022 p 143 Varsano 2017 p 417 Wu 2020 p 102 Works cited edit Articles edit Chan Timothy 2007 Wall Carvings Elixirs and the Celestial King An Exegetic Exercise on Du Fu s Poems on Two Palaces Journal of the American Oriental Society 127 4 471 489 JSTOR 20297311 Lam Lap 2022 Local Sensibility and Nostalgia The Tanshe Poetry Society in Colonial Singapore Journal of Chinese Overseas 18 118 152 doi 10 1163 17932548 12341458 S2CID 247993110 Books edit Eber Irene 2019 Jews in China Cultural Conversations Changing Perceptions Penn State University Press ISBN 9780271085876 FitzGerald Carolyn 2013 Fragmenting Modernisms Chinese Wartime Literature Art and Film 1937 49 Brill ISBN 9789004250994 Furniss Tom Bath Michael 2022 Reading Poetry A Complete Coursebook Taylor amp Francis ISBN 9781000548990 Hawkes David 2016 A Little Primer of Tu Fu New York Review Books ISBN 9789629966591 Kim Hung Gyu Fouser Robert 2016 Understanding Korean Literature Taylor amp Francis ISBN 9781315285320 Lee Gregory 1989 Dai Wangshu The Life and Poetry of a Chinese Modernist Chinese University Press ISBN 9789622014084 Owen Stephen 1996 An Anthology of Chinese Literature Beginnings to 1911 W W Norton amp Company ISBN 0393038238 Raffel Burton 2010 The Art of Translating Poetry Pennsylvania State University Press ISBN 9780271038285 Thornber Karen Laura 2020 Empire of Texts in Motion Chinese Korean and Taiwanese Transculturations of Japanese Literature Brill ISBN 9781684170517 Varsano Paula 2017 Moments In Li Wai yee Denecke Wiebke Tian Xiaofei eds The Oxford Handbook of Classical Chinese Literature 1000 BCE 900 CE Oxford University Press pp 403 423 ISBN 9780199356591 Wei Weixiao 2019 An Overview of Chinese Translation Studies at the Beginning of the 21st Century Past Present Future Taylor amp Francis ISBN 9780429559709 Wong Laurence K P 2016 Where Theory and Practice Meet Understanding Translation through Translation Cambridge Scholars Publishing ISBN 9781443899123 Wu Shengqing 2020 Modern Archaics Continuity and Innovation in the Chinese Lyric Tradition 1900 1937 Brill ISBN 9781684170722 Podcasts edit Rennie David Su Alice 19 December 2022 Why a 1 000 year old Chinese poem still resonates today Podcast The Economist Retrieved 21 December 2022 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Chunwang poem amp oldid 1138381392, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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