四海为家 » tang dynasty http://www.fourseasashome.com four seas as home -- thoughts and observations on china Sat, 17 Dec 2011 14:56:32 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 过故人庄（孟浩然） and 竹里馆（王维） http://www.fourseasashome.com/2009/12/%e8%bf%87%e6%95%85%e4%ba%ba%e5%ba%84%ef%bc%88%e5%ad%9f%e6%b5%a9%e7%84%b6%ef%bc%89-and-%e7%ab%b9%e9%87%8c%e9%a6%86%ef%bc%88%e7%8e%8b%e7%bb%b4%ef%bc%89/ http://www.fourseasashome.com/2009/12/%e8%bf%87%e6%95%85%e4%ba%ba%e5%ba%84%ef%bc%88%e5%ad%9f%e6%b5%a9%e7%84%b6%ef%bc%89-and-%e7%ab%b9%e9%87%8c%e9%a6%86%ef%bc%88%e7%8e%8b%e7%bb%b4%ef%bc%89/#comments Mon, 07 Dec 2009 10:12:15 +0000 Maria http://www.fourseasashome.com/?p=418 These poems by 孟浩然 (Meng Haoran) and 王维 (Wang Wei) are from the 8th century AD, the period of the Tang dynasty known as “the Flourishing Tang” (盛唐). Meng Haoran and Wang Wei were friends, and are famous for their landscape imagery. They’re considered to belong to the “Fields and Gardens Poets Group” (田园诗派). A famous quote about Wang Wei’s works states that “The quality of Wang Wei’s poems can be summed as, the poems hold a painting within them. In observing his paintings you can see that, within the painting there is poetry.”

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过故人庄
【唐】孟浩然
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。

Explanation from 百度百科：

故人具鸡黍，邀我至田家。
老友备好了丰盛的饭菜，邀我到他的田舍做客。
绿树村边合，青山郭外斜。
村外绿树环绕，村子的四周青山斜立。
开轩面场圃，把酒话桑麻。
打开窗子面对打谷场和菜园，把酒对饮畅谈农事。
待到重阳日，还来就菊花。
等到九月重阳节的那一天，我还要来饮酒赏花。

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竹里馆
【唐】王维
独坐幽篁里，弹琴复长啸。
深林人不知，明月来相照。

]]> http://www.fourseasashome.com/2009/12/%e8%bf%87%e6%95%85%e4%ba%ba%e5%ba%84%ef%bc%88%e5%ad%9f%e6%b5%a9%e7%84%b6%ef%bc%89-and-%e7%ab%b9%e9%87%8c%e9%a6%86%ef%bc%88%e7%8e%8b%e7%bb%b4%ef%bc%89/feed/ 0 送杜少府之任蜀州（王勃） and 登幽州台歌（陈子昂） http://www.fourseasashome.com/2009/11/%e9%80%81%e6%9d%9c%e5%b0%91%e5%ba%9c%e4%b9%8b%e4%bb%bb%e8%9c%80%e5%b7%9e%ef%bc%88%e7%8e%8b%e5%8b%83%ef%bc%89-and-%e7%99%bb%e5%b9%bd%e5%b7%9e%e5%8f%b0%e6%ad%8c%ef%bc%88%e9%99%88%e5%ad%90%e6%98%82/ http://www.fourseasashome.com/2009/11/%e9%80%81%e6%9d%9c%e5%b0%91%e5%ba%9c%e4%b9%8b%e4%bb%bb%e8%9c%80%e5%b7%9e%ef%bc%88%e7%8e%8b%e5%8b%83%ef%bc%89-and-%e7%99%bb%e5%b9%bd%e5%b7%9e%e5%8f%b0%e6%ad%8c%ef%bc%88%e9%99%88%e5%ad%90%e6%98%82/#comments Fri, 27 Nov 2009 03:02:31 +0000 Maria http://www.fourseasashome.com/?p=343 As many of you know, I’ve been posting poems from my Chinese poetry class on this blog, in case anyone reading this might be interested in delving into the world of Chinese poetry. In true Chinese teaching style, we have to memorize one or two poems every week, and since our teacher tries to choose poems that are both important but also not too difficult for us to understand and memorize, this collection of poems seems like a good place to start for students of Chinese who are interested in Chinese poetry.

We’re going through the poetry in chronological order, and we have now reached the early Tang dynasty （both of the poems below are from the 7th century AD).

The first poem is by 王勃, and is about saying goodbye to a friend who is leaving to take a post in a faraway kingdom. The third line in this poem, “海内存知己，天涯若比邻”, is often quoted in Chinese to express feeling close to a friend or loved one despite being far away from each other.

送杜少府之任蜀州
〖唐〗 王勃
城阙辅三秦，风烟望五津。
与君离别意，同是宦游人。
海内存知己，天涯若比邻。
无为在歧路，儿女共沾巾。

Translation into English, from wiktionary:

Seeing off Vice-prefect Du on the occasion of his appointment to the state of Shu

The watch towers are protected by the three Qin states, I can make out the land of the five crossings in the distance.
My mood (is somber) as I part from you, We are both officials traveling (far from home).
When one has a close friend in this world, the far ends of heaven are like next door.
(Therefore, when we reach the) fork in the road (where we must part), let us not exchange kerchiefs moistened (with tears like) women and children.

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The second poem for this week is by 陈子昂, and is about feeling lonely when reflecting over how short a human life is in the great expanse of history. 

登幽州台歌
〖唐〗陈子昂
前不见古人，后不见来者。
念天地之悠悠，独怆然而涕下！

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