Happy New Year 2016. Today, I am posting my translation of a beautiful little poem by Wang Wei. This poem is a rare "six-character quatrain" 六言絕句 (4 lines of 6 characters each), rare in that practically all classical Chinese quatrains are of five or seven characters. In this poem, Wang Wei has shown that they can be equally, if not more beautiful.
This Wang Wei poem further features “parallel matching lines” 對仗 which is not expected of “quatrains” 絕句 but required of the middle 4 lines (3 and 4, and 5 and 6) of the 8-line “octets” 律詩. As can be seen from my rendition and notes, Wang Wei’s parallelism is thorough and complete. Each line has 3 “2-character phrases” and each such “phrase” in a beginning line finds a perfect match in the succeeding line.
Wang Wei
(701-761): Pastoral Bliss (Wang Chuan Six-Character Quatrain) 6 of 7
1 Peach-blows crimson, bearing the night’s
drizzle drops, they glisten;
2 Willows so green, wearing the morning’s
misty whiffs, they gleam.
3 Petals fallen, the gardener houseboy, his grounds
as yet un-swept;
4 Orioles warbling, this man of the mountains
still lies serene in dream.
Translated
by Andrew W.F. Wong (Huang Hongfa) 譯者: 黄宏發
24th October
2015 (revised 2.11.15; 25.11.15; 27.11.15; 3.12.15; 6.12.15)
Translated
from the original - 王維: 田園樂 (輞川六言) 7首 其6
1 桃紅復含宿雨
2 柳綠更帶朝(春)煙
3 花落家僮未掃
4 鶯啼山客猶眠
Notes:-
*Form,
Metre and Rhyme: This English rendition
is in heptameter (7 feet or beats) while the original is in 6-character
lines. The rhyme scheme is XAXA as in
the original. In classical Chinese
poetry, “6-character quatrains六言絕句 are rare, and Wang Wei is a great
master of the art. This Wang Wei poem further
features “parallel matching lines” 對仗 which is not expected of
“quatrains” 絕句 but required of the middle 4 lines
(3 and 4, and 5 and 6) of the 8-line “octets” 律詩, both
(quatrains and octets) being “regulated verses” 近體詩. As can be seen from my rendition and notes,
Wang Wei’s parallelism is thorough and complete. Each line has 3 “2-character phrases” and
each such “phrase” in a beginning line finds a perfect match in the
succeeding line.
*Lines 1
and 2 (Parallelism): The first and third of the 3 “2-character expressions” in
these 2 lines match perfectly in both the original and my rendition: 桃紅 “Peach blows
crimson” and 宿雨 “the night’s drizzle drops” in line 1 match
perfectly with 柳綠 “Willows so green” and 朝煙 “the morning’s misty whiffs” in line
2. Although I have been able to use the
equally perfect parallels of “bearing … they glisten” in line 1 and “wearing …
they gleam” in line 2 to translate the perfect parallels of 復含 and 更帶 of the original,
I have failed to faithfully translate 復 in line 1 and 更 in line 2 as will be explained in the notes to follow.
*Line 1: 桃 “peach” in 桃紅 refers not to
the plant, nor the fruit, but the flower, and is translated as “peach blows”
which means but, here, sounds better than “blossoms”, “flowers”, or
“blooms”. 紅 “red” is rendered as “crimson”, a purplish
red. According to
in Chinese, the colour of peach flowers “ranges from pale to dark pink or red,
sometimes white 從粉至深粉紅或紅, 有時為白色” while
in English simply says “pink”, but on the web page of
(which sells peach blossom juice) I found they are
“pale pink with a deep magenta center” and magenta or fuchsia, like crimson, is
purplish red. The peach flowers in the
poem must be either paler or darker pink with a crimson core, or simply crimson. 宿雨 “last night’s rain” is rendered as “the night’s
drizzle drops” with “the night” referring to “last night”. 含 “keep in the mouth” or “contain” in 復含is rendered as “bearing”, and 復 “furthermore”
is understood and is not translated.
Instead, I have added “they glisten” (not in the original) at the end to
paint a picture of “crimson peach flowers glistening in last night’s rain drops”
which, in my view, is the image the poet wishes to present.
*Line 2: I
had originally penned “Willows verdant” to translate 柳綠 “willows, green” but have decided
for “Willows so/new green” in order to capture the “ee” sound in “green” to go
with “gleam” at the end of the line. 朝 “morning” in 朝(春)煙 is preferred over 春 “spring” as (a) with peach flowers and mists,
spring is obvious without having to mention it, and (b) 朝 “this morning” is
a better match word for 宿 “last night” in line 1. 煙 “smoke” here means “mist” or, better,
“smoke-like mists” and 朝煙 is therefore rendered as “the
morning’s misty whiffs” to match “the night’s drizzle drops” in line 1. 帶 ”carry” in 更帶 is rendered as “wearing” to parallel
“bearing” in line 1. And 更, like復 in line 1, both meaning
“furthermore”, is understood and not translated, and instead I have added (not
in the original) “they gleam” to parallel “they glisten” in line 1, presenting
a picture of “green willows gleaming through the morning’s whiffs of mist”.
*Lines 3
and 4 (Parallelism): The first and
second of the 3 “2-character expressions” in these 2 lines match perfectly in
both the original and my rendition: 花落 “Petals fallen” and 家僮 “the gardener
houseboy” in line 3 match perfectly with 鶯啼 “Orioles warbling” and 山客 “this man of
the mountains” in line 4. Again, I have
been unable to render equally perfectly the third matching pair, i.e. 未掃 “his grounds as yet un-swept” in line 3 and 猶眠 “still lies serene in dream” in line
4 as will be explained in the notes to follow.
*Line 3: I have translated 花 “flower” 落 “fallen” as “Petals fallen”. 家僮 is rendered as “the gardener
houseboy” to make clear this is the houseboy whose duties include the sweeping
of the fallen petals in the grounds. 未掃 “not yet swept”
is rendered as “his grounds as yet un-swept”, with “his grounds” (not in the
original) added for the same reason as adding “gardener” to “houseboy” and in
order for the line to make sense. As alternatives to the use of “un-swept”
which is unorthodox, I had considered “… awaits a/his sweeping” and “… yet to
be swept” but have decided for “… as yet un-swept” which is the closest to the
original.
*Line
4: For 啼 “crow, twitter, trill or sing” in 鶯啼, I have chosen “warbling” over “trilling” as the latter is too shrill
and noisy, quite out of place in a scene so still, calm and serene. 客 in 山客 “mountain, and guest” should be
understood not as “guest” or “visitor” but as simply “man” 人 as in 劍客 “swordsman” and
政客 “politician”; and山客 must, therefore, be 山人 not “mountain man” but “man who
lives in the mountains away from the community” or “recluse, hermit”. I had originally penned “mountain recluse/hermit”
but have decided for “man of the mountains” being the closest to the
original. As 山客 here
ambiguously refers to the poet himself, I have chosen to render it as “this
(and not, the) man of the mountains” making it possible for one to picture the
poet pointing to himself when saying “this”.
猶眠 “still sleeping/asleep” is rendered as “still lies serene in dream” with
“serene” (not in the original) added to make 7 beats, consistent with the other
3 lines and, seriously, to avoid an abrupt and possibly misleading ending. I had considered “idly, at ease, easy” but
have decided for “serene”.
*Lines 2
and 4 (End Rhyme): I had originally
penned line 2 as “drooping in the morning’s mists, they seem to weep” to end
rhyme with “… still lies serene asleep” in line 4. I justified my addition of the idea of “weep”
(not in the original) and said in my original notes:- to present a picture of
green willows drooping as if weeping in the morning mist, “weeping willow” 垂柳 (mistakenly named “salix babylonica” or Babylon willow) being native to
and widely cultivated in China. I have
now decided to drop the idea of “weep” which can paint a totally different
picture, and to add, instead, “gleam” to better parallel “glisten” in line 1. For the end rhyme in line 4, I have now
penned “in dream” 夢 which is equivalent in meaning to “asleep” 眠 and, hence, “… still lies serene in dream” in line 4 to end rhyme with “…
the morning’s misty whiffs, they gleam” in line 2.