2019 推句 37 - 42
Original Script
37.
鳥逐花間蝶이요
鷄爭草中蟲이라.
鳥喧蛇登樹요
犬吠客到門이라.
39.
月到梧桐上이요
風來楊柳邊이라.
群星陣碧天이요
落葉戰秋山이라.
42.
狗走梅花落이요
鷄行竹葉成이라.
竹筍黃犢角이요
蕨芽小兒拳이라.
Translation
Poem 37: Emma
Birds pursue butterflies among flowers
Chickens fight for the insects among the grass
Birds clamor - snake's ascends tree
Dog barks - the visitor arrives at the gate
- Discussion Questions:
Poem 39: Emma
Moon arrives on top of the paulownia tree
The wind comes to the side of the Poplar tree
Groups of stars arrange in the blue sky
The falling leaves battle in the autumn mountains
- Discussion Questions:
(YO) -Odong 梧桐 is generally understood as paulownia tree, though some prefer to call it in the Chinese pronunciation, wutong, as I mentioned in class. This is because there different kinds of trees referred to as 梧桐. To be somewhat more precise, the tree that is now called wutong (or "Chinese parasol tree") in the west is Firmiana simplex and is specifically called pyŏgodong 碧梧桐 ('green odong') in Korea for its green branches. Catalpa tree are also called odong in Korea (kae-odong 개오동), which is in Chinese zitong 梓桐. Ones that belong to Paulownia genus is Paulownia coreana, which as the name suggests is found prominently in Korea and Japan. Firmiana genus is quite different from Paulownia genus, the former belongs to Malvaceae family and the latter to Paulowniaceae (thank you Wikipedia!). All these trees grow in Korea, China, and Japan, called 梧桐 one way or another. Then, how do we translate it?
-楊柳 can be understood as a way to call willow tree. The Bencao gangmu 本草綱目 states that it is a collective name for yangshu 楊樹 (poplar) and liushu 柳樹 (willow) (『楊枝硬而揚起，故謂之楊。柳枝弱而垂流，故謂之柳。蓋一類二種也……又《爾雅》云：‘楊，蒲柳也。旄，澤柳也。檉，河柳也。’觀此，則楊可稱柳，柳亦可稱楊，故今南人猶併稱楊柳。』 ) I think we can assume that it was an old name for willow tree.
-陳 in the first line of the second couplet line is specifically for battle arrays, the same 'war' image as the next line.
Poem 42: Emma
Dog running plum blossoms falling
Chickens walk bamboo leaves are forming
Bamboo shoots are like the horn of the yellow calf
Fern sprouts are like the fist of a small child
- Discussion Questions:
