2019 推句 18 - 22

Original Script

::: 推句 :::

18.

耕田埋春色이요

汲水斗月光이라.

西亭江上月이요

東閣雪中梅라.

19.

飮酒人顔赤이요

食草馬口靑이라.

白酒紅人面이요

黃金黑吏心이라.

22.

花落憐不掃요

月明愛無眠이라.

月作雲間鏡이요

風爲竹裡琴이라.

Translation

Poem 18: Nadia Arzberger

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Ploughing fields, burying the spring colors
Drawing water, ladling the moonlight
West pavilion, moon above the river
East chamber, plum flowers in the middle of the snow

• Discussion Questions:

Q1: As discussed in class, should 亭 and 閣 both be translated as pavilion or should one of them be called chamber?
Q2: Also as discussed in class, we put a more positive spin/beautiful spin on burying spring colors and ladling the moonlight but could this also be taken as more negatively? Such as they are destroying by burying the spring colors and when you ladle water, doesn't it disrupts the reflection?

Poem 19: Canan

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[By] drinking wine, people's faces getting red

[By] eating grass, horse's mouths getting green

White wine redens people's faces [makes people's faces red]

Gold blackens people's minds [makes people's minds black]

• Discussion Questions:

Which 'right' translation is there for 酒?

Poem 19: I. Yi

Drinking wine, a person’s face reddens

Eating grass, the horse's mouth becomes green

White wine reddens a person's face

Yellow gold blackens an official’s heart

Discussion questions: Canan, good work on your translation. I believe I was also assigned poem 19, so am translating it below yours. In translating 心, I see you chose "minds" here, and I chose "heart." I think it can work both ways-- I decided on heart here in part because we normally think of the heart as being red, the color of blood. Two of the lines above stress the color red, so I wonder if the poet (or person who combined the couplets) was thinking of using the effect of turning red to black.

Poem 22: Canan

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Blossoms fall, [so] sad can not sweep

Moon shines, [so] proud can not fall asleep

Moon becomes a mirror between clouds

Wind becomes a zither inside a bamboo grove

• Discussion Questions: