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羆罩ュ肢 jin鼻 pn d炭 b湛 x炭n hu
t叩ng 鐚618-907鐚
d湛 f 鐚712-770鐚
藥紲絎区掩察莵 hu叩n鼻 s狸 ni叩n鼻 ji hu mn x朝,
灸球篏 qin du wn du y zh朝 d朝
菴 li炭 li叩n x狸 di辿 sh鱈 sh鱈 w鐚
紲ｺ井医 z狸 zi jio y朝n鼻 qi qi t鱈
藥紲絎区掩察莵 hu叩n鼻 s狸 ni叩n鼻 ji hu mn x朝,
灸球篏 qin du wn du y zh朝 d朝
菴 li炭 li叩n x狸 di辿 sh鱈 sh鱈 w鐚
紲ｺ井医 z狸 zi jio y朝n鼻 qi qi t鱈
|#|Finding Flowers Alone by the River
By Du Fu(712-770)
Tang Dynasty (618-097)
Ms. Huang Si's path is covered with blossoms,
Numerous flowers are bending the branches low.
Playful butterflies are dancing, unwilling to leave,
Carefree cute birds are singing qia qia.
Ms. Huang Si's path is covered with blossoms,
Numerous flowers are bending the branches low.
Playful butterflies are dancing, unwilling to leave,
Carefree cute birds are singing qia qia.
|#|Du Fu d湛 f(712-770) was born in today's Henan province during Tang Dynasty (618-907). He is one of the greatest poets in the history of Chinese poetry.
Du Fu had a very good home education; he had been writing poetry since he was 5 and started to learn Chinese calligraphy when he was 9. He communicated with adults through poetry from the age of 15 or 16.
His first travels were in Wu and Yuetoday's Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces and he knew another equally great poet of Tang DynastyLi Bai at the age of about 20. At that time, his poems were very positive and full of dreams.
When he was 22 years old, he failed in the imperial examinations but he stayed in the capital Chang'an cityToday's Xi'an for about 10 years, living a very poor life, and he got to know much about the lives of common people. His poetry entered into a new phase, that was Realism.
As a follower of Confucian philosophy, Du Fu cared for the future and fate of the country and he wished to have an opportunity to work for the country;however, it wasn't until he was 44 years old did he have the opportunity to become an officer.
In 755, the Rebellion of An and Shi led the country into a civil war lasting for about 8 years. During that time, Du Fu became a fugitive,experienced a harder and poorer life and his poetry reached its highest peak.In 770, when he was 58 years old and on his way back to his hometown, Du Fu died on a boat.
Du Fu experienced the decline of the Tang Dynasty from its most prosperous times and his poetry reflected the whole of this process, so people said his poetry was Poetry of Historic Significance. Meanwhile, he developed the traditional Chinese poetry forms.Either long or short poems, he could write them excellently.
Du Fu's poetry has been influential among poets for about 1,200 years.There are about 1,400 of his poems still in existence.
|#||#|This poem was written in 761.After experiencing the hardship in the Rebellion of An and Shi(755-763) which started in Central China, Du Fu went to Chen鼻du, Sichuan,where he built a thatched cottage by a stream in the Western Suburbs of Chengdu so that he had a resting place temporarily. With an easy heart, he walked by the river, enjoying the beauty of flowers in the warm spring, and then he wrote seven poems of Qi Jue鐚筝膸鐚 (a four?line poem with seven characters each line and a strict tonal pattern and rhyming scheme).
Jiang Pan Du Bu Xun Hua is the 6th poem of the group of Qi Jue.
The first two lines: 藥紲絎区掩察莵,灸球篏(Hu叩n鼻 S狸 ni叩n鼻 ji hu mn x朝, qin du wn du y zh朝 d朝)Ms. Huang Si' s path is covered with blossoms,numerous flowers are bending the branches low .
The first line writes about the place where the poet found the flowers. They are just on the road by Ms. Huang Si's house and have covered the road already. The second line describes how the flowers are big and many. they are tier upon tier, so that they have bent the branches low.Both of the two lines emphasize the flowers' quantity and size,and they have covered the road and bent the branches.
The last two lines:菴, 紲ｺ井医(li炭 li叩n x狸 di辿 sh鱈 sh鱈 w, z狸 zi jio 鐔朝鐔ﾉ qi qi t鱈)Playful butterflies are dancing, unwilling to leave, carefree cute birds are singing qia qia" .
They have attracted the butterflies 菴鐔鐔炭 鐔鐔叩鐔lingering and dancing over them, not wanting to leave; they fascinated the yellow birds singing among or over them.
By writing about the actions of the butterflies and the sounds of the birds,the poet hints to us how beautiful the flowers are!
The phrase 鐔鐔鱈 鐔鐔鱈 鐔often dance writes about how the butterflies dance; and 井'鐔鐔 鐔鐔 鐔鱈sing qia qia' writes what the birds sing, with the visual language, and helps us see a beautiful view,smell the fragrance of the flowers,listen tothe wonderful sounds and feel the emotion of happiness. These not only endue the little poem with a dynamic feeling, but also give the poem a very bright and fluent rhythm.
Because the poet himself was happy at the time to find the flowers, he felt everything in the happiness, the lovely butterflies dancing for him and carefree cute yellow birds singing for him.
Through empathizing the poet's feeling towards the butterflies and birds, endowing them with human feelings, this poem blends the object and subject, natural scenery and human feeling together, and creates its own artistic result, brings us to the little path of 1,250 years ago, helps us to enjoy the beautiful natural scenery as well as shares the poet's feeling of delight.
|#|Projecting the poet's happy feelings onto the natural things that he was writing about is the main characteristic of this poem.
The transfer of the human feeling to some object, can help us create some wonderful art work, such as this poem. However, in the real world,we should never bring any personal feeling into work. Especially,we should not transfer any bad emotion into management art.
Years ago, a friend gave up her opportunity to study abroad, because she wanted to do her best for the company that she had given her best time to. Instead of going to the consulate to get her visa at the appointed time, she wrote a work report over several weekends and many nights. With an excited heart, she gave her report to her boss on the Monday morning. Instead of getting any appreciation, her boss frowned. With so much surprise, disappointment and frustration, she re?made the appointment at the consulate, got her visa and left for the other side of the ocean.
Later, her boss apologized to her and explained that he had been in big trouble that day, so that he could not help losing his temper with the one who entered his office first. However, things could not be retrieved.
Transfering feeling is a good method in art creation;but it is not a good thing to take personal feeling to work. Do you agree?
To this day, I still remember how I recited this poem with an enjoyable heart on a little path in the campus of my first university on a sunny morning. Then I translated this poem into English and created a piece of music for it in 2006. Since then, I have created more than 10 paintings for it. But now, I would like to show you the last one that is my assignment at Chinese National Academy of Arts in 2012. I do hope my effort will be of some help for you in learning Chinese language and culture.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please write to shirley@ebridge.cn.
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