Aug 21, 2006

LISTEN TO THE TEXTLISTEN TO SHIRLEY PLAY & SING THE POEM


Hi, friends, have you had the experience that your brain was focused on something so that you forgot to do something that you were doing in your hands? The poem Chun Gui Si -- A Lady's Missing in the Spring by Tang Dynasty (618 - 907) poet Zhang Zhongsu(769 -819) just writes out the similar situation:

It is a day in the spring,
the soft branches of willow are waving in the wind by the city,
The green leaves of mulberry are lush and flourish in the field.
A young lady is carrying her basket,
but she has forgot to pick the mulberry leaves,
she is recalling her husband who came to her dream from Yu Yang last night...

Yu Yang is the name of a county of Tang Dynasty. It was in today's Ji county of Tian Jin City. It was the place that the army of the woman’s husband in.

This poem just expresses a young lady who has thought of her husband in the army in the dream last night, so that she forgot to work in the field.

I like this poem for it has written out one big and three small pictures with a very natural, simple and true language.

Also I like it for it can use some ancient stories in the ancient poems with a very natural way. One is from a poem names Juan Er ? Cocklebur from Shi Jing (century B.C. ? 6 century B. C. ) ? the first Poetry anthology in China, to
express how a woman could not pick her cocklebur full of her basket for she was thinking of someone in the far away. The other is from a poem name Mo Shang Sang ? The Mulberry by the Road from Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-- A.D. 220), to express how a young lady who was picking the mulberry leaves refused the temptation from a high official and be loyal her husband. If you know the ancient poems and the stores, you can feel something much more, otherwise, it is not affected us to enjoy it.   

As usual, I have written a piece of music to match it.

I really hope that my explanation of this poem, music and singing will be a little bit help to you to know more about Chinese culture and to improve your Chinese language level.

MAIN MEANING OF THE POEMLISTEN TO SHIRLEY PLAY & SING THE POEM

A Lady's Missing in the Spring

The soft branches of willow are waving
in the wind by the city,
The green leaves of mulberry are lush and flourish
in the field.
A young lady is carrying her basket,
but she has forgot to pick the mulberry leaves,
she is recalling her husband who came to her dream from Yu Yang last night...


NEW WORDS AND RONUNCIATION :

Please hit any Chinese character that you need help with, to see its Chinese pinyin, pronunciation, and meaning and follow me to read it.


CHINESE CHARACTERS

春闺思

张仲素 （唐）

袅袅城边柳，
青青陌上桑。
提笼忘采叶，
昨夜梦渔阳。


LISTEN TO SHIRLEY PLAY & SING THE POEM :

If you have any questions, comments and suggestions, please write to shirley@ebridge.cn , or shirleyz004@yahoo.com, You are welcome to publish your opinions in Forum For Friends as well.
--Shirley
Written, Sung, Translated and Record on Sun, August 6, 2006