2-10-Listening Script(1)

Listening script

During the last lecture, we studied Chinese poetry in the Tang Dynasty. To help you review the lesson, we will have a little quiz today. I will tell you three stories about the poets, and read a few short poems in English. I’d like you to tell me: Who are these poets, and what are their poems about?

The first poet is often compared to a literary angel in the Chinese history. He was famous for the extravagant imagination and striking Daoist imagery in his poetry, as well as his great love for liquor. His father was a businessman. When his mother was in the full term of pregnancy, one night in her dream, she saw the star of Venus, shining brightly, thus the parents named their baby after the star Venus. He grew up and was educated differently from other young people of his time. While they worked hard for the imperial examinations, he went up the mountains to seek for the master of Daoism. And he finally found one. He had a particular love for nature. Here’s one of his famous poems. Let me read it for you. The title is Green Mountains.

Why do I live among the green mountains?

I laugh and answer not, my soul is serene;

It dwells in another heaven and earth belonging to no man.

The peach-trees are in flower, and the water flows on.

The poet was a government official for a short while, because he quickly became disappointed, and so he gave it up, and went home.

As legend goes, one night he and his friends were cruising in a boat on a lake drinking. He was intoxicated. He saw the reflection of the full moon on the surface of the lake, and it was so beautiful. He loved the moon so much that he wanted to grab it. Suddenly, he jumped into the lake, trying to scoop it up. With a loud splash it was the end of this famous poet.

The second poet is not as well known as the first one, though, yet his poem is also very famous, and beautiful. There is also an interesting story related to his poem. This story will show how popular poem-writing was in the Tang Dynasty. This poet was a scholar from the Imperial College. One night, when he was taking the boat to Jiu Jiang City, a group of armed robbers suddenly boarded the boat, and shouted lo udly, “Who’s on this boat?” The poet’s servant quickly told them the name of the poet. Upon hearing it, the gang leader bowed and asked to confirm if he was the famous poet from the Imperial College. When he got confirmed, he said, “We’ve heard that he writes very good poems. We’ll not rob you. We just like him to write us a poem. It w ill be more precious than any material wealth.” So the poet wrote a poem with the brush pen on the spot. Here’s the poem. Let me read it for you. The title is Midnight Guests at Overnight Stay at Jing Lan Sha.

The evening rain is pouring.

Travelling on the river to the village,

Heroes from the green forest heard of it, and came to visit me.

“No need to avoid me if we meet again in the future.

Half of the people in the world are gentlemen.”

Receiving this poem, the gang leader was overjoyed, and left many gifts to this poet. Amazingly fifty years later, a scholar met a wealthy man called Wei Simin, an elder gentleman in Guang Dong Province. They had good time drinking wine and talking about poetry one evening at Wei Simin’s mansion. When the scholar recited the poem that was written about fifty years ago,

Wei Simin became very excited. He said that he was a robber fifty years ago. But one night he met the poet who treated him as a friend. The poet even wrote him a poem. Ever since then, Wei Simin said he had given up his evil way, and returned to being a good person. He said that he would never forget the poet’s kindness.

The third poet I’m going to tell you is also very unique. He failed many times in the famous Imperial examinations, and thus missed opportunities to become an official. But one day, he wrote a poem about an old custom called “Han Shi Jie”, meaning the day of eating cold food. According to the law of the Tang Dynasty, families should not make fire on this day to cook warm meals. The only exception was the emperor and his favored officials. Each year on this day, the emperor would send horses to pass candles out to the houses of his favored officials so that in the evening, they could make a fire to cook a warm dinner. This social inequality was reflected in his poem. Let me read it for you. The title is The Day of No Fire.

The spring flowers are abloom about in every corner of the city,

On The Day of No Fire, an eastern wind bends willows in the imperial garden,

At dusk candles are passed out in the Han palace,

Their thin smoke swims into homes of five lords.

The reference to the Han palace in this poem is an indirect criticism of the Tang emperor. One day, the emperor read this poem, and his Majesty was so impressed that he appointed the poet to be an official to draft edicts.Thus the poet became an emperor’s secretary after his poem was recognized.

Original versions of the poems in Chinese

《山中问答》(Green Mountains)

(唐)李白

问余何意栖碧山,

笑而不答心自闲。

桃花流水杳然去,

别有天地非人间。

《井栏砂宿遇夜客》

(Midnight Guests at Overnight Stay at Jing Lan Sha)

(唐)李涉

暮雨潇潇江上村,

绿林豪客夜知闻。

他时不用逃名姓,

世上如今半是君。

《寒食》(The Day of No Fire)

(唐)韩翃

春城无处不飞花,

寒食东风御柳斜。

日暮汉宫传蜡烛,

轻烟散入五侯家。