How to Read Chinese Poetry A Guided Anthology

374 t He y uan, m i ng, anD q i ng Dy na s t i e s

ten thousand sounds quiet time people thought quiet 萬籟寂時人意靜 (wàn lài jì shí rén yì jìng)
moon move pure shadow onto screen curtain 月移清影上屏幃 (yuè yí qīng yĭng shàng píng wéi)
[Tonal pattern Ia, see p. 172]

The persona in “Recited at Random” expresses a philosophical attitude toward life.

One’s perspectives change, depending on how one looks at phenomena. In the

everyday life of old age, Buddhist practices help one to recognize worldly mistakes

and purify the mind. Gan Lirou turned to spiritual practice as she grew old.

Poetry and the Pleasures of Everyday Life

Poetry as a cultural force indeed pervaded the quotidian life of literate women

and men in the Ming and Qing. This is amply reflected in the large repertory of

poems on the pleasures of everyday life we find in poetry collections from this

period, which offer an uplifting contrast to the poems recording experiences of

violence and disorder examined previously. This chapter concludes, then, with two

poems by women at different ends of the life course that afford some insight into

this ubiquitous dimension of Chinese poetic discourse.

C 1 7. 1 3

On a Summer Day: Dwelling in the Mountains

The hills are quiet, just right for hot weather,

2 Wind through the pines enters into clear dreams.

Rain colors fly across precipitous cliffs,

4 On ancient trees sob the sound of cicadas.

Stitching embroidery has been my lesson in recent years,

6 Watching clouds—sentiments beyond phenomena.

If one does not know that the dusty world is faraway,

8 In vain one will try to prove No Rebirth.

[GGZJ 1.20b]

夏日山居^ (xià rì shān jū)

mountain quiet inclined to suitable hot weather 山靜偏宜暑 (shān jìng piān yí shŭ)
pine wind enter dream pure 松風入夢清 (sōng fēng rù mèng qīng)
precipitous cliff fly rain color 危岩飛雨色 (wēi yán fēi yŭ sè)
ancient tree sob cicada sound 古樹咽蟬聲 (gŭ shù yè chán shēng)
prick embroider year come lesson 刺繡年來課 (cì xiù nián lái kè)
watch cloud thing outside feeling 看雲物外情 (kàn yún wù wài qíng)
not know dust market far 不知塵市遠 (bù zhī chén shì yuăn)
idle to be prove no birth 聊為證無生 (liáo wéi zhèng wú shēng)
[Tonal pattern I, see p. 171]

Judged from the aesthetics of poetic craft, the pentasyllabic regulated poem

“On a Summer Day: Dwelling in the Mountains,” by the young Yan Liu (seven-