(Zheng [1951] 2003: 22–23)We should be impressed, as Shen Qi æ奇was (Shen 1995: 256–257),
when we take into account that this poem was written before the poet
finished college. The rhythmic and sonic qualities, which we will get to
in a moment, are stunning enough. Equally astonishing is Zheng’s
brief meditation, at the beginning, on the career of the poet himself.
Wondering who it is that bequeaths the poet’s trade chuanxia zhe
shiren de hangye, Zheng likens it to hanging a lantern in the dusk. The
act of hanging a lantern in the coming evening is a futile one: one
lantern cannot illuminate the night. Yet it is a deliberate act. The poet
seeks to brighten the night while acknowledging the futility of it. And
he continues to do it, as is underscored by the repetition of the line
midway through the poem. This reiteration reinforces the lyrical qual-
ity of the poem, but it also implies that the deed is done again and
again. The poet, in other words, is not discouraged by the futility of
his actions. He repeats them regularly, just as he continues to boldly
ply his trade as a poet in the face of the hopelessness of the world and
human existence.
The repetition of key sounds creates balance in the poem and
evokes a sense of rhythm, even though the poem follows no rigid
prosodic rules. The poem is free verse, but in spite of that, it is actu-
ally highly symmetrical. Julie Chiu, in her structuralist analysis of
Zheng’s poetic lines, remarks on the poem’s “metrical harmony”
(Chiu 2005: 198). It is not solely the line lengths that create this
harmony; the choice of diction is as integral to the uniformity as the
lines. In my translation, for example, I attempt to replicate some of
the rhythmic repetition of words such asyou有by using the word
“with” in the five places where youoccurs in the original. The image
of “swapping” in the final line contains two connotations: the sense
of the meaninglessness of a particular direction, and by extension, the
40 Christopher Lupke
Travelers with loneliness
brimming in their eyes
Who is it hanging this lantern?
On the vast uncouth plane,
a misty home
Smiling...
A place with the low song
of pine fire
A place with warming wine
and lamb meat
With people swapping their
itinerant directions
èÑ], sQé朧的ë
ìí著。。。。。。
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有ò酒ó肉的地¶¡
有Põö著Î÷的¶向