c i P oe t ry : s Hor t s ong ly riC s 255tion. Other conventional elements include the indifference of nature or heaven
(speakers would commonly appeal to Chang’e, the goddess of the moon, for help,
for presumably she would be able to see the absent lover) and the references to the
end of spring and the irretrievable loss of time. The first stanza is entirely devoted
to the subject’s inner speech, while the second introduces natural imagery that is
made to bear the full weight of her emotion. Not only have the blossoms fallen, but
the courtyard is full of them, in a reflection of the speaker’s overwhelming, over-
flowing sense of loss. The spring is described as lonely. Notably absent are details
of the boudoir in which she wakes. Instead, all the imagery suggests the reflection
of her interior thoughts in the exterior world, in another example of the fusion of
feeling and scene.
It is important to note that in the last line, the relationship of heartbreak in the
first two characters with the “fragrant grasses green” is not explicit. As translated
here, the heartbreak applies to the speaker, who sees the grasses, the color of which
reminds her, again, of late spring and hence of the irretrievable loss of time. An-
other translation would be “Heartbroken, the fragrant grasses green,” in which the
emotion is linked more explicitly to the grasses. While in either case the emotion
must ultimately be traced back to the speaker, the poetic effect is quite different.
In Chinese, these phrases can simply be juxtaposed. No decision needs to be made
concerning the attribution of the emotion. This is one of the ubiquitous problems
in the translation of Chinese poetry into English: the translator is often forced to
make a choice one way or the other in order to craft a smooth English line. The same
is true for the choice of pronoun where none is present in the original or for the
choice of verb tense. For the Chinese reader, these details can remain unspecified,
allowing the poem to retain its polysemous and indeterminate, evocative quality.
A similar interior perspective and direct, unornamented style characterize the
ci poems of Li Yu, with whose poem we started this chapter. Li Yu is generally
considered to have been a total failure as a political leader—indeed, some have
suggested that his failure in this arena may have been a prerequisite of sorts for
his accomplishment in the literary arena. The following poem should allow us to
observe how Li Yu takes the genre to a new level of personal expression.
C 1 2. 7
To the Tune “Beautiful Lady Yu”Spring flowers, autumn moon—when will they end?
2 Past affairs—who knows how many?
Last night in the small pavilion the east wind came again.
4 I dare not turn my head toward my homeland in the moonlight.
The inlaid balustrade and jade stairs must still be there
6 —It’s only the youthful faces that have changed.
I ask you, how much sorrow can there be?
8 Just as much as a river full of spring waters, flowing east.
[QTWDC 4.444]