High Táng Poetry

The Common Faithfulness of Intellectuals

• A gentleman will die for the patron who

recognizes his worth (bosom friend; confidant)
• Always solitary and desolate
e.g. Qū Yuán “líSāo” ,
Ruăn jí “Songs of my Cares,
“Nineteen Old Poems” ,
Táo qián “An Account of Peach Blossom
Spring” ,
lǐ bái “Bring In the Wine” …
Written Crossing the Yellow River to Qing-he
~Wang Wei

The boat set sail upon the great river

whose swollen waters stretched to sky’s edge.
Sky and waves split apart suddenly—
the district capital’s thousands of homes.
Moving on, I can see the town market
and vaguely make out mulberry and hemp.
I turn to gaze back toward my homeland—
only vast floods that stretch to the clouds.
~translated by Stephen Owen
Yellow River
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 Li Bai “Reverence-Pavilion Mountain, Sitting Alone”

The birds have vanished into deep skies

A last cloud drifts away, all idleness.
Inexhaustible, this mountain and I
gaze at each other, it alone remaining.

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 Drinking Alone under the Moon
A jug of wine amidst the flowers:
Drinking alone, with no friend near.
Raising my cup, I beckon the bright moon;
My shadow included, we’re a party of three.
Although the moon’s unused to drinking
And the shadow only apes my every move
For the moment I’ll just take them as they are,
Enjoying spring when spring is here.
Reeling shadow, swaying moon
Attend my dance and song.
Still sober, we rejoice together;
Drunk, each takes his leave.
To seal forever such unfettered friendship
Let’s rendezvous beyond the Milky Way.
~translated by Bruce M.Wilson
Han-shan: The Master of Cold Mountain
Someone asked me the way to Cold Mountain—
to Cold Mountain no road goes through.
The ice does not melt on summer’s days,
when sun comes out, the fog there glows.
How did someone like me get there? —
my heart is not at all like yours.
If your heart were just like mine,
then you could get there right away.
~XVI, translated by Stephen Owen
Cold Mountain’s Way
I go climbing up the Cold Mountain road,
and Cold Mountain’s paths do not end.
Boulders lie heaped in the long ravines,
broad torrents, and plants in the misty
spray.
Moss, wet and slippery, not due to rain;
the pines make sounds without using wind.
Whoever is able to pass the world’s toils
may sit here with me inside the white
clouds.
~XXXII, translated by Stephen Owen
 Upon Ascending the Parapet at Youzhou
~ Chen Zi-ang(AD659-744)

Youzhou Parapet: Also called Before me, unseen are the

the Golden Parapet, constructed
ancients,
near present-day Beijing by Ji Zhi
In 311 B.C. upon becoming King Behind me, unseen those
of Yan. Here the king placed gold to come.
for wise and talented scholars Thinking of this infinite
who would serve him to claim. It universe
is the absence of this kind of
recognition in his own time that Alone, in my sorrow, I
moves Chen Zi-ang to such shed tears.
sadness.
~translated by Bruce M. Wilson
Upon Ascending the
Parapet at Youzhou ~
Chen Zi-ang(AD659-
744)

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 Frontier Poetry
Frontier poetry describes the natural scenery of
the border areas and reflects the thoughts and
feelings of the soldiers. The Táng Dynasty saw many
years of war against the Huns, and many patriotic
poets went to the frontline and composed frontier
poetry. Though sentimental sometimes, these
poems as a whole are bold, unconstrained and
optimistic. The best known frontier poets of the Táng
Dynasty include Gāoshì, Cénsēn, Wángchānglíng,
Wáng Zhihuàn and Wánghàn .
 Liangzhou Lines ~Wang Zhi-huan(688-742)
The Yellow river reaches • Liangzhou Lines: Liangzhou is
high beyond the clouds; present-day Wuwei, a city on the
edge of the desert in Western
Amid the massive Gansu province. The title itself is
mountains lies the one of the Han Music Bureau titles.
• Willow song: A sad tune
solitary silver of a town. traditionally played at parting. As
From a flute the Willow tokens of enduring thought, willow
branches were often presented to
Song wails forth, but those who were departing.
why? • Jade Gata Pass: In Dunhuang,
Gansu province. On the edge of the
Beyond Jade Gate Pass, great desert, this was the gateway
spring winds will never to Central Asia: an unlikely place for
climb. farewells, or willow branches.
 Liàngzhōu Lines ~Wáng Hàn

They are about to drink • Evening Radiance

The finest wine from Evening cups: Carved from
translucent white
Radiance cups,
jade.
When the sudden sounding of • Pipa: Chinese
the pipa urges them forth. instrument.
Don’t scorn them,
They who drunken fall upon
the battlefield:
In ancient days or now, how
many return who go to war?
 To the Frontier as an Envoy ~Wang Wei
En route to the border, my lone carriage • Juyan… Xiao
Passes through the vassal state of Juyan- Pass… Yanran:
A wisp of thatching blown beyond the Han Outposts of
frontier, the empire,
each
A wild goose returning through barbarian increasingly
skies. more remote.
Straight is the lonely line of smoke above The indications
the desert vast, of recent troop
And round, the sun that sets upon the long movements in
river. the last two
Meeting horsemen patrolling the Xiao Pass, lines heighten
the sense of
I learn that the governor general is at desolation and
Yanran. danger.
 A Farewell to Dongda
Gāo Shì (AD704-765)
The white sun setting behind the endless yellow
clouds,
The north wind blows the wild geese flying in
snow flurries.
Do not fear that you will find no friends on the
road ahead,
Your name is known through all the land.
Translated by Yang Liping
 A Song of White Snow for Field-Clerk
Wu Returning to the Capital

• Cén Sēn (AD715-770)

The north wind sweeps the land and breaks the grasses,
August now, but a snow is falling across the Tartar sky.
Like a blast of spring wind in the night,
Thousands of pear trees come into full bloom suddenly.
Translated by Yang Liping
 Leaving the Fortress on a Mission
~Wáng Chānglíng (698-757)

The moon of the Qín Dynasty and the pass of

the Hàn period,
And the troops have not yet returned from a
long march.
But as long as the Winged General defends the
Dragon City,
Not a single Tartar horseman will cross the Yin
Mountains!
Translated by Yang Liping