Terribly sorry for the delay! Here then, we have one of the most famous poems in the whole Chinese canon, or at least the first verse. Like many poems in the 300 Poems of the Tang (including Zhang Jiuling's Poems of Encountering) it was anthologized only in part, and I imagine there are many who never come across the other verses. This verse, however, stands alone quite well -- enjoy!
月下独酌
花间一壶酒,独酌无相亲。
举杯邀明月,对影成三人。
月既不解饮,影徒随我身。
暂伴月将影,行乐须及春。
我歌月徘徊,我舞影零乱。
醒时同交欢,醉后各分散。
永结无情游,相期邈云汉。
under moon alone drink
flower middle one pot wine, alone drink no mutual dear-friend
raise glass invite bright moon, face shadow become three people
moon since not understanding to-drink, shadow follows follows my body
temporary companion moon and shadow, make merry must up-to spring
I sing moon wavers/moves-back-and-forth, I dance shadow disordered chaotic
sober time with share joy, drunk after each separate scatter
forever bound-together not-limited sentiment wander, together meet far-away Milky Way
_____
Drinking Alone Under the Moon
Among the flowers my jug of wine,
I drink alone without companion
I raise my glass to the bright moon,
facing my shadow we are three
Moon knows not of drink, and
Shadow merely follows my body.
These temporary fellows, Moon and Shadow,
this happiness is made to end like the spring
I sing and Moon wanders
I dance and Shadow shakes
Still sober we are merry together,
though after we have drunk we will separate
Would that I were with you forever, no pain of parting,
together among the faraway stars
Not bad. Except that 醒 and 醉 don't make much sense to translate as "Sober" and "drunk" since the speaker has already been drinking and is presumably at least a little pickled. However, these two adjectival verbs can also be used relatively (i.e. 醒 meaning "less drunk" and 醉 meaning "totally tanked.") More interestingly, however, 醉 in Chinese verse can also describe any state that results from drinking (and I can provide examples if you like) such as a hangover, or more appropriately a blackout. I would therefore suggest that 醒 means something like what "buzzed" means in colloquial English and 醉 describes either a loss of consciousness or something very close to it.
ReplyDeleteFeel free to check out my own (very different) translation of this poem here:
http://poemsintranslation.blogspot.com/2010/11/li-bai-drinking-alone-in-moonlight-from.html
That's a good point about the relative nature of the characters 醒 and 醉. I spent some time thinking about that line for just this reason, because I didn't want to use words from modern English slang like "wasted" or "blacked-out" (which I thought about for 醉) or "conscious" or "awake" for 醒. Eventually I settled on the admittedly easily misinterpreted "sober" because I thought it would be possible to imply with "still sober" that they had been drinking, but were not yet completely gone. "After we have drunk" is supposed to imply "after we have drunk our fill", in other words, after they have had as much as they could possibly -- but of course that could be a pretty strained way of looking at it. I'll think about changing it!
ReplyDeleteI think the much bigger problem with my translation is the way I handled both the 行乐须及春 and 永结无情游. Those are the hardest parts, and I'm pretty unsatisfied with what I have. But I'll post about it soon!
I should say also that the other reason I originally liked "have drunk" for 醉 was precisely that 醉 can refer to such a relatively wide variety of alcohol-induced sensations. What better way to accommodate that possibility for vagueness than by referring in English to the act of drinking, rather than a more specific sensation? The problem with "black out" is that I'm not certain Li Bai is blacking out and not merely ceasing his drinking and stumbling home. I'd love to look up a bunch of uses of 醉 in Tang poetry, but I'm not well-versed enough to do so off the top of my head and I don't have the time right now.
ReplyDeleteSince I've already dug in by pontificating about Zhuangzi, I'll go for it here too. The drunkeneness, the 無情 thing, the wandering and the supernatural craze can all be given a Taoist reading quite easily. Here
ReplyDeleteChapter 19 of Zhuangzi includes the following:
夫醉者之墜車，雖疾不死。骨節與人同，而犯害與人異，其神全也，乘亦不知也，墜亦不知也，死生驚懼不入乎其胷中，是故遻物而不慴。彼得全於酒而猶若是，而況得全於天乎！聖人藏於天，故莫之能傷也。"
Let us take the case of a drunk man falling out of his carriage. Though it may injure him he will not die. His bones and body parts are no different from those of other men, but the injury they sustain very much is: his spirit is one. He had no idea he had gotten into the carriage, and no idea he had fallen from it. Notions of life or death, shock or fear can make no way into him, and thus he can meet danger unafraid. Utterly affected by the ale he has drunk, that is what he's like. So just think how much more this would be the case if he were affected by his celestial essence. The sage keeps concealed within his celestial essence and thus nothing can injure him.
Also, there's this bit from Chapter 6, regarding 無情
惠子謂莊子曰：“人故無情乎？”莊子曰：“然。”惠子曰：“人而無情，何以謂之人？”莊子曰：“道與之貌，天與之形，惡得不謂之人？”惠子曰：“既謂之 人，惡得無情？”莊子曰：“是非吾所謂情也。吾所謂無情者，言人之不以好惡內傷其身，常因自然而不益生也。”惠子曰：“不益生，何以有其身？”莊子曰： “道與之貌，天與之形，無以好惡內傷其身。今子外乎子之神，勞乎子之精，倚樹而吟，據槁梧而瞑。天選子之形，子以堅白鳴！”
Huzi said to Zhuangzi "Can a man really be freed of cares?" Zhuangzi said "Yes." Huizi asked "But by what criteria can you still call him a man, if he is freed of care like that? Zhuangzi said: "The Course gives him countenance, and the Supernal gives him gives him corporeal form, so why wouldn't it be fitting to call him a man?" Huizi responded "Well, since you call him a man, how can he be freed of cares?" Zhuangzi answered: "You misunderstand what I mean by 'cares'. What I mean by being freed of cares is that such a man doesn't wrong his body by his likings or dislikings, that he always goes about his actions naturally, and does not attempt to extend his lifetime." Huizi responded "But for that extension of his life, how could he get the body? " Zhuangzi said the Course gives him countenance, and the Supernal gives him a corporeal form and he doesn't wrong his body by his likings or dislikings. But you deal with your spirit as if it were something outside of you, tasking and taxing your life force. You sing, leaning against a tree; you fall asleep, clasping a rotten parasol tree's husk. The Supernal selected you to be bodied as a man and you just prattle about trifling traits.