Questions tagged [poetry]
Questions concerning the meaning, context, style, or composition of poetry, classical or modern.
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Sense of "The" in Chinese
There is a poem by G.K. Chesterton called "The Silent People". The first line goes like this:
We are the silent people, who have never spoken yet.
A straightforward Chinese rendering could ...
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What is etymology for 俱往矣？
The phrase means “it’s all in the past” and it seems to originate from a book from Mao se dong ?
I’d like to know how is the phrase usually used , is it used in modern speech or only in poetry and ...
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Opinion on Li Quingzhao poem calligraphy effort
I tried to write two lines of Li Quingzhao's poem in semi-cursive, I searched for the hanzis in other calligraphies and that's the first result.
Is it readable? Do the hanzis make sense or I used too ...
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Should I use 她 or 它 for 中国? (and/or other countries)
If you're writing romantically, which of the following is appropriate - 中国/中华, 她 or 它?
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Interpretation of Chun Xiao
This is a cross-post of this Quora space post.
Chinese poem Chūn Xiǎo, by Mèng Hàorán:
春眠不觉晓，
处处闻啼鸟。
夜来风雨声，
花落知多少。
Pinyin:
Chūn mián bù jué xiǎo,
Chùchù wén tí niǎo.
Yè lái fēng yǔ shēng,
Huā luò zhī ...
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Is it possible to understand an ancient poem by hearing only?
On the day of Lantern Festival, a local radio in Nanning, the city where I currently stay, played a show where two hosts read out a poem authored by 杜甫 in Cantonese and in Mandarin respectively in ...
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Song of the River / Why Be Jealous
I have a poem by Li Bai in English translation, from an anthology called The Jade Flute.
The poem is titled Why Be Jealous, but another publication gives it the title Song of the River.
The poem reads:...
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Could someone help me untangle some of the mistranslations in Ezra Pound's 'Exile's Letter'?
Ezra Pound's collection Cathay (1915) brought several of the treasures of Chinese poetry to the attention of the English-speaking world for the first time. Pound's translations are marvellous English ...
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西海 vs 东海 in literature
In Chinese literature, poetry, song, etc. 西海 is used more often than 东海. Is it because 西 in Chinese literature more romantic than 东?
For example if I compose a poem, would it be weird if I use 东海 ...
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不打诗, 朱淑真 (乞望老爷饶恕它)
The poem 不打诗 by 朱淑真 ends with this line:
乞望老爷饶恕它
From a literal reading of this sentence, it is saying something along the lines of "pleading hopefully with the old man to forgive him".
Yet ...
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Can someone help translate the calligraphy in this picture?
This picture was a gift and is supposed to be a poem about the fjords in Hardanger, Norway. If someone could help translate the calligraphy, it would be greatly appreciated!
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What poem of 李太白 was 毛泽东's painting with the title "half sun, half rock" alluding to?
I'm reading the book "Red Star over China" by Edgar Snow. In the autobiography 毛泽东 reported to Snow, in the passage about his teacher's education in a school in 长沙, it is said that he once ...
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Calligraphy is it a poetry
I have a pair of cups ca 40 mm high with a lot of text - is it a poem or just decorative calligraphy? Anybody can help me?
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在《恰似你的溫柔》這首歌歌詞裡面，什麼是「浪花的手」？
歌詞
但願那海風再起
只為那浪花的手
恰似你的溫柔
什麼是「浪花的手」？
我有初步研究過，似是指 海風 ，是只是為了掀起浪花的手，這海風，恰似是你的溫柔。但網上搜查，卻說浪花，恰似是你的溫柔。到底是海風還是浪花，並且加上「浪花的手」，是否有比較確切的意思？
The question in English is, what is "wave / tide bubble hand&...
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A good way to check a character for 平仄格律?
I already have some basic knowledge of this in general, from mandarin and cantonese vocab. However, I am dipping my toes into poetry and thought an actual resource of rhyming for characters would be ...
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Interpreting a line from Li Shangyin -- 鶯花啼又笑
The full poem is as follows:
早起
風露澹清晨
簾間獨起人
鶯花啼又笑
畢竟是誰春
I was discussing this with a friend who speaks Chinese, and they translated this line:
鶯花啼又笑
as "Birds and flowers cry and laugh". ...
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2
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Chinese poems that rely not on rhymes but similarity or relationship of characters?
I have a limited (one year Mandarin) understanding of Chinese. I read that Chinese poetry can rhyme extensively but is there the possibility that a poem might use the appearance of characters or ...
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How is my understanding of 李白’s poem 《闻王昌龄左迁龙标遥有此寄》?
This is a poem by Tang Dynasty poet 李白 in my grade-7 语文 textbook:
《闻王昌龄左迁龙标遥有此寄》，李白
杨花落尽子规啼，
闻道龙标过五溪。
我寄愁心与明月，
随风直到夜郎西。
From what I understand, the poem laments how 李白's friend 王昌龄 has been 左迁 = 降职 =...
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Chinese poem help
Im trying to express these two sentences in Chinese well.
I feel there are many ways I could do this but I want it to sound authentically Chinese.
"...,but I cannot help but love you"
Or
&...
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Please help me translate the poem on my dizia into english
can someone help me translate this poem? Tried google translate but it was a total mess
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临江仙 rhyming and translation of phrase
I was trying to learn more about the opening poem to Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and I found out about 词牌. Correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I understand, 临江仙 is a 词牌, because many poems share ...
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Chinese Verse: Is "Broaden One's Horizons" a Translation That Makes Sense?
Here's the verse in question, the last verse of a Chines language poem:
"如再宽阔些便可知千里阵云怎么写了"
My current translation:
"If you broaden your horizons, you can learn how to write about vast ...
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Chinese Verse about Mountains and Water
I'm translating a collection of Chinese poems, and one of them opens with these three lines:
"山水之间，是说不完的话 / 那山总是高于这山 / 那水又总是低于这水 ."
My current translation goes like this:
"When it comes ...
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Tricky Chinese Poetry Verse About Hotels And Celebrations
In a Chinese poem I'm working on, there's a tricky pair of lines I'm having trouble wrapping my head around:
"在走之前迎春日为由的索菲亚酒店
在伟大的欢歌晚宴上，各自献出绝技
拿出月入十分之一的盈余营造一个盛况"
My translation:
"Before ...
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Chinese Poem Verses About Weapons, Advice, and Israel?
This is an excerpt from the end of a poem I'm working to translate:
以前之前
如风如迷的人与神
温润良言
亦如戈鋋铿锵然
让以色列都复了国
要我度过这长夜
又有何难
And this is my current translation draft.
"Long, long ago/
Like the wind, or ...
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A Chinese Poetic About Understanding the Universe
These are some lines from a verse I was translating:
我傻楞着，不知说的是你
那么要读懂这宇宙，
就只须读懂一个人的眼睛
该是什么样的眼睛
My rough translation:
"Being foolish, I don't get what you're saying,
That those who seek to know ...
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A Chinese Poem About Weather, Crops...And Clipper Ships?
I've been trying to translate passages from a poem about weather and seasons. There's a particularly knotty passage below I'm trying to unravel:
"至于雾水那是亟待被理解的事物
墙面和我的手臂是时间的快船"
My rough ...
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Symbolism Of A Verse From A Chinese Poem
I'm trying to translate a poem with the title "Plum In The Basket". The subject matter of most of the poem revolves around eating plums and plum wine, but the opening line, key to ...
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Is there a word for Chinese songs that rhyme like Jay Chou's 迷迭香 and JJ Lin's 伟大的渺小?
Every single line in Jay Chou's song "Rosemary" ends with the "ao" sound:
ni de zui jiao
wei wei shang qiao
xing gan de wu ke jiu yao
xiang xiang bu dao
ru ci xin tiao
ni de ...
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What rhyme groups had "light" labial initials (輕唇音) such as 非 in the Yunjing (韻鏡)?
This page on "ChinaKnowledge" as well as Pulleyblank's Middle Chinese (published 1984, p.86) say that such rhymes were placed in grade 3 hekou (合口三等) in the standard rhyme tables. However ...
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Is this a valid riddle in Mandarin?
I came up with this 看图猜謎 based on Cantonese jyutping. Is it a valid riddle in Mandarin?
猜一句詩 (guess a verse in a poem)
Answer:
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Which Qing Dynasty Poem/Prose is this?
From A Concise History of Chinese Literature by Yuming Luo, Chapter 18 (Poetry and Prose of the Qing Dynasty), pg. 836, I found this piece of poetry/prose. I don't know if that is the first line or if ...
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translation of text and seals on painting (Poet identified: Pu Ru 溥儒)
its been in the family since the 1950's, I asked a friend but he couldn't read it. also google translate was rubbish. friend said the calligraphy was to hard.
added the very bottom bit
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this mughal jade cup, it's "瓜瓣瓢" or "瓜辨瓢"?
this week, the christie's have an auction of this jade cup:
i suspected this one is the object of emperor 乾隆's poem 痕都斯坦玉羊頭瓜辨瓢歌
my question is:
the poem title is 玉羊頭瓜辨瓢
is it an typo of 瓣?
cause, in ...
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Ten obligations in 三字经
Here's the final excerpt from part one of 三字经 [1]:
父子恩 夫婦從 兄則友 弟則恭 長幼序 友與朋 君則敬 臣則忠 此十義 人所同
Simplified Chinese:
父子恩 夫妇从 兄则友 弟则恭 长幼序 友与朋 君则敬 臣则忠 此十义 人所同
Translation [2]:
...
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Chinese Poem Crossword Puzzle
Hiiiii
Here is a crossword puzzle about Poems!
1: Do you love me?
2: Mid-autumn barbecue
3: Ching Ming so many rain
4: Ghosts come from rain, Emperors come from clouds
5: I want to beat west
6: Eight ...
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Tone 平仄 of the 5th character in a seven-character jueju 七絕
In writing regulated verses 近體詩, there's a saying "一三五不論，二四六分明。" (We don't care the tone 平仄 of the odd-numbered characters in each line, but we care about that of the even-numbered ones.)
However, ...
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Meaning of 纷纷 (fēnfēn) referred to 雨 (yǔ)
In the famous poem "清明" by the Tang dynasty poet 杜牧 (Du Mu), rain 雨 is "纷纷".
As reported by dictionaries, like https://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/dictionary.php , 纷 (fēn) means "numerous; confused; ...
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Does anyone know this Chinese poem?
My friend gave an English translation of this Chinese poem to me long time ago. It was a long poem and it was about two men, talking by the river and enjoying the moon. It contained a phrase, "Have ...
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木兰辞 original poem
I was trying to read the original 木兰辞 poem. But I found two versions of it on the internet.
One line reads:
愿借明驼千里足，送儿还故乡。
In the other version it's:
愿驰千里足，送儿还故乡。
Which one is the original one?
...
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Names for forms of ancient poetry
I am preparing an edition of Sappho in Chinese, and need to mention the various meters she used, because it is according to meter that the fragments are arranged. Do ancient forms of poetry like "...
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How to interpret the oracle poem (諸葛武侯乩文)?
Again, referring to another thread, I made this question, and provided info as an answer.
Have fun destruct character (拆字), or extrasensory perception (觸機) 😸
Here's a version of the oracle poem in ...
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What does this seal stamp on Chinese painting mean?
Is this seal the name of an artist or poet? How can I find him?
Is this translation okay?
Thank you for every answer.
all some seal and looks like ,,Shi Qing´´?
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How would you interpret: "你的美如日; 你的智若猫头鹰"?
How do you interpret the phrase: "你的美如日; 你的智若猫头鹰" (Nǐ dì měi rú rì; nǐ de zhì ruò māotóuyīng in Mandarin)?
I'm trying to say something like: "Your beauty is like the sun; your wisdom is like an owl's"...
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What rules are there for combining characters in couplets? (对联)
So I want to practice writing Chinese couplet poetry. I have been reading about the character count matching in each line, with parallel meanings, etc.
However, my question is, are there limits to ...
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(Well-known) poem request: the wonder/beauty of nature/world/universe
I'm looking for any well-known poem that talks about the beauty or wonder of nature, the world or the universe.
The beginning of《醉翁亭记》isn't a bad place to start.
环滁皆山也。其西南诸峰，林壑尤美，望之蔚然而深秀者，琅琊也。...
Mou某♦
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How to identify rhymes in a Tang poem?
I was reading the following poem by Meng Haoran, whose translation is still troubling me. For a start I thought, I should identify the rhymes.
李氏园林卧疾
唐代：孟浩然
我爱陶家趣，
园林无俗情。
春雷百卉坼，
寒食四邻清。
伏枕嗟公干，
...
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Poem for Calligraphy Art
It maybe very dumb, stupid and unwise that I have an interest in learning to write Chinese calligraphy when I can't write more than hundred Chinese words, but still I always think Chinese calligraphy ...
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Poem "口占" by 區越
I've found this beautiful poem "口占" by 區越 (Ming dynasty) on the internets:
共酌小亭下
詩新酒倍濃
閑花爭兩岸
醉眼不朦朧
I wasn't able to find much information other that that it's from Ming dynasty...
A good ...
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Pronunciation of Tang Dynasty Poetry
It was related to me that Tang Dynasty poetry is meant to be pronounced in the style of the Cantonese dialect. Is this correct, incorrect, or a subject of contention?
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