10
votes
Accepted
What does 荠麦之茂，荠麦之有 in 《猗兰操》 mean? 韩愈《猗兰操》“荠麦之茂，荠麦之有”一句作何解释？
薺麥之茂，薺麥之有。
薺麥之茂生，薺麥之因有。
薺麥之茂生，因薺麥之有。
薺麥茂於雪霜之時，乃因薺麥之內有。
薺麥能茂生於雪霜之時，乃因薺麥之內在本有。
The buckwheat(?) can grow well in the snow because of its inherent ability.
君子之傷，君子之守。
君子之傷厄，君子之見守。
君子之傷厄，見君子之守。
君子居於艱難之境，...
- 1,404
8
votes
Accepted
Original Chinese version of the mango poem
This poem came from Page 6 of Renmin Ribao (Aug 10, 1968). The title was "金色的芒果" (Golden Mango) and the author was 鼓兵. The bold lines denote the cited part.
金色的芒果
鼓兵
首都工农毛泽东思想宣传队的同志们，...
- 6,043
8
votes
Pronunciation of Tang Dynasty Poetry
well, this answer is "limited" only, in relation to poetry in 唐 dynasty & cantonese.
1 cantonese (and several southern dialects/languages) is highly correlated to middle chinese, which was ...
- 14.3k
6
votes
Pronunciation of Tang Dynasty Poetry
This is incorrect. Cantonese is a modern language just like Mandarin, English and every single other modern language is.
Exactly speaking, Tang Dynasty poetry were pronounced back then in Tang ...
- 378
6
votes
Accepted
What does the phrase "足矣" mean?
足矣 means (lucky) enough.
So the whole sentence means:
knowing a person who understand you (soul mate? I think) in one's life is enough.
Implicit meaning: many people won't have even one soul mate ...
- 1,225
6
votes
Tao Yuanming Poem
Understand what kind of people Tao Yuanming was would help you understand his poem.
Tao Yuanming was a solitary. He spent his whole life to practice his creed －－ “不为五斗米折腰”，Never bow down for five ...
- 1,307
6
votes
Chinese poems that rely not on rhymes but similarity or relationship of characters?
同旁詩、聯邊詩
All characters in each verse share the same radical.
Examples:
黃庭堅《戲題》
逍遙近道邊，憩息慰憊懣。晴暉時晦明，謔語諧讜論。草萊荒蒙蘢，室屋壅塵坌。僮僕侍偪側，涇渭清濁混。
辶辶辶辶辶，心心心心心。日日日日日，訁訁訁訁訁。艹艹艹艹艹，土土土土土。亻亻亻亻亻，氵氵氵氵氵。
黃庭堅《少女遊春》
楊柳枝枝柔，鸝鳴鴛鴦鳧。...
- 798
5
votes
Accepted
Tao Yuanming Poem
i would suggest:
if one's mind (心) is isolated (遠), one's physical location (地) would automatically (自) becomes remote (偏)
- 14.3k
5
votes
Accepted
Why Have Modern *duilian*'s become 成语+3 Random Characters?
This observation is merely coincidental. The first 4 characters need not come from classical Chinese idiom (成語), and the remaining 3 are by no means random.
Couplet (Duilian) has specific rules. The ...
- 462
5
votes
Accepted
What do the Symbols ◒ and ◓ Signify In Old Chinese Poetry Books?
Seems to be 清浊音, with ◒、◓ representing 次清、次浊. There are no tones in old Chinese, so it can't be 平／仄, but the way the tones emerged can well be heavily related to the voice of the consonant.
- 856
5
votes
Pronunciation of Tang Dynasty Poetry
水巷孑蠻 and Rethliopuks gave quite a lot of details. But this does not address quite right to the question.
Read the origin question:
"It was related to me that Tang Dynasty poetry is meant to be ...
- 1,994
5
votes
Does anyone know this Chinese poem?
The poem you are quoting is 前赤壁赋 by 苏轼，and indeed, it is one of the best 赋 in Chinese history.
The part you have in the post is
客亦知夫水与月乎？逝者如斯，而未尝往也，盈虚者如彼，而卒莫消长也。盖将自其变者而观之，则天地曾不能以一瞬，自其不变者而观之，...
- 3,079
4
votes
Accepted
What does 惟覺 mean here?
I think 無情 is not "unconcerned", especially with the 總 there; more like "as if there had never been anything between us" (好像我們彼此從來沒有過半分戀情)
惟覺 = 只覺，但覺 etc.
It's a little bit like German doch, ...
- 4,335
4
votes
Accepted
Rhyme and tones
Traditional Chinese poems involve some complicated concepts, which can be written for a big book. In general, both sound of syllables and tones concern.
But it could be very different from modern ...
- 1,083
4
votes
What does the phrase "足矣" mean?
How about '在世界上有一个好朋友够了‘？ Although it seems 知己 does not exactly match 好朋友
The sentence is actually 人生得一知己足矣，斯世，当同怀视之
Got this from 百度：
The phrase was written by 鲁迅 for 瞿秋白。Its meaning is:
...
- 16.3k
4
votes
How to interpret the oracle poem (諸葛武侯乩文)?
in the year 1933, a taoist style planchette writing (扶乩) was done at 蓬瀛仙館, in hong kong; for the purpose of asking divine revelation.
the poem contained two parts, part i:
天數茫茫不可知．鸞台暫說各生知
世界干戈終爆發．...
- 14.3k
4
votes
Accepted
Ten obligations in 三字经
the trimetrical classic (三字經) is extracted from ancient confucianism literatures, in three characters verses.
the eight verses in question are derived from 禮記 禮運
父慈．子孝．兄良．弟弟．夫義．婦聽．長惠．幼順．君仁．臣忠十者．...
- 14.3k
4
votes
How is my understanding of 李白’s poem 《闻王昌龄左迁龙标遥有此寄》?
I think you get the gist, so just to explain the third verse a little further：
寄：Instead of "send", are you familiar with the word 寄托？It means "entrust to the care of/leave with/place ...
- 907
3
votes
What are the rules of writing a 对联 (chinese couplet)?
The 平仄 rhythmic system has been destroyed in Mandarin. You cannot figure out the 平仄 rhythmic system in Mandarin.
If you speak non-Mandarin Chinese, e.g. Cantonese, Hokkien, Teochew, Hokchew, Hakka, ...
- 1,807
3
votes
Accepted
"There was no attitude of poverty in his poetry" 絶無窮態
穷 shouldn't be taken literally as poverty, instead, it is figurative exhaustion of one's talent; reaching the limit of one's capability. Also I am not sure 振 necessarily means becoming well-known, it ...
- 14.9k
3
votes
Poem "口占" by 區越
共酌小亭下 means: " drink together under a small pavilion"
(1.)(2.) It is not '詩新酒.' It is '詩新(poem is new) 酒倍濃(wine is doubly strong) '
In modern Chinese an adjective precedes a noun,
probably in Ming ...
- 74.1k
3
votes
What rules are there for combining characters in couplets? (对联)
The general rule is simple, you just need to make sure the type of characters in same position be the same. But in good couplets characters need to be filtered carefully to make it poetic.
for ...
- 31
3
votes
Accepted
How would you interpret: "你的美如日; 你的智若猫头鹰"?
i would suggest:
其妍也﹒如冬之日﹒和煦可人
其智也﹒若夜之鴞﹒慎默覃思
here's a brief explanation:
his/her's beauty (妍), is like (如) the winter sun (冬之日), warm (和煦) & pleasant (可人)
his/her's wisdom (智), is like (若) an ...
- 14.3k
3
votes
Accepted
Names for forms of ancient poetry
Sources: this short article, another blog post, and iChaCha.
Sapphic stanza = 萨福诗律 or 莎孚诗选
Alcaic = 阿尔凯
glyconic = 格莱坎诗体
asclepiad = 阿斯克莱皮亚底斯(诗体) [in most online dictionaries it simply gets ...
- 6,218
3
votes
Meaning of 纷纷 (fēnfēn) referred to 雨 (yǔ)
Baidu Baike's page on 清明 has a vernacular translation of the line:
清明时节雨纷纷
which goes:
江南清明时节细雨纷纷飘洒
Here 雨纷纷 has been rendered as 细雨纷纷.
细雨纷纷 is defined in ABC as:
a steady fall of ...
Mou某♦
- 35.4k
3
votes
translation of text and seals on painting (Poet identified: Pu Ru 溥儒)
井・飛影露走・
閒坐階前為有情
萬里碧空雲似錦
月・團扇不分明
茗函冷澀石生斑
苦竹・・・檻間
扇影生寒消月魄
・聲邊・成雲山
・・・影玉西沉
落・江上變秋音
誰知錦瑟・・然
玉露微霜正傷・
結合畫面來看，是思歸之詩。秋仲，霜降露結之日，月朧雲疏之時，少婦執團扇，捧香茗，倚坐石邊階前，是“為有情”也。至月沉日更，霜已成露，沸茶作冰，不知何處秋音自起，再添神傷。
（...
- 3,091
3
votes
Accepted
What rhyme groups had "light" labial initials (輕唇音) such as 非 in the Yunjing (韻鏡)?
The following answer is a translation and summary from Lin (2013:6-8). This also serves to supplement C.K.'s observation.
Rhymes placed in grade III include eight chongniu rhymes (重紐八韻), ten ...
- 5,565
3
votes
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?
We call it 单押 in Chinese，which means that sentences have the same or similar vowels between sentences. The end of each sentence has the same vowel. It's a type of rhyme scheme，not a type of music ...
- 61
3
votes
Accepted
临江仙 rhyming and translation of phrase
前后阕各三平韵，一韵到底
You are exactly right. This means both the first stanza (前阙 or 上阕) and the second stanza (后阙 or 下阙) has three rhymes, each of them a level tone, and the entire poem uses the exact same ...
- 46
3
votes
Please help me translate the poem on my dizia into english
It is a poem by 杜牧 (DU Mu)
Title: 將赴吳興登樂遊原
清時有味是無能，閒愛孤雲靜愛僧。
欲把一麾江海去，樂遊原上望昭陵。
Author: 杜牧
289 杜牧 – 將赴吳興登樂遊原 (DU Mu – Mounting the Leyou Tombs Before Departing for Wuxing)
English Translation﹕
Only ...
- 74.1k
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