定 風 波 蘇軾
三月七日, 沙湖道中遇雨, 雨具先去;
同行皆狼狽, 余獨不覺, 已而遂晴,
故作此詞.
莫聽穿林打葉聲,
何妨吟嘯且徐行.
竹杖芒鞋輕勝馬,
誰怕?
一蓑煙雨任平生.
料峭春風吹酒醒,
微冷.
山頭斜照卻相迎.
回首向來蕭瑟處,
歸去.
也無風雨也無晴.
Although this poem is what the poet 蘇軾 depicted his life experience,
I believe it also more or less reflects most peoples' life stories as well,
or at least pretty much tells mine.
When I first read this poem in the college, I practically did not recognize
the message 蘇軾 had tried to convey other than that I only found the
wordings were super and graceful. I particularly like the last phrase
"也無風雨也無晴", which was what I had always hoped for during my high
school and college years, as well as the years after coming to the US.
Now by looking back, I feel lucky that I did not have to encounter too much
of the "風" and "雨", although my life has not necessarily always been "晴"
over the years. I hope "也無風雨" will continue to be the case for me for the
rest of my life.
Yeh Tze
I think Mr. Dong PO also said : " I wish my son would be stupid and unrefined, and advance to high-official ranks without hazards and difficulties." Is it the same philosophy implied in the poem?
ReplyDeletetl
Well, there's a big difference between Yeh Tze and Su Tze. Su suffered many life's tribulations, including banishment, imprisonment, even with threat of a death sentence. Compared with him, we (including Yeh Tze) are all very lucky. While we have never seen any really serious winds and rains, his "也無風雨也無晴" was said after experiencing the worst storms. No wonder he said: 人皆養子望聰明，我被聰明誤一生。 唯願孩兒愚且魯，無災無難到公卿。
ReplyDeleteThanks all for the comments.
ReplyDeleteObviously I underestimated his real bitter experience. However, in this poem, he seemed to downplay his own sadness and look up the bright side.
Yeh Tze
There are times I think no matter how we downplay it, there is still bitterness
ReplyDeleteted
[Choo] 詞is not a poem. It is a lyric of a song.
ReplyDeleteIt takes both a tune [Melody] and one or more lyric to make a song.
JZWC
I agree that 詞 is not a poem.
ReplyDeleteWe use poem to refer to 詩, but there appear to have no appropriate single English word for 詞.
Perhaps "lyric poetry" is the better words.
May be our classmates such as D.J. or Wei, who have expertise in poetry, can give us some advices.
Yeh Tze
I don't know, and I'm certainly no expert. Both 詩 & 詞 can be lyrical. So I'm not sure about the term "lyric poetry".
ReplyDelete詞 was originally songs, but since the music part has been lost for most 詞, it's probably not very different from 詩 now, except for the style. Yeh Tze is right that 詞 are often more lyrical, more romantic and more emotional than 詩, but not in all cases.