Yuan Mei: Three Poems

Yuan Mei: Three Poems

Yuan Mei (1716-1799) was one of the few great poet scholars in Qing Dynasty that I love. Whenever poeple talk about Classical Chinese poetry, the names such as LI Po, DU Fu, Bo Juyi, Tao Yuanming, Su Shi would pop up into their minds, and for good reasons, too. For the dynasties that came after the greatest poem dynasty Tang, regulated verse appeared to be in the decline. However, the regulated poetry has always been the most respected genre in China, even with the popularity of lyrics (ci-poem) in Song Dynasty that followed Tang. Yuan Mei's poetry is sometimes very colloquial, and almost every object in the daily life could enter his poetry, such as chopsticks etc. He was influenced by Zen Buddhism, and the following poems may exemplify the point.

　　Passing by

Passing by the Green Creek, by chance,
Where spring water runs through the misty wilderness,
I noticed a fishing rod on the ground
And saw no one around.

　　偶过
偶过青溪上，濛濛野水春。
钓鱼竿在地，不见钓鱼人。

　　偶accidental 过pass by
偶accidental 过pass by青Green溪Creek上over
濛濛misty 野wide 水water 春spring
钓to fish with a hook鱼fish竿rod在 (be/exist) on地ground
不not 见see钓fishing鱼fishing 人man

　　Call on someone
That night, I tried to call on someone
in the mountain, under the thick moonlight.
I knocked on the gate,
no one seemed to be alarmed,
and only a crane answered.

　　访客
夜访山中客，濛濛月色凝。
敲门人未觉，仙鹤一声应。

　　访visit客guest
夜night访visit山mountain中amid客guest
濛濛misty月moon色color凝thickening
敲know门gate人man未not yet觉sense
仙immortal鹤crane一one 声sound应respond


　　The Window Pushed Open
All the night, rain and wind are charging hard,
And my brushwood door has been shut tight.
The mountain must have been missing me for too long,
For it pushes open the window, coming at my face.

　　推窗
连宵风雨恶，蓬户不轻开。
山似相思久，推窗扑面来。

　　推push窗window
连link宵night风wind雨rain恶evil
蓬brushwood户door不not轻easily开open
山mountain似seem相思miss/long for久long
推push窗window扑throw at面face来come