English Rendering
Your seven strings are like the voice
Of a cold wind in the pines,
Singing old beloved songs
Which no one cares for any more.
On Hearing a Lute-player
- Poetry of Liu Changqing
《听弹琴》#Solitary Refinement #Music #Neglect
Original Text (中文原文)
泠泠七弦上，静听松风寒。
古调虽自爱，今人多不弹。
Analysis & Context
Five-character-quatrain
Composed during the mid-Tang Dynasty, this concise poem by Liu Changqing expresses his solitary refinement through the metaphor of guqin music. As courtly music declined and banquet tunes gained popularity during this period, traditional instruments like the seven-stringed guqin fell into neglect.
Reader's Companion
The Essence of the Verse
Classical Chinese poetry thrives on Concision and Ambiguity. Without tense or number, the words create a timeless space where the reader becomes the co-creator of the poem's meaning.
Reading Between the Lines
Look for Contrasts: light and shadow, movement and stillness. Don't just translate the words; feel the Yijing (artistic conception) that lingers long after the last character.
- Seeking Shelter During a Snowstorm on Furong Mountain
- Farewell To a Buddhist Monk
- On Hearing a Lute-player
- On Parting With the Buddhist Pilgrim Ling Che
- An Evening View of the City of Youzhou After Coming From Hankou to Parrot Island a Poem Sent to My Friend Governor Yuan
- On Passing Jia Yi's House in Changsha
- The Summit Temple
- <Prelude to Water Melody> Sent to Ziyou on Mid-autumn Festival
- Invitation to Wine
- Question and Answer in the Mountains
- Cold sheet
- Coming Home ( Returning Home )
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