Seven Poems on Kaiyuan Era: Dancing Horses
- Poetry of Lu Guimeng
Four hundred moon-bred steeds with dragon's grace,
Proudly prance to golden drums with light-foot pace.
As the music ends, they seem to seek king's affection,
Yet dare not neigh when gazing at the crimson mansion.
This poem is part of the Seven Miscellaneous Poems of the Kaiyuan Era, drawing on the Tang Dynasty tradition of "dancing horse" performances. During the Kaiyuan heyday, Emperor Xuanzong indulged in music, women, and luxury, with hundreds of expertly trained "dancing horses" in the court that could dance to musical rhythms to entertain the ruler. Zhang Yue once wrote "Dancing Horse Music of a Thousand Autumns," praising the Kaiyuan dancing horses, but Lu Guimeng, writing in the late Tang, repurposes the theme for critique and satire. In the late Tang, with regional warlords fragmenting the land, eunuchs monopolizing power, and political corruption, literati often adopted a critical stance. In this poem, Lu uses dancing horses as a metaphor for flattering courtiers, exposing the rulers’ extravagance and the subordinates’ servile sycophancy.
月窟龙孙四百蹄，骄骧轻步应金鞞。
曲终似要君王宠，回望红楼不敢嘶。
- Why Chinese poems is so special?
- The most distinctive features of Chinese poetry are: concision- many poems are only four lines, and few are much longer than eight; ambiguity- number, tense and parts of speech are often undetermined, creating particularly rich interpretative possibilities; and structure- most poems follow quite strict formal patterns which have beauty in themselves as well as highlighting meaningful contrasts.
- How to read a Chinese poem?
- Like an English poem, but more so. Everything is there for a reason, so try to find that reason. Think about all the possible connotations, and be aware of the different possibilities of number and tense. Look for contrasts: within lines, between the lines of each couplet and between successive couplets. Above all, don't worry about what the poet meant- find your meaning.