Reply to Wang Anshi,Former Prime Minister
- Poetry of Su Shi
《次荆公韵》This is a set of four seven-character quatrains composed in the autumn of the 7th year of the Yuanfeng reign (1084) by Su Shi, a preeminent man of letters of the Northern Song Dynasty. Crafted when Su Shi passed through Jinling on his way to Ruzhou, these poems were written as responsory verses exchanged with Wang Anshi, who had retired to this place. Though the two once stood opposed to each other due to divergent political views, they set aside their differences in their later years and achieved a profound intellectual and poetic rapport through literary exchanges during this meeting.
Riding an ass,I come from afar to visit you,
Still imagining you as healthy as I knew.
You advise me to buy a house at your next gate,
I'd like to follow you,but it is ten years late.
骑驴渺渺入荒陂，想见先生未病时。
劝我试求三亩宅，从公已觉十年迟。
- 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.
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