The Country's Dead (Guoshang)
translated by Ad Blankestijn
a spear of Wu in hand
clad in leather armor
chariots wheelhub to wheelhubthe short arms crossed
banners blocking sunlight
our foes like clouds
arrows fall in swarms
warriors press forward
they break through the lines
they trample the ranks
our left horse falls to the ground
our right horse is badly wounded
we dig in both wheels
tie the team to themgrasp the jade drumsticks
beat the thumping drums
Heaven is against us
the Mighty Ruler is angry
we are killed to the last man
and left on the field
we marched out but won't return
we went forth but won't go home
the plain is wide
the road o so far
a long sword on the belt
a bow from Qin under the arm
the head separated from the trunk
no repentance in the heart
truthfully courageousskilled in martial arts
steadfast to the end
not to be violated
our bodies are dead
but our spirits are superhuman
souls so brave
heroes among the shades
操吳戈兮被犀甲，車錯轂兮短兵接。
旌蔽日兮敵若雲，矢交墜兮士爭先。
凌余陣兮躐余行，左驂殪兮右刃傷。
霾兩輪兮縶四馬，援玉枹兮擊鳴鼓。
天時墜兮威靈怒，嚴殺盡兮棄原壄。
出不入兮往不反，平原忽兮路超遠。
帶長劍兮挾秦弓，首身離兮心不懲。
誠既勇兮又以武，終剛強兮不可凌。
身既死兮神以靈，子魂魄兮為鬼雄。
The Fisherman
After Qu Yuan was banished,
he wandered along rivers and pools,
walked reciting verse at the marsh's edge.
His face was thin,
his body emaciated.
A fisherman caught sight if him and asked:
Are you not among the highest in the land?
What has brought you to this pass?
Qu Yuan answered:
All the world is muddy and I alone am clear,
all men are drunk and I alone am sober.
Therefore I was sent into exile.
The fisherman said:
The sage is not hindered or hampered by his environment,
but is able to adapt to the world.
If all the world is muddy,
then why not poke in the mud and stir up the waves?
If all men are drunk,
why not sip their dregs and swill their lees?
Why get yourself exiled because of your deep thoughts and your fine aspirations?
Qu Yuan replied:
I have heard it said:
he who has just bathed brushes the dust off his cap,
he who has just washed shakes the dirt out of his clothes.
How can I allow my spotless purity to be tainted by the dirt of others?
I'd rather jump into the flowing Xiang River
and be buried in the bellies of fishes,
than hide my shining whiteness in the dust of the world.
The fisherman smiled mockingly,
struck his paddle in the water and made off,
and he sang:
When the water of the wide waves is clear,
then I wash my chin strap in it.
When the water of the wide waves is muddy,
then I wash my feet in it!
Then he disappeared,
without saying anything else.
屈原既放，遊於江潭，行吟澤畔，顏色憔悴，形容枯槁。漁父見而問之曰：
「子非三閭大夫與？何故至於斯！」
屈原曰：「舉世皆濁我獨清，眾人皆醉我獨醒，是以見放！」
漁父曰：「聖人不凝滯於物，而能與世推移。
世人皆濁，何不淈其泥而揚其波？
眾人皆醉，何不餔其糟而歠其釃？
何故深思高舉，自令放為？」
屈原曰：「吾聞之，新沐者必彈冠，新浴者必振衣；
安能以身之察察，受物之汶汶者乎！
寧赴湘流，葬於江魚之腹中。
安能以皓皓之白，而蒙世俗之塵埃乎！」
漁父莞爾而笑，鼓枻而去，乃歌曰：
「滄浪之水清兮，可以濯吾纓。
滄浪之水濁兮，可以濯吾足。」
遂去不復與言。
[Qin dynasty chariot from the Terracotta Army]
The Chuci or Elegies of Chu (China, 2nd c. BCE - 1st c. CE) form an anthology of poems which are qua metrics and content very different from the older Classic of Poetry. Chu was a powerful state with its own culture that grew up on the margins of the Zhou cultural region. When Chu collapsed in the 3rd c. BCE, its culture moved east and later influenced the Western Han dynasty. The oldest stratum in the Chuci consists of late Warring States works from the state of Chu, the newest layer consists of imitations from the Han Dynasty. The Elegies of Chu was compiled and edited by Wang Yi (c. 89-158) and consists of in total 17 sections, several of which contain between seven and eleven
individual pieces.
The most famous poem in the Chuci is Encountering Sorrow, but that is unfortunately too long to quote here. In this work, the (semi-legendary) poet called Qu Yuan (c. 339-278 BCE) complains that, although a high minister and member of the royal house, he has been plotted against by evil factions and slanderers at court (he warned against the aggressive intentions of the state of Qin and history proved him right, as towards the latter years of the 3rd c. BCE Chu was destroyed by Qin). As a result he has been rejected by his lord and twice exiled to wild borderlands. In the end, he commits suicide by drowning himself in a river. Throughout Chinese history, Qu Yuan has therefore been considered as the model of the loyal and righteous but unfairly rejected and misunderstood official - a very important theme in Chinese poetry. The same is true for the images used in the poem: Qu Yuan is compared to a neglected wife and a rejected lover. The poem also contains the description of a shamanistic spirit journey to various mythological realms. Another section in the Chuci, the Nine Songs contains hymns to various deities venerated in Chu. We also find texts which elaborate on the legend of Qu Yuan, and in one of the poems the soul of a deceased person (Qu Yuan?) is summoned to return to the body - shamanism seems to have been widely practiced in Chu. And we have a "summons to a recluse," which anticipates the avalanche of Chinese recluse literature.
The most famous poem in the Chuci is Encountering Sorrow, but that is unfortunately too long to quote here. In this work, the (semi-legendary) poet called Qu Yuan (c. 339-278 BCE) complains that, although a high minister and member of the royal house, he has been plotted against by evil factions and slanderers at court (he warned against the aggressive intentions of the state of Qin and history proved him right, as towards the latter years of the 3rd c. BCE Chu was destroyed by Qin). As a result he has been rejected by his lord and twice exiled to wild borderlands. In the end, he commits suicide by drowning himself in a river. Throughout Chinese history, Qu Yuan has therefore been considered as the model of the loyal and righteous but unfairly rejected and misunderstood official - a very important theme in Chinese poetry. The same is true for the images used in the poem: Qu Yuan is compared to a neglected wife and a rejected lover. The poem also contains the description of a shamanistic spirit journey to various mythological realms. Another section in the Chuci, the Nine Songs contains hymns to various deities venerated in Chu. We also find texts which elaborate on the legend of Qu Yuan, and in one of the poems the soul of a deceased person (Qu Yuan?) is summoned to return to the body - shamanism seems to have been widely practiced in Chu. And we have a "summons to a recluse," which anticipates the avalanche of Chinese recluse literature.
[Terracotta Army]
The first poem translated above is a rarity in the Chuci, as it is dedicated to warriors and martial feats; but it is also typical for the Chuci as it speaks about the spirits of the dead. It is a sort of exorcism ritual in which the spirits of the dead soldiers, who have lost a battle, are pacified. It is a very raw and powerful piece.
The second poem is based on the legend of Qu Yuan and gives the arguments why he retreated from the world: he alone is pure in a muddy world, he alone is sober among his drunken contemporaries (the fisherman's words seem to be more Daoist in inspiration).
[Qu Yuan, by the Japanese artist Yokoyama Taikan]
Lyric Poetry Around the World Index
The second poem is based on the legend of Qu Yuan and gives the arguments why he retreated from the world: he alone is pure in a muddy world, he alone is sober among his drunken contemporaries (the fisherman's words seem to be more Daoist in inspiration).
[Qu Yuan, by the Japanese artist Yokoyama Taikan]
The above translations are my own (with thanks to the translations by Owen (first poem) and Hawkes (second poem).
Translations:
David Hawkes, The Songs of the South: An Ancient Chinese Anthology of Poems by Qu Yuan and Other Poets (Penguin Classics). [the only complete translation in English as far as I know]
Stephen Owen, An Anthology of Chinese Literature (Columbia U.P.) p. 161
Arthur Waley, A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems, p. 23
Original text of the Chuci at Chinese Text Project
Photos: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Lyric Poetry Around the World Index