吉祥寺赏牡丹 A Feast on Peony Blooms at Lucky Temple

A Feast on Peony Blooms at Lucky Temple

Chinese original: Su Shi (11th AC, social name 'Zizhan', art name 'Dongpo')

English translation & annotation: Julia Min (July. 2024)

The street sees jolly gents arrayed with a twist.

They totter and stagger on tipsy tiddly steps.

Peonies have styled their grey hair with regret.

The bead curtains are half-rolled miles ahead.

Notes：

1.     Written in May 1071, when Su Shi was Hangzhou’s Tongpan (a role, similar to an advisor to the Magistrate / Mayor, started in the Northern Song Dynasty to supervise and control the magistrate from arbitrariness) It is said that Su Shi and Shen Li (the Magistrate) were invited to a celebration party at the Lucky Temple of Hangzhou, where the peony was in full bloom. The next day, the magistrate showed him paintings of scenes from the peony festival. Su Shi was quite impressed and wrote this short poem right there and then.

2.     Peonies: regarded by many Chinese as the national flower, have a long history radiating from the Capital of the Great Song, Bianliang City ( Kaifeng today). A grand flower festival was held in the most vibrant month of May. And it was quite common for gentlemen to wear a flower during the festival, though a bit amusing still, and more so when celebrities like Su Shi and his old peers celebrated the occasion with people in the street.

3.     Bead curtains: hanging curtains decorated with beads of all kinds, often found in ancient poems and artistic works.

Appreciation:

Another good example of qijue (4-line poem with 7-character verse), which is very short but nothing short of ambition in exploring the theme to the maximum, where the underlined message is far greater than four lines.

A brief moment on the street evokes in readers’ minds a stream of vivid images of the festival – the romantic sentiments in Song’s lifestyle, the shared happiness of high-ranking officials and common people, and the openness and freedom in the general governing attitude in Hangzhou. Su Shi was a celebrity but approachable, not hindered by pride and prejudice. He loved people and was loved by people wherever he went. Today, he is probably most loved among contemporary readers as the best of what Great Song could offer.

Interestingly, the first artistic work that came to my mind is the painting “Monk Testing Wine” by Antonio Casanova y Estorach.

吉祥寺赏牡丹

原作: 苏轼（字子瞻, 号东坡居士; 11世纪北宋）

英译及赏析: 闵晓红(2024.07)

人老簪花不自羞，

花应羞上老人头。

醉归扶路人应笑，

十里珠帘半上钩。

Reference:

1.     徐培均《苏轼诗词选注》(上海远东出版社)

2.     baike.baidu.com