By lyuesword | 12 April 2021 | 0 Comments
Poems for Chinese Swordsmen
Chinese Poetry
There are sevral general principles governing classical Chinese poetry. The number is "words", that is, characters, in a line is fixed; poems of five characters per line and of seven characters per line are the most common. Most poems are rhymed and have definite patterns of tone, Chinese being a tone language. (When Chinese swords entered Japan, the tones were ignored, but Japanese writers of Chinese poetry developed systems of symbols to keep track of the tones for purpose of writing the poems correctly.) Syntactically, the lines do not depend on one another; each line is a separate pfrase. There are short poems of fixed length and longer ones that are divided more or less into verses.
Most Chinese swordsmen walk around the world with their swords. They are knights who are righteous, jealous of evil, and do not chase worldly fame and fortune. The swordsman, With their kindness and bravery, the swordsmen made the Chinese people write poems for them in memory of them, so that they would be remembered by people. The poets who wrote poems admiring them were also famous for their talents.
《剑客》 贾岛
十年磨一剑，霜刃未曾试。
今日把示君，谁有不平事？
Swordsman
--Jia Dao
Ten years it takes to grind a sword,
Its frosty edge has yet to be tested.
Today I'm showing this sword to you,
Is there anyone who has a grievance?
《过零丁洋》 文天祥
辛苦遭逢起一经，干戈寥落四周星。
山河破碎风飘絮，身世浮沉雨打萍。
惶恐滩头说惶恐，零丁洋里叹零丁。
人生自古谁无死，留取丹心照汗青。
Passing by Lindingyang
--Wen Tianxiang
I've taken pains reading classics to be an official,
Four bleak years have been spent in thick battles.
Our land is broken like catkins drifting in the wind,
I roam here and there as duckweed buffeted by the rain.
How panic-stricken I was retreating before the Tartars!
Being a captive, I lamented over my solitary confinement.
Who can avert his death since time immemorial?
Let my heart remain true to shine in the annals.
There are sevral general principles governing classical Chinese poetry. The number is "words", that is, characters, in a line is fixed; poems of five characters per line and of seven characters per line are the most common. Most poems are rhymed and have definite patterns of tone, Chinese being a tone language. (When Chinese swords entered Japan, the tones were ignored, but Japanese writers of Chinese poetry developed systems of symbols to keep track of the tones for purpose of writing the poems correctly.) Syntactically, the lines do not depend on one another; each line is a separate pfrase. There are short poems of fixed length and longer ones that are divided more or less into verses.
Most Chinese swordsmen walk around the world with their swords. They are knights who are righteous, jealous of evil, and do not chase worldly fame and fortune. The swordsman, With their kindness and bravery, the swordsmen made the Chinese people write poems for them in memory of them, so that they would be remembered by people. The poets who wrote poems admiring them were also famous for their talents.
《剑客》 贾岛
十年磨一剑，霜刃未曾试。
今日把示君，谁有不平事？
Swordsman
--Jia Dao
Ten years it takes to grind a sword,
Its frosty edge has yet to be tested.
Today I'm showing this sword to you,
Is there anyone who has a grievance?
《过零丁洋》 文天祥
辛苦遭逢起一经，干戈寥落四周星。
山河破碎风飘絮，身世浮沉雨打萍。
惶恐滩头说惶恐，零丁洋里叹零丁。
人生自古谁无死，留取丹心照汗青。
Passing by Lindingyang
--Wen Tianxiang
I've taken pains reading classics to be an official,
Four bleak years have been spent in thick battles.
Our land is broken like catkins drifting in the wind,
I roam here and there as duckweed buffeted by the rain.
How panic-stricken I was retreating before the Tartars!
Being a captive, I lamented over my solitary confinement.
Who can avert his death since time immemorial?
Let my heart remain true to shine in the annals.
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