View/Open - University of Victoria
View/Open - University of Victoria
View/Open - University of Victoria
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<strong>of</strong> the exterior frontier. The most prolonged interior focalization, a focalization that shifts from exterior<br />
spatial coordinates to interior, is in “Song <strong>of</strong> White Snow”, followed distantly by “Song <strong>of</strong> Snow on<br />
Tian Mountain” and “The Ballad <strong>of</strong> Running Horse River”:<br />
忽 如 一 夜 春 风 来 Suddenly it is as if in the night the Spring wind arrives<br />
千 树 万 树 梨 花 开 On tens <strong>of</strong> thousands <strong>of</strong> trees pear blossoms bloom.<br />
散 入 珠 帘 湿 罗 幕 Scattering through beaded curtains and soaking silk drapes,<br />
狐 裘 不 暖 锦 衾 薄 Fox fur clothing does not keep in the heat, resplendent<br />
blankets are thin.<br />
..... .....<br />
155<br />
瀚 海 阑 干 百 丈 冰<br />
愁 云 惨 淡 万 里 凝<br />
中 军 置 酒 饮 归 客<br />
胡 琴 琵 琶 与 羌 笛<br />
Vast desert, railings <strong>of</strong> ice criss-cross a hundred meters<br />
thick ,<br />
Sorrow clouds and gloom condense over ten thousand li.<br />
At the army camp wine is laid out and drunk to the<br />
departing guest,<br />
Hu songs are strum on pipas along with Qiang flutes.<br />
(“Song <strong>of</strong> White Snow”, lines 3-6 and 9-12)<br />
晻 霭 寒 氛 万 里 凝<br />
阑 干 阴 崖 千 丈 冰<br />
将 军 狐 裘 卧 不 暖<br />
都 护 宝 刀 冻 欲 断<br />
Gloom cold clouds freeze everything over a distance <strong>of</strong><br />
ten thousand li,<br />
Railings upon shaded cliffs are a thousand meters <strong>of</strong> ice;<br />
The general's fox skins do not keep the bed warm,<br />
The protector-general's sword is frozen and about<br />
to break<br />
(“Song <strong>of</strong> Snow on Tian Mountain”, lines 9-12)<br />
马 毛 带 雪 汗 气 蒸<br />
五 花 连 钱 旋 作 冰<br />
幕 中 草 檄 砚 水 凝<br />
Horse coats covered in snow; their sweat steams and rises,<br />
Dappled spots like linked coins suddenly turn back<br />
into ice,<br />
Inside the army tent the inkstone's water for writing<br />
documents denouncing the enemy has frozen.<br />
(“Ballad <strong>of</strong> Running Horse River”, lines 12-14)<br />
The first shift from exterior to interior in “Song <strong>of</strong> White Snow” is the least abrupt <strong>of</strong> all three<br />
poems. With the poet-narrator's focalization <strong>of</strong> the “scattering” (san 散 ) pear blossom-like snowflakes