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声声慢
shēng shēng màn
The sounds of Adagio
or
Slow Slow Tune

李清照
Lǐ Qīngzhào

寻寻觅觅， 冷冷清清， 凄凄惨惨戚戚。
xúnxún mìmì , lěnglěng qīng qīng , qīqī cǎncǎn qīqī.
Searching and seeking; cold and desolate; dismal, miserable, and sorrowful…

乍暖还寒时候， 最难将息。
zhà nuǎn hái hán shíhou , zuì nán jiāng xī .
At the time that just turns warm yet still chilly is the most difficult time to rest and conserve one’s health.

三杯两盏淡酒 ，怎敌他 晚来风急?
sān bēi liǎng zhǎn dàn jiǔ , zěn dí tā wǎn lái fēng jí .
How could three cups or two little cups of diluted wine be able to withstand the evening swiftly coming wind?

雁过也， 最伤心 却是旧时相识。
yàn guò yě , zuì shāngxīn què shì jiù shí xiāngshì .
Geese flying by when I was the most anguished, yet to find out they were old day’s acquaintance.

满地黄花堆积， 憔悴损 如今有谁堪摘。
Mǎn dì huáng huā duījī , qiáocuì sǔn rújīn yǒu shéi kān zhé .
Yellow flowers fully piled on the ground; withered and damaged, nowadays who could endure picking them?

守着窗儿， 独自怎生得黑。
shǒu zhe chuāngér , dúzì zěn shēng de hēi .
Leaning against the window, alone, how can I be able to pull through the darkness

梧桐更兼细雨， 到黄昏 点点滴滴。
wútóng gèng Jiān Xì yǔ， dào huánghūn diǎndiǎn dīdī .
Parasol tree along with the drizzling rains, when evening arrived, dropping and dripping …

这次第， 怎一个 愁字了得！
zhè cì dì , zěn yī ge chóu zì liǎo dé !
This scene how could be described by “melancholy,” only this one word?

Translated by Shu

Poem analysis:

寻寻觅觅， 冷冷清清， 凄凄惨惨戚戚。
xúnxún mìmì , lěnglěng qīng qīng , qīqī cǎncǎn qīqī.

The first line tells us the poetess was searching for something or searching for someone. She searched and searched, looked and looked. Did she find what she was seeking for? No, she did not. That is why it mentioned the empty coldness and desolation which surrounded her, and led her into a bitterly miserable and sorrowful mood.

乍暖还寒时候， 最难将息。
zhà nuǎn hái hán shíhou , zuì nán jiāng xī .

This poem probably was written during Autumn; at the time that she just said goodbye to the balmy summer, yet the freezing winter had not yet come. It was hard to take care of health, especially for a person who suffered relocation due to historical calamity and the death of her beloved husband. She probably did not eat well or sleep well, and those two are the basic requirement for a healthy body and mind.

三杯两盏淡酒 ，怎敌他 晚来风急?
sān bēi liǎng zhǎn dàn jiǔ , zěn dí tā wǎn lái fēng jí .

People say wine in moderation might help you protect your heart, help you lose weight, reduce forgetfulness, boost your immunity, and help prevent bone loss. Maybe that is the reason she wanted to drink a bit of wine? Or just want to get the warmth from alcohol? However the evening wind was so strong and a few cups of diluted wine were just not effective enough. According to my Google search, Wild Irish Rose is a good candidate for a cheap potent drink of wine. Maybe She should have tried that. However, even she got drunk by finishing drinking one whole bottle of wine, the chilliness in her heart still could not be warmed up.

雁过也， 最伤心 却是旧时相识。
yàn guò yě , zuì shāngxīn què shì jiù shí xiāngshì .

Speaking of geese, remind me of this quote: “How do geese know when to fly to the sun? Who tells them the seasons? How do we, humans know when it is time to move on? As with the migrant birds, so surely with us, there is a voice within if only we would listen to it, that tells us certainly when to go forth into the unknown.” ( Elisabeth Kubler-Ross quotes) Geese are smart migratory birds that know when and where to fly year after year. When the poetess was the most sorrowful, she raised her eyes up, and then she found something — geese. What you would feel when you spot some geese flying up in your sky? You might feel happy if you are a bird watcher, you might feel excited if you are a curious kindergartener, or you might feel annoyed if you happen to live by the side of the field that geese are going to land on? So, how you would feel about the object you encounter depends on what mood you have at that moment. Our great poem writer happened to live in a continuous sad and miserable living due to away from her hometown and the death of her beloved partner — one that treated her well and shared the same interest in art and literature. It is easy for geese to move on when the time comes, but sadly, not easy for some people. Were the geese the old geese that Li saw in the past? Unless Li Qing zhao spoke geese language, otherwise, they were probably just some geese. Why she wanted to say they were old day’s acquaintance? Reason 1, They might look alike; geese are geese, and geese will never look like swans. 2, Geese come back year after year, but some people never come back, once they left; just like her husband, he was not able to come back for her, for he was sadly dead forever. 3. She relocated to a new place, her friends or relatives were not around to comfort her, and only the geese came to her sky, her world …

满地黄花堆积， 憔悴损 如今有谁堪摘。
Mǎn dì huáng huā duījī , qiáocuì sǔn rújīn yǒu shéi kān zhé .

The sky scene of geese flying by made her feel anguished, and she was even sadder so she moved her head down and sighed. Staring at the sad scene for long was kind of a self torture for her, so her eyes drifted to the ground, and what did she find? Heaps and heaps of withered Yellow flowers or golden chrysanthemums in drifts. In Chinese culture chrysanthemums which bloom in late autumn and early winter represent nobility and elegance, just like the poetess herself.

Yellow flowers are also used allusively. It comes from 苏轼 Su Shi’s poem：“相逢不用忙归去，明日黄花蝶也愁。” (xiāngféng bù yòng máng guī qù , míngrì Huáng Huā dié yě chóu. When meet someone by chance, don’t hurry to go back. Even butterflies will also worry about tomorrow’s yellow flowers.)《九日次韵王巩》

For Su Shi used yellow flowers in 《九日次韵王巩》 poem in a sentimental way, 黄花 huang hua thus becomes a thing of the past or a day after the fair. Exactly like what this Ci goes : “ withered, damaged flowers;” it can be used to refer to a topic no longer of interest, overblown blossoms, things that are stale and no longer fresh or like Li Qingzhao herself, a withered beauty in temperament and literature who lost her prime year of blooming and was going to fall apart as fragile petals were going to be torn by bitter wind.

Would you like to pick up a withered yellow flower from the ground? Most people don’t. You might, if you happen to have a special pair of eyes that can see something deeper into the essence of life itself and feel something other people can’t feel …

守着窗儿， 独自怎生得黑。
shǒu zhe chuāngér , dúzì zěn shēng de hēi .

How our poetess spent her day? Leaned against the window to wait for the sun to sink down to the horizon. Very sad, wasn’t it? If you add those tears, sighs and the sorrowful eyes into the picture (don’t forget about the broken heart either), this Ci poem would be dubbed as one of the saddest poems in Chinese poetry. While at this moment the sky was still bright, things were still visible. When the night came, all the world was going to be darker and darker, and the poetess’ emotion was expected to sink more to the darkness. Thus, she could not help but sigh and mention: “how can I be able to pull through the darkness?”

梧桐更兼细雨， 到黄昏 点点滴滴。
wútóng gèng Jiān Xì yǔ， dào huánghūn diǎndiǎn dīdī .

What made the spirit lower is it was a raining night! “Tears are words the heart can’t express” While rains are mother nature’s bucket of tears pouring down or drizzling down on the sad person – drop by drop, drip by drip fell on the parasol trees. Will you hear the rain fell on the tree if you are sleeping? No you probably won’t. So, it tells us, it was another sleepless night once again, and Li Qingzhao was all alone and miserable …

这次第， 怎一个 愁字了得！
zhè cì dì , zěn yī ge chóu zì liǎo dé !

So, how you feel now after you readed this top sad Ci poem? If I ask you to summarize the whole poem with one Chinese character, what character it might be? Will 愁 one character enough to describe all she felt? Definitely not …

Li Qingzhao background information:

Li Qingzhao, pseudonym Yi’an Jushi (易安居士, Jushi has two meanings. One refers to Lay Buddhist, the other means a scholar who lived a reclusive life) (1084–c. 1151) was a Chinese writer and poetess of the Song Dynasty from a family of scholars and officials. Her Cí poems are full of emotional intensity and creativity. She is regarded as the best female poet in the Chinese literature. Her Ci collection is called 漱玉 Shu Yu (Jade Gurgling) Lyrics. Shu Yu is the name of a spring in the front of her former residence (so called 漱玉斋 Shu Yu Zhai) in 济南 Jinan. Shu Yu Spring is full of crystal clear spring water, with spring water pouring from the ground, then falling on the stone to make jade gurgling sound。 Sound like music, doesn’t it? It was said that Li Qingzhao used to wash and rinse on the side of the spring in her early years. This spring can still be seen today; each year numerous visitors come from near and far to tour this poetic spring.

Li Qingzhao was well educated and was discovered strong literary talent since she was young. Writing Ci from a female’s perspective with delicate complex emotions and personal life experience, Li’s poems carried the euphemistic Ci poem to a new summit. Li Qingzhao suffered through Jingkang Calamities （靖康之变 jìng kāng zhī biàn）, she and her husband 赵明诚 Zhao Mingcheng, the son of a prime minister and a enthusiast of art and antiques, drifted from place to place. Along the road she went by, she saw the desolate side of life in the warring period. After the illness took away the life of her husband, she lived mournful, depressed and difficult years and later she died alone.

Li Qingzhao’s Ci poems are full of emotional intensity and creativity. Her style, so called “Yi-an Style”, is gentle, elegant and full of deep meaning, and she also creatively arranged her Ci poems’ rhythm and utilized unconventional or informal languages in them. Such as she often relied on guileless, unadorned understatement to achieve a powerful effect,and employed an unusual esthetic harmony that carries enchanting flavor through her poems. Li Qingzhao is well acclaimed as the best poetess in Chinese poetry history.

Chinese poem analysis and reciting

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