送別 send/part
1 下馬飲君酒 down/horse/drink/you/wine
2 問君何所之 ask/you/what/place/go
3 君言不得意 you/speak/not/acquire/intent
4 歸臥南山陲 return/lie/south/mountain/border
5 但去莫復問 but/go/not/again/ask
6 白雲無盡時 white/cloud/no/end/time
Analysis of the Original Poem
This poem was written by Wang Wei to a friend who has either failed the Imperial Examination or quit his governmental career, and is retreating to the southern mountains. The first four lines are presented in the form of questions and answers. In the first line, the poem begins with the parting. The poet, Wang Wei, gets off his horse at the location of the parting, and then proceeds to offer the departing friend wine101. In the second line, the concerns of the poet for the friend is seen when the question is brought up about the destination of the departing friend. From this it can be inferred that the departure of the friend might have been sudden. In the third line, it can be inferred that the friend was in the city to either attend the Imperial Examination, or to apply for a governmental post. The friend may also have been a governmental official who was demoted and subsequently resigned. From line four, it can be inferred from the use of “return” (歸) that the friend originally came from a place near the foot of southern mountains, which was most likely the Zhongnan Mountains (終南山)102.
The final two lines are where most of the conflicts in interpretations occur. In some commentaries on this poem, the “問” in the fifth line is explained as “ask” (問), while other editions use the term “heard” (聞)103. Therefore, this line can either be
101 拿酒請君飲(T.M. Chen 565)
102 The Zhongnan Mountains are a branch of mountains located in Shaanxi Province, extending from the Wugong County in the east of the province to Lantian County.
103 According to the Chinese version edited by Chu Xieyou (邱燮友), Chu edited the “問” to “聞”
interpreted as “you left and I never heard from you again”, or “leave and don’t ask again/don’t ask anymore question”. This is connected to the second problem, namely
“Who is the speaker of the fifth line?” If it were the poet himself, then the first explanation seems most plausible, however, if it was spoken by the departing friend, then the second explanation would fit best. Another problem concerns the meaning of the words “endless white clouds” (白雲無盡時). Some have stated that this was to express the freedom that the friend will experience once he is home, while others claim that the “endless cloud” is here to contrast with the limited fame and wealth.
According to Pauline Yu, “Wang Wei is alluding to a kind of cognition which would not establish such a distinction between the knower and the known. And such a nondiscrimination intuition is associated with the boundless and transcendent white clouds, whose meaning eludes both visual perception and verbal description” (“The Poetry of” 131). Yu also pointed out that this poem is “extremely enigmatic”, where it is “impossible to distinguish the two interlocutors” (“The World of” 172). Marsha Wagner writes that the poem may refer to a personal experience of Wang’s, “since
‘the foothills of the Southern Mountains’ is the location of Wang Wei’s own Lantian retreat, so the poem may be a king of dramatized internal monologue” (qtd. in Lee 41) Finally, Ma Qinjung104 had states that it is interesting that the final line of this poem suddenly switches to the scenery. Ma thinks that this is used here to convey a sense of indeterminacy, so that more room is left for the readers’ imagination (199).
While looking at emotions expressed between the lines, although the language used in this poem is rather plain and simple, one cannot help but notice Wang’s longing for a life of hermitage and his affections for the departing friend. When the poet asked the reason for the friend’s departure, the answer was not only by the friend, but also a reflection of Wang’s own thoughts. Wang Wei also felt that his own ideals were not fulfilled. Therefore, though he will miss the friend greatly, he encourages that a life of hermitage can bring much more joy and tranquility to life. According to
according to the Four Categories of Books (《四部叢刊》) (X. Y. Chu 27-28).
104 Ma, Qinjung. [馬慶軍], 〈古詩英譯意境為上—從接受美學的角度分析王維詩《送別》的英
譯〉. 《中國電力教育》.16 (2010): 198-99. Print.
the interpretation of Hsu Lijie105, the supposed “failure” of the friend resonates with Wang Wei due to his own personal experiences (92), and that “the endless white clouds” represent the life that the poet longs for (93). Marsha Wagner claims that this poem can be read in two ways. One is that it is simply a dialogue between the poet and the departing friend, where “the interrogator reveals nothing about himself, and the man he meets discloses only his retreat in the face of failure, and then sets off for the endless white clouds”. However, due to the vagueness of the speakers, “this poem may also be considered as a sort of internal monologue” due to the resemblance in experience from Wang’s own to the departing friend’s (Wagner 189). Whichever the case, the above mentioned diversities in the Chinese interpretation alone is a great challenge for translators.
Imagery and Manipulation
In this poem, two images that are most common in farewell poems appear, wine (酒) and horse (馬). Wine imagery most commonly appears in/during the parting event and banquet, which in the case of this poem, appears in the parting event. The horse that the poet rode to the destination of the parting signifies that the event may have occurred on the outskirts of town. There are also three auditory images in this poem, appearing in the second line “ask” (問), “speak/say” (言) in the third line, and
“ask/heard” (聞). These auditory images create a sense of dialogue between the poet and the friend, which is also a display of the poet’s concerns for the friend. The imagery of the mountain, another common farewell image, appears in the fourth line.
As mentioned in the previous chapter, mountains are often the destination for those who are departing, which is in accordance with the content of this poem. Color
imagery in this poem appears in the form of the “white cloud” (白雲). The color white has the connotations of tranquility and Zen, which can be hard to convey into English.
In this poem, the white imagery creates a sense of ease which the friend will feel once he has returned to his abode.
The manipulation of imagery in this poem is minimal. The most obvious is seen in the final line, where “white cloud” is transference of emotion, where the poet describes the objective object, which is the cloud, and provides it with a subjective
105 Hsu, Lijie. [徐禮節], 〈淺論王維送別詩〉. 《淮北煤師院學報》.2 (19999): 91-94. Print.
emotion of tranquility or freedom.
The Jade Mountain, Translation by Witter Bynner
送別 At Parting
下馬飲君酒 I dismount from my horse and I offer you wine, 問君何所之 And I ask you where you are going and why.
君言不得意 And you answer: "I am discontent
歸臥南山陲 And would rest at the foot of the southern mountain.
但去莫復問 So give me leave and ask me no questions.
白雲無盡時 White clouds pass there without end."
Translation Analysis
The title of the translated version begins with a preposition, allowing the readers to immediately know that the content of the poem is describing events that have occurred during the time of the parting. For each line in the Chinese, there is a corresponding translated line. While the Chinese consists of five words per line, with the rhyme on the second (“之”) and sixth (“時”) line, the translation does not show obvious attempts in following the original poetic form. There is, however, a slight rhyme that appears at the end of the third (“discontent”), fourth (“mountain”), and sixth line (“end”).
In the first line of Bynner’s translation, it is in accordance where the poet brings the departing friend wine (“I offer you wine”). In the second line, while the Chinese only asked the friend where he is going (“問君何所之”), the translation added another question of “why”, perhaps to help readers in understanding the twofold response by the friend. In the third line Bynner uses the verb “answered” to signify the response of the friend. He also adds quotation marks and a colon which were not present in the Chinese.
While translating the concept of not fulfilling one’s ideals (“不得意”), Bynner chooses to use “discontent”, which according to the Oxford English Dictionary means
“dissatisfied”. This perhaps is not clear enough to portray the reasons why the friend is not satisfied, and may leave readers wondering the true reasons for the friend’s departure. In the fourth line of the Chinese, there is a clear indication of direction where Wang Wei used the verb “return” (歸); however, this was not specified or written in Bynner’s translation. From the translation, the reader will not be able to receive the information that the friend is headed to the same place from which he came. Bynner does, however, translate the action of “lie” (臥) which the friend will be doing into “rest”, signifying that the friend will be staying at that location for a while.
The Southern Mountain (or Zhongnan Mountain) has been generalized by the translator to “southern mountain”, which will be easier to comprehend for readers who are not familiar with the geography of China.
In the fifth and sixth lines of the translation, Bynner continues to quote the response of the friend, although it is not clear as to who the speaker was in the Chinese. While Wang Wei used “go” (去), Bynner directs the friend’s response to
“give me leave”, which is in accordance with having the friend become the speaker of these lines. From the translation of “ask me no questions”, one can infer that the version Bynner was basing his translations on would have read “問”. The tone in which Bynner describes the departing friend seems to indicate that he does not wish to speak more of his emotions and hopes to depart as soon as possible. The lightness and vagueness of the last line (“白雲無盡時”) is generally conserved in the translation, where the translator chose the words “without end”, which can be interpreted to signify a number of things as it is in the Chinese. Finally, the last line of the Chinese seems more focused on the “time” (時) aspect of the never ending clouds, and Bynner’s translation seemed to focus more on the “amount” of the passing clouds.
The translation of the farewell images and their manipulations are as follow.
The horse and wine imagery are kept and assigned ownership (“my horse”, “I offer you wine”) and the manipulation is minimal. The imagery of the “white clouds” is presented in the plural form, and the manipulation is that of transference, where the emotions of the friend (hope for ease and leisure) are injected into it.
300 Tang Poems: A New Translation, Translation by Wu Juntao
送別 A Farewell
下馬飲君酒 Dismounting, I invite you to drink wine;
問君何所之 Where are you leaving for? Is there a place fine?
君言不得意 Unheeded by the world, home you'll make your way 歸臥南山陲 To lie down at Zhongnan Mountain's foot, you say.
但去莫復問 No more questions I'll put but bid you good-bye;
白雲無盡時 The endless clouds are waiting for you on high!
Translation Analysis
The title of the translated version presents the content of the poem in the form of a noun, allowing the readers to know that the following poem is about a farewell.
The translation is broken up into six lines; however, it can be seen that the translator keeps the original three lines of the Chinese106 in mind with either a semicolons or the lack of comma or period at the end of some lines.
In the first line, the translator chooses the progressive tense for the
dismounting of the horse, where the poet is offering the friend wine (perhaps verbally) while getting off the horse. Due to the fact that the tense of the Chinese is not stated, it is unknown if this choice was correct or not. The offering of the wine indicates that the wine is brought to the location or purchased by the poet, which is in accordance to Chen Tiemin107’s interpretation. For the proceeding question asked by the poet to the departing friend, this translated version has added another question of “Is there a place
106 In Zhao Diancheng’s edition, the end of each section is marked with a “。”, but no apparent punctuation. In Chen Tiemin and also Chu Xieyou’s edition, however, the lines were primarily divided into three lines, with Chu’s edition containing more punctuation.
Chen’s edition: 下馬飲君酒，問君何所之？君言不得意，歸臥南山陲。但去莫復問，白雲無盡時。
(T.M. Chen 565)
Chu’s edition: 下馬飲君酒，問：「君何所之？」君言：「不得意，歸臥南山陲。」但去莫復聞，
白雲無盡時。(X.Y Chu 26-27)
107 Chen, Tiemin. [陳鐵民], 《王維集校注》. 北京市: 中華書局出版, 1997. Print.
fine?”, in attempt to create a rhyme throughout the translated poem. The first and second line are in rhyme (“wine” and “fine”), the third and fourth are in rhyme (“way”
and “say”), and the fifth and sixth are in rhyme (“bye” and “high”). This is in accordance with Xu Yuanzhong’s Three Beauty theory, where the translation of a poem must have beauty in sound.
From the second line of the translation on, the translator stays rather closely to the Chinese, where the content is mostly spoken through the poet, which can be confirmed by the use of “you say” at the end of the fourth line. There are some words added, but more as an explanation. One thing to note is that the translation of “ideals unfulfilled” (不得意) here is “Unheeded by the world”. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, “unheeded” is defined as “Heard or noticed but disregarded”, which is similar to the departing friend’s experience. The addition of “by the world”, however, may be an exaggeration.
In the fourth line, the translator chooses to translate the name of the mountain, and presented it as “Zhongnan Mountain”. This is a close translation to the Chinese, but could be puzzling for readers that are not familiar with the geography of China.
The translation of “to lie” (臥) was translated as “to lie down”, which may seem a bit odd as for the reader may not be able to understand if the friend has gone there to live or to die. The directional word “return” (歸) is also absent in the translation.
In the fifth line, the translated lines are again spoken by the poet. The “to ask”
(問) in the Chinese was a verb, and was perhaps done multiple times due to the poet’s use of “again/repeat” (復). Here the translator takes this into consideration and
renders it into the reply of “no more questions”. Also, the translator again adds something that was not present in the Chinese, which was “bid you good-bye”.
Although this might be inferred from the Chinese, it was not said. For saying farewell to a departing friend might be too emotional for the poet.
Finally, with the Chinese putting emphasis on the “time” aspect of the clouds, the translation not only seems to have put emphasis on the “amount” of the clouds, but it also adds words that were not in the Chinese (i.e. “waiting for you on high”).
Again, this decision may have been made to correspond with the rhyme, but the choice of using “waiting for you on high” is quite peculiar, for the origin may have been from the Bible108.
The translation of the farewell images and their manipulations are as follows.
The horse imagery is excluded, leaving only the verb “dismounting”, and although reader may be able to infer that the poet dismounted from a “horse”, if seen from the preservation of imagery, this choice is quite peculiar. The wine imagery is kept with minimal manipulation. Finally, the cloud imagery in presented in plural form, with a descriptor (“endless”) added before it perhaps for the sake of preserving the rhyme.
Poems by Wang Wei, Translation Chang Yin-nan and Lewis C. Walmsley
送別 A Farewell
下馬飲君酒 On your departure I dismount, and drink to your health;
問君何所之 I ask: “Where are you going?”
君言不得意 You say, “I have not found the voice of my heart;
歸臥南山陲 So I shall return to my hermitage in the foothills of the Southern Mountain: there I shall find rest.
但去莫復問 There, no one asks the reason for my leaving…
白雲無盡時 There, white clouds sail on forever without exhausting time.”
Translation Analysis
The title of the translated version presents the content of the poem in the form of a noun, allowing the readers to know that the following poem is about a farewell.
The translation can be broken up into six lines, but the length of each is quite diverse, with some lines being divided into two sentences with semicolons or ellipses. There also does not seem to be any rhyme in the translation.
108 Isaiah 30:18, New American Standard Bible: Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you, And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the LORD is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who long for Him.
In the first line, the translator adds the reason and time of the meeting, which are stated as “on your departure”. Although the translation does not specify whose wine they were drinking, the translators add their own interpretation, and that is the poet was “drink[ing] to” the departing friend’s “health”.
For the question that was asked by the poet in the Chinese and the departing friend’s response beginning from the second line, the translator chooses a more interactive method, using quotations when something was said by someone. When at
For the question that was asked by the poet in the Chinese and the departing friend’s response beginning from the second line, the translator chooses a more interactive method, using quotations when something was said by someone. When at