CHINESE POETRY AND ITS CONNOTATIONS 101 



Imagine for a moment, however, the feelings cf a 

 Chinese scholar in his grass hut, buried among the mountains 

 of Ssu Ch'uan to whom a translation of such a poem were 

 read ! ! ! His attitude of mind would be very much that of 

 the Western reader to whom translations of Chinese poetry 

 are presented to-day, and to whom the connotations of 

 Chinese poetry, arising as they do from a perfectly alien 

 civilization, mean — nothing. 



Much has already been written describing the technique 

 of Chinese poetry, (a technique bye the bye which cannot be 

 rendered in translation on account of the fundamental 

 differences in the genius of the Chinese and other languages) 

 but as yet little has appeared in regard to the background 

 against which that poetry stands in its marvellous vividness. 

 It is with the object of calling attention to a few of the 

 elements which compose that background that this paper 

 has been written. 



Before, however, proceeding to study the backgrounds 

 under their various heads, there is the method of translation 

 to be considered. Chinese poems are written in an extremly 

 terse style and in a very carefully chosen and highly 

 specialized language in which the composition of the charac- 

 ter is carefully considered and it is often impossible to seize 

 a poet's complete meaning unless the characters are broken 

 into their component parts. As the aim of the translator 

 should be to reproduce as vividly as possible the picture 

 painted by the Chinese poet, it is very important that shades 

 of meaning should be as far as possible conveyed. Thus in 

 speaking of sunrise or sunset the English language gives very 

 little scope for finesse of description, whereas the Chinese poet 

 has at his disposal a variety of characters which he uses most 

 carefully to give the exact meaning he wishes. (See plate). 



(See Plate overleaf.) 



