104 



CHINESE POETRY AND ITS CONNOTATIONS 



Hf. 



*7* 



Giles. 



Both, Together, 

 Unite in one. 



Chien. 



I. Giles 10,357. 

 To tell, to inform, 

 to accuse, lay a 

 plaint. 



Su. 4 



II. Giles 10,365. 

 (only entry) 

 "Same aslO, 357." 



Su. 4 



Literal. 

 Pictograms from Shuo Wen ,. 



To unite closely, fuse to- 

 gether. Much used in poetry 

 in connection with matri- 

 mony. Analysis : A hand 

 binding into sheaves small 

 bundles of corn which have 

 been left to dry. 



Words and figure for " a 

 staff " doubled, or "to attack," 

 under " a corn " or " shelter." 

 The idea is : " to attack a per- 

 son in their house." 



To attack. 



The moon." 



"The heart." 



The first two combined 

 >rive " Sliuo," i.e. the < 

 first day of the Moon 

 when It refuses the 

 light of the Snn— un- 

 der this "the heart." 

 The meaning is that 

 one reveals the deepest 

 secrets which are 

 hidden in the darknese 

 of the heart. That ons 

 ntters thoughts which 

 a wife would tell her 

 husband at night. 



Another good example of the importance of dissecting 

 the character appears in the character "su" j£S , used by 

 Pan Chieh-yu in her reply to the Emperor (see below). A 

 conversation with a Chinese lover of poetry will soon betray 

 the fact that to the Chinese the composition of the character 

 — although it may be quite subconsciously — does largely 

 influence his interpretation of a poem. It may be argued 

 that many Chinese are ignorant of this composition and 

 therefore, miss the fine point — that may be so, but to those 

 who have studied the Shuo Wen 1^ 3£, etc., the character 

 is there to be analysed or not according to their scholarly 

 ability and knowledge ; the Western reader is not in the same 

 position; unless the translator assists him, he cannot know 

 what the beautiful little picture used by the Chinese poet is, 

 a little picture which undoubtedly does convey many of the 

 "overtones of Chinese poetry." 



Backgrounds. 



Topography. — Firstly, what were the natural scenes 

 which came before the mental eye of the Tang poet and 

 which he attempted to picture to his readers ? 



Ch'ang An J* 52c, city of "Eternal Peace," was then 

 the Capital of the Empire, the seat of learning, and the home 

 of the arts. It stood to the south of the Wei Waters, ft ?k 

 and within a stone's throw of Hsien Yang t$ GB city of 

 "Complete Brilliance" the more ancient capital, founded by 

 the ancestors of the great Shih Huang Ti and created first 



