Biblical Hebrew Parallelism in Chinese Poetry

Biblical Hebrew Parallelism in Chinese Poetry Woo Fook Wah 《念奴娇·赤壁怀古》 Reflection of the Red Cliff The Poem 大江東去, 浪淘盡, 千古風雲人物。 古疊西邊, 人道是, 三國周郎赤壁; 亂石崩雲, 驚濤裂岸, 捲起千堆雪; 江山如畫, 一時多少豪傑。 遙想公瑾當年, 小喬初嫁了, 雄姿英發; 羽扇綸巾, 談笑間, 強虜灰飛煙滅。 故國神遊, 多情應笑我, 早生華髮, 人生如夢, 一樽還酹江月。 Interpretation of the Poem 大江东去，浪淘尽、千古风流人物。 The Great River flows east, washing up the waves and mud (Bringing back the memories) of important historical figures. 故垒西边人道是，三国周郎赤壁。 On the west side of that old fortress, it was said: That was where the Cliff where the Lord Zhou of the three kingdoms (was, fighting his battles) 乱石穿空，惊涛拍岸，卷起千堆雪。 The stones (from the battles) pierced the sky, while the raging waves beat against the shore, rolling up the snow. 江山如画，一时多少豪杰! The motherland was so picturesque, revealing many outstanding heroes. 遥想公谨当年，小乔初嫁了，雄姿英发。 I turn my memory to that year the years of Lord Zhou, the time with Xiao Qiao (the name of a girl) getting married into the family. 羽扇纶巾谈笑间，强虏灰飞烟灭。 There was that feathered fan and silk ribbon amidst joyous conversation Amidst the joy, the flying ashes and smoke of the enemy filled the air 故国神游，多情应笑，我早生华发。 As my mind wondered in thought of the ancient land, the sentimental thoughts laugh at me: (as if to say that was what) it was that causing the hair to greyed early. 人生如梦，一尊还酹江月。 Yes, life is like a dream. And I pour out my wine to the moon (an expression of awe and respect to the Divine) Let’s look first at the 2nd section (in red) and the 3rd section (in green). You will be able to see the antithetical parallelism of idea here between these 2 sections. In the 2nd section (red), he described, in very dramatic manner, the noise and confusion of battle. Stones were flying and waves beating hard. Snow was rolled up. Then in the 3rd section (green), suddenly, he turned to a wedding scene. There was also noise but one that is joyous and celebratory. And he linked this back to the previous section in the last line in section 3 to the noise of the 2nd section, as if asking his audience, if they could distinguish the two different noises. (So often, in our life journey, we have been unable to distinguish the noises if your life: the positive and the negative, the good and the bad, those binary pairs that so often crowd the narrative of each of our lives.) Antithetical parallelism 乱石穿空，惊涛拍岸，卷起千堆 遥想公谨当年，小乔初嫁了，雄 雪。 姿英发。 The stones (from the battles) pierced the sky, while the raging waves beat against the shore, rolling up the snow. I turn my memory to that year the years of Lord Zhou, the time with Xiao Qiao (the name of a girl) getting married into the family. 江山如画，一时多少豪杰! The motherland was so picturesque, revealing many outstanding heroes. 羽扇纶巾谈笑间，强虏灰飞烟 灭。 There was that feathered fan and silk ribbon amidst joyous conversation Amidst the joy, the flying ashes and smoke of the enemy filled the air Now we go back to the parallelism between the first and last section of the poem. The blue section (first 2 lines) is the introduction of the poem, while the black section (the last 2 lines) is the conclusion. The blue section began by introducing a mind picture of the Red Cliff. It summarized where the location was and recall the history that the Chinese were familiar with. Paralleling the last section (in black), he returned to the mind picture of the location and he summarized his survey in the 2 nd and 3rd section and gave his verdict as to what he thought life was. “Life is like a dream.” And all men can do is to look to heavens and pay their respect. It is like staircase parallelism. Staircase parallelism. 大江东去，浪淘尽、千古风流人 故国神游，多情应笑，我早生华 物。 发。 The Great River flows east, washing up the waves and mud (Bringing back the memories) of important historical figures. As my mind wondered in thought of the ancient land, the sentimental thoughts laugh at me: (as if to say that was what) it was that causing the hair to greyed early. 故垒西边人道是，三国周郎赤 壁。 On the west side of that old fortress, it was said: That was where the Cliff where the Lord Zhou of the three kingdoms (was, fighting his battles) 人生如梦，一尊还酹江月。 Yes, life is like a dream. And I pour out my wine to the moon (an expression of awe and respect to the Divine) Analysing the Poem This is a Song Dynasty Poetry. Sony Dynasty spanned between 960–1279 CE. 1. 2. This poem is structure using Parallelism of Ideas. The meter use is one an asymmetrical rhythm. A bit of the background: The poet is Su Shi also know as So Dongbo. He was a civil servant, a highly respected official during the Song Dynasty. Highly intelligent and diligent in taking care of the masses, he was hated by other Court officials for his good works. He was persecuted many times, by being sent to the remotest and hardest part of the country work but every time he succeed. He also suffered in prison for the poetry he wrote, which the wicked scholars and Court Officials misinterpreted, and hence instigating the emperor to jail Su Shi. This poem was written after he was release from prison. The Three Kingdoms was a period spanning between 220-280 CE, after the fall of the Han Dynasty. The history runs along the line of the divided Greek Empire after the death of Alexander. Three generals ruling the three kingdoms fought to become the next emperor of China. Many battles were fought and the fleeciest was fought at the place called the Red Cliff. This is now a tourist destination. Many stories, poems and dramas have been written about the Red Cliff. It was said the Su Shi visited the Red Cliff when he was living in isolation with his family after release from prison. No one has confirmed that but during that period, he was missing from home and some of his family members even thought he committed suicide because of his depressing predicament. But he appeared again with this poem and immediately this poetry that he wrote became very popular. Through this poem, he was question about the meaning of life, which is not surprising after the many tribulations he went through. Let’s look at the structure. I have used different colors to divide the poem into its logical divisions. Let’s look first at the 2nd section (in red) and the 3rd section (in green). You will be able to see the antithetical parallelism of idea here between these 2 sections. In the 2nd section (red), he described, in very dramatic manner, the noise and confusion of battle. Stones were flying and waves beating hard. Snow was rolled up. Then in the 3rd section (green), suddenly, he turned to a wedding scene. There were also noise but one that is joyous and celebratory. And he linked this back to the previous section in the last line in section 3 to the noise of the 2 nd section, as if asking his audience, if they could distinguish the two different noises. (So often, in our life journey, we have been unable to distinguish the noises if your life: the positive and the negative, the good and the bad, those binary pairs that so often crowd the narrative of each of our lives.) Now we go back to the parallelism between the first and last section of the poem. The blue section (first 2 lines) is the introduction of the poem, while the black section (the last 2 lines) is the conclusion. The blue section began by introducing a mind picture of the Red Cliff. It summarized where the location was and recall the history that the Chinese were familiar with. Paralleling the last section (in black), he returned to the mind picture of the location and he summarized his survey in the 2 nd and 3rd section and gave his verdict as to what he thought life was. “Life is like a dream.” And all men can do is to look to heavens and pay their respect. It is like staircase parallelism. In this YouTube video You will hear the typical musical meter depicting battle. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-V-JibwhuE