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Help with translation of the second half of 摸魚兒---元好問
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Destio -

Could someone translate the second half of this poem into english please? Or an explanation of
each line/sentence. I understand the first half pretty good but the second half is really
confusing to me. Thanks

摸魚兒---元好問

問世間 情是何物 直教生死相許
天南地北雙飛客 老翅幾回寒暑
歡樂趣 離別苦 就中更有痴兒女
君應有語 渺萬里層雲 千山暮雪 隻影向誰去

橫汾路 寂寞當年蕭鼓 荒煙依舊平楚
招魂楚些何嗟及 山鬼暗啼風雨
天也妒 未信與 鶯兒燕子俱黃土
千愁萬古 為留待騷人 狂歌痛飲 來訪雁丘處



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fireball9261 -

橫汾路 寂寞當年蕭鼓 荒煙依舊平楚
Across the road of Shaanxi, lonely were the musical instruments of the old time, wilderness is
still the plain (or flat land?) of kingdom Chu (平楚 - I am not sure.).
招魂楚些何嗟及 山鬼暗啼風雨
Calling some spirits of Chu -- Why are you sighing? The mountain spirits crying in the storm
silently (or crying for the storms secretly).

天也妒 未信與 鶯兒燕子俱黃土
Heaven is also jealous. There were no letters for me (maybe, I am not sure) (because) Orioles and
swallows were all turned into dust.

千愁萬古 為留待騷人 狂歌痛飲 來訪雁丘處
Sorrow of ten thousand years, left for the poets, singing wildly and drinking deep, coming to
visit the hills of geese.

橫 - across
汾路 - 汾 is short term for Shaanxi province. So this is road of Shaanxi. Also, its capital
Xian was the old capital of China in several dynasties, such as Han and Tang. They were filled
with music from the court, and now they were no longer the center of China.
寂寞 - lonely
當年 - those years -- meaning old time
蕭鼓 - xiao is bamboo flute, and gu is the drum. Basically, the representation of musical
instruments.

荒煙 - Wilderness
依舊 - still
平楚 - flat plains of Chu or the plains of Chu -- I am not sure because I thought Chu has a lot
of rivers and I wouldn't call it flat necessarily, but I believe it might be related to kingdom of
Chu because he used stuff from kingdom Chu's poems later. (edited)

招魂 - It's both a custom and a famous poem of kingdom of Chu in the Eastern Zhou dynasty. After
a person was dead in Chu, his family would take his clothing to the roof to call for his spirits
(yes, Chinese believe there were 10 spirits in a person) back home. They used good food, beautiful
women, etc. to entice the dead spirits to come home. The poem 招魂 spoke of this custom, and the
poem might have been used in the ceremony also because the poet himself, Qu Yuan, was supposed to
be the high priest of the royal family of Chu. (edited)

楚 - I am guessing it's modifying the spirits before this, so it is like "of kingdom of Chu"

些 - Some - I guess
何[- why
嗟 - sigh
及 - for or about (? maybe, I don't know)
何嗟及 - sort of like what are you sighing for? Or why are you sighing? This is my guess, so
feel free to correct me, please. (edited)

山鬼 - mountain spirits in Chu's mythology. They were supposed to be beautiful women who rode
chariots pulled by leopards and had mountain cats as pets -- sort of like Amazons. 鬼 in here is
not a ghost. They liked to hunt and roam in the mountains.

暗 - secretly, silently
啼風雨 - crying for the storm or crying in the storm? I guess (edited)

天也妒 - Heaven is also jealous
未 - not
信 - letter. Here, it is worked as a noun. (Sorry, I said it was a verb earlier, but I thought
about it. It should be a noun followed by a verb 與. It's a classical way of arranging the
words.) (edited)
與 - give.
未信與 - There were no letters for me - I think. The reason is his use of 鶯兒, 燕子, & 雁
were all used in poems for instruments of deliverying letters or messages from lovers or friends.

鶯兒 - Orioles
燕子 - Swallows
俱 - all (turning into)
黃土 - dust or dirt.

未信與 鶯兒燕子俱黃土 - Therefore, this part is as follows: I didn't get any letters
because the messenger birds were all dead.

千愁 - thousands of sorrow
萬古 - ten thousands of ages
為- to
留 - be left
待 - for

騷人 - poets
狂歌 - wild singing
痛飲 - deeply drinking
來訪 - coming to visit
雁丘 - the hill that has buried geese, or the tomb of geese.
處 - place, location

In addition, swallows and geese all meant trust worthy because they always come back to the old
place every year. (edited) They were also considered by poets to carry messages for family,
friends, and lovers. They can be called trusted messengers. Since they were all dead and the
letter and messages from the loved ones could not be delivered, the poet reasoned that it was
possibly that the heaven was jealous of his love for his loved ones, so the heaven let those
trusted messengers die. In a way, the poet blamed the death of the messengers for no letters from
his loved ones -- He did not want to face the possibilities that his lover had forgotten about
him. (edited)












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