ChineseStudy

25. A Rainy Gathering with the Scholars in the Prefectural Study | Wei Yingwu

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English translation

Guards stand among painted halberds; in the banquet hall a clear fragrance gathers.

One line for the soldiers, one for the scent. Arms and quiet set side by side are the two faces of a prefectural office.

Wind and rain arrive from the sea, and the pavilions by the pool turn cool and at ease.

The sea pushes the weather's origin a long way off. The storm comes at the right moment, and the gathering gets the cool out of it.

A nagging illness has lately cleared, and the hall is full of guests again.

"Lately" does not claim a full recovery, and "again" says the hall has been empty before. Both small words keep the statement measured.

I am ashamed to live so high, and to have seen nothing of the people's well-being.

The poem turns here. Before it there was coolness and a full hall; this line brings out the man sitting comfortably and puts a question to him.

Once the principle is understood, disputes fall away; once the nature is open, formalities are forgotten.

Each line is a cause and its result, laid out evenly in a calm tone, as if he were reasoning with himself.

Rich meat is under a seasonal ban, but the vegetables and fruit are here to be tasted.

The word for "fortunately" is light and polite. With no fish or meat the vegetables have to do, and the host says so without embarrassment, which lets the guests eat.

Bending, I drink a cup of wine; lifting my head, I listen to writing fine as gold and jade.

The two verbs make a pair and give the order of the evening: drinking is the low business, hearing poetry the high one.

With the spirit glad the body grows light of itself, and the mind wants to ride the wind.

"Of itself" means no effort was applied. He has not drunk much; the lightness came from hearing the writing, so this line has to be read back into the couplet before.

Wu is rich in letters and history, and its talents now are vast as a sea.

The word for a wide sea is borrowed from water, and it answers both the rain at the pool pavilion earlier and the roomful of men now.

Only now do I see that a great province is not merely a territory of taxes.

The last line lifts the evening's experience to a point about government, yet still says no more than "not merely taxes" and does not broaden out.

赏析 · Commentary

清凉的席上插进一句自惭 · One Ashamed Line in a Cool Room

前六句都是舒服的：兵卫森然、清香、风雨送凉、嘉宾满堂、病也好了。第七句忽然写「自惭居处崇，未睹斯民康」。韦应物不安插议论，他只是把镜头从满堂的客人挪到自己身上，问了一句：坐在这里的人，见过外面的人过得怎样吗。这一句并不长，却把前面六句的舒服都变成欠着的东西。

The first six lines are all comfort: guards in order, a clear fragrance, wind and rain bringing cool, a hall full of guests, an illness clearing. The seventh line suddenly says he is ashamed to live so high and to have seen nothing of the people's well-being. Wei Yingwu does not insert an argument; he simply moves the camera off the full hall onto himself and asks whether the man sitting there has seen how the people outside live. The line is short, and it turns all six comfortable lines before it into something owed.

两句给自己讲道理 · Two Lines of Self-Instruction

「理会是非遣，性达形迹忘」写得很平，甚至有点像格言。位置却不平：它紧跟在「自惭」之后。刚惭愧过，立刻说想通了、放下了，读起来难免像替自己开脱。韦应物没有再加一句解释，把这两句照原样放在那里。这一晚上他到底放下了没有，诗里没有答案。

The couplet about understanding the principle and emptying out disputes reads flatly, almost like a maxim. Its position is not flat: it follows directly on the line of shame. Having just been ashamed, he immediately says he has understood and let go, which inevitably reads a little like excusing himself. Wei Yingwu adds no further explanation and leaves the couplet standing as it is. Whether he actually let go that evening, the poem does not say.

从一杯酒升到要飞 · From a Cup of Wine to Wanting to Fly

宴席写到后段，动作往上升：先低头喝酒，再抬头听文章，然后「神欢体自轻」，最后想乘风而翔。韦应物交代得很清楚，这个轻不是酒量出来的，是文气顶上来的。等到末联夸吴中人才济济，听起来像客气话，其实接着自己的轻在说——他这一晚的痛快，来处就在满堂的文章里。收尾不落在酒上，落在这块地方上。

As the evening is written on, the actions rise: first bending to drink, then lifting the head to hear the writing, then a light body, and finally a wish to ride the wind. Wei Yingwu is explicit that the lightness did not come from wine but from the air of letters. So when the last couplet praises the talents of Wu, it sounds like courtesy but is really a continuation of his own lightness — the delight of the evening came from the roomful of writing. The poem does not end on the wine but on the place.

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