ChineseStudy

73. Song of the Lovely Women | Du Fu

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English translation

On the third day of the third month the weather is fresh, and lovely women are many by the water at Chang'an.

The third of the third is the Spring Purification Festival, and the banks of the Qujiang were where people went out. A single festival puts the women in a public place.

Their bearing is rich, their feeling distant, gentle and true; their skin is fine-grained, their bone and flesh in proportion.

Both lines describe temperament and body in judgments rather than images. The people are established first, the clothing after.

Embroidered silk dresses shine against late spring, gold thread worked into peacocks, silver into unicorns.

Peacocks and unicorns are common patterns on Tang textiles. Shine against late spring sets the brightness of the fabric against the background.

What is on their heads? Green flower-leaf ornaments hang to the hairline and lips.

A question and answer: the question asks about the head, the answer gives the ornament. The flower leaf is a kind of headpiece.

And what is seen behind? Pearls weight the waistband, sitting firm and fitting the body.

A second question and answer, moving to behind. The two questions share a form, which keeps the pace even.

Among them are the kin of the Pepper Chamber behind cloud curtains, granted the names of the great states of Guo and Qin.

Pepper Chamber refers to imperial consort kin. Guo and Qin are the titles given to Yang Guifei's sisters. Only here do the figures come into view.

Humps of purple camel come out of green cauldrons; white fish are served on crystal plates.

Each line gives one dish and one vessel. Camel hump was a delicacy of the day.

The rhinoceros-horn chopsticks, long since sated, do not come down; the phoenix knife cuts fine, busying itself for nothing.

Do not come down means the chopsticks cannot be made to pick anything up. To write extravagance you need not count the cost — that they cannot eat is enough.

The palace eunuchs gallop up without raising dust; the imperial kitchen sends the eight delicacies one after another.

No dust raised means the horses move lightly, and also that the road has been cleared. The food comes from the palace — this is the key point.

Flutes and drums mourn and move the spirits; the guests and retinue crowd in, all of them men in key posts.

In key posts means these people hold power. The banquet has stopped being a family party and become a political occasion.

How leisurely the horseman who comes last — he dismounts facing the window and steps onto the brocade carpet.

Leisurely writes his manner. The most important person arrives last.

Willow catkins fall like snow and cover the white duckweed; the blue bird flies off carrying a red kerchief.

Two lines of sudden scenery that hide allusions — willow to the Yang surname, the blue bird as a carrier of messages. A covert stroke.

Hot enough to burn the hand, a power without equal; be careful not to come close, or the Chancellor will be angry.

Hot enough to burn the hand became a proverb. The close turns to warning, and what it writes is other people's fear.

赏析 · Commentary

全诗没有一句评语，却句句是态度 · Not One Judgment, Yet Every Line Takes a Position

《丽人行》写了上巳节曲江边的一场游宴。杜甫从天气写起，写服饰、写首饰、写菜、写器皿、写随从，最后才让那位「后来」的人入场。整整十三联，没有一句骂人，也没有一句自己表态。态度藏在取舍里：他花了两句写筷子「久未下」，花了一句写黄门「不动尘」，都是不值一提的小事，却正是这场排场的实质——吃不下还要送，路要清好了才来。到最后「慎莫近前丞相嗔」，也是站在远处的人说的话。诗里没有一个字提到国家，可整首诗让人不舒服，这就是杜甫要的效果。

The Song of the Lovely Women describes an outing and banquet by the Qujiang at the Spring Purification Festival. Du Fu starts from the weather and writes clothing, head ornaments, dishes, vessels, retinue, and only at the end lets the man who comes last enter. Thirteen couplets in all, not one curse and not one statement of the poet's own view. The attitude lives in what he selects: two lines on chopsticks that do not come down, one line on eunuchs raising no dust — trivia, and precisely the substance of the display, that food is sent when no one can eat and the road is cleared before a man arrives. The closing take care not to come close is likewise the speech of someone standing at a distance. The word state never appears, yet the whole poem leaves an unease — which is exactly the effect Du Fu wanted.

最要紧的人最后才出场 · The Most Important Man Arrives Last

从「三月三日天气新」到「宾从杂遝实要津」，杜甫写了一大段，主角一直没有露面。丽人们先出、服饰先出、首饰先出、菜先出、随从先出，最后才是「后来鞍马何逡巡」。这种排法让最后三句的分量最重：前面铺得越满，那位一个人慢慢下马就显得越突出。而且他到场之后，杜甫没有写他说了什么、做了什么，只写了一个动作——下马，踏进锦毯。接下来两联写景和告诫，也是从远处看。不写他本人，反而把权力写得更清楚。

From the weather on the third of the third to the guests and retinue crowd in, all of them men in key posts, Du Fu writes a long stretch without the principal appearing. The women come out, the dresses come out, the ornaments come out, the dishes come out, the retinue comes out, and only then the leisurely horseman who comes last. The arrangement puts the greatest weight on the final three sentences: the fuller the build-up, the more one man dismounting slowly stands out. And once he arrives, Du Fu does not write what he says or does, only one action — dismount and step onto the brocade carpet. The next two couplets are scenery and warning, also seen from a distance. Not writing the man himself writes his power more clearly.

「炙手可热」为什么放在最后 · Why Hot Enough to Burn the Hand Comes Last

「炙手可热势绝伦，慎莫近前丞相嗔」是全诗的收束。前三句还在写景——杨花、白苹、青鸟、红巾，都是柔和的、可以远看的物象；到这里忽然换成温度和危险。前十二联写的都是「有」，有钱、有权、有排场；这一句写的却是一个禁止动作：不要靠近。全诗真正想说的话，因此不是那些人有多风光，而是别人有多怕他们。把「炙手可热」放在最末，等于是把关照点从被看的人转到看的人身上，这也解释了整首诗为什么一直站在远处。

Hot enough to burn the hand, a power without equal; be careful not to come close, or the Chancellor will be angry closes the poem. The lines before are still scenery — willow catkins, white duckweed, the blue bird, the red kerchief — soft things one can look at from a distance; here the register switches suddenly to temperature and danger. The twelve couplets before are all about having — money, power, display; this line is a prohibition: do not come close. What the poem really means to say is therefore not how splendid these people are but how much others fear them. Placing hot enough to burn the hand last moves the focus from the ones looked at to the ones looking, which also explains why the poem stands at a distance throughout.

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