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Yan Jidao. "To the tune “the Immortal by the River”—"When I wake up"." Global Medieval Sourcebook.Text based on Tang, Guizhang 唐圭璋 (ed.). Quan Song Ci 全宋詞. Vol 1. Beijing: Zhonghua shu ju, 1965, .
臨江仙 | To the tune “the Immortal by the River”
Source Information
臨江仙 | To the tune “the Immortal by the River”
by Yan Jidao
Text Source:
Text based on Tang, Guizhang 唐圭璋 (ed.). Quan Song Ci 全宋詞. Vol 1. Beijing: Zhonghua shu ju, 1965, 34.
Responsibility Statement:
- Text based on Tang, Guizhang 唐圭璋 (ed.). Quan Song Ci 全宋詞. Vol 1. Beijing: Zhonghua shu ju, 1965,
- Translation by Qian Jia
- Notes by Dante Zhu
- Encoded in TEI P5 XML by Dante Zhu
Editorial Principles:
Transcriptions and translations are encoded in XML conforming to TEI (P5) guidelines. The original-language text is contained within <lem> tags and translations within <rdg> tags.
Texts are translated into modern American English with maximum fidelity to the original text, except where it would impair comprehension or good style. Archaisms are preserved where they do not conflict with the aesthetic of the original text. Scribal errors and creative translation choices are marked and discussed in the critical notes.
The original text of this ci is based on the edition by Tang Guizhang 唐圭璋 (Quan Song Ci 全宋詞. Vol 1. Beijing: Zhonghua shu ju, 1965). Punctuation follows the edition. Since ci poetry rarely includes personal pronouns, and gender-differentiated pronouns did not exist in Classical Chinese of this period, the gender of the speaker as well as their perspective (e.g. first, second or third person) must often be deduced by the translator from context.
Publication Details:
Published by The Global Medieval Sourcebook.
The Global Medieval Sourcebook is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
臨江仙 To the tune “the Immortal by the River”
夢後樓臺高鎖， When I wake up from the dream, the buildings already have their doors locked.
酒醒簾幕低垂。 As I sober up, the curtains droop low.
去年春恨卻來時。 The sorrow of last year’s spring hits me again.
落花人獨立， In the falling petals, I stood alone;
5
微雨燕雙飛。 a pair of swallows flew by in the drizzling rain. 記得小蘋初見， I remember the first time I met Xiaoping:
兩重心字羅衣。 her silk gown with the pattern
c
of double hearts. Critical note:
There are two interpretations for 心字羅衣, one is that the hearts are the patterns on the silk gown, while the other is that the heart refers to the shape of the collar of the women’s clothes. Here the translator chooses to go with the first interpretation.
琵琶弦上說相思。 She uttered her longing with the lute strings.
當時明月在， The bright moon from that time is still here now,
10
曾照彩雲歸。 which once shone upon her, as she left like a rosy cloudc
. Critical note:
The “rosy cloud” 彩雲 refers to Xiaoping. “Cloud” is an image that is often associated with sexual intercourse, and here it refers to one who had a physical relationship with the speaker. The “cloud” metaphor suggests Xiaoping is both beautiful and ephemeral, and the relationship between her and the speaker is passionate yet transient.
臨江仙 To the tune “the Immortal by the River”
夢後樓臺高鎖， When I wake up from the dream, the buildings already have their doors locked.
酒醒簾幕低垂。 As I sober up, the curtains droop low.
去年春恨卻來時。 The sorrow of last year’s spring hits me again.
落花人獨立， In the falling petals, I stood alone;
5
微雨燕雙飛。 a pair of swallows flew by in the drizzling rain. 記得小蘋初見， I remember the first time I met Xiaoping:
兩重心字羅衣。 her silk gown with the pattern
c
of double hearts. Critical note:
There are two interpretations for 心字羅衣, one is that the hearts are the patterns on the silk gown, while the other is that the heart refers to the shape of the collar of the women’s clothes. Here the translator chooses to go with the first interpretation.
琵琶弦上說相思。 She uttered her longing with the lute strings.
當時明月在， The bright moon from that time is still here now,
10
曾照彩雲歸。 which once shone upon her, as she left like a rosy cloudc
. Critical note:
The “rosy cloud” 彩雲 refers to Xiaoping. “Cloud” is an image that is often associated with sexual intercourse, and here it refers to one who had a physical relationship with the speaker. The “cloud” metaphor suggests Xiaoping is both beautiful and ephemeral, and the relationship between her and the speaker is passionate yet transient.
Critical Notes
Translation
Line number 7
Critical note: There are two interpretations for 心字羅衣, one is that the hearts are the patterns on the silk gown, while the other is that the heart refers to the shape of the collar of the women’s clothes. Here the translator chooses to go with the first interpretation.
Translation
Line number 10
Critical note: The “rosy cloud” 彩雲 refers to Xiaoping. “Cloud” is an image that is often associated with sexual intercourse, and here it refers to one who had a physical relationship with the speaker. The “cloud” metaphor suggests Xiaoping is both beautiful and ephemeral, and the relationship between her and the speaker is passionate yet transient.
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