知否 知否 - 如梦令 by 李清照

I was reintroduced to this poem "如梦令" by 李清照 when I was watching one of those singing competition online. The duo (郁可唯 and 胡夏) gave a beautiful rendition of the song, which is a song from one of the popular Chinese drama "知否知否應是綠肥紅瘦". The name of the drama is part of the poem versus. The poem in turn formed the chorus of the song for the drama.

Here's the YouTube video for those interested to hear the song:

Hearing the song prompted me to search for the entire poem again, and here's the poems for those interested:

昨夜雨疏风骤，浓睡不消残酒。

试问卷帘人，却道海棠依旧。

知否，知否？

应是绿肥红瘦。

A direct interpretation of the poem would be the reminiscence of a scene by the author 李清照. The author remembered that it was an extremely windy night (the night before) with sparse rain. This was after a night of drinking where even after much sleep (浓睡), there is still the remnant of wine in her body.

This prompted her to remember about the flowers in her garden. The flower here referred to (海棠), which incidentally is the name for a group of flowers (see Wiki about 海棠), that generally has no fragrant. This sets the somewhat melancholic scenery, and it could be inferred that the author feels sorrowful, whether it is due to the changing of seasons (flowering spring to summer rainy season) or her background, or possibly both.

Thus she asked her maid about the garden, who is helping her to roll up the curtains (卷帘). The maid replied that everything is the same, which is of course contrary to what the author felt, i.e. the strong wind would have ruin the flowers.

This then lead to the 3rd and 4th line, where the author asked that famous line of "dont you know, dont you know", the scenery should be one of many greens (i.e. many leaves) and little flowers. There is an interesting symbolic inference where 绿肥, which literally translates to "green - fat", and 红瘦 for "red slim", painted a more graphically image of a ruined garden with much leaves and not many "red" flowers.

The entire poem painted a very beautiful image, that started with the sorrowful scene of strong winds (and sparse rain) giving rise to expectations of ruined garden, but yet the reality (if you believed the maid) of a normal garden. Poem ended with the author asking if it should be the other way round instead. Guess in a way this is a reference to her life. The author 李清照 lived in the Song dynasty, and initially she was leading a happy married life with her husband until the invasion of the Jin army. 

知否，知否？应是绿肥红瘦 is thus used as a way to indirectly state that the life is the other way round (instead of what the maid sees normally).

庐山烟雨浙江潮 未至千般恨不消 - 苏轼

There is this famous Chinese poem by the Song Dynasty poet 苏轼 (also known as 苏东坡) that is used by people to advise others that many "dream" careers or jobs / positions, are merely that, a job / career. Before we achieved that position or career posting, they may look extremely desirable that is worth all efforts and time, but once we reached that goal, we would have realised it is nothing so special.

My poor attempt of translating the poem would be:

The first sentence, "Amidst the Lushan rain / mist and the Zhejiang tide" describes an ideal scenery, and everyone dreamed to see it at any cost. Before seeing this scenery, the heart is full of yearning and expectation, and we would try every means to pursue and realise it. Once seen, one would feel that it is nothing special (i.e. 别无事). The misty rain is still the misty rain, and the wonderous tide is still just a tide.

Here's the actual poem in Chinese

庐山烟雨浙江潮，未至千般恨不消。

到得还来别无事，庐山烟雨浙江潮。

I've read two different background of why 苏东坡 wrote this poem - one stated that it was his poem written for his son who was leaving to start an official career (government post which is a desirable job in the past). Another version stated that it was his gift for a monastery when an old monk asked him for a poem. The latter could be a refence of how this poem also described a very Zen (禅) view of life / career. Seems like the poet passed away not too long after he wrote this poem.

This poem is beautiful because the first and last sentence (庐山烟雨浙江潮) are the same, and yet so aptly position to precisely point out that the scenery, i.e. referencing that dream career, is just a scenery, i.e. a career like any other. I guess this poem resonates well with a lot of mid-career / middle aged people.

Also see: 花开堪折直须折 莫待无花空折枝

花开堪折直须折 莫待无花空折枝

There is this Tang Dynasty poem which is quite popularly used by people to advise others to treasure and make full use of opportunity / time. I think the message is still applicable despite many hundreds of years have passed. Loosely translated, it means "Advising the youth not to hanker after beautiful clothes, i.e. waste time in entertainments, but to treasure the time given. Pluck the branches of flowers while they are blooming, or risk wasting the effort of plucking a flowerless branch." Well... my translation is not great, but I guess the meaning is more or less there. :) The poem in Chinese is shown below. So yah ... must treasure all opportunities and make full use of time!

（唐）金缕衣 - 杜秋娘 　　

劝君莫惜金缕衣，劝君惜取少年时。

花开堪折直须折， 莫待无花空折枝。 

 金缕衣：原指金线刺绣的华美衣服。

《金缕衣》中的“花开堪折直须折，莫待无花空折枝”脍炙人口，是历来传颂的名句。

Also See: 庐山烟雨浙江潮 未至千般恨不消 - 苏轼