酷我-北美枫

[ericcoliu]

Poem of the Week

Poem Lyrics of Autumn Window
Written by Bian Zhilin; translated by Michelle Yeh


Like a middle-aged man
Turning around to look at the footprints of the past –
Each step a desert –
He wakes up from confused dreams
Listening to the evening's crows crossing half the sky.

Looking at the sunset on the gray wall,
He thinks of a tubercular patient at the early stage,
In front of the ancient mirror of misty twilight,
Dreaming of the ruddiness of youth.


Thematic Review

Skilfully using Modernist techniques -- such as juxtaposition of imagery and ambiguity -- and through blending the imaginative into the real, Bian Zhilin (卞之琳), one of the pioneers who introduced Western Modernism to the Chinese reader, successfully conveys his feelings toward life.

In the poem, the window, imagined as the ancient mirror, functions like a screen onto which the imagination is projected, producing a series of images that leads the reader farther away from the reality represented by the “evening's crows crossing half the sky.”

First, a middle-aged man’s bygone past is compared to the footprints on the desert; then, the sunset reflected on the gray wall looks like “a tubercular patient at the early stage;” finally, he thinks of his ruddy youth when gazing into the mirror.

Based on the title and imagery employed, Autumn Window is a poem held up as a mirror in which the poet sees human life reflected: effaceability (“Each step a desert") and fragility (“a tubercular patient at the early stage”).
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[[ericcoliu]]

Poem of the Week

Poem Lyrics of Autumn Window
Written by Bian Zhilin; translated by Michelle Yeh


Like a middle-aged man
Turning around to look at the footprints of the past –
Each step a desert –
He wakes up from confused dreams
Listening to the evening's crows crossing half the sky.

Looking at the sunset on the gray wall,
He thinks of a tubercular patient at the early stage,
In front of the ancient mirror of misty twilight,
Dreaming of the ruddiness of youth.


Thematic Review

Skilfully using Modernist techniques -- such as juxtaposition of imagery and ambiguity -- and through blending the imaginative into the real, Bian Zhilin (卞之琳), one of the pioneers who introduced Western Modernism to the Chinese reader, successfully conveys his feelings toward life.

In the poem, the window, imagined as the ancient mirror, functions like a screen onto which the imagination is projected, producing a series of images that leads the reader farther away from the reality represented by the “evening's crows crossing half the sky.”

First, a middle-aged man’s bygone past is compared to the footprints on the desert; then, the sunset reflected on the gray wall looks like “a tubercular patient at the early stage;” finally, he thinks of his ruddy youth when gazing into the mirror.

Based on the title and imagery employed, Autumn Window is a poem held up as a mirror in which the poet sees human life reflected: effaceability (“Each step a desert") and fragility (“a tubercular patient at the early stage”).
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[ericcoliu]

秋窗　卞之琳

像一個中年人
回頭看過去的足跡
一步一沙漠，
從亂夢中醒來，
聽半天晚鴉。

看夕陽在灰牆上，
想一個初期肺病者
對暮色蒼茫的古鏡
夢想少年的紅暈。
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[[ericcoliu]]

秋窗　卞之琳

像一個中年人
回頭看過去的足跡
一步一沙漠，
從亂夢中醒來，
聽半天晚鴉。

看夕陽在灰牆上，
想一個初期肺病者
對暮色蒼茫的古鏡
夢想少年的紅暈。
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[hahaview]

Through close textual reading of 卞之琳's 秋窗 (the Chinese edition), I found ambivalence and confusion on both semantic and perceptual levels.

For example, who is the speaking subject? Whose is the voice that begins the poem with "像?" Who dreams of 夢想少年的紅暈?" Who stands in front of "暮色蒼茫的古鏡?" Who is "初期肺病者?"

"Skilfully using the Modernist techniques -- such as juxtaposition of imagery and ambiguity -- and through blending the imaginative into the real", 卞之琳 achieves an air of impersonality which is one of the key doctrines espounded by Eliot and Pound.
_________________
I came, I saw, and I conquered

[[hahaview]]

Through close textual reading of 卞之琳's 秋窗 (the Chinese edition), I found ambivalence and confusion on both semantic and perceptual levels.

For example, who is the speaking subject? Whose is the voice that begins the poem with "像?" Who dreams of 夢想少年的紅暈?" Who stands in front of "暮色蒼茫的古鏡?" Who is "初期肺病者?"

"Skilfully using the Modernist techniques -- such as juxtaposition of imagery and ambiguity -- and through blending the imaginative into the real", 卞之琳 achieves an air of impersonality which is one of the key doctrines espounded by Eliot and Pound.
_________________
I came, I saw, and I conquered

[Champagne]

[[Champagne]]

[fanfan]

[[FAFAFA]]

[戴玨]

[[Edgar]]