酷我-北美枫

[christine]

This Generation and Far and Near by Gu Cheng (顾城)

远和近

你
一会看我
一会看云

我觉得
你看我时很远
你看云时很近


Far and Near

You
Look at me one moment
And at clouds the next

I feel
You are far away while looking at me
So near while looking at clouds


一代人

黑夜给了我黑色的眼睛
我却用它寻找光明


This Generation

The pitch black nights have given me black eyes
with which I search for light.


Reflection:

Gu Cheng’s This Generation and Far and Near continue the poetic strength of the Chinese Xiaoshi (small poems) and bring imagery, metaphorical, paradoxical or otherwise, to the fore by using montage-like juxtaposition of images with minimum discursiveness. Far and Near bespeaks a paradox indicative of a troubling relationship between the speaker and the “you,” and This Generation makes a sharp social comment through personal meditation.

[[christine]]

This Generation and Far and Near by Gu Cheng (顾城)

远和近

你
一会看我
一会看云

我觉得
你看我时很远
你看云时很近


Far and Near

You
Look at me one moment
And at clouds the next

I feel
You are far away while looking at me
So near while looking at clouds


一代人

黑夜给了我黑色的眼睛
我却用它寻找光明


This Generation

The pitch black nights have given me black eyes
with which I search for light.


Reflection:

Gu Cheng’s This Generation and Far and Near continue the poetic strength of the Chinese Xiaoshi (small poems) and bring imagery, metaphorical, paradoxical or otherwise, to the fore by using montage-like juxtaposition of images with minimum discursiveness. Far and Near bespeaks a paradox indicative of a troubling relationship between the speaker and the “you,” and This Generation makes a sharp social comment through personal meditation.

[ericcoliu]

[[ericcoliu]]

[ericcoliu]

[[ericcoliu]]

[dundas]

[[dundas]]

[anna]

A Generation by GU Cheng

The pitch black night gave me two deep black eyes
with which to search for light.


Much better. search is a good word.

This version is more powerful and poetic.
_________________
---------------------

Anna Yin

《爱的灯塔-星子安娜双语诗选》
<Nightlights> <Seven Nights with the Chinese Zodiac> ...

http://annapoetry.com

[[星子安娜]]

A Generation by GU Cheng

The pitch black night gave me two deep black eyes
with which to search for light.


Much better. search is a good word.

This version is more powerful and poetic.
_________________
---------------------

Anna Yin

《爱的灯塔-星子安娜双语诗选》
<Nightlights> <Seven Nights with the Chinese Zodiac> ...

http://annapoetry.com

[非马]

I like the title "A Generation" better than "This Generation." It could mean any generation, as the title of the original poem seems to suggest.
By the way, I agree with Anna. "Search" is a better word to use here.

[[FFFFFF]]

I like the title "A Generation" better than "This Generation." It could mean any generation, as the title of the original poem seems to suggest.
By the way, I agree with Anna. "Search" is a better word to use here.

[ericcoliu]

[[ericcoliu]]

[ericcoliu]

[[ericcoliu]]

[christine]

Thank you all for the comments.

[[christine]]

Thank you all for the comments.

[christine]

Interesting discussions.

Thanks for the comments.

[[christine]]

Interesting discussions.

Thanks for the comments.

[浴恩福]

[[浴恩福]]

[非马]

[[FFFFFF]]

[ericcoliu]

First of all, thank you for the well thought out reply. More importantly, I want to thank you for taking the choice of the Chinese title so serious and making it a worthy discussion.

Secondly, yes, the poetic strength of Ambiguist Poetry, which grew out of and responded to the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution, lies in its ambiguity in terms of language and style. But, how to use the Ambiguist language and style to reveal the underlying theme and intention of the poem is the most challenging work for the poet. I think Gu Cheng would have been thrown into prisonl if he had chosen a title like"这一代人." By the way, “misty," the English translation of 朦胧, as Eugene Eoyang points it out, "promotes serious misunderstanding of their poetry [朦胧诗], which -- far from being romantic and wide-eyed as "misty" implies -- is dense, subtle, and ironic". I support his view and adopt his translation.

Thirdly, in terms of scope and intensity and duration and casualty, the destruction – “The pitch black night has given me two deep black eyes” -- that the Cultural Revolution (and preceding revolutionary movements) had brought about is historically unique. Thomas Aquinas once said, "Sensing or experiencing a particular man, such as the Apostle Paul, is actually sensing or experiencing the universal essence of man." Following his line of thinking, I believe that truly and deeply sensing or experiencing a particular poem, such as This Generation, is actually sensing or experiencing the universal connotation of poetry. In other words, "the intellect sees the universal in the particular thing; it abstracts the universal from the particular thing." (From Socrates to Sarte by Samuel Enoch Stumpf).

Finally, I think This Generation reveals a poetic vision -- Poetry as Insurgent Art -- that is shared by Dionne Brand’s view on poetry: “Poetry is here, just here. Something wrestling with how we live.”

What follows is my literary tribute to the Ambiguist Generation, who have searched for light with dark eyes.

An Immigrant

Nostalgia has given me misty eyes
With which I seek the Promised Land.
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[[ericcoliu]]

First of all, thank you for the well thought out reply. More importantly, I want to thank you for taking the choice of the Chinese title so serious and making it a worthy discussion.

Secondly, yes, the poetic strength of Ambiguist Poetry, which grew out of and responded to the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution, lies in its ambiguity in terms of language and style. But, how to use the Ambiguist language and style to reveal the underlying theme and intention of the poem is the most challenging work for the poet. I think Gu Cheng would have been thrown into prisonl if he had chosen a title like"这一代人." By the way, “misty," the English translation of 朦胧, as Eugene Eoyang points it out, "promotes serious misunderstanding of their poetry [朦胧诗], which -- far from being romantic and wide-eyed as "misty" implies -- is dense, subtle, and ironic". I support his view and adopt his translation.

Thirdly, in terms of scope and intensity and duration and casualty, the destruction – “The pitch black night has given me two deep black eyes” -- that the Cultural Revolution (and preceding revolutionary movements) had brought about is historically unique. Thomas Aquinas once said, "Sensing or experiencing a particular man, such as the Apostle Paul, is actually sensing or experiencing the universal essence of man." Following his line of thinking, I believe that truly and deeply sensing or experiencing a particular poem, such as This Generation, is actually sensing or experiencing the universal connotation of poetry. In other words, "the intellect sees the universal in the particular thing; it abstracts the universal from the particular thing." (From Socrates to Sarte by Samuel Enoch Stumpf).

Finally, I think This Generation reveals a poetic vision -- Poetry as Insurgent Art -- that is shared by Dionne Brand’s view on poetry: “Poetry is here, just here. Something wrestling with how we live.”

What follows is my literary tribute to the Ambiguist Generation, who have searched for light with dark eyes.

An Immigrant

Nostalgia has given me misty eyes
With which I seek the Promised Land.
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[非马]

[[FFFFFF]]

[christine]

Thank 非马 and ericcoliu for their insightful discussions about the choice of the Chinese title. I have learned something new from them.

[[christine]]

Thank 非马 and ericcoliu for their insightful discussions about the choice of the Chinese title. I have learned something new from them.