äøŗę - Because
by ęåé (Li Shangyin, approximately 813 - 858 CE)
äøŗęäŗå±ę éåØ [1][2][3] wĆØi yĒu yĆŗn pĆng wĆŗ xiĆ n jiÄo Now that he has his dearest with her folding screen of clouds inlaid,
å¤ååÆå°½ęę„宵 [4][5] fĆØng chĆ©ng hĆ”n jĒn pĆ chÅ«n xiÄo the capitalās chill, fully spent, begets dread for nights of lovely spring.
ę ē«Æå«å¾éé¾å©æ [6] wĆŗ duÄn jiĆ dĆ© jÄ«n guÄ« xĆ¹ Senseless! To have secured this marriage to a high-official husband,
č¾č“é¦č”¾äŗę©ę [7] gÅ« fĆ¹ xiÄng qÄ«n shƬ zĒo chĆ”o only so he neglects their sweet blankets attending Morning Court.
ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦.
This is me causally answering the poetry courtesy phone for my friendsā book club novel, é»éå° Golden Terrace (by čę¢§å®¾ē½ cang wu bin bai). Such a charming, wry little picture must absolutely get painted more vividly by the way of context, so here you go!
Brief Translation Notes
[1] äøŗę - Could have been read as äøŗ(äŗ)ę āin order to possessā or (å )äøŗę(äŗ) ābecause of possessingā. In context of the second part of the sentence about fearing the spring nights, the latter makes more sense - and so the structure can be read as ābecause of x, now yā.
[2] äŗå± - Are tasteful folding screens placed in rooms for privacy. The ācloudā half may mean it is literally decorated with cloud motifs, or that it was crafted with mica as part of the design. One point in favour of the latter is another Li Shangyin poem about Changāe, where he explicitly refers to a mica folding screen thrown into deep shadow by candlelight, äŗęÆå±é£ēå½±ę·± (full poem here). In any case, I used just a little more words to make it go both ways xD
[3] ę éåØ - āInfinitely darlingā I LOVE his turns of phrase. This particular one also sparks so so so much joy in me when he used it in å¤é³ę é儽 åŖęÆčæé»ę, the setting sun infinitely approaches perfection, remaining just shy of it for the imminent dusk (mostly tongue in cheek and not doing it justice in the least).
[4] å¤å - Literally āphoenix cityā, it is a literary, romantic way of referring to Changāan. There are two origins that are commonly mentioned. The first one, that the feng was a prominent symbol in the Han dynasty, with Emperor Wu of Han having his Feng Tower(s) å¤é topped with bronze birds. The second being that Changāan is called äø¹å¤å, after Duke Mu of Qinās daughter played the xiao and the feng flew to perch in Xianyang, and hence theĀ
[5] ę„宵 - Spring Night, various connotations including but not limited to: sexytimes, joyful fleeting moments, a brief period of time.
[6] éé¾å©æ - Literally āGold Tortise Husband / Gold Tortoiseās Son-in-lawā, where the animal imagery comes from the specific embroidery motifs that decorate the robes of officials of third rank and above. This change was instated by Wu Zetian (624 - 705), perhaps in an effort to stack legitimacy to her name i.e. black tortise > ēę¦ > ę¦å天, which meant it probably was still in place during Li Shangyinās time. Anyway, powerful, influential officials were called āGolden Tortisesā, and the lucky gentlemen who marry their daughters? Thatās a Gold Tortoiseās Son-in-law! Or å©æ also simply means husband, so it can be a high ranking husband too.Ā
I adore the convoluted irony of a lady marrying a man whom her dad has a great opinion of, whom he helps in his career, and the dude ends up stuck in a high enough position that he HAS to attend morning court instead of sleeping in in the morning with his newlywed wife, and him being T_T about it, while sheās rolling her eyes to the back of her head bc sheās got the worst deal out of this xD
/But the option I chose was easier to translate and can also be correct HAHAHA
[7] č¾č“é¦č”¾ - Another CUTE turn of phraseā¦ literally āletting down the fragrant blanketsā. What a disappointment you are my dude!Ā
Background
As usual, this is the cliffnotes version of a poet bio as far as it may be relevant to our topic of the day - do go read about him if it catches your fancy:
Born around 813 in Henan (yes I am SKIPPING over specific place names here xD), Li Shangyin was descended from a distant branch of the Tang Imperial Li clan. However, the family had fallen into poverty by his generation - a situation made worse when his father died in service as an advisory staffer for the regional military governer in Zhejiang, forcing them to return to Henan. As the eldest son, Li Shangyin copied books and did odd jobs to help support his widowed mother and younger siblings.Ā
What bloomed from this hardship in his early years was his ambition to restore the family fortunes through official service and his sensitive, proud temperament.
Educated first by his father and later by a learned relative, he showed exceptional literary talent from a young age, and had written several acclaimed essays by the age of 16. This was also when he supposedly moved to Luoyang. It was likely these accomplishments that had him becoming acquainted with the likes of Bai Juyi and Linghu Chu even then, and it was under Linghu Chu's patronage and tutorage that Li Shangyin mastered the writing of pianwen, received financial support and gained access to elite literary circles (dude liked him so much, he sent him out study-travelling with his son lol). However, despite his talent, Li Shangyin endured years - some say maybe around a decade or so - of repeated failures in the civil service examinations, for it was very difficult to get a foot through the door without the right connections.Ā
He finally passed the jinshi examination in his mid twenties, aided in part by Linghu Chu's influence. But that was not to last, as Linghu Chu died in that same year, depriving Li Shangyin of his principal backer at the very beginning of his career. After Linghu Chuās funeral, he failed to place in the åå¦å®č¾ (breadth of learning and vastness in letters, and I want to know WHO did if Li Shangyin canāt qualify omg) exam, which was intended to select for those exceptionally skilled essayists, and soon entered the staff of the military governor Wang Maoyuan (following in the steps of his dad who had taken up a similar position back then...) who admired his abilities and appointed him as a member of his staff.Ā
We know Wang Maoyuan really saw something in him, because he later married his daughter to Li Shangyin! It was a union that seemed to have been a personally happy oneā¦ but was quite politically disastrous, plunging him into faction drama, delaying and complicating his path to official office. It might even be fair to say his career never gained momentum like he might have hoped when younger?Ā
Although appointed to the Palace Library as an Editor, which was a minor position but one that had a lot of potential (many high officials started there), not long after, for reasons unknown, he was sent to a minor county post, where conflict with his superior eventually led to his resignation. Reinstated two or three years later as a...lexicographer? (ę£å for anyone interested, an even more minor position than before) now in his late twenties, he was immediately sidelined by three years of mourning for his mother, causing him to miss the brief period of favour for the political faction he supported.Ā
After that, the forever shifting sands that is court politics repeatedly sent him into vicious cycles of hope and the dashing of it :/ Each subsequent appointment ended with some variation of untimely political purges, demotion, or the death of a patron. You can read about it here, but Iām not sure if I would recommend it.Ā
No idea how Li Shangyin felt about all this, but I hope to know him better someday!
There are some who think this poem was written in the later half of his life. If so, I do think he found joy in crafting funny little stories like this one. It falls so neatly - but also not quite so neatly - in the genre of the begrudging wife beset with boudoir woe. He's not cosplaying as her in words! He's doing husband POV then wife POV, and neither of them are happy about this LMAO.
