[KS] Response: Request to the Members Regarding an Appropriate Translation, Etc. from Agnieszka Smiatacz

[JongHwa Lee]

I believe the words "學" and "老" need to be switched in the first line of the
poem (少年易學老難成); therefore, changes in the translation - "the youth can
easily age, yet scholarship is hard to achieve".

Hope this is helpful.
J.

2011/3/1 Frank Joseph Shulman <fshulman at umd.edu>

> Professor Jonathan Chaves of George Washington University, an expert on
> Chinese poetry and the author/editor of such works as "Mei Yao-ch'en and the
> Development of Early Sung Poetry" (1976) and the "Columbia Book of Later
> Chinese Poetry: Yuan, Ming and Ch'ing Dynasties" (1986), has kindly
> responded to the February 28th inquiry below from Agnieszka Smiatacz
> (Academy of Korean Studies).  He did so in response to the inquiry that I
> forwarded to him.  I am sharing Professor Chaves' response with the Korean
> Studies listserve in order that everyone may benefit.
>
> Frank Joseph Shulman
>
> March 1, 2011
>
> Frank Joseph Shulman
> Bibliographer, Editor and Consultant for Reference Publications in Asian
> Studies
> 9225 Limestone Place
> College Park, Maryland 20740-3943 (U.S.A.)
> E-mail: fshulman at umd.edu
> ________________________________________
> From: Jonathan Chaves [jchaves at gwu.edu]
> Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2011 8:35 AM
> To: Frank Joseph Shulman; magnesmerald at yahoo.co.uk
> Subject: Fwd: FW: [KS] Request to the Members
>
> This is the second half of a quatrain by the great Neo-Confucian (理學)
>  thinker, Chu Hsi/Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130-1200), whose ideas exerted enormous
> influence in Korea and Japan as well as in China. Chu was a good poet as
> well, although this one is closer to straight-forward moral indoctrination
> than to poetry in the full sense:
>
>  勸學      宋*朱熹
> 少年易學老難成，一寸光陰不可輕。未覺池塘春草夢，階前梧葉已秋聲。
>
> In youth, studying comes easily,  in old age--hard to do!
>
> Do not look lightly on even one moment of your precious time.
>
> Before one has woken from a dream of spring plants beside a lovely pool,
>
> Before the steps, paulownia leaves already make autumn sounds.
>
>
>
> Note:  草 in this usage really applies to all plants, flowers included,
> "flora". There has been limitless talk about the wu-t'ung/wutong tree, with
> many claiming it really isn't the "paulownia," but I continue to use the
> latter as being a good poetic equivalent. . . .
>
>
> Jonathan Chaves, professor of Chinese
> The George Washington University
> 202--994-6474; fax 202--994-1512
> 703--472-3204 cell; jchaves at gwu.edu
>
> http://chineseinjapan.blogspot.com/
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Frank Joseph Shulman <fshulman at umd.edu>
> To: Stuart and/or Dominique Sargent <ssargent at stanfordalumni.org>,
> Jonathan Chaves <jchaves at gwu.edu>
> Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2011 21:42:53 -0500
> Subject: FW: [KS] Request to the Members
> Dear Stuart and Jonathan,
>
> Given your expertise, might one of you be able to assist this member of the
> Korean Studies listserve?
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Frank
>
> February 28, 2011
>
> Frank Joseph Shulman
> Bibliographer, Editor and Consultant for Reference Publications in Asian
> Studies
> 9225 Limestone Place
> College Park, Maryland 20740-3943 (U.S.A.)
> E-mail: fshulman at umd.edu
> ________________________________________
> From: koreanstudies-bounces at koreaweb.ws [koreanstudies-bounces at koreaweb.ws]
> On Behalf Of Agnieszka Smiatacz [magnesmerald at yahoo.co.uk]
> Sent: Monday, February 28, 2011 11:53 AM
> To: koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws
> Subject: [KS] Request to the Members
>
> Dear List Members,
>
> I kindly request information on where I can find an English
> translation/publication of the following poem:
>
>
> 未覺池塘 春草夢 ㅣ 연못가에 봄 풀이 채 꿈도 깨기전에
>
> 階前梧葉 已秋聲  ㅣ 계단 앞 오동나무잎이 가을을 알린다
>
> The translation will be roughly as follows:
>
> Spring grass at the pond before I wake up from my dream/
> In front of the stairs paulownia leaves are announcing autumn.
>
> It is a fragment of a poem by a Chinese poet from the Song dynasty period,
> popular among the Koreans, too. In Korean the title is "Sonyeoniro
> Hannanseong".
> I would be very thankful if some hanja experts kindly corrected my
> translation.
>
> Regards,
> A. Smiatacz
> The Academy of Korean Studies
>
>
>
>
>
>
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