Su Shi (苏轼; 8 January 1037 – 24 August 1101), also known as Su Dongpo, was a Chinese writer, poet, painter, calligrapher, pharmacologist, gastronome, and a statesman of the Song dynasty.
Quotes
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The brimming waves delight the eye on sunny days;
The dimming hills give a rare view in rainy haze.
The West Lake looks like the fair lady at her best
Whether she is richly adorned or plainly dressed.
The dimming hills give a rare view in rainy haze.
The West Lake looks like the fair lady at her best
Whether she is richly adorned or plainly dressed.
- 水光潋滟晴方好,山色空蒙雨亦奇。
欲把西湖比西子,淡妆浓抹总相宜。- The brimming waves delight the eye on sunny days;
The dimming hills give a rare view in rainy haze.
The West Lake looks like the fair lady at her best
Whether she is richly adorned or plainly dressed.- "The West Lake, the Beauty" (《饮湖上初晴后雨》) (1073), in Song of the Immortals: An Anthology of Classical Chinese Poetry, trans. Yuanchong Xu (Beijing: New World Press, 1994), p. 200
- The brimming waves delight the eye on sunny days;
- 横看成岭侧成峰,远近高低各不同。
不识庐山真面目,只缘身在此山中。- From the side, a whole range; from the end, a single peak;
far, near, high, low, no two parts alike.
Why can't I tell the true shape of Lu-shan?
Because I myself am in the mountain.- "Written on the Wall at West Forest Temple" (《题西林壁》) (1084), in Selected Poems of Su Tung-p'o, trans. Burton Watson (Port Townsend, Wash.: Copper Canyon Press, 1994), p. 108
- From the side, a whole range; from the end, a single peak;
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For ten long years the living of the dead knows nought.
Though to my mind not brought,
Could the dead be forgot?
Though to my mind not brought,
Could the dead be forgot?
- 十年生死两茫茫。不思量,自难忘。
- For ten long years the living of the dead knows nought.
Though to my mind not brought,
Could the dead be forgot?- "Dreaming of My Deceased Wife on the Night of the Twentieth Day of the First Month" (《江城子·乙卯正月二十日夜记梦》), in Song of the Immortals: An Anthology of Classical Chinese Poetry, trans. Yuanchong Xu (Beijing: New World Press, 1994), p. 202
- For ten long years the living of the dead knows nought.
- 事如春梦了无痕。
- Life is like a spring dream which vanishes without a trace.
- As quoted in Six Records of a Floating Life by Shen Fu, Chapter 1: 'Wedded Bliss'; translated by Lin Yutang in The Wisdom of China and India (1942), p. 968
- Variant translation:
- Life passes like a spring dream without a trace.
- Lin Yutang, The Importance of Living (1937), p. 156
- Life passes like a spring dream without a trace.
- Life is like a spring dream which vanishes without a trace.
Quotes about Su Shi
- There had to be one Su Tungpo, but there could not be two.
- Lin Yutang, The Gay Genius (1947), p. vii
- The mention of Su Tungpo always elicits an affectionate and warm admiring smile in China.
- Lin Yutang, The Gay Genius (1947), p. vii
External links
Encyclopedic article on Su Shi at Wikipedia Media related to Su Shi at Wikimedia Commons- Poems by Su Shi at blackcatpoems.com
- Su Shi Index at chinese-poems.com
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