2023

10/2023

陶渊明

归田园居 - 其三

饮酒 english

郑天宏Tian Hong Zheng

09/2023

Septembre est toujours un mois chargé dans Isola. On est au cinquième anniversaire, grâce à nos amis.

J'ai le grand plaisir de vous montrer, dans la page "Isola Poetry", un extrait de la toute dernière oeuvre de Yves Bergeret; "Manger le Glacier Noir". Certains d'entre vous connaîtraient déjà son écriture. Qui d'autre que lui aurait autant honoré une montagne, loin des bruits du monde? Dans la page "Sharing", vous verrez des magnifiques aquarelles qui accompagnent ses vers. Dans son site web, les photos de qualité montrent la source de la peinture. Et son carnet en prose est tout aussi émouvant, tellement il donne de la place et de la vie à une montagne silencieuse. A découvrir absolument.

Cet été, en juillet et en août, tout en tenant mon carnet sous forme de Qing Ping Abreuvé (toujours dans la page "清平", j'ai continué à traduire les "建安七子”(Sept lettrés de la période "Jian An"). Jian An veut dire "établir la paix", parce que ce temps-là n'était pas paisible. J'en ai choisi deux poètes:

陈琳 Chen Lin（？-217），poète, essayiste et musicologue, a vécu pendant les guerres de la fin de la Dynastie Han. Conseiller de 袁绍（Yuan Shao）en défaite， capturé par l’armée vainquante de 曹操 Cao Cao mais libéré et retenu dans la cour grâce à ses talents de plume, malgré son célèbre article polémique contre Cao Cao. Il fut mort, en même temps que plusieurs autres membres de “建安七子Sept lettrés de l’époque Jian An", lors d'une épidémie.

孔融 Kong Rong (151-208), descendant lointain de Kong Zi, très apprécié par 曹丕 Cao Pi le futur roi, mais fervent royaliste, il a été condamné à mort par Cao Cao 曹操qui, travaillant au nom du vieil empire en déclin, détenait le vrai pouvoir. Largement grâce à ses exploits, son fils Cao Pi a pu fonder le royaume 魏晋 Wei Jing en 220.

Ici j'ai traduit son "Poème d'adieu" rédigé avant l'exécution, et un poème aux six syllabes 六言 qui nous dit combien au début, par l'ironie du sort, il croyait en 曹操 Cao Cao le conquérant de sauver l'empire, et aussi la beauté rhythmique particulière de la forme aux six syllabes 六言 qui était peu courante.

Vous êtes bienvenus à jeter un coup d'oeil sur ces traductions. J'ai décidé de ne pas ignorer ce groupe de poètes parce que 1) ils sont moins souvent traduits; 2) ils appartenaient à l'une des époques historiques cruciales; 3) ils sont parmi les premiers poètes chinois qui signaient leurs textes; 4) ce sont des grands lettrés qui, en plus des essais, écrivaient à la fois de la poésie en prose 赋 Fu et de la poésie "stricte" Shi 诗，ils ont affirmé la forme 五言 (poème aux cinq syllabes) , l'une des formes majeures; 5) ils attireraient l'attention des poètes postérieurs vivant dans des époques plus douces où l'écriture poétique deviendrait trop sophistiquée. Ces derniers auraient désiré un "retour aux ancients chez qui ils apprécieraient vitalité et simplicité.

J'ai un peu expliqué mon approche dans une note sur la traduction de la poésie chinoise classique (mois juillet, page "les jours pleins").

Par contraste aux sept lettrés de Jian An, engagés et tourmentés, voici le poète ermite 陶渊明 Tao Yuan Ming (365-427) dont je pense présenter les poèmes d'ici plusieurs mois.

Tao Yuan Ming a vécu à l'époque 东晋 Dong Jin où les guerres avec des populations nomades du Nord ont obligé la cour de se déplacer au sud, elle s'est installée à 建康 Jian Kang (aujourd'hui Nanjing 南京). Dans cette instabilité, mandarin né d'une famille aux gloires passées, orphelin de père et de mère à son jeune âge, il a passé treize années à essayer de "servir la multitude" comme il le dit, jusqu'à la totale désillusion, jusqu'au jour où il a démissionné pour de bon, et effectué une rupture radicale et avec le pouvoir de son temps et avec la société en général. Il est rentré dans sa région natale cultiver son jardin jusqu'à la fin. Il y a une âme lucide et complexe derrière une écriture ultra simple. La paix intérieure recherchée par de mots plats et une vie champêtre. On trouve chez lui un confucéen mais pas tout à fait, un taoïste mais non plus pas tout à fait, et un bouddhiste mais pas converti.

Il a aussi écrit de magnifiques textes en prose que je peine un peu de ne pas traduire, me limitant à traiter uniquement des poèmes "stricts" dont la traduction en langues occidentales pose plus de défi. Car un poème "strict" me semble quasi intraduisible. Il est d'une existence indicible, comme est ainsi le gautique, ou la pyramide. Que ce soit aux cinq, ou aux six, ou aux sept syllabes, un tel poème en sortant de sa syntaxe originelle, de sa coquille, risquerait sa mort.

Ce qui le diffère des beaucoup d'autres poètes chinois anciens qui aspiraient à une vie simple mais ne le pouvaient pas ou qui retournaient à la nature seulement une fois leur fortune faite, est que 陶渊明 était un être par trop entier, il a effectué son "refus global" dans la force de son âge, en tant que père de famille, acceptant solitude, pauvreté et labeur, acceptant tout ce qui lui était inaccoutumé, prêt à disparaître, mort ou vivant, comme un grain de poussière mergé dans la nature. Le mot "nature" 自然 traduit mot à mot du chinois serait "ce qui va de soi".

Son nom sortirait de l'obscurité plus d'un siècle plus tard, grâce au critique littéraire 萧统 Xiao Ton, un esprit original dont on a déjà parlé dans ce site. Ce dernier aurait publié avec préface des recueils de ses poèmes. 陶渊明 serait particulièrement apprécié aux époques des Tang 唐 et des Song 宋. Et c'est lui qui，à mon avis, a donné de la splendeur à la forme 五言, par son écriture limpide, une écriture "telle quelle" pourtant savamment orchestrée。 Ici vous trouverez "饮酒，其五”en français， et "归田园居，其一”en anglais.

J'ai écrit des notes à propos de ce dernier poème. Il s'agit des traits stylistiques, certains déjà mentionnés auparavant dans ce site, qui seraient dominants dans toute la poésie chinoise classique, à part son esprit qui, aussi, aurait influencé des générations de futurs poètes chinois, et ce jusqu'aujourd'hui. Vous trouverez ces notes dans la page "Days filled". Sinon, plus tard, j'aurai certes l'occasion de revenir sur ce point en traduisant vers le français

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September has always been a rich month for Isola. The site is at its fifth anniversary, thanks to our friends.

It is my great pleasure to come back to you to share an extract of Yves Bergeret's poem：un extrait de la toute dernière oeuvre de Yves Bergeret; "Manger le Glacier Noir".. A strong voice that you might already know. Who else would honor, as he does, a mountain away from the noices of the world? In the page "Sharing" you will see his magnificent pieces of watercolor that accompany his verses. In his web site "Carnet Espace - Langue", his quality photographes explain the source of his paintings. And his prose writing is as moving as well, so much has he been giving space and life to the silent mountain. A must-see.

During the summer, while keeping my carnetusing shortened Qing Ping form, I continued to translate“建安七子 Seven writers during Jian An time ".Jian An means "establishing peace", because that time was far from peaceful. I have choosen two poètes:

陈琳 Chen Lin (?-217), poet, essay writer and musicologist, have livend during the war time at the end of Han Dynasty. Councellor for 袁绍 Yuan Shao who failed the battles, captured by 曹操 Cao Cao's army, but released and hired within the new regime, because of his literary fame, even despite his past well-known contraverse against Cao. He died, in the same year with several other members of the group, of an epidemic.

孔融 Kong Ron (151-208), remote descendant of Kong Zi, very much appreciated by 曹丕 Cao Pi the futur keen, but as a strong promoteur of the fallen empire, he was finally condamned to death by 曹操 who was ruling under the name of the last emperor of Han. His son 曹丕 Cao Pi was able to establish the kingdom of 魏 Wei largely thanks to the later's conquests，in 220.

Here are 孔融 Kong Ron's last poem "Farewell", and a "六言 six syllables" poem that shows how he believed earlier in 曹操 as the saver of his beloved empire, and also the particular rhythmical beauty of the uncommon six syllables form.

You are welcome to have a look at those translations. I chose not to ignore this group of poets because 1) they are less often translated; 2) they belong to a crucial time in the history; 3) they are among the first chinese poets who signed their work ;4) they were important scholars who, in addtion to their essays, wrote both prose poems 赋 Fu and "restricted" poems 诗 Shi, and they affirmed the five syllables form that will be among the major ones; 5) they would draw attention of the futurs poets living in less harsh time when poetry writing would become too sophisticated, those who would want to "return to ancients" of whom they admire vigor and simplicity.

I tried to explain my approche with a note regarding Chinese classic poetry translation, this can be found in the page "Les jours pleins", july 2023 update.

In contrast to 建安七子 who are engaged and often tormented, here is the poet hermit 陶渊明 Tao Yuan Ming (365-427). I plan to present his poetry from now on for several months.

陶渊明 Tao Yuan Ming lived in 东晋 East Jin epoch, when wars with northern nomadic troups pushed the court to move southward, and to settle in the city of 建康（today's 南京). In such instability, as mandarin born in a family of past glories, orphan at a young age, he had spent thirteen year to try to "serve the multitude" as he said, till his total disillusion, till the day where he resigned for good, turning away from both the power in place and the human society in general. He settled in his native region to cultivate his garden till the end. There is a lucid and complexe mind behind his extraordinarily simple writing. Quest for inner peace through plain words and rural life. One would see on him a confucianist but not as such, a taoïst but not quite so, a bouddist but not converted.

He has also left us magnificent prose poems that I painfully chose not to translate here, wanting to concentrate myself on "restricted poems" of which the translation into western languages seems to need more rethinking and maybe redoing. Because a "restricted poem" is hardly translatable, it is of unspeakable existence, so as the gotique, or the pyramid. A such poem, be it with five, or six or seven syllables, when detached from its original syntax, from its shell, runs the risk to die.

What differs this author from many other ancient Chinese poets wanting to withdraw but not able, or quitting only after having made their earthly accomplishments, is that 陶渊明 made his "total refusal" during the prime time of his life, with a whole family to care about, accepting solitude, poverty and hard labor, accepting all these that were unfamiliar to him, accepting to disappear, alive or dead, to merge like a grain of dust into the nature. The term nature translated word by word from Chinese is "what is meant to be".

His name was known more than a century later, thanks to the literary critic 萧统 Xiao Ton (501-531), a very fine mind we already mentioned in this site. The later published a collection of 陶渊明's poems and wrote a foreword. 陶渊明 would be most greatly appreciated during the Tang 唐 and 宋 epoches. To me, it was him who has made 五言诗 splendid, through his writing with no make ups, close to the essential, and yet skillfully constructed. This month you will find here the French version of "饮酒 - 其五”and the English version of "归田园居 - 其一".

About the second piece, I wrote a few notes regarding its aesthetic traits, some of which were mentioned before. In addition to 陶渊明's philosophy of life that would influence generations of poets even till today, those aesthetic traits would remain key features for the entire Chinese classical poetry.

08/2023

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07/2023

陈琳 Chen Lin（？-217），poète et essayiste, a vécu pendant les guerres de la fin de la Dynastie Han. Conseiller de 袁绍（Yuan Shao）en défaite， capturé par l’armée vainquante de 曹操 Cao Cao mais libéré et retenu dans la cour grâce à ses talents de plume, malgré son célèbre article polémique contre Cao Cao. Il fut mort, en même temps que plusieurs autres membres de “建安七子” （Sept lettrés de l’époque Jian An), d’une maladie contagieuse.

On voit donc que sa poésie exprime une insoutenable détresse.

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06 / 2023

Voici deux poèmes de Gerda Cadostin d'une limpidité profonde, propre à elle. Et, pour le comble de mon bonheur, ils sont accompagnés d'une version créole sa langue maternelle. Elle s'est inspirée de la poésie de René de Ceccatty, dit-elle. Quelle belle énergie qui traverse ce site et nous relie. "Haïti survit grâce à la poésie", dit-elle aussi. Eh bien, n'est-ce pas vrai, tour à tour, pour beaucoup de sociétés, et pour chacun de nous?

J'ai traduit deux poèmes de Wang Can 王粲（177-217)，contemporain et ami de Cao Zhi 曹植, l'un des Sept Lettrés de la tumultueuse époque Jian An -- 建安七子.

La page "Partage" est ce mois-ci occupée par "Gyroscope -- Le génie du lieu" de Michel Butor. Le livre combine la poésie chinoise de l'époque Tang, les cultures anciennes, les notes des voyageurs des différents siècles, les citations et commentaires des artistes modernes, et ramène tout cela aux mêmes surfaces des pages, en parallèle, en superposition, en rotation. Vision cosmologique sur les vicissitudes des sociétés et des peuples qui sont interalliées sur l'axe imagé du temps qui n'est pas linéaire, dans un même écosystème plus large que l'humanité et ses opinions.

Quant à l'interprétation des poèmes classiques chinois, ceux qui ne lisent pas le chinois pourraient comparer un peu les poèmes des Tang dans le livre de Butor et la traduction qu'on en trouve ailleurs, pour entrevoir la situation du décalage.

J'ai découvert ce livre grâce à Mireille Calle-Gruber que j'admire. Ici vous verrez aussi son livre sur Butor.

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Here are two Qing Ping by Gerda Cadostin, with a quality of her own, that lightness of being, both clair and deep like a mountain stream. Poems most delightfully accompanied of a version in creole language, her mother tongue. She said she felt inspired by the poems of René de Cecatty. What a nice energy then has been circulating within the site. She also believes Haiti has been surviving thanks to poetry. In fact, isn't it true also for many cultures? And for each of us all?

I translated two poems by Wang Can 王粲（177-217), a contemporary and friend of Cao Zhi 曹植, one of the so called "Seven Scholars of Jian An 建安七子", who lived in a turbulent epoch.

The "Sharing" page this month is occupied by a book of Michel Butor: "Gyroscope -- Le Génie du Lieu". It brings world poetical works mostly Chinese poetry at Tang time, historical events, modern travellers and artists' notes etc all together as rotating parallels, into same page spaces, expressing a cosmological view about interrelated cultures as living and perishable beings in a same ecosystem, about minds overflowing time and space, that are under constant questioning.

I discovered this book thanks to Mireille Calle-Gruber a friend I admire. Here you'll also see her book about Michel Butor -- a rare found, truly exceptional author in numerous ways.

05/2023

Nous avons grand bonheur de vous montrer des extraits de l'oeuvre poétique de Colette Poggi: "L'Arbre des Nuits". Toujours si beaux et élevés, auto-traduits en anglais, et surtout, aussi en sanscrit, une langue qui fait rêver.

Dans la page "sharing", vous trouverez image et citation du dernier ouvrage de l'auteure sur la spiritualité indienne, ainsi que le lien à son site web.

J'ai traduit deux autres poèmes de Cao Zhi 曹植 192-232（voir le contenu des mois précédents), dont 箜篌引 (kong hou yin)。

箜篌, Un instrument à cordes, vertical ou horizontal, inventé par Hou Diao (侯调） l'an 111AEC, de l'époque Han.

引 guide

箜篌引 est une forme musicale selon laquelle les poètes composent leurs vers. Le premier tel poème est "公无渡河” （"Mon chéri, ne traverse pas la rivière"), recueilli dans 乐府歌辞 ("Yue Fu Ge Ci", collections des pièces poétiques anonymes -- voir la présentation antérieure dans ce site). Le poème, écrit par une coréenne, raconte l'histoire d'un vieil homme qui tient à traverser la rivière et se noie dedans. Sa femme, qui n'a pas pu l'empêcher, a chanté une chanson en jouant sur Kong Hou, puis s'est jetée dans la rivière.

On trouve de très nombreuses formes poético-musicales de ce genre dans "Yue Fu Ge Ci" dont beaucoup seraient empruntées par des poètes pendant des siècles à venir. Il s'agissait d'"écrire du nouveau sur les corps du vieux". Ils aimaient mettre en tête de leurs poèmes, souvent sans titre, le nom de la forme suivie (词牌名). Parmi ces formes, se trouve notre Qing Ping（raccourcie) 清平短诗, assez connue aujourd'hui encore.

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We are very happy to show you extracts of Colette Poggi's poetical work "L'Arbre des Nuits". Always so beautiful and elevated, self-translated into English, and especially, into Sanscrit, a language that makes me to dream.

In the "Sharing" page, you'll find image and quotation of the author's most recent book "". And a link to her brilliant website.

I translated two more poems by 曹植 Cao Zhi （see previous presentation), of which 箜篌引 (kong hou yin).

箜篌: a string instrument, horizontal or vertical, invented by 侯调 (Hou Diao) in 111BCE, at the Han era.

引: guide

箜篌引 is a musical form in which poets compose their verses. The first such poem was "公无渡河” ("Do not cross the river, my man"), included in 乐府歌辞 Yue Fu Ge Ci, collections of anonymous poetical pieces (see earlier presentations in this site).

The poem, written by a Korean lady, tells the story about an old man who was drowned when crossing a river, and about his wife who, failing to dissuade her husband from his endeavour, made a song with her Kong Hou guitar and then throw herself into the same river.

One could find numerous poetical-musical forms of this sort in 乐府歌辞 (Yue Fu Ge Ci), of which lots would be borrowed by poets in future centuries, to "write about the new out from the old". They liked to put, on top of their poems often title-less, the name of a particular musical form followed. And within those formes, there is our Qing Ping (shortened) 清平乐, that is quite well known, still today.

2023

04/2023

Chères amies, chers amis,

Voici deux Qing Ping par Paul Matthiew St Pierre, accompagnés de la photo de l'une de ses installations. On est bien heureux d'accueillir cette voix singulière.

Rosa Hong nous a écrit un poème bilingue absolument ravissant qui nous retient dans la contemplation d'un printemps commençant. Son univers a ceci en common avec la poésie chinoise classique: la plus grande attention accordée au plus petit détail du vivant.

Dans la page "Sharing", à nouveau je voudrais partager l'article de "The Diplomat", à propos du projet japonais (apparemment décidé) de verser dans le Pacifique 1.25 million de tonnes de déchets nucléaires. Sans parler du sort des vies maritimes dans les environs, les vagues contaminées arriveraient automatiquement aux côtes nord-américaines.

Sont traduits ce mois-ci deux autres poems de Cao Zhi (192-232, voir la présentation le mois dernier).

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Dear friends,

Here are two Qing Ping by Paul Matthiew St Pierre, accompanied with the image of one of his art piece. We are very happy to welcome this singulier voice.

Rosa Hong wrote us a bilingual poem nicely drawing our eyes to the beginning of Spring season. Her poetical univers has this in common with Chinese classic poetry: the greatest attention paid to the smallest life happening.

In the "Sharing" page, once more, I would like to share an article from "The Diplomat", regarding the Japanese project (apparently decided) to dump, as a cheap solution, 1.25 million nuclear waste water into the Pacific. If this would be allowed, without talking about the fate of neighbouring marine lives, the poisoning waves would inevitably arrive to North American Western coasts as well.

This month are translated two more poems by Cao Zhi 曹植（192-232，see last month's notes)

03/2023

Chères amies, chers amis,

Voici un très beau poème de 戴宇 Da Yu, traduit par Xu Qin, pour accueillir le printemps.

Dans la page "Sharing", j'aimerais recommander le site web de ARCS - l'Association "Archive, Claude Simon et ses contemporains", sous la direction de Professeur Mireille Calle-Gruber. Un puits de trésors à explorer pour ceux qui s'intéressent à l'oeuvre de Claude Simon et aussi à la littérature innovatrice de l'après-guerres.

La plupart des titres de Claude Simon sont traduits en chinois, nos amiEs pourraient les trouver sous le mot de clé "克络特。西蒙".

J'ai traduit ce mois-ci deux poèmes de 曹植 Cao Zhi（192-232), fils de 曹操 Cao Cao, poète et fondateur du royaume 魏 Wei，frère cadet de 曹丕 Cao Pi, roi de Wei le second et également lettré.

L'oeuvre de 曹植 Cao Zhi est considérée comme la plus accomplie des "Trois Cao". Mais de montrer cela par la traduction n'est pas facile.

J'ai décidé de mettre sur la même page et la traduction et la version originale, afin de montrer l'aspect visuel et structural de la poésie chinoise. Le Pin Yin 拼音 (la notation de prononciation) aiderait à révéler, quoi qu'en partie seulement à cause de la limitation de mon clavier Apple, le rime et la tonalité.

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Dear friends,

Here is a very nice poem by 戴宇 Dai Yu, translated by Xu Qin, to celebrate the Spring season.

In the "Sharing" page, I would like to recommend the website of ARCS - "Association of Archives, Claude Simon and his contemporaries", directed by Professor Mireille Calle-Gruber. A treasury box to explore for whoever interested in Claude Simon's work and in the very innovative after-war literature.

By the way, most of Claude Simon's books are translated into Chinese. Friends could search the titles under the keyword "克络特。西蒙".

This month, are translated two poems by 曹植 Cao Zhi (192-232), son of 曹操 Cao Cao, poet and founder of the kingdom 魏 Wei, and the youngest brother of 曹丕 Cao Pi, king of Wei the second and also an author.

The poetry work by 曹植 Cao Zhi is considered as the most accomplished among the "Three Cao". But to reflect this in translation isn't easy.

I decided to put into the same page the original version and its translation, in order to show the visual and structural aspects of the Classical Chinese poetry. The Pin Yin 拼音（notes about the pronunciation and tones) should reveal, even only partially because of the limitation of my Apple's keyboard, the rime and the tones.

02/2023

Les membres de l'atelier de la poésie du CFDB (Centre francophone de la Bourgogne), Dany Alexandre, Denise Forycki, Chantal Gufflet, Florence Lagrange, Véronique Régnier-Liaboeuf et Daniel Saulnier ont écrit de très beaux Qing Ping. Bravo aux poètes et à la photographe Florence Lagrange. Merci à Claude Thomas l'animateur qui a rendu possible ce bonheur de partage.

Dans la page "Sharing", je me permettrais de "partager" le site web "Les Artistes pour La Paix", une association québécoise réunissant des admirables Don Quichottes.

J'aimerais aussi rendre respect et hommage à l'auteure sino-américaine Iris Chang 张纯如 (1968-2004) , en présentant son interview avec BookTV en 1997. Il est temps que le monde soit au courant du "holocaust" à Nanjing (fin 1937- début 1938), car le nombre des témoins diminue d'année en année, et l'histoire semble très répétitive.

Je continue à traduire les auteurs du groupe "Jian An 建安". Sont présentés ici deux poèmes, l'un en français l'autre en anglais, de Cao Pi 曹丕 (187-126), roi du royaume Wei le second (règne entre 220-226), l'auteur de "Sur l'écriture 论文", le tout premier ouvrage reconnu de la critique littéraire chinoise.

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The membres of the poetry workshop animated by CFDB (Centre francophone de la Bretagne), Dany Alexandre, Denise Forycki, Chantal Gufflet, Florence Lagrange, Véronique Régnier-Liaboeuf et Daniel Saulnier have written really nice Qing Ping poems. Cheers to the poets and to the photographer Florence Lagrange! Thanks to Claude Thomas the animator who has made possible this joy of sharing.

In the "sharing" page, I posted the web address of "Artistes pour La Paix", a québécois association gathering some admirable Don Quichottes.

I also would like to honour the Chinese American author Iris Chang 张纯如 (1968-2004), by presenting one of her interview with BookTV in 1997. It is time for people to be aware about the "holocaust" happened in Nanjing (end of 1937-beginning of 1938), because the number of witness has been reduced year after year, and yet history could surprisingly repeat itself.

In the page "Days filled", I continue to translate the poetry of Jian An 建安 group. Here are presented two poems, one in French, another in English, by Cao Pi 曹丕 (187-126), king of Wei 魏 the second (ruling between 220-226), author of "About the Writing", the very first recognized work of Chinese literary critics.

01/2023

A l'occasion du Nouvel An lunaire, qui tombe au 22 janvier cette année, on a invité quelques ami(e)s de la diaspora de l'Asie de l'Est à venir partager leurs "instants".

D'abord, bienvenue chaleureuse à Rosa Junghwa Hong, d'origine coréenne, qui célèbre la même fête que nous en ce temps-ci de l'année. Son poème, légèrement différent de Qing Ping, sonne tellement familier à mes oreilles qui ne comprennent pourtant pas sa langue. Merveilleusement douce, calme et élevé.

Je suis aussi extrêmement touchée par nos participants si jeunes et si occupés Elisa Chen, Charlie Zhu, Joseph Dillman et 陈浬 Chen Lee. Ce site a été créé d'abord à leur attention, parce qu'ils ont tous presque perdu leur langue maternelle, surtout la langue écrite -- l'essence même de ce qu'on peut appeler "un héritage culturel". Phénomène courant mais bien plus sévère ici qu'ailleurs, dans un Canada où le "multiculturalisme" devient, dans la pratique, un "multi-ethnisme" qui divise d'une part et folklorise d'autre part. Et l'on ne compte pas non plus sur un Google pour se renseigner sur cette poésie -- une pyramide en mots, quasi intraduisible, qui se tient aujourd'hui encore dans le fond de sa langue. Pyramide intérieure où les artistes contemporains découvrent une étonnante modernité.

张爱东 Ai-Dong Zhang a rédigé un poème pensant à plusieurs personnes chères qu'elle a perdues l'an dernier. La poésie ancienne est souvent un lieu de recueillement.

Et nos vieux grands amis Xu Qin 须勤, Dai Yu 戴宇，刘澎 Peng Liu, et la très talentueuse 天宏 Tian Hong, sont au rendez-vous. Bravo à Peng Liu, à Tian Hong et à Elisa Chen pour leur impressionnante peinture!

Quand le nom du traducteur n'est pas mentionné pour un poème bi/trilingue, cela veut dire que c'est l'auteur qui lui/elle-même écrit toutes les versions.

Dans la page de "sharing" (auparavant "Opinions", j'en ai changé le nom en m'inspirant du magnifique site web www.colettepoggi.com sur la culture indienne), 林卓立 Zhuo-Li Esther Lin, de Taiwan, nous a recommandé les propos du philosophe / sinologue François Julien enregistrés en 2003 lors d'un entretien concernant les aspects fondamentaux de la pensée chinoise reflétée dans son art et surtout dans sa langue même, par comparaison à l'occident. A lire mot à mot.

En même temps, le site de l'AASF (Asian American Scholar Forum) mérite de l'attention - organisation qui soutient les scientifiques américains d'origine chinoise persécutés à tort aux Etats-Unis ces dernières années. Vous y trouverez conférences, débats, pétitions, documents et études des cas.

Parallèlement je continue à cultiver les pages "Les jours vides", "Empty days" et "清平"，comme un endroit de refuge, ou comme un écart aussi bien du monde que du moi, ou encore comme occasions d'honorer les existences hors de l'emprise humaine.

Après la collection "Yue fu Ge Ci" (乐府歌辞）et le recueil "Les Dix-neuf vieux poèmes" (古诗十九首），tous anonymes mais influençant énormément et longuement les poètes à venir, je pense présenter, cette année et peut-être au-delà, en grandes lignes seulement, bien sûr, en peine de devoir choisir, l'inépuisable production des quelques siècles suivants, où prédominait la forme 五言 (poèmes aux vers de cinq syllabes).

La poésie formaliste 律诗，par contraste au "style libre 自由诗" représenté par 屈原 Qu Yuan (340BCE-278ACE, voir les matériaux antérieurs des pages "Les jours occupés" et "Busy days"), fut devenu réellement une tendance importante seulement à partir du temps de Jian An (建安 196-220). Une production poétique marquée par des guerres, représentée par 曹操 Cao Cao, fondateur du royaume Wei 魏，ses fils très doués le prince 曹植 Cao Zhi et 曹丕 Cao Pi, roi de 魏 le second，et un groupe de lettrés dont les plus célèbres 王粲 wang mi，孔融 kong rong，陈琳 chen ling，etc.

Il me faudrait mentionner que sur les traces de 屈原, s'est développée, parallèlement à la "poésie aux règles 律诗"，une "poésie en prose" et parfois discursive, qu'on nomme "赋 Fu". Certains poètes de Jian An 建安 et aussi des autres époques aimaient bien composer des "赋 Fu" de temps en temps. Or ce courant n'est pas inclus dans mon projet de traduction, pour une simple raison qu'il semble pouvoir se faire transposer plus facilement en d'autres langues, étant structurellement similaire à la poésie occidentale, et que je crains donc moins qu'il puisse être démesurément dénaturé par quelconque traduction.

Vous trouverez deux poèmes de 曹操 Cao Cao ce mois-ci. Mes notes inévitablement concernent les caractéristiques de la langue elle-même. Je crois qu'une poésie, ainsi qu'une culture, ne peut réellement se révéler à nous par l'intermédiaire de la traduction seulement, sans qu'on aborde nous-mêmes la langue de source.

Les figures stylistiques, peu traduisibles, sont indiquées et expliquées dans les notes.

La version originale des poèmes correspondant se trouve toujours dans la page "繁忙的日子” du même mois.

Confuse de ce pavé exceptionnellement long d'introduction pour commencer l'année, je vous remercie d'avance de votre aimable patience.

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In the occasion of the lunar New Year that falls on the 22nd of January this year, I invited a few friends from the East-Asian diaspora to share their "moments" here.

First I would like to most warmly welcome Rosa Junghwa Hong, with Korean heritage, to join us to celebrate together our common holidays. Her trilingual poem, slightly different from Qing Ping, yet sounds so much familiar to me. Marvellously soft, calm and elevating.

I am also moved to tears by our very young and very busy participants Elisa Chen, Charlie Zhu, Joseph Dillman and Chen Lee. This site was originally built to their attention, because all of them have almost lost their mother tongue, especially the written one -- the very essence of a cultural heritage. Phenomenon quite common but it seems to me much more pronounced in Canada than elsewhere, the often questioned "multiculturalism" being, in practice, a "multi-ethnism" that divides on the one hand, and folklorises on the other hand. We cannot count on a Google neither to know details about this poetry -- a pyramid in words, indeed, hardly translatable, that stands till today and remains largely influencing. An inner pyramid where contemporary artistes find surprisingly modern elements.

张爱东 Ai dong Zhang wrote a poem after having lost, last year, several persons dear to her. Ancient poetry is often a way to meditate, to talk to the invisible.

And our old great friends 须勤 Xu Qin，戴宇 Dai Yu，刘澎 Peng Liu, and the very talented 天宏 Tian-Hong are with us. Cheers to 刘澎 Peng Liu, 天宏 Tian-Hong and Elisa Chen for their impressive paintings!

When the translator's name is not mentioned, the poem is made bi/ trilingual by the author her/himself.

In the page of "Sharing"(replacement of the original page name "opinions", I made the change inspired by the brilliant website www.colettepoggi.com -- a must see about indian culture), 林卓立（Zhuo-Li Esther Lin) from Taiwan recommended an interview of the philosopher / sinologue François Julien given in 2003, regarding the Chinese thinking through its representation in arts and in its rooting language, and by comparison to Western culture. For those who cannot read in French, I would summarize Julien's words to the following points:

--Julien wanted to review grec philosophy, familier to him, from a very different angle.

--The word "to be" was absent in ancient Chinese, as well as epic stories.

--The circulating and forever transitioning cosmic energy seems to fill the void of individual human existence.

--The ancient Chinese paintings tend to work between "there is" and "there isn't".

--No determined concept of "beauty", of "perfection", no painting of naked bodies.

--The "Dao" is not a road leading to somewhere, but a path where things happen.

--The 20th century Western art meets sometimes the ancient Chinese painting.

--Two major ruptures in Chinese culture: Mongolian and other northern ethnie's invasion after Song Dynasty around 10th century, and the arrival of the West during Dynasty Qing, starting from 16th century. The later has profond impacts on Chinese culture.

But why a poetry with "strict rules" was invented and remained dominant throughout Chinese poetry history? My assumption would be that shamanic and also bouddhiste beliefs were so strong in the population that poets - mostly confucianiste mandarins and scholars - would need lots of forms and rules to frame their cosmic feelings.

Also the site of AASF (Asian American Scientistes Forum) deserves attention. It has been supporting Chinese American scientists wrongly persecuted in USA in recent years. There you'll find conferences, debates, documents, case studies and petitions.

I continue to cultivate the pages "Les jours vides", "Empty days" and "清平”, as a place for refuge, or as a step aside from the world and also from myself, or as occasions to honour the existences that are out of human grips.

After the collection "Yue Fu Ge Ci 乐府歌辞" and "The Nineteen Old Poems 古诗十九首", all anonymous but important for future poets, I'm thinking to present, this year and probably beyond, the work done in the subsequent centuries, where the poetry of five syllables 五言 was popular. I am pondering on how to select to gain a reasonably thorough coverage within this modest site, designed for very brief reading time.

The formalist poetry 律诗, as opposed to the "free style 自由诗" represented by 屈原 Qu Yuan (340BCE-278ACE, see the early months' materials in the pages "Les jours occupés","Busy days" and "繁忙的日子") , started to become truly a dominant trend only from Jian An period (建安 196-220). A poetry production marked by wars, represented by 曹操 Cao Cao, founder of the Wei 魏国，his two talented sons the prince Cao Zhi 曹植 and Cao Pi 曹丕 king of Wei 魏 the second, and by a group of writers of which counted 王粲 wang can，孔融 kong rong，陈琳 chen ling, etc..

I have to mention that following 屈原's path, the prosaic and discursive poetry named 赋 Fu was developed along with the "poetry with rules 律诗". Some poètes of 建安 Jian An time and also of other epochs liked to compose 赋 Fu poetry from time to time. This is not included in my translation project, though, simply because, similar to the western poetry tradition, 赋 Fu might be more easily transposed into western languages, and therefore I have less worry about its being too much damaged through translations.

Here you will find two poems by 曹操 Cao Cao，one in French, the other in English. My notes will certainly concern details about the language. For I would emphasize that we cannot truly reach a poetry, nor a culture in general, through translation by others only, without digging, by ourselves when possible, into its rooting language.

Thank you in advance for being kindly patient with this unusually long introduction for the year to come.

Sans envois en décembre, juillet et août , mais pages travaillées sauf Isola poetry et Sharing.

November 2022

Quel honneur et quel bonheur pour nous de pouvoir terminer l'année en beauté avec un poème Qing Ping en trilangue, accompagnée d'une magnifique photo de plus, de Philippe Lekeuche qui a dirigé les études sur Baudelaire, sur Dostoïevski, sur Duras, sur Hölderlin, sur Kafka...

Dans la page "Opinions", vous trouverez une conférence de l'auteur extrêmement intéressante à propos de Hölderlin, deux pages de couverture de son oeuvre poétique, dont le dernier recueil "L'Epreuve", paru à la rentrée cette année.

Dans ma traduction, je suis rendue aux poèmes 15 et 16 des "Dix-neuf vieux poèmes" (anonymes du IIe siècle). Il me reste le 17e, le 18e et le 19e à traduire d'ici la fin de l'année. Ce sont des poèmes aux cinq syllabes (五言），de cette tradition seront nés quelques grands, que je me préparent à présenter à partir du janvier.

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What an honour and what a joy for us to be able to finish the year beautifully with a trilingual Qing Ping poem, accompagnied with an amazing photography, by Philippe Lekeuche who directed studies on Beaudelaire, on Dostoïevski, en Duras, on Hölderlin, on Kafka...

In the "Opinions" page, you will find a very interesting conference of the author about Hölderlin, two cover pages of his poetry work, including his new collection "The Challenge" (L'Epreuve), published in september this year.

Ying Chen translated poems number 15 and 16 from "Nineteen old poems" (anonymes of the IIe century). Before the end of the year, she'll finish working on the last three pieces in the collection. They are all verses with five syllables. From this tradition were born a few great poets who will be presented starting in January.

Octobre 2022

Nous avons le plaisir, ce mois-ci, de montrer un poème de Mohamed Mallal, écrit dans sa langue, traduit en anglais par Ahmed Amgoune, et je l'ai adapté à la forme Qing Ping. Le poète a calligraphié l'écriture en Tamazight, puisque cela n'existe pas dans un clavier courant. C'est généreux et émouvant. L'image de cette calligraphie suggère une langue bien complexe et distincte.

Dans la page "Opinions", on aimerait attirer l'attention sur le nouveau site web de Colette Poggi, spécialisée en culture de l'Inde.

Et aussi dans la page "Opinions", Rosa Hong a traduit le poème de René de Ceccatty (présenté en septembre) en koreen! Ainsi elle a ramené notre jeu à un autre niveau!

Ying Chen continue à traduire des "Dix-neuf poèmes 古诗十九首", numéro 13 - 14. Et à noter, en Qing Ping, du quotidien anodin.

Poème 14 contient des éléments stylistiques qui seraient largement employés à des époques futures.

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It is our great pleasure this month to show a poem by Mohammed Mallal, written in his mother tongue, translated by Ahmed Amgoune. I adapted the poem to Qing Ping form for our site. The poet kindly calligraphed the poem in Tamazight, because its characters are not installed on an ordinary keyboard. The image suggests a very complex and distinguish language.

In the "Opinions" page, I would like to draw you attention to the new website of Colette Poggi who specializes in Indian culture.

Also in this page, Rosa Hong translated René de Ceccatty's poem (presented in September) into Koreen! Thus she brought our game to a new level!

Ying Chen continued to translate "The Nineteen poems 古诗十九首", No 13-14. And to make notes, in Qing Ping form, the nothingness of life.

Poem 14 contains elements of the style that would be largely employed in future epochs.

Septembre 2022

Ce mois-ci nous avons beaucoup de chance de pouvoir vous montrer un extrait de l'oeuvre poétique inédite de René de Ceccatty, à qui nous devons le titre même de notre site "Isola". L'auteur a adapté son poème à la forme de Qing Ping, et l'a formulé en multiple langues.

A propos de la traduction d'un texte de Yasunari Kawabata 川端康成, René de Ceccatty a dit ceci: "Les choix de traduction (et l’on sent, ici, que les traducteurs ont tenté d’enrichir le vocabulaire japonais, ont tenté d’ajouter des nuances temporelles, ont tenté de créer des sensations évocatrices) ont en réalité de profondes conséquences interprétatives. En l’occurrence, la démarche de Kawabata a été considérablement appauvrie et aplatie par ce qui apparaissait, superficiellement, comme un raffinement dans la traduction. Les traducteurs ont tout simplement fait disparaître ce que le texte contenait de profondément singulier. Le texte français est devenu une légende de carte postale à cause du recours à des clichés poétiques empruntés à une « belle langue ». Et le principe même de la narration est détruit." (WWW.bon-à-tirer.com revue littéraire en ligne, Numéro 159, juillet 2013)

Cette rare remarque, ce point de vue "oriental" sur un certain orientalisme occidental, cette critique sans merci, serait en parfaite connivence avec notre site qui tente à présenter ce qui est probablement méconnu et mal connu, à retraduire ce qui a été probablement dénaturé, concernant la poésie classique chinoise.

Dans la page "Opinions", nous avons mis la page de couverture des trois ouvrages de René de Ceccatty reflétant l'envergure de son entreprise littéraire: son dernier roman "Le Soldat Indien"; "Mille ans de littérature japonaise", en collaboration avec Nakamura Ryôji, et sa traduction de "La Divine Comédie".

Vous trouverez en même temps un lien de son interview en anglais à propos de son parcours constitué de sauts et de plongées spectaculaires entre temps, espaces et langues. Et un autre lien de son interview en français quant à son travail sur Pasolini, lui qui en est un grand spécialiste. Un regard profond sur un destin, mais aussi sur toute une époque.

Ying Chen a traduit, en juillet, le poème numéro 7 (du "Dix-Neuf vieux poèmes") en français, et le numéro 8 en anglais. Malgré un vocabulaire enrichi, ces deux poèmes font sentir le palpitant héritage de l'écriture de "Yue Fu 乐府歌辞“(voir le numéro du mars 2021), avec la répétition d'un adjectif (皎+皎), par exemple, avec l'usage des exclamations, et avec leur tendance narrative.

Elle s'est rendue aux poèmes No 11-12 ce mois-ci.

Sur le plan de l'organisation du site, les renouvellements en seront désormais mis sur facebook et twitter. Vous seriez bienvenus de les consulter en tout temps. L'envoi par email serait aussi possible sur demande. Isola Poetry paraîtra au 3e dimanche de chaque mois, sauf les mois des vacances juillet, août et décembre. Ying Chen travaille tous les mois ses pages (Les jours vides, les jours pleins et 闲静) qui seront affichées en même temps que les renouvellements de la page Isola Poetry.

Merci beaucoup de votre participation, de votre continuel soutien et de votre attention.

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This month we are honoured to introduce an extract of poetical work by René de Ceccatty. We own him even the name of our website "Isola". The author has generously adapt his verses into the Qing Ping form, and formulated them in multiple languages.

When commenting about the translation done to a piece of work by Yasunari Kawabata 川端康成, René de Ceccatty said: "The choices made by translators (here we can feel they tried to enrich the Japanese vocabulary, to differentiate time, to add evocative sensations) has profound consequences of interpretation. Yasunari Kawabata's approach has been considerably impoverished and made plainly common through apparently theirs efforts of sophistication. All singulier traits in the original version simply disappear under the hand of these translators. The French version became a legendary postcard because of the clichés of lyrisme borrowed from what is believed to be a beautiful language. The narrative principals of the author are destroyed." (WWW.bon-à-tirer.com revue littéraire en ligne, Numéro 159, juillet 2013)

This rare declaration, this "oriental" point of view about certain Western orientalism, this sharp criticism, is in perfect connivance with the spirit of Isola Poetry, where Ying Chen tries to present what might be unknown or mistaken, to retranslate what could be denatured, regarding Chinese classical poetry.

In the page of "Opinions", we shared the cover pages of René de Ceccatty"s three books, reflecting his amazingly vaste literary scope: his last novel "An Indian Solder", "A Thousand years of Japanese literature", a translation together with Nakamura Ryôji, and his translation of "Divine Comedy".

You will find, at the same time, an interview in English where René de Ceccatty tells about his literary adventure full of spectacular jumps and divings between time, space and languages. Also is shared his interview in French about Pasolini. As a specialist of this author, René de Ceccaty had a deep look at the fate of an author that reflects a whole epoch.

Ying Chen a traduit, en juillet, le poème numéro 7 (du "Dix-Neuf vieux poèmes") en français, et le numéro 8 en anglais. Malgré un vocabulaire enrichi, ces deux poèmes font sentir le palpitant héritage de l'écriture de "Yue Fu 乐府歌辞“(voir le numéro du mars 2021), avec la répétition d'un adjectif (皎+皎), par exemple, avec leur tendance narrative. Elle s'est rendue aux poèmes No 11-12 ce mois-ci.

In july, of "Nineteen old poems", Ying Chen translated the poème No 7 in French, and the No 8 in English. Although its vocabulary is relatively enriched, these two poems are evidently influenced by "Yue Fu 乐府歌辞" (see Isola Poetry March 2021). And she carried on the translation in summer.

Regarding the organizational matter, from now on, the content of this website will be renewed on the 3rd weekend of each month, except July, August and December. It will appear on Facebook and Twitter. You are welcome to visit at any time. Email mailing is also possible upon request. Ying Chen will keep working on her pages (Les jours remplis, Days filled, 清闲) also in these months.

Thank you for your participation, your continuous support and your attention.

June 2022

This month we are delighted to post new Qing Ping poems by Gerda Cadostin, a beautiful and much appreciated Haitian voice. The poems are written in her mother-tongue, and self-translated.

In the "Opinions" page, we would like to draw your attention to Gerda Cadostin's very refreshing book "Let the madness run". We shared her interview with Radio France Internationale.

Also, we thank to Gabrielle Parker who recommended a very interesting article "Projections in the Haiku Manner: Richard wright, T.S.Eliot, and Transpacific Modernism" by Anita Patterson.

Ying Chen continues the translation of "The nineteen old poems" (see previous months' posts for description). Seemingly appeared before 200 ACE, during a very unstable time, the poems were probably written by women authors. That is why, maybe, they are anonymous. For the poem translated in French, aspects of syntaxes are explained. For the one in English, tonic and rime pattens are indicated. With these "Nineteen old poems", simple and naïve, should we say, was started a long tradition of poetry of unique aesthetics.

May 2022

This month we are honoured to show the poems by Colette Poggi, extracts from "L'Arbre des nuits". She kindly translated them into Sanscrit with Devanagari characters. The poems are also accompanied with a magnificent watercolor by the author.

In the "Opinions" page, we would like to draw your attention to a book by Colette Poggi, a remarkable mind. And also a book by Eric Baret, presented by Colette Poggi.

And we shared a Tibetan song.

Ying Chen continues to translate "The nineteen old poems 古诗十九首". In order to respect the rythme of the poems, for the elements that would be too long to be included in a English / French version, the translator will simply put in a side note about the concerned words or their combination that could have multiple meanings.

In this website, except the work of Qu Yuan 屈原， only short form of much codified poetry (Lü Shi 律诗）is treated，because this is where we meet more difficulties in translating. However, during the same era as the "The nineteen old poems 古诗十九首" (around the end of second century ACE, see Isola Poetry April 2022), long form of poetry, or poetical essais were classified as Fu 赋。Two major differences between Shi 诗 and Fu 赋 are that, in ancient times, the first was chanted, while the second, even though still somehow codified in different ways at different epochs, was only recited and had no limitations of the number of verses.

If we compare "Fu 赋" to a flower bed, we would say "Lü Shi 律诗" resembles to a Penzai 盆栽。

April 2022

This month, in the occasion of Qing Ming Jie (清明节), a holiday for people to pay visit to the lost closest ones, 须勤 (Xu Qing) wrote us two poems from Shanghai, a city hard hit by the new wave of covid for now.

In the "Opinions" page, Xu Qin sent us a video "Drumming in the temple of Yu Fo", recorded at early April. And also a very recent dance performance "The blues only 只此清绿".

Ying Chen started to translate "The nineteen old poems 古诗十九首”. These anonymous poems look similar from style to content to the Yue Fu songs. So they are also called "Yue Fu Poems 乐府诗”。They are supposedly written by the scholars living in the decades before the fall of Han Dynastie (汉朝）happened around the year 196.

The collection was edited and published by 萧统 Xiao Tong（501-531），prince of the kingdom of Liang 梁国 (today's Nanjing region). There were several small kingdoms established in the south of Chang Jiang River （长江）, from 420 to 589, under the group name given by the historians as Southern Dynasty 南朝。At the same time, the northern part of the country was occupied by other kingdoms collectively named as Northern Dynasty 北朝。Dyed young, 萧统 Xiao though left sixty volumes of selected ancient literary work "昭明文选”，in an effort to note, categorize and preserve about eight hundred years' of writings till his time. Certainly, for the editor, the "Nineteen old poems 古诗十九首” made five centuries earlier in a turbulent epoch had a resonance in his own shaking world.

The poetry translation is powerless facing the pictogram, therefore largely reductive. The pictural effects had been an essential part of Chinese poetry from antiquity till early twentieth century. To have an idea how visually it appears the poem, only just in printing form and not yet calligraphic, we could have a look at the original version in the page "繁忙的日子“。We made a routine to put the original version of each translated piece in that page, as a necessity.

March 2022

This month we are very happy to post a poem by Paul Matthew St Pierre, together with one of his paintings from his substantial collection.

After translating a selection of ancient songs from Yue Fu (乐府），Ying Chen presented here a very small sample of contemporary Chinese songs. She translated into French "Walking through the fields" 陇上行，musique and words by artists from Taiwan, and also a piece made by a musician from Sichuan: "A rainy night in the mountains of Ba ". She translated into English "Coolen fireworks" by the poet Fang Wenshan (方文山）who wrote:

"... That history book

Never tolerated tenderness

All is written with much cruelty

Fireworks are easy to kill

People and events, easy to divide

But you are asking

If I am serious

A thousand years later

Feelings are accumulated

Who will still be waiting

And yet, that blue book of history

how can it be wrong..."

In the "Opinions" page, we would like to draw your attention to the web gallery of Paul St Pierre -- a truly peculiar artistic world.

We also have the pleasure to share with you the performances of all three translated songs: "Walking through the fields 陇上行" performed in 1984 by Zhang Minming 张敏明 from 香港 Xiang Gang ( Mandarin pronunciation for Hong Kong), “A rainy night in the mountains of Ba 巴山夜雨" performed by Bai Shui 白水 from 四川（Sichuan province ), "Coolen fireworks 烟花易冷" performed by 降央卓玛 from 西藏 Xi Zang (Mandarin pronunciation for Tibet).

February 2022

This month, to celebrate the Agriculture Calendar New Year (农历新年） and also Yuan Xiao 元宵节（the fifteenth day of the traditional new year) a buddhist holiday, we are delighted to be able to post here the poems of Dai Yu 戴宇 -- a well published poet, of Tian Hong 天宏 and 刘澎 Liu Peng -- two much appreciated artists, and of Xu Qin, an important voice for us.

A special thank to Xu Qin for translating Dai Yu's poems, and to Dany Filion for translating Liu Peng's poems.

Ying Chen ends her translation of selected Yue Fu folkloric songs with "Mulin" (木兰诗).

In the "Opinions" page, we recommended a work by the philosopher and sinologue François Julien: Silent Transformations. His work is translated into Chinese by Esther Lin from Taiwan. We would also share a fascinating interview by France Culture with François Julien about the otherness.

January 2022

We are very happy to start the new year with poèmes by Yves Bergeret, an extract from his very strong work: "Poème Lion-Galet", accompanied with a photography by the author made in the mountains at Die, in Southern France.

Ying Chen translated a folkloric tale "Peafowls flying to the south-west". This sad love story was circulating orally, maybe in chanted form, then it was collected in "Yue Fu 乐府". We noticed all sentences are of five syllables 五言，a fashionable writing style at the dawn of the commun era. The story might have been scripted by anonymous scholars working for Yue Fu 乐府 ("house of music and songs") - the very first ministry of arts in the country.

In the "Opinions" page, we would like to draw your attention to Yves Bergeret's fascinating blog "Carnet de la langue-espace".

Ying Chen recommended a speech by Wu Tong 吴彤 who talked about an ancient instrument Sheng 笙. During the speech he performed a traditional piece, plus the music he composed for an American movie, using 笙.

December 2021

We are excited to end the year with Qing Ping poems by Mauricio Segura. Born in Chile, grown up in Montréal, he is well established Canadian writer. We thank Mauricio Segura for a photographie he made when he travelled back to his native country, we use it to replace the picture on our homepage.

Ying Chen translated another two songs from Yue Fu 乐府.

In the "Opinions" page, we would like to draw your attention to a novel by Mauricio Segura: "Eucalyptus".

And we wish you a happy New Year, by sharing an amazing performance of Bach's music played with Chinese instruments, recommended by a friend reader 蒙田 Meng Tian.

Noveùber 2021

This month, our talented bilingual poet, Xu Qin, comes back with a beautiful Qing Ping poem "Dunhuang", written after her visit to 敦煌 Dunhuang, the ancient grottoes in today's Gansu Province, the once prosperous and cosmopolitan region at Tang epoch.

We want the site to be a garden of languages. In "Isola Poetry" page, if a poem appears in more than one language, it is self translated, unless otherwise noticed.

Ying Chen translated more Yue Fu 乐府 songs. She noticed while, among the Chinese ancient poems preserved till today, the majority is made by well educated and titled male authors, quite an amount of songs gathered in Yue Fu collection (乐府歌辞) seem to be written by anonymous ancient women.

In the "Opinions" page, Xu Qin wrote about the fate of Dunhuang relics at the beginning of XXe century, at the fall of Qing Dynasty.

We recommended a very well made Japanese documentary about 敦煌Dunhuang.

October 2921

October 2021

This month, Claude Thomas, who's been animating a poetry club, came to us with several poèmes written in Qing Ping form by the club members. We are extremely moved moved by the good quality of their writing and by such a cheerful participation. Most photos are made by Florence Lagrange, showing us the beauty of Bourgogne.

Ying Chen translated another two Yue Fu songs. They are all of verses with five syllabes, representing a tendency of detachment from speech, a taste for curbing the expression within some fixed and minimalist structure, and announcing a very formalistic poetry yet to come.

While Yue Fu songs are still quite straight forward in its meanings, there are already challenges about how to translate without alternating too much the architecture of the words which, more than anything else, is the raison d'être of such writing. For "Song of automne night", in French, Ying Chen opted to stay as close as possible to the original form, while compensating with side notes.

The side notes will become more and more important when translating this poetry that, right at the beginning, wanted to depart from "sentence" and from "discourse". A poetry where the absence sometimes of subject, the use of adjectives as verbs some other times, the omission of causality, the ambiguity or the allusions, the merge of times and places, plus the elements of sounds and tones, especially the visual effects due to the pictogramme, such poetry, where all these enter into play, can hardly be translated still as some sort of poetry, in Western syntax, without side notes.

In the "Opinions" page, Yves Bergeret (see Isola Poetry Decembre 2020) wrote us a brilliant explanation about the term "vévé" used in the much appreciated Qing Ping poems by Gerda Cadostin (see Isola Poetry September 2021).

Recently we are saddened by our successive loss of two great sinologues: Cecilia Lindqvist and Léon Vandermeersch. We presented their work in their memory.

September 2021

This month we have great pleasure to share Qing Ping poems made by the talented haitian author Gerda Cadostin. Written in créole language, auto-translated into French, these poems bring us to a very refreshing magic world.

Ying Chen translated two more Yue Fu songs : « At the viewpoint » in English and « The Wings » into French.

In the « Opinions » page, we would like to recommend an interview by TV5 with Gerda Cadostin, about her recently published book « Laisse folie courir».

We also would share a short video presentation made by Cynthia Lam and Rita Zeng, regarding what Asian heritage could offer in the sustainable living contexte.

August 2021

We would like to present a poem by Mohamed Mallal. Professor of visual arts in Quazzarrat, wellknown in southern Maroc, he practices various art forms, and is also an interpretor of amazigh language. We are absolutely trilled by its version in Tifinagh, the most ancient language, as we know so far. We attached a photo of it, for your contemplation.

We are also pleased to be able to show you a poem by Senam Demirkan, written in Turkish and self-translated into English.

Ying Chen translated into English « Oh the Highest 上邪» (from the section ‘Songs and airs for drums and flutes’ of « Yue Fu Songs 乐府歌辞 » ), and into French « The one who occupies my mind 有所思». The corresponding original versions can be found in the page "繁忙的日子“。Ying Chen continues to record her country life in Qing Ping form。

In the « Opinions » page, we wish you would enjoy a popular song « Bright flowers », a bilingual performance by 玉米提 Umit from Xing Jiang.

And we shared an article in French about the preservation of Xinjiang’s very poetical tchagatay manuscripts.

July 2021

It is our immense pleasure to show here the poetry of Zinaida Zavadskaia, translated by her daughter Natasha Zavadskaia, and also the poetry of Natasha Zavadskaia herself. While the works of both are equally beautiful, you would probably notice their difference in style, state of mind and vision. We are very much enchanted by these exquisite verses.

Accompanying the poems, the photo is made by Natasha Zavadskaia as well, a sublime beauty, her birth place Carélie .

Ying Chen continues to translate the ancient folkloric Yue Fu Songs 乐府歌辞:

- In French, she is presenting an anti-war song “Battles” 战城南 (from the section « Songs and airs for drums and for flutes 鼓吹曲辞»).

- And in English, « So high is the Sorceler Mountain 巫山高 », about a migrant’s sorrow.

In the “opinions” page, we shared a Russian love song “An Evening outside of Moscow”, a song known by literally everyone in China, a bilingual performance in 2018 by the famous, aged 77 at the time, Yang Hong-Ji.

We recommended the books by Antoine Volodine, telling stories about post apocalyptical world. This is in our sense one of the most unusual voices in contemporary literature. His work is translated into English and studied in China.

June 2021

This month we are glad to show poems by Ook Chung. Born in Japan from Korean parents, living in Canada since the age of two, he had very troublesome school experiences as an Asian young boy in a situation of being minority. Today he is considered as one of the most brilliant and singuliar writer in Canada and abroad.

Ying Chen has translated a Yue Fu Song 乐府歌, « Journey to the west陇西行» . The form of five words five syllabes 五言is confirmed here, it will be followed and practiced by the next generations of poets. Those who haven’t read our previous posts could find in « What is new » for March, some explanations of Yue Fu Songs.

People may find it strange that it took centuries for the verses to move from four syllabes to five syllabes, but this is how the Chinese written language, at least its poetical language, was initially formed : it works less as a flow of water, as the record or the transcript of speech, than as a painting where are combined in various way the existing words which are images themselves. The best future poems would achieve their extraordinary beauty not only because of the actual meaning of the words, but also through their combination, through the unspoken between the words, between the lines, between the sounds. After the ancient Chinese language was reformed at the dawn of the 20th century, consisting mainly in linking the writting more to the speech, the modern Chinese language still contains relatively few fixed vocabulary, it still works as a lego where the game of variation of symbols seems to be as free as infinite.

The original poems in Chinese can be found in the page “繁忙的日子“。

In the « Opinions » page, we would like to draw your attention to two books by Ook Chung : L’Expérience interdite and Trilogie coréenne.

We shared a link about South Korea people’s strong reaction to Japan’s decision of Fukushima nuclear water dumping.

Finally we wish you would enjoy a traditional Korean song performed in its original version by the famous singer Huo Zun 霍尊.

May 2021

For the month of May which is now named as “Asian Heritage Month” in Canada, our thoughts are for the people and the culture of India that have profound and lasting influence on most part of the Eastern Asia. It is our honour to show here, the extracts in both French and Sanskrit from “The tree of the nights”, a collection of poems by Colette Poggi, specialist of Indian culture.

Ying Chen translated two ancient Yue Fu Songs (乐府歌辞)： into French, an extract from“Mo Shang Sang 陌上桑 (Mulberry road)”，a chanted story about a beautiful married farmer laday who refuses the advances of a wealthy man travelling in the region ; into English, “Hao Lu 蒿露 (The Dew on the grass) ”，a song for funerals. The choice of the pieces are made for their variety, and for their authentic folklorical nature, their belonging to the ancient oral tradition.

According to Professor Jiang Yun 蒋韵 who teaches in Taiwan, today there still exist, in some part of Northern China, local artists who would sing a story so long that it lasts for days.

« Mo Shang Sang » is among one of the earliest writings that follow the rule of five words and five syllabes for all verses. A form called « poetry of five words 五言诗» will be practiced by the contemporary and the future poets, with further limitation of the number of verses, usually till a maximum of eight. Chinese poetry since its beginning tends to be minimalist and formalist.

In the “Opinions” page, which is now placed right after the "Busy days" page, Jeanne Pham Tran, editor of The Equator Publishing House, presented “Bhagavad Gîtâ”, a book where Colette Poggi presented this ancient tale which is, in many ways, fundamentally important even today.

We included a radio interview where Colette Poggi provided in depth explanations about this epic poem, an important piece in the history of thinking.

Also in the page of “Opinions”, Isola Poetry shared an impressive lecture by Dr Vandana Shiva, “The food of the future”, made in 2014 at Arizona University

April 2021

This month we are delighted to share a poem by Dai Yu 戴宇 describing the end of the winter season.

Born in Shanghai, graduated from Fudan University in sciences, working and living in Japan since 1991, Dai Yu has published two much praised collections of poems: “The Snow beyond the world”《世界之外的雪》and “A Spring graved on the wall”《刻在墙上的春天》. We thank to Xu Qin who translated for us Dai Yu’s poems into English.

Ying Chen continues to translate Yue Fu (乐府) songs which are the origins of the Chinese ancient poetry and are still influencing the writing of today’s popular Chinese songs.

In the « Opinions » page, Isola Poetry presented two « free verses» poems by Dai Yu. His work is a show case of contemporary Chinese poets who write modern style verses, while deeply formed with classic poetry and able to write in ancient form, such as the Qing Ping (清平乐) 。

Also in the « Opinions » page, in the occasion of April’s « Earth Day », Ying Chen, author of the book « Radiance » published in French in 2021, would like to draw attention to an article by « The Diplomat» regarding the very troublesome and unsolved Fukushima disaster. Japan declaired this month its intention to dump un estimated 1.4 milion tones of much questioned nuclear waste water into the Pacific ocean.

March 2021

We are very moved to receive from Carl Strömbäck his poems with intense light and silence. He started to write poetry after a second stroke that partially paralised him. He found back his strength through writing and has been animating a poetry club. We are thankful to Françoise Sule for the translation.

Ying Chen started to translate a selection of songs belonging to Yue Fu (乐府诗)。Those songs were in fashion during the epoches of Qin, of Han and of Wei Jing North and South (221BCE-581ACE). A ministry of the culture (乐府) was first established during the Qin Dynasty, expanded by future emperors, with the tasks to collect the popular and folkloric songs from different regions, to put them in order, to add on the musical notes, to use them at praying ceremonies, and to organize chanting and dancing shows. While the musical books are lost, lots of written songs have remained, thanks to their publication during the Han Epoch, around the year 200.

Song North epoch （around year 1000) republished Yue Fu songs and poems (100 volumes, 5400 songs and poems divided under 12 musical forms), reflecting the aspiration of that time to « return to the sources ».

It will take an entire year to translate little by little the anomynous writings of Yue Fu, which largely influenced the poets for generations to come.

Some tend to gather the anomynous songs and the poems written by well-known poets according to the same musical airs under one same catagorie as Yue Fu Poetry. Yet, Ying Chen chooses to make a distinction between songs 歌 and poems 诗, although the two are closely related and today a combined word 诗歌 is used to designate poetry. For example, one writes 诗, but one performs a 诗歌 reading.

The Yue Fu songs being still quite narrative and closer to the spoken language, they can be translated in a straight forward way. But the poems written according to Yue Fu musical airs would be composed with a different spirit. It was more a matter of the forms than of the meanings. They were often presented as a stylistic work, or as a method for meditation, or as an internalized architecture similar to Penzai 盆栽（planting in a plate), just like most futur Chinese classical poems that often deconstruct the syntax. Considerations about the language structure are therefore more than necessary, while translating. The translator will come back with details to this very crucial topic after she will finish translating the songs.

In the « Opinions » page, Françoise Sule presents, in French, a quite surprising book by Elin Anna Labba : « Herrarna satte oss hit. Om tvangsförflyttningarna i Sverige» (« Those men who moved us here – the forced displacement in Sweden »).

Ying Chen would recommand the most recent interview made by Etienne Klein about the soul of the iceberg.

February 2021

Happy new lunar year ! Hopefully we left a troublesome year and entered into a normal year for everybody.

To celebrate the Spring Holidays, we are happy to share the poems of several Chinese participants : talented Ange Guo, student, Xu Qin, bilingual poet and writer whom we already know, Wu Wei, art journalist, Peng Liu the painter whom we also know, Zhi Qiang Guo, artist and translator, and Lee Chen, student.

Ying Chen continues to translate Qu Yuan (340-278BCE) : extracts from « Tian Wen天问 »（ « Questions to the Sky the Highest » 172 verses) and from « Li Sao 离骚 » (« Melancoly of the Farewell » 374 verses).

Qu Yuan was an enormous figure in ancient time, for his geopolitical thinking, for his pro-reform posture, for his septicism, and above all, for his achievement in creating a whole new poetical form in his time. He was one of the rares who enriched Chinese poetry with colorful elements of shamanic traditions and rituals.

In the Opinions page, Isola Poetry shared an inspiring speech by Alan Alda on the quantum world.

Xu Qun made a presentation about Chinese traditional Calendar still in use today in various ways, for agriculture, gardening, weather prediction, body care, etc. Most traditional holidays are celebrated according to this calendar.

January 2021

We are begining the year, here, with a sequence of very impressive poems: that grace facing the extermination of the body ; that after-life in the form of words and images. The pomes are composed in both Michif (a Metis dialect) and English. The author, Chris Harris, was raised by his Metis grandmother, while his mother had to work in the mills. Chris Harris’s artistic world is quite uncommon to our view. The accompanying image is section from his painting entitled as « Metis Poem ». His numerous past shows include NeoPersona Gallery (New York) and Grand Forks Art Gallery (Grand Forks).

Ying Chen is presenting extracts from two poems of Chu style (楚辞), by Qu Yuan (屈原340-278BCA)。Minister and diplomate of the Kingdom of Chu (楚国927-223BCA), at a time where his kingdom was challenged by the northern kingdom of Qin (秦国)，Qu Yuan’s advises were repeatedly rejected by the corrupted court and he was forced to leave. Two years after Qin’s army conquered Chu’s capital city, the poet terminated his own life in the river of Xiang (湘江)。

In the « Opinions » page, we shared the website of our much appreciated artist Chris Harris.

In the same page, as a memorial to Fu Cong (1934-2020) who, on December 28, 2020, passed away of Covid19 in London, great pianist and considered as one of Chopin’s best interpretrers, son of the famous Fu Lei who translated many French authors, Isola Poetry shared an interview with Fu Cong made by Polish Music Institute in September 2015. The pianist said he was « still trying hard, digging into the truth », because he felt he was still far from it.

In her page in Chinese, Ying Chen shared Scarlatti’s Sonate 108, performed by Fu Cong, in 1968, two years after the suicide of his both dignified parents in 1966. Plus an extremely interesting interview with him conducted by Anthony Wang (the recording quality isn’t very good), where Fu Cong commented on the contemporary ever more superficial world.

2020

December 2020

We would like to share with you two extracts from Yves Bergeret's “Poème Lion-Galet”, accompanied by an image of his art piece inspired by the drawings of Alguima Guindo (in Koyo). A generous voice that wishes the Other to be heard.

Ying Chen is preparing to translate extracts of Chu Ci (楚辞)，a form of poetry practiced south of Chang Jiang (长江)，and reached its best during the period of Zhan Guo (战国 475BCE--221BCE)。The representing figure was Qu Yuan (屈原 340BCE--278BCE). Considered as the father of Chinese poetry, he had lived a tragic life.

At first, two popular songs of Chu are presented this month.
Influenced by folk songs and shamanic chanting, Chu Ci follows no stylistic rules, thus occupies a distinct place.
With its narrative trend, it also announced a new literary form « Fu » (赋), the rhymed prose, that would be practiced by future generations.

In her page in Chinese, Ying Chen shared an interview made by RFI in 2014 with Zhao Ting Yang 赵汀阳, who compared the Western and Chinese philosophy.

In the « Opinions » page, Rosa Hong left a message regarding Marguerite Yourcenar.
We shared a link of « Carnet de langue-espace », which brings us to a dreamy, virgin and animist world. There, you will find out more about Yves Bergeret’s remarkable « african notebook ».

Finally, we want to thank again Joseph Dillman, Charlie Zhou, Peng Liu, Jonathan Merlo, René de Ceccatty, Xu Qin and Yves Bergeret for their precious participation, and the ones who have been kindly supporting us.

November 2020

We would like to share with you a poem by René de Ceccatty, written in four languages! Author of “Accompanying”, translator of Dôgen and of Dante, Biographer of Pasolini, René de Ceccatty has generously transformed his haiku poem into Qing Ping, a more Chinese rythme.

Inspired by René’s approach, we will add Pinyin 拼音(notes of pronounciation) to verses in Chinese. We also learned from Muriel Dutrie the syllabe counting method, useful in Chinese poetry translating.

Xu Qin, who last month wrote about the Double Ninth Day, comes back this month with a poem about the automne, a much apreciated season in Chinese poetry tradition.

In the page of “Opinions”, you will find comments by Muriel Dutrie, who translated Liu Yong 柳永，and by René de Ceccatty, concerning the troublesome translation of the ancient East-Asian poetry in to the polysyllable French.

In the same page, we also shared the link of an interview made by France Culture with Jean Vaillant, author of “The Golden Tree”, regarding the current state of Canadian forest, and much more.
Ying Chen presented the last two extracts from "The Book of Poetry 诗经."

October 2020

This month we have the privilege to be able to share a very strong poem written in both Italian and French, by Jonathan Merlo, born in the country of Basque, now living in Italy and teaching French to university students. The photo that accompanies the poem was made at Val di Merse, in his region Toscane.

On the occasion of the Double Ninth Day, from Shanghai, we received a poem by Xu Qin, who studied English literature in late 90s and who writes in both Chinese and English. We are very much moved.The Double Ninth Day is a holiday traditionally dedicated to celestial NATURE and to ancestors,

This holiday has now become Parents Day and Seniors Day as well. On that day, considered as the "strongest day" (double Yang) of the year, it is important to climb mountains and drink tea or wine made with chrysanthemums, in order to purify mind and body, and to be ready to face the darker days that will follow.

We have received comments from Hélène Armit, Gabrielle Parker, Rosa Hong and Yao Jie, to which Ying Chen reacted in her "busy days" pages. The feedback from Peng Liu and Dany Filion is also taken into the consideration regarding the web presentation. Here again we deeply thank our friends supporters.

Finally, a word about the shorterned Qing Ping form:

While there are similarities between "our form" and haiku, we have several reasons to choose the former; which requires a lengthy book to explain. Here we will limit ourselves to translate and to present a few sample of ancient Chinese poetry before the year 1200 approximatively.