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Lo Shi Min -tanslated- by ~Deltafreelancer:iconDeltafreelancer:

Categories Traditional Art > Printing

©2004-2009 ~Deltafreelancer
:icondeltafreelancer:

Artist's Comments

Mayshing, you are the main requester for this, sorry to keep you waiting for so long.

A little Back ground:
The caligraphy is mine, took a long time to finish! T_T
The contents of the poem is not mine, I just love this poem! ;-)

(for people have only !0% understanding of Ancietn Chinese poetry)
Ancient Chinese poetry was not written in stanzas, the stanzas were separeted by the ryhme of words. 4 letters from a Chinese poem could mean over 2 long sentences in translated Englsih (playing with words, way more fancy than English), which makes translation of the exact original definition 100% impossible, only a proximate can be done.

Here is a translation I have done, only 75% accurate. At the end of the Tanslation I will spoil 1 main point of the poem.

[Translation Starts] Title [Lo Shi Min (A simple Cabin)]

A low mountain can be famous by having fairies,
A shallow lake can be famous by having dragons,
Even a simple cabin can famous by having a poet like me living in it.

There are green moss growing on the stone stairs leading to the cabin,
And the vines of the willow tree are like curtains to windows of the cabin.

There are friends come as guest to my cabin,
And there are no strangers to bother to my cabin.

I can quietly enjoy my strings (old Chinese instruments),
And read my books.

No noise can be heard,
No work to be bothered.

There is the famous Zhu Ge Lu (another famous poet’s mansion) in NanYiang (a place must go for tourists),
And the famous Zi Yu Tin (a large beautiful gazebo) in Xi Shu (the province I was born in).
Those places just cannot compare with my very own paradise,
My simple cabin.

Kun Zhi (another famous ancient Chinese educator) claims,
“This is no simple cabin!”

[Translation ends]

This poem is about self confidence, see how the poet did not care much about others think of his simple cabin.

After Thoughts:
If you find there are more meanings in this poem I would LOVE to hear them; post them up in the coments!

Got any suggestions, corrections, and Questions? post them, I will reply every single one. Remeber, there are no such thing as stupid comments, all are welcome! :-)

Comments


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:iconmayshing:
=mayshing Mar 30, 2004, 8:10:32 AM
It takes alot to translate Chinese poems... and they are just not the same after translation. :nod:
I think u did quite a nice job.
I am realizing how sad my Chinese level is right now... ^^;
Who wrote the poem? I am not sure i quite grasp it amount the names you mentioned. O_ob

As for the art, I really like how the thin and thick, really reflected the specialty of this style mixing with the other... (Xing-shu? Zhing shu? Chua-shu *Grass style??* I don't know how to spell that in English. OH MAN!)
Intertween amount the letters, there is a beautiful flow that I am trying to achieve... It's that water flowing quality. Very beautiful, and they are quite solid in strength too.
I am not there yet, so far if I have time, I am only practicing on the strokes, getting them right, and get the proportion right. ^^ Hopefully someday get to a whole composition of characters. :D

Thanks for showing! :D Glad to see another piece~ I know its hard to achieve.

--
-I seek both Strength and Beauty in my art.
-Complexity shown in simplisticity-make that your aim.
:icondeltafreelancer:
~Deltafreelancer Mar 30, 2004, 6:43:17 PM
Hehe, thanks for the praise! :-)

Oh, this caligraphy style, I think it's called "Free Hand" in Englsih, "Cao Shu" in Chinese. "Grass style"?
About the author's name, gotta get back to you on that one, have to flip through my thick book again.

A tip on practising your skills, start with tracing the works of other famous ones, cannot be from some cheap street books. Then try to copy without tracing. If you are just beginning to learn, practise letter by letter, instead of writing the entire phrase. Start with small letters (easy to control ;-)), then go big, I MEAN BIG (as big as the size of 2 hands)!!!! So you can see your errors clearly.

I gott see your work to help you out more. Looking forward to your first one. ;-)
Now, gotta find which era that author was from, first(damn, there are more ancient Chinese poets than Japanese).

--
If reality doesnot suit me, I can paint my fantasy with my hands.
:iconmayshing:
=mayshing Mar 30, 2004, 6:52:03 PM
O_Ob 2 hands~~~ OH my... I didn't have to do that... I just wrote on my multi-purpose inkjet paper and it shows all of the stroke problems already. XD
I am only practicing word by word now, due to the past training in the drawing, I can do copy "ok" without tracing, I can actually get the position close enough... But the one stroke no return thing... omg... T_T I can't fix it if i made a mistake. Well... sometimes I can't help it, i cheated. lol~

^.^ Chao shu, that's hard, I love their strokes~ but i will get basics done first.
I am searching around on DA for good Chinese caligraphy artist... so far... I have seen only 2... I didn't watch that guy though.

--
-I seek both Strength and Beauty in my art.
-Complexity shown in simplisticity-make that your aim.
:iconmayshing:
=mayshing Mar 30, 2004, 7:03:17 PM
As for showing u my real caligraphy writtings/practice... ^^; I think u will have to wait longer.... X_X ha ha... not confident enough to show it yet.

--
-I seek both Strength and Beauty in my art.
-Complexity shown in simplisticity-make that your aim.
:icontikal:
*tikal Mar 31, 2004, 6:06:21 AM
I know this poem so well(lol)Yes,Chinese poems are fancy=_=
and people can explain the meaning in so many different ways:)
Your caligraphy is great!
It is difficult to write with that type(don't know how to say in English=_=) ,you are really good at this!
:icondeltafreelancer:
~Deltafreelancer Mar 31, 2004, 7:48:54 PM
Hehe, I am flattered. :-p

--
If reality doesnot suit me, I can paint my fantasy with my hands.
:iconalias-b:
~Alias-B Apr 1, 2004, 5:30:13 PM
Lou Shi Min :!:
Well, i've learned it when i was a little boy =)
The style of your Caligraphy seems like Zhao Men Fu's or Zhi Yong's.
Really nice XD
Haha, i learned caligraphy when i was 10. But since i didn't study hard i failed to become a master. XD
What a shame.
:iconthecomplex:
~TheComplex Apr 18, 2004, 8:45:38 PM
I wish I could read it, ill add it to my favorites so that when that faithful day comes in that I have learned this language, I will read it be able to enjoy it even more than I do now.

The Complex
:icondeltafreelancer:
~Deltafreelancer Apr 19, 2004, 11:45:23 AM
Chinese is one of the most popular language and hardest language in the world.
Any second grade elementary student in North America can start writing full sentences (or at least some words), while a second grader in china is still practicing letters, not even words.

--
If reality doesnot suit me, I can paint my fantasy with my hands.
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