On Being Removed from Hsün-Yang and Sent to Chung-Chou
Before this, when I was stationed at Hsün-yang,Already I regretted the fewness of friends and guests.Suddenly, suddenly,--bearing a stricken heartI left the gates, with nothing to comfort me.Henceforward,--relegated to deep seclusionIn a bottomless gorge, flanked by precipitous mountains,Five months on end the passage of boats is stoppedBy the piled billows that toss and leap like colts.The inhabitants of Pa resemble wild apes;Fierce and lusty, they fill the mountains and prairies.Among such as these I cannot hope for friendsAnd am pleased with anyone who is even remotely human!
Words in this poem
- yang n.
- The cry of the wild goose; a honk. [Of imitative origin.]
- fewness n.
- The state of being few; smallness of number; paucity.
- stricken p. p.
- Struck; smitten; wounded; as, the stricken deer.
- henceforward adv.
- From this time forward; henceforth.
- piled a.
- Having a pile or point; pointed. [From 2d Pile.]
- anyone n.
- One taken at random rather than by selection; anybody.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On Being Removed from Hsün-Yang and Sent to Chung-Chou is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #42290, the Arthur Waley translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Various, On Being Removed from Hsün-Yang and Sent to Chung-Chou, in A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #42290, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/waley-chinese/on-being-removed-from-hs-n-yang-and-sent-to-chung-chou.html, id L18851.
Form and metre
On Being Removed from Hsün-Yang and Sent to Chung-Chou is 12 lines in a single verse paragraph. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is dactylic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 70%). 78% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 11.9 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 33% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in dactylic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against dactylic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Before this, when I was stationed at Hsün-yang, | 11 | ······/˘··· |
| Already I regretted the fewness of friends and guests. | 14 | ˘/˘·˘/˘·/˘···· |
| Suddenly, suddenly,--bearing a stricken heart | 11 | /˘/˘˘/˘·/˘· |
| I left the gates, with nothing to comfort me. | 11 | ·····/˘·/˘· |
| Henceforward,--relegated to deep seclusion | 13 | ····/˘·˘··˘/˘ |
| In a bottomless gorge, flanked by precipitous mountains, | 12 | ··/˘···˘/˘/˘ |
| Five months on end the passage of boats is stopped | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| By the piled billows that toss and leap like colts. | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| The inhabitants of Pa resemble wild apes; | 11 | ·˘/˘··˘/˘·· |
| Fierce and lusty, they fill the mountains and prairies. | 12 | ··/˘···/˘·/˘ |
| Among such as these I cannot hope for friends | 11 | ······/˘··· |
| And am pleased with anyone who is even remotely human! | 15 | ····/˘˘··/˘/˘/˘ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.