Separation
Yesterday I heard that such-a-one was gone;This morning they tell me that so-and-so is dead.Of friends and acquaintances more than two-thirdsHave suffered change and passed to the Land of Ghosts.Those that are gone I shall not see again;They, alas, are for ever finished and done.Those that are left,--where are they now?They are all scattered,--a thousand miles away.Those I have known and loved through all my life,On the fingers of my hand--how many do I count?Only the prefects of T’ung, Kuo and LiAnd Fēng Province--just those four.Longing for each other we are all grown gray;Through the Fleeting World rolled like a wave in the stream.Alas that the feasts and frolics of old daysHave withered and vanished, bringing us to this!When shall we meet and drink a cup of wineAnd laughing gaze into each other’s eyes?
Yüan Chēn (d. 831), Ts’ui Hsüan-liang (d. 833), Liu Yü-hsi(d. 842), and Li Chien (d. 821).
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Separation 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, Separation, in A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #42290, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/waley-chinese/separation.html, id L18845.
Form and metre
Separation is 20 lines in 2 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 78%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.3 syllables. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter, other poems in blank verse.
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.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 -------A----A----- gone · dead · thirds · ghosts · again · done · now · awayA · life · count · li · four · grayA · stream · days · this · wine · eyes
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 iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Yesterday I heard that such-a-one was gone; | 11 | /˘········· |
| This morning they tell me that so-and-so is dead. | 12 | ·/˘········· |
| Of friends and acquaintances more than two-thirds | 11 | ···˘/˘˘···· |
| Have suffered change and passed to the Land of Ghosts. | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| Those that are gone I shall not see again; | 10 | ········˘/ |
| They, alas, are for ever finished and done. | 11 | ·˘/··/˘/˘·· |
| Those that are left,--where are they now? | 8 | ········ |
| They are all scattered,--a thousand miles away. | 11 | ···/˘·/˘·˘/ |
| Those I have known and loved through all my life, | 11 | ······˘···· |
| On the fingers of my hand--how many do I count? | 12 | ··/˘····/··· |
| Only the prefects of T’ung, Kuo and Li | 11 | /˘·/···/˘·· |
| And Fēng Province--just those four. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Longing for each other we are all grown gray; | 11 | /˘··/˘····· |
| Through the Fleeting World rolled like a wave in the stream. | 12 | ··/˘········ |
| Alas that the feasts and frolics of old days | 11 | ˘/····/˘··· |
| Have withered and vanished, bringing us to this! | 11 | ·/˘·/˘/˘··· |
| When shall we meet and drink a cup of wine | 10 | ·········· |
| And laughing gaze into each other’s eyes? | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Yüan Chēn (d. 831), Ts’ui Hsüan-liang (d. 833), Liu Yü-hsi | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| (d. 842), and Li Chien (d. 821). | 5 | ····· |
Notes from the edition 1
Arthur Waley's notes to A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems (1918; Project Gutenberg #42290).
- Stanza 1, line 12 Yüan Chēn (d. 831), Ts’ui Hsüan-liang (d. 833), Liu Yü-hsi (d. 842), and Li Chien (d. 821).
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