有美堂暴雨 A Storm over Youmei Hall

有美堂暴雨

原作: 苏轼（字子瞻, 号东坡居士; 11世纪北宋）

英译及赏析: 闵晓红(2023)

游人脚底一声雷，

满座顽云拔不开。

天外黑风吹海立，

浙东飞雨过江来。

十分潋滟金樽凸，

千杖敲铿羯鼓催。

唤起谪仙泉酒面，

倒倾鲛室泻琼瑰。

A Storm over Youmei Hall

Chinese original by Su Shi (11th Century, social name 'Dongpo')

English version by Julia Min ( Feb. 2023)

Beneath my feet, the Earth shudders in thunder.

Overhead, the sky darkens in rumbling anger.

The wild wind hurls up rolling walls of waves.

Rain, dark and furious, sweeps across the river.

Each drop strikes loud as a beat on Jie drum,

West Lake cheers up, a winecup overfilled.

The storm could sober up Li Bai from his cup,

Who’ll pour out poems like mermaid’s pearls.

Notes:

1. Youmei Hall: built in 1057 during the Song Dynasty in honour of Emperor Renzong and named after his verse. It was severely damaged or destroyed in 1129 amid the warfare and turmoil at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, particularly during the Jin invasion. The hall was rebuilt in the 16th century during the Ming Dynasty.

2. Jie drum: a large, loud drum of the Jie People, once favoured by the Tang Emperor Xuanzong for its powerful, resonant sound—here compared to the pounding of storm rain;

3. Li Bai: one of the greatest Chinese poets from the Tang dynasty. Legend holds that he was once summoned to the emperor while still in a drunken stupor; the emperor ordered him doused with cold water to sober him, whereupon Li Bai broke into a “frenzy of composition.” Su Shi’s allusion humorously suggests this storm would be even more effective than an imperial command.

Appreciation:

Composed in 1073, when Su Shi was the magistrate (similar to the deputy governor) of Hangzhou, a remarkably productive period for him as both a civil servant and a poet. 

Youmei Hall stood near Hangzhou, a thriving place at the time.

The hall had long been a popular subject for poems, prose, and paintings. Any new work would be judged against the masterpieces of the past. It would be like trying to compose a poem on daffodils after Wordsworth, to paint The Last Supper after Leonardo da Vinci, or to sing “Poetry in Motion” after Johnny Tillotson. You can almost feel the pressure Su Shi must have felt—pressure he transformed into inspiration. True to his nature, he swam against the current and created a poem so powerful that it has become one of the most remembered works about the hall.

Unlike the common way of ushering the reader in with introductory lines, this poem pulls you right into the moment: a majestic summer storm playing over the wide river, the hills, West Lake, and the travellers on Wu Hill. To match that force, Su Shi calls on the glorious Tang dynasty: the emperor’s thundering Jie drums, the untamed poet Li Bai, and even the magical pearls of a mermaid. He doesn’t just describe a storm; he makes it legendary.

Reading it, I feel as if I’m standing beside him before the hall, soaked through. Don’t you?

Reference:

1. Blooming Alone in Winter by Gordon Osing, Julia Min and Huang Haipeng，published by the People's Publication House Henan Province in 1990 (《寒心未肯随春态》戈登.奥赛茵，闵晓红，黄海鹏) (“ A Storm Over Youmei Hall -- Earth breaks open under me;/ In wonderful anger Heaven is solid black;/ The darkness hurls-up great waves in the distance/ And furious rains cress the river with Easterlies./ The river’s alive as wine in my gold cup overfilled / The Jie are pounding drums demanding rain’s obedience. /Be quick, my soul, like Li Bai, when the King had him doused. / Upside down’s the mermaid’s house and all her pearls spilled.”)

2. pictures from Google