Introduction
Po Chu-i or Bai Juyi (772-846) was a career bureaucrat in the Chinese government, national and regional, whose abilities and frank criticisms brought a head-spinning series of promotions and demotions. He is also one of China’s best-loved poets. Below are three of his many short poems, one playful, one protesting, and one a thoughtful tribute to his closest friend.
On the Philosophy of Lao-tzu*
“THOSE who speak know nothing;
Those who know are silent.”
These words, as I am told,
Were spoken by Lao-tzu.
If we are to believe that Lao-tzu
Was himself one who knew,
How comes it that he wrote a book
Of five thousand words?
The Red Cockatoo
SENT as a present from Annam —
A red cockatoo.
Coloured like the peach-tree blossom,
Speaking with the speech of men.
And they did to it what is always done
To the learned and eloquent.
They took a cage with stout bars
And shut it up inside.
Aboard Ship: Reading Yuan Chen’s Poems*
I TAKE your poems in my hand and read them beside the candle;
The poems are finished: the candle is low: dawn not yet come.
With sore eyes by the guttering candle still I sit in the dark,
Listening to waves that, driven by the wind, strike the prow of the ship.
Translated by Arthur Waley
From ‘A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems’ (1918), translated by Arthur Waley (1889-1966).
* A sixth-century BC philosopher and contemporary of Confucius, who was the founder of Taoism. The Tang dynasty (618-907), the royal house of Po Chu-i’s day, venerated him as an Imperial ancestor.
* Yuan Chen was Po Chui-i’s closest friend, and Po admitted that he did not make friends easily. Po would write of him:
We did not go up together for Examination;
We were not serving in the same Department of State.
The bond that joined us lay deeper than outward things;
The rivers of our souls spring from the same well.
Both men had a habit of speaking out of turn, and their various banishments kept them apart. Yuan Chen died in 831.
Précis
In the first of three extracts, Chinese poet Po Chu-i noted that Lao-Tzu recommended silence but still left a large body of ‘sayings’ behind. Next, Po compared the fate of those who speak their minds to that of a caged cockatoo. Finally, he recalled a night aboard ship reading a friend’s poems, and the brown study they threw him into. (60 / 60 words)
In the first of three extracts, Chinese poet Po Chu-i noted that Lao-Tzu recommended silence but still left a large body of ‘sayings’ behind. Next, Po compared the fate of those who speak their minds to that of a caged cockatoo. Finally, he recalled a night aboard ship reading a friend’s poems, and the brown study they threw him into.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: although, because, despite, must, ought, since, until, whereas.
Archive
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Colored. How. Tell.
2 Bar. Man. Present.
3 Aboard. Sore. Your.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
High Tiles Find in Think and Speak
Make words (three letters or more) from the seven letters showing below, using any letter once only. Each letter carries a score. What is the highest-scoring word you can make?
Your Words ()
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