严羽·《沧浪诗话》英译（诗辩）

第一章 诗辩

Making the Right Distinctions in Poetry

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　　一

夫学诗者以识为主：入门须正，立志须高；以汉、魏、晋、盛唐为师，不作开元、天宝以下人物。若自退屈，即有下劣诗魔入其肺腑之间；由立志之不高也。行有未至，可加工力；路头一差，愈骛愈远；由入门之不正也。故曰：学其上，仅得其中；学其中，斯为下矣。又曰：见过于师，仅堪传授；见与师齐，减师半德也。工夫须从上做下，不可从下做上。先须熟读《楚辞》，朝夕讽咏，以为之本；及读《古诗十九首》，乐府四篇，李陵、苏武、汉、魏五言皆须熟读，即以李、杜二集枕藉观之，如今人之治经，然后博取盛唐名家，酝酿胸中，久之自然悟入。虽学之不至，亦不失正路。此乃是从顶玜上做来。谓之向上一路。谓之直截根源。谓之顿门。谓之单刀直入也。

Judgment is the dominant factor in the study of poetry. The beginning must be correct, and your mind must be set on the highest goals. Take for your teacher the poetry of Han, Wei, and High Tang; don’t act the part of those after the Kai-yuan [713-741] and Tian-bao [742-755] reigns. If you retreat from this in the least, the vilest poetry demon will enter your breast—and this will be because your mind was not set on the highest goals. If you haven’t yet reached your goals, you can always try harder; but if you err in your direction at the beginning, the more you rush on, the farther you will get off course. This will be because your beginnings were not correct. If you study the very best, you will reach only the middle level; but if you study the middle, then you will come out on the bottom. Furthermore, you can get instruction only from a teacher whose perception surpasses your own; if your perception equals that of your teacher, it reduces the teacher’s value by half. You have to work from the beginning. First of all, you should the Songs of Chu (i.e. Chu-ci) until you are thoroughly familiar with them and chant them day and night to have them as your basis. Next read the “Nineteen Old Poems,” the four principal “Ballads” (yue fu), Li Ling, Su Wu, and the pentasyllabic poems of the Han and Wei—you should read these until you are thoroughly familiar with them. Then consider these works piled side by side with the collected poems of Li Bai and Du Fu—just as people study the classics nowadays. Only after that should you pick and choose widely among the other famous writers of the High Tang, letting them ferment in your breast. Finally, after a long time, you will spontaneously achieve enlightened insight. Even though you may not yet have reached the full fruition of your studies, at least you won’t have lost the proper road. This is what I mean by “working from the very top.” This is called the “highest road”; this is called “entering directly to the source”; this is called “the gate of sudden [enlightenment]”; this is called “going straight in with a single blade.”

二

　　诗之法有五：曰体制，曰格力，曰兴趣，曰音节。

Poetry ahs five rules: 1) construction of form; 2) force of structure; 3) atmosphere (literally qi-image); 4) stirring and excitement; 5) tone and rhythm.