Poem listening comprehension: Bai Juyi Cao Grass Lu shi poem: Chinese poem, pinyin, English translation, rules about lu shi 律诗 regulated verse, and reading of Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

草 (白居易)

Cao3  (Bai2 Ju1 yi4)

離離原上草，

Li2 li2 yuan2 shang4 cao3
一歲一枯榮。

Yi2 sui4 yi4 ku1 rong2
野火燒不盡，

Ye2 huo3 shao1 bu2 jin4
春風吹又生。

Chun1 feng1 chui1 you4 sheng1
遠芳侵古道，

Yuan3 fang1 qin1 gu3 dao4
晴翠接荒城。

Qing2 cui4 jie1 huang1 cheng2
又送王孫去，

You4 song4 wang2 sun1 qu4
萋萋滿別情。，

Qi1 qi1 man3 bie2 qing2

Grass(Bai Ju-Yi, 772-846 AD, China)

Lavishly grows the grass on the plains.
In one year, there are one withering and one prospering.
Wildfire can’t burn out the grass.
When spring wind blows, it will reborn.
The far away fragrant plants invade the ancient roads.
The sunny greenery connects the ruined town.
Now I have to send away the royal youth.
The abundant grass is full of the sorrow of departing.

Translated by Shu

About the author and the poem:
There is an amusing story associated with this poem. When Bai Juyi was young he traveled to Chang’an to obtain the patronage of the famous poet Gu Kuang. Gu received Bai Juyi and made a pun on Bai’s name using alternative meaning: bai — to get something for free, ju — to reside, and yi — easily. Gu Kuang joked about that although Bai Juyi has a name that implies that he can live easily and get things free, however, in reality would not be as easy as the name says. But, after Gu read Bai Juyi’s poems, Gu became so impressed with Bai’s poetry and decided to sponsor the young poet. This poem Cao was said to be the first one that Gu Kuang read.
Cao is an eight line 律诗 lu-shi or regulated verse. Lu-shi must have the length of eight lines and can be termed to be a Chinese sonnet. Lu-shi has two important features:
One: must follow the tone sequence rules.
Two: Rhyme occurs on the second, fourth, sixth and eighth lines.
Lu-shi can generally divided into three parts: The first couplets establish the theme. The middle couplets provide readers specifics and details, and the final couplet expresses the poet’s feelings. If we take a look at this Cao poem, then we will know that the first couplet clearly tells us the theme of the poem is about Cao grass and the circle of life of Cao. The middle two couplets describe how the grass grows, where the grass connect to or invade into. Finally the last couplet expresses the sadness the poet had while saying farewell to his friend once again.