《人间词话》英译（三十九）

白石写景之作，如“二十四桥仍在，波心荡、冷月无声。”“数峰清苦，商略黄昏雨。”“高树晚蝉，说西风消息。”虽格韵高绝，然如雾里看花，终隔一层。梅溪、梦窗诸家写景之病，皆在一“隔”字。北宋风流，渡江遂绝，抑真有运会存乎其间耶？

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The passages in which Chiang K’uei described scenery (hsieh-ching) such as:

The twenty-four bridges are still there

Deep in the rippling waves, the soundless moon is cold,

or,

The several peaks gaunt and cold

Brace themselves for the evening rain.

or,

In the tall trees at evening cicadas tell news of the west wind,

are extremely lofty in form and tone (ko-yun), but it is as if we were viewing flowers through a mist. In the final analysis we are separated from the scene by a veil (ko 隔). The weakness in the scenic description of all such writers as Shih Ta-tsu and Wu Wen-ying lies in the one word ko 隔. The carefree, flowing [style] of the Northern Sung ceased to exist after the move south of the Yangtze. Is there really perhaps here the influence of time cycles?