《人间词话》英译（五十三）

陆放翁跋《花间集》，谓：“唐季五代，诗愈卑，而倚声辄简古可爱。能此不能彼，未可以理推也。”《提要》驳之，谓：“犹能举七十斤者，举百斤则蹶，举五十斤则运掉自如。”其言甚辨。然谓词必易于诗，余未敢信。善乎陈卧子之言曰：“宋人不知诗而强作诗，故终宋之世无诗。然其欢愉愁苦之致，动于中而不能抑者，类发于诗余，故其所造独工。”五代词之所以独胜，亦以此也。

<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> 

Lu Yu in his [second] colophon to Hua-chien chi stated: ‘…at the end of the T’ang and in the Five Dynasties period, shih became more and more inferior while writing according to tunes [i.e., tz’u], being simple and timeless, was admirable… There is no simple explanation as to why the one was possible and the other not’. The T’i-yao [199/5a] disagrees with his conclusion, stating: ‘This is like a man capable of lifting seventy chin who will fall if he tries to lift 100 chin, but can pick up fifty chin and whirl it around with ease’. [What is so difficult to explain about that?] This shows great discernment on their part, but to say that tz’u are easier to compose than shih I find quite unbelievable. I much prefer Ch’en Tzu-lung’s explanation: ‘Poets of the Sung did not understand shih and yet they strove to write shih…Therefore in the end the Sung era had no real shih…However all the feelings of pleasure and joy, sorrow and pain which stirred within their hearts and could not be repressed, found expression in tz’u. therefore what they created was of singular workmanship..’ this is also the reason why the tz’u of the Five Dynasties were of such singular excellence.