《人间词话》英译（六十四）

白仁甫《秋夜梧桐雨》剧，沉雄悲壮，为元曲冠冕。然所作《天籁词》，粗浅之甚，不足为稼轩奴隶。岂创者易工，而因者难巧欤？抑人各有能有不能也？读者观欧、秦之诗远不如词，足透此中消息。

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Pai P’u’s play, Ch’iuyeh wu-t’ung yu (Rain on the wu-t’ung trees on an autumn night), is profound, vigorous, tragic, and sublime. It represents the very finest of Yuan drama. Yet his tz’u collection, T’ien lai chi, is so crude and superfcial that he ought not to be considered a follower of Hsin Ch’i-chi. Is it that for the creator skill comes easily but for the one who follows in his footsteps the art proves difficult? Or is it rather that each man has capabilityes in one direction and not in another? Let the reader look at the shih of Ouyang Hsiu and Ch’in Kuan. That their shih are far inferior to their tz’u is definitive proof of this subtle principle.