《人间词话》英译（九十九）

“君王枉把平陈业，换得雷塘数亩田。”政治家之言也。“长陵亦是闲丘陇，异日谁知与仲多？”诗人之言也。政治家之眼，域于一人一事。诗人之眼，则通古今而观之。词人观物，须用诗人之眼，不可用政治家之眼。故感事、怀古等作，当与寿词同为词家所禁也。

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The ruler proudly took over the conquest of Ch’en,

Only to exchange it for a few acres at Lei-t’ang.

Lines such as these are the work of a politician.

Ch’ang-ling too is a neglected tomb.

Afterwards who knew which achieve more, he or Chung?

These are the lines of a writer of poetry. The vision of a politician is bounded by one man, one event. The vision of a poet, on the other hand, extends across the ages. When a tz’u writer observes things, he should use the eyes of a shih writer, not of a politician. For this reason he should avoid writing poems which express feelings about a particular event or nostalgia for ages past with the same assiduousness that he would avoid commemorative poems.