In Reply to Zhu Qingyu
Authored by Zhang Ji
Translated by Yuanxiang
It’s the heart of a Yue girl new in clothing for her show to begin
Who knows herself and shines in having poems thoughtfully told.
Nobody in Qi silk is dearer than this trendy person
Whose lotus song has more value than ten thousand gold. 作者: 龙血树 时间: 2017-9-19 17:35
菱歌， 是菱角还是莲藕？ 作者: 山菊 时间: 2017-9-22 08:06
第一句，难道不是照镜子？作者: 沅湘 时间: 2017-9-23 08:26
Circumlocution is present in both poems for double entendre.
Both poets told a story with another story. The story in Zhu Qingyu's poem
is about a bride on tenterhooks for the audience by her parents-in-law for the first time,
but the real story hidden beneath is the author himself eager to know the result of his test.
Similarly, there are two folklore stories in Zhang Ji's poem. One is the legendary
beauty of a country Yue girl singing happily while picking water chestnuts from a boat.
The legend of Qi silk traditionally refers to the rich or powerful who usually were
clothed in silk from Qi, said to be of the best quality in ancient China. Both Yue and Qi had existed
before Tang Dynasty as sovereign states. But the real but untold story is that Zhu was judged by Zhang more
valuable in writing poetry because his would be the trendy style in which a story is told with another
story, that is, a story within a story.
That is the art of poetry originated in Tang Dynasty.