Since beauty is honoured all over the Empire,
How could Xi Shi remain humbly at home? --
Washing clothes at dawn by a southern lake --
And that evening a great lady in a palace of the north:
Lowly one day, no different from the others,
The next day exalted, everyone praising her.
No more would her own hands powder her face
Or arrange on her shoulders a silken robe.
And the more the King loved her, the lovelier she looked,
Blinding him away from wisdom.
…Girls who had once washed silk beside her
Were kept at a distance from her chariot.
And none of the girls in her neighbours' houses
By pursing their brows could copy her beauty.
Original Poem:
「西施咏」
王维
艳色天下重，西施宁久微。
朝为越溪女，暮作吴宫妃。
贱日岂殊众，贵来方悟稀。
邀人傅脂粉，不自著罗衣。
君宠益娇态，君怜无是非。
当时浣纱伴，莫得同车归。
持谢邻家子，效颦安可希。
Interpretation:
This is a poem that borrows Xishi as a metaphor for human beings. It adopts the mode of comparing and contrasting to express the injustice and emotion of the lower-class scholar who is unrecognized for his talent.
In the first four lines of the poem, Xishi is described as a woman of beautiful beauty, who would never stay in a humble position for a long time. The phrase “morning” and “evening” shows the shortness of time, only between one day and a big change of identity. The two sentences form a stark contrast, writing out the life of floating, all depends on the chance of the abnormal state of the world.
The next six lines describe the fact that once Xi Shi was favored by the king, she was worth a hundred times more. The details of Xishi’s makeup and dressing after being favored are used to describe Xishi’s delicate state after being favored.
In the last four lines, it is written that those who are too poor in appearance are not willing to knit the brows of Xi Shi. The female companion who used to wash yarn together in Yuexi can no longer come and go with her in the same car.
Although the whole poem is simple, it has a profound meaning.
Poem translator:
Kiang Kanghu
About the poet:
Wang Wei (王维), 701-761 A.D., was a native of Yuncheng, Shanxi Province. Wang Wei was a poet of landscape and idylls. His poems of landscape and idylls, with far-reaching images and mysterious meanings, were widely loved by readers in later generations, but Wang Wei never really became a man of landscape and idylls.
