A Brief Discourse on "白日依山盡"

Brief Discourse on "白日依山盡"

《登鸛雀樓》唐 • 王之渙

    白日依山盡，  

    黃河入海流。

    
    欲窮千里目，  

    更上一層樓。

i thank a fellow blogger v much for his v interesting comments and his fine efforts, as follows, in his rendition of the famous wang zhihuan poem  (as posted in one of my recent postings dated May 1, 2014):

the following are copied from my other blog:

< ...

好詩，好譯。

這裏「白日」的「白」似乎是指光耀明亮，而不是顏色的白。就像「青天白日」是指藍天白雲中光耀的太陽。

所以這不是形容黃昏落日景象，而是說早上日出時，遠望東方時，耀眼的太陽被前面的大山（是「中條山」，mountain；不是小山丘 ，hill）遮擋了。

而黃河同時也是向東方流，傾倒入去的是太平洋（ocean )，不是普通的大海（sea）。

當你在早上登上「鸛雀樓」，遙望東方時，看到躲藏在山後的「白天」緩向上升，同時相對着的是澎湃的「黃河」向下奔流，文字景色都是一絕。令人不期然地要更上一層樓，以窺全景！

不忖冒昧，試譯：

    The bright White Sun emerges from the Mountain, while

    The long Yellow River pours into the Ocean;

    To exhaust your eyes in the thousand miles afront,

    Ascend to the Upper Level above!>

what follows is purely for open discussion only -- a brain teaser exercise. nothing personal.

so, please don't take all this 2 seriously! (hehee!)
it's all a matter of perspective and relativity through one's own experiences, senses, perception and mind's eye!

NOW, from the net it is evident that:

1. ... < “白日”就是太阳，早晨的朝阳、正午的骄阳、傍晚的夕阳，都是“白日”。这首诗中的“白日”就是指“落日”，“白日依山尽”就是太阳快要落山了。在古代诗词中把将要落山的太阳称作“白日”者，在王之涣前后都大有人在，如：

① "白日沦西阿，素月出东岭。"（陶渊明《杂诗》，意思是：太阳从西山落下去，月亮从东岭升起来。）

② "漠漠轻阴晚自开，青天白日映楼台。"（韩愈《同水部张员外籍曲江春游寄白二十二舍人》，意思是：薄薄的阴云在傍晚时分消失了，蔚蓝的天空和明亮的太阳映照着楼台。）
在这两首诗中，明确指出时间是“晚”、是“沦西阿”之时，因此诗中“白日”系指“落日”是有依据的。>

2. ... <把“白日”解释为“当空的太阳”的人，没法解释当空的太阳怎么会“依山尽”，> ... < 鹳雀楼东南方向确有中条山，但相距并不近，西面地处黄土高原与秦岭之间，不远处有华山，因此不能断定西面无山。虽然不能断定“依山尽”之山是确指鹳雀楼西面某山，但可以认为是远处某座不知名的山岭或山峰。也可以认为“依山尽”就是太阳向西落下去的的意思，诗人不一定看到某山，正如“黄河入海流”是向东流去并没有看到大海一样。>

and i'd actually seen "落日" 就是 "白日" literally twice so far. once on a cruise in the ocean when there was some fog; the other time was when the setting sun was veiled by some light clouds. i believe the fog and light clouds acted as a kind of filter and the sun then appeared whitish-yellow in colour for a brief period. (of course, any sunset is a dynamic lively process, in which the sun's colour and  even shape change almost from moment to moment before it finally disappears over the horizon.) 

3. or as someone says, <說早上日出時，遠望東方時，耀眼的太陽被前面的大山（是「中條山」，mountain；不是小山丘 ，hill）遮擋了。> but then, the rising morning sun just goes straight up slowly towards the zenith and will not b blocked by a horizontally-lying, wide-based mountain (unless of course that particular mountain is an inverted pyramid in shape, or an avatar-type of floating mountain/hill!).

4. i agree with the views quoted above from the net... <依山尽”就是太阳向西落下去的的意思，诗人不一定看到某山> , that's why i simply use "hills" instead of "mountain" in my translation. in addition, some "high hills" can be almost as high as a mountain! (His Majesty’s Ordnance Survey Office specifies that a certain 'mountain' should be at least 1,000 feet high in order to be designated officially as a mountain. i once saw the funny movie 'The Englishman Who Went up a Hill but Came down a Mountain'. it was based on a true story in which eager local Welsh villagers built up the local 'mountain' to the required 1,000 feet. The  village in question is Taff’s Well (Ffynnon Taf in Welsh), and the mountain is Garth Mountain which now stands at 307 meters or 1,007 feet. Hurray!

5. as regards: <而黃河同時也是向東方流 ，傾倒入去的是太平洋（ocean )，不是普通的大海（sea）。>  well, it doesn't appear to be the case. a geography teacher would say the Yellow River flows into Bo Hai 渤海 (--though some of the Yellow River waters probably might have made their way to the Pacific Ocean, eventually). 

6. i've taken the liberty of slightly rewording the blogger's rendition for his kind consideration:

       Behind distant hills the shiny Sun hides; 

      The Yellow River merges with Bo Hai.

      To see clearly for hundreds of miles more,

      Come, Ascend once more to the upper floor!

  
(note: 1 Chinese li = 0.3 mile)