Floral Symbolism in Traditional Chinese and English Poetry and Its Implication for Poetry Translation: The Case of Lan 蘭 and Violet
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Floral Symbolism in Traditional Chinese and English Poetry and Its Implication for Poetry Translation:The Case of Lan 蘭 and Violet Fusheng Wu Poetry by nature is a language of symbols, and flowers are among the most frequently used symbols in poetry. Both traditional Chinese and English poetry1 use flowers as metaphors for various human experiences and values. This article concentrates on two prominent examples of floral symbolism in these poetic traditions: lan 蘭 in Chinese and the violet in English. These images are poetic counterparts whose symbolic associations and modes of significance, by and large, overlap. The second half of this article discusses the implication of this overlap for poetry translation, especially with regard to the rendering of those highly conventionalized and archetypal plant names. The use of flowers and plants to symbolize human experiences and values has a long history in traditional Chinese poetry. The Chuci 楚辭 (lyrics of Chu), produced in the southern state of Chu during the Warring States period (ca. 474-221 BCE), uses floral imagery, especially in the shamanistic Jiuge 九歌 (Nine Songs) section, for ritual and religious purposes, to convey beauty, purity, and sincerity.2 In his autobiographical poem "On Encountering Trouble" (Lisao 離騷), Qu Yuan 屈原 (340-278 BCE), a statesman and poet from this region, developed this practice into the "fragrant plant" (xiangcao 香草)3 convention. Qu Yuan was banished from the court and eventually committed suicide. "On Encountering Trouble" was his last poem, in which he recounts his life experience in and out of the court and vents his frustrations at his ruler and political enemies. After recounting his birth into an illustrious [End Page 428] family at the beginning of this long poem (of 372 lines), Qu Yuan describes his efforts at personal cultivation so that he may live up to his family name: 紛吾既有此內美兮，又重之以修能。扈江離與辟芷兮，紉秋蘭以為佩。 Now that I was endowed with this inner beauty,I added to it fair outward adornment.I dressed myself in selinea and shady angelica,And twined autumn lan to make a garland. (Chuci buzhu 4; Hawkes 68) The poet states explicitly that he dresses himself with the autumn lan and other plants to match his "inner beauty" (neibei 内美) with "fair adornment" (xiuneng 修 能).5 Lan, selinea, and angelica are presented as external counterparts of an inner virtue, and wearing them is a symbolic act of cultivating that virtue. Other passages in "On Encountering Trouble" use the imagery of lan similarly: 余既滋蘭之九畹兮，又樹蕙之百畝。……時曖曖其將罷兮，結幽蘭而延佇。 I have tended many an acre of lan,And planted hundreds of rods of melilotus. The days are getting dark and drawing to its close,Knotting secluded lan, I waited in indecision. (Chuci buzhu 11, 30; Hawkes 69, 74)6 In the first example, Qu Yuan continues the parallel between inner virtue and outward beauty established in the passage cited earlier, but here the emphasis is on comparing planting lan and melilotus with the act of continued moral cultivation during his banishment. The second example describes Qu Yuan's reaction when he is rejected by Heaven's porter at the end of his first celestial journey in pursuit of his ideal. At this moment of frustration, Qu Yuan resorts to "knotting secluded lan," an otherwise odd conduct at this particular moment, to indicate his determination not to give up his ideal. Here, in addition to moral purity and cultivation, the lan, especially in its "secluded lan" construction, has acquired another symbolic meaning, representing a man of honour who, despite being not recognized and appreciated by his time and society, perseveres nevertheless in adhering to his own integrity. Eleventh-century critic Liu Cizhuang 劉次莊 (fl. 1085) has pointed out that here in particular, "兰， 喻君子。言其处于深林幽涧之中，而芬芳郁烈之不可掩" (Chuci buzhu 30).7 In other words, although the lan is hidden from the sight of the world, it will be made known by its fragrance. Similarly, a gentleman may be banished from and rejected by the court and society, but his virtue will eventually be discovered. In another passage, Qu Yuan further develops the symbolism of lan by contrasting it with other plants such as "mugwort" (ai 艾). After lamenting that "The world is blinded with its own folly, / You cannot make people see the virtue inside you" (世幽 昧以眩燿兮，孰云察余之善惡), he states that those "men of factions" (dangren 黨人) "wear mugwort and cram their...
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.004 | 0.005 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.014 | 0.043 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.006 | 0.005 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.004 |
| Research integrity | 0.002 | 0.004 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.003 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".