古詩今植見新松 / Classical Poetry Finds New Life

古詩今植見新松 莊開仁	Classical Poetry Finds New Life
去年（2008）夏，中國文化中心舉辦創立十周年慶祝晚宴，席間穿插崑曲選段、笙歌等文娛節目助興。突然，中心助理主任馬家輝博士宣佈臨時插入特別節目，請中心某導師即席賦詩，並由中心主任鄭培凱教授命題──「十周年」。這位導師上台，來回踱了幾步（據說有人數得七步），略一思索，朗聲吟出一首七絕：	THE SUMMER of 2008 saw CityU’s Chinese Civilisation Centre (CCIV) marking its 10th anniversary. A celebratory feast was going on, punctuated by entertainment like Kunqu opera arias to the accompaniment of the sheng pipe. Unexpectedly, Dr Ma Ka fai, Assistant Director of CCIV, announced a last-minute-added show of talent – a poem done extempore by an instructor of the Centre. It should be about the anniversary, added Professor Pei-kai Cheng, Director of CCIV, setting the theme for the composing. A young man went on stage and, after a bit of pacing (someone counted seven steps, reportedly) and musing, incanted in a clear voice a seven-character-line quatrain, which roughly translates as follows:
十載滋蘭十載心， 嚶鳴處處有清音。 飛觴舉箸燈歌醉， 此日高情何處尋？	A decade’s talent-grooming, with a decade’s fond love , Like a flock at once chirping, we’ve echoed heart and soul; Amid songs and music tonight, and festivities around, Such bliss and high spirits – where else can be found?
這位今日古典詩人，就是主持城大「新松詩社」的導師之一董就雄博士；他和另一位導師張為群女士都修習古典文學，一同執教於中心，講授中國文化課程。兩位導師2005年11月創組詩社，邀集愛好古典詩詞的學生，一同硏討詩藝，傳承中華文化這一瑰寶。	That poet – a present-day classicist – is Dr Dung Chau-hung, one of the twin tutors for the Xin Song Poetry Group, a band of poetry enthusiasts at CityU. His partner, Ms Sharon Cheung Wai-kwan, is also a tutor with CCIV. Both studied classical Chinese literature, and both have been teaching courses in Chinese civilisation at the Centre. They set up the group in November 2005 to bring together students keen on classical poetry to explore that art, so as to help keep a treasure of Chinese culture alive and hand it down to the young.
詩社之名，取自杜甫詩句「新松恨不高千尺，惡竹應須斬萬竿」，期望青年詩友志高千尺，如新松般青蔥昂揚、茁壯成長。 詩社每月聚會一次，講創作、談賞析，也交流切磋習作。聚會前幾日，社員將習作電郵給導師；詩聚時，作者講述其意念構思，詩友評論建議，最後由導師總評。董、張兩位導師也各有詩作，供大家硏討。 除暑期外，每月均有詩會，三年來22次聚會、21次詩課的成果，終於匯編成《新松詩集》。	The group’s name “Xin Song” (literally, young pines) was taken from an oft-quoted couplet by Du Fu, the famous Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) poet – How I wish young pines would rise a thousand feet tall, While evil bamboos be felled, ten thousand plants in all! It was so named to signify the hope that budding poets would set their aims high and, like new saplings, grow in vigour and vitality towards maturity. The group met monthly. Members gathered to discuss how to compose and appreciate poems, read one another’s exercises and compare notes. Each time, they would email their homework to Dr Dung and Ms Cheung a few days in advance. The meeting would then start with the aspiring poets explaining the ideas and conceptions of their verses, followed by comments and suggestions from their peers, and wind up with a general critique by the tutors. Both Dr Dung and Ms Cheung brought their own poems to the group for discussion. The monthly exercises over the past three years (except summer holidays) have resulted in a published volume, Collected Poems by Xin Song Group.
兩位導師談起詩社、詩集，難掩欣喜之情，因為這是城大建校以來首本由師生攜手創作的古典詩集。香港近年各大專院校成立詩社、出版詩集者不多，城大雖是理工科為主的學府，卻重視培育人文素養，如今有此詩社、出此詩集，確實值得高興、自豪。	The tutors talked about their group and the Collected Poems with obvious satisfaction. And justifiably so, as it is CityU’s first ever published collection of classical poems written by students and teachers together. The past few years have seen few poetry groups formed or poems published in Hong Kong colleges or universities. Yet CityU, despite its focus on science and engineering, has been promoting culture and liberal education for students. The Xin Song Group with its Collected Poems is certainly a cause for pride.
有人質疑，今時今日，學作古詩有何用處，誰能超過李白、杜甫？董博士說，創作古詩不是為了勝過古人，而是希望上接古人，加深對文化寶庫的認識，恢復文化認同。 他慨然嘆道，「有何用處」之問，顯示缺乏文化自信心。對西方古典音樂、芭蕾舞，大家不會問有何用處，只覺得高雅、有品味，為何中國古典詩詞就被說成古老、無用呢？這很值得深思。何況古詩在今日仍有生命力，《新松詩集》中的電器、聖誕等詩題，以及吟詠奧運火炬、悼念四川地震等篇章，以舊體詩技巧表達現代人思想感情，即是明證。談到古典詩詞的前景，董博士還是樂觀的。	What’s the point, some may question, in learning to write poems nowadays in the classical style? And could anyone ever expect to surpass Li Bai and Du Fu, the paragon of poets from more than 1,000 years ago? To this, Dr Dung remarked that people learning classical poetry today do not seek to outdo the ancients, but hope to preserve the heritage and embrace their own cultural legacy and identity. The doubts about “usefulness”, he sighed, reveal a lack of confidence in one’s own culture. No-one doubts the value of Western classical music and ballet – people just see elegance and refined taste in them. Then how come they tend to dismiss Chinese classical poetry as passé and useless? Here’s something worth thinking about. Moreover, he continued, classical poetry retains its vital power even today, as evidenced by such themes as “electrical appliances” and “Christmas” in the Collected Poems, and by those pieces on recent events in 2008 such as the Olympic torch relay and the disastrous Sichuan earthquake. The skills and devices of classical poetry have served well to express the heart and mind of people in modern times. Dr Dung was optimistic about the future of classical poetry.
張導師也有同感，但似乎更加樂觀。她說，中國的書法、繪畫、古琴等藝術瑰寶，都有待現代人去傳承；以古典詩詞為例，結社聚會、講授作詩之法，就是保留一塊園地，讓傳統得以繼續發揚。 她認為，只要大家真心誠意做些工作，傳統是可以保存下來的。張導師不單喜愛詩詞，念大學時曾修讀中國書畫史，近年更醉心於古琴，並在所授課程中加入相關課題，於文化之薪火傳承，可謂躬行實踐，絕非浮言泛談。	Ms Cheung echoed her partner’s view, and in an even more upbeat tone. Gems of Chinese art such as painting and calligraphy, and the qin or Chinese zither, she noted, have yet to be inherited by modern people and be handed down. Take classical poetry for example, she added, forming a poetry group to teach and learn it would help preserve a park area, as it were, in which the tradition could grow and flourish. So long as all of us do our bit with zest and sincerity, she believed, the heritage could be carried forward. An ardent lover of poetry, Ms Cheung also studied the history of Chinese painting and calligraphy in her university days, and the past few years have found her increasingly enthralled by the ancient instrument, qin. These interests have enriched her teaching at CCIV. In handing down the torch of culture to the young ones, Ms Cheung has been a real doer rather than a mere talker.
講到現代人的創作態度，兩位導師認為，應保留古典詩但不拒新詩、發展新詩但不廢古典詩之求新發展。 香港粵方言仍保留較完整的平上去入古音體系，本地社會仍保留許多傳統文化內涵，這對於古典詩詞的傳承乃至發展，都是很有利的因素。新松詩社的活動，大有希望。	As to how people should approach poetical composition today, both Dr Dung and Ms Cheung agreed that it would be advisable to preserve classical poetry without impeding modern poetry, and enrich the modern without squeezing the classical out of growth and renovation. Moreover, they pointed out, the indigenous Cantonese tongue in Hong Kong still utters the rich sounds and tones in traditional Chinese speech, and age-old cultural traits still abound in local society. All this makes an encouraging milieu for Chinese classical poetry to live a new life. The Xin Song Poetry Group has a promising future.
	(Translated by Allen Zhuang)
[中英文原載香港城市大學《靈機》第275期，2009年1月；貼於本網頁之英譯略經修訂。/ The Ch-Eng texts were published in City University of Hong Kong: Linkage, Issue 275, January 2009. The English text here is slightly revised.]