3 Comments

I’ve studied Classical Chinese off and on for more than two decades. I’m much better at reading modern Chinese for sure. Reading the poems brought back some memories. I’ve often heard the last two lines of the first poem you wrote about are often quoted to indicate ever striving for further improvement.

Expand full comment

Hmmm, looking at 靜夜思 I notice that in Mandarin lines one, three and four rhyme but do not have the same tones, however in Cantonese lines one three and four have the same tone and have the same end rhyme.

I will have to read your article more carefully because there is some interesting thing

Expand full comment

They don't all rhyme in Cantonese!

光、霜、月、鄉

gwong1, soeng1, jyut6, hoeng1

/kʷɔːŋ⁵⁵ sœːŋ⁵⁵ jyːt² hœːŋ⁵⁵/

Expand full comment