Source: Tang Juyi's Pipa Trip
Selected paragraph:
Humming, whispering-and then mixing together, like pouring large and small pearls into a plate of jade. Between Guan Ying's words, the bottom of the flower is slippery, so you can't swallow the spring scenery and flow under the ice. The ice spring is cold and astringent, and the strings condense, and the condensation will never stop.
Translation:
Noise and tangles are played alternately; Like a string of beads falling from a jade plate. Pipa sounds like a smooth birdsong under a flower for a while, and then it sounds like a difficult, low and intermittent sound of water flowing under the ice. It seems that the cold and astringent pipa sound of the spring began to condense, and the sound of poor condensation gradually stopped.
Poetry appreciation
This ballad not only reflects the tragic fate of insulted and injured women in feudal society, but also shows the poet's infinite sympathy for the pipa girl, and also expresses the poet's deep feelings about his exile life. As a feudal scholar-bureaucrat, Bai Juyi can find the same feeling from the oppressed geisha, and compare the geisha with himself, saying that "neither of us is happy-to grow old forever" is commendable.
The artistic achievements of this poem are manifold. First, he is good at narrative, combining narrative and lyric closely. The second achievement is the description of music. In a word, the influence of this poem is lasting, with profound social significance and great artistic charm.