Interpreting a line from Li Shangyin -- 鶯花啼又笑

Question

The full poem is as follows:

早起

風露澹清晨

簾間獨起人

鶯花啼又笑

畢竟是誰春

I was discussing this with a friend who speaks Chinese, and they translated this line:

鶯花啼又笑

as "Birds and flowers cry and laugh". Their father translated it as something like "Birds laugh and cry", saying that 鶯花 refers to just a bird, a kind of hummingbird based on what he said. My friend noted that 又, in modern Chinese, makes it likely that the action(s) is/are being ascribed either collectively to two things (birds and flowers) or to one thing (hummingbirds).

However, Chloe Garcia Roberts, in her book of translations of Li Shangyin, translates the line as:

The orioles quaver / The flowers laugh

Without getting into the lexical choices here, on what basis does she ascribe 啼 to the bird and 笑 to the flowers? Is this a type of construction specific to poetic voice, to the Tang era, or something else? Or is it just a poetic interpretive choice on the basis of conceptual parallelism: (noun1 noun2 verb1 verb2)=(noun1 verb1)(noun2 verb2). Li Shangyin lived from 813–858, so I assume there has been a lot of time for things to change or have specific uses.

Any insight helps even if it isn't a full answer. Thanks!

Answer 1

"對稱", "比喻" and "联想" are technics commonly used in poems or poetries.

We know there is no flower named "鶯花", thus, it must represent 鶯(oriole) and 花(flower). Now, through "對稱", it is obvious how to associate 鶯 and 花 with the respective words 啼(twitter/chirp) and 笑(laugh) - "鶯啼" and "花笑". Note that flower is often used to describe young lady, such as "花容" describes the young woman's facial figure (using 比喻), which is capable of laughing and smiling (through 联想).

IMO, this poem can be rewritten and interpreted as:

鶯啼花又笑, 畢竟誰是春. - (Outdoor), the oriole is twittering/chirping, and the flower is blooming, after all, who (鶯 and 花) is winning out in representing the coming of spring?

Answer 2

The orioles quaver / The flowers laugh

this translation is very good 😸

風露澹清晨・簾間獨起人・鶯花啼又笑・畢竟是誰春

considering the characters “獨” & “春”; i would, read the verse as:

[i saw that there’re] orioles chirp [amongst those] blossoming flowers

the author woke up alone (獨起人), in a morning in spring, found that all living beings did their best for mating. so, he exclaimed that “after all, this spring is for whom? (畢竟是誰春)[while i’m alone!]

have fun :)

Answer 3

"The orioles quaver / The flowers laugh" is a good translation, though I would put it as "The orioles crow (amid) The flowers' laughter" because the passage, I believe, is to create the poetic imagery of orioles alighting on tree branches loaded with Spring blossoms broadly blooming as though in a chorus of laughter, and burst out in songs.