Just because Prof Lin Shuen Fu went through them in class today and they sound awesome in Chinese~ =)
Considered the best example of all time in terms of 七言律诗 (heptasyllabic regulated verse from the Tang Dynasty), beating even Du Fu and Li Bai's poetry.
崔颢 - 黄鹤楼
昔 人 已 乘 黄 鹤 去，
此 地 空 余 黄 鹤 楼。
黄 鹤 一 去 不 复 返，
白 云 千 载 空 悠 悠。
晴 川 历 历 汉 阳 树，
芳 草 萋 萋 鹦 鹉 洲。
日 暮 乡 关 何 处 是，
烟 波 江 上 使 人 愁。
And apparently, Li Bai went to same restaurant as Cui Hao and he saw the poem that he had written and was so moved, he wanted to write something too... But then he couldn't! So instead, he left this response:
一 拳 捶 碎 黄 鹤 楼，
一 脚 踢 翻 鹦 鹉 洲，
眼 前 有 景 道 不 得，
崔 颢 题 诗 在 上 头。
And then, Li Bai went to Nanjing and there, he was inspired to write a poem that was very similar to 黄鹤楼.
李白 - 登金陵凤凰台
凤凰台上凤凰游，凤去台空江自流。
吴宫花草埋幽径，晋代衣冠成古丘。
三山半落青天外，二水中分白鹭洲。
总为浮云能蔽日，长安不见使人愁！
Haha... When Prof was telling the story in class it was really funny. =P But I think having learnt the story with the poems makes them that much more interesting! Even though I can't really read the words COUGHS. (It's too hard ok. xP)
Then we were introduced to one of the great love poems of the Tang Dynasty! Apparently Li Sheng Yin writes extremely profound and difficult poetry - so difficult in fact that some scholars in China can't interpret them well either. Apparently.
李商隐 - 无题
相见时难别亦难，东风无力百花残。
春蚕到死丝方尽，蜡炬成灰泪始干。
晓镜但愁云鬓改，夜吟应觉月光寒。
蓬山此去无多路，青鸟殷勤为探看。
I er, can't really read it either but it sounds brilliant in Chinese!~ ^_^ Or rather, it's not so much that I cannot read the words in any of the poems - occasionally there are words I've never seen before - but more that I cannot read the poems in that nice Chinese way that you're supposed to use when reading the poems... Like GL said, I seem to read each word individually like they are unconnected ;_;
It's ok... At least Professor sings poems for us in class =P
And there you have it, my contribution to thinking for the week!
cheers
*[-witchstone-]*
[music : ソラニン Asian Kung-Fu Generation + flower L'arc~en~Ciel]
[mood : ~_~]
[food : 绿豆汤！]