The poem that eats the lion (and the poet altogether)

The mastermind behind the age-old confusion.

 

Literature has never ceased capturing our imagination; even so boldly challenged has been our vernacular improbability. But what can be more compelling, and inextricably complicating, than Chinese literature, one whose lingua franca is very well-known for a mecca of homophones? Zhao Yuanren (1892-1982), a Chinese-American poet, attempted to break off the limits (and our conscience limits, altogether, when it comes to defining the riddle) by composing a seemingly ‘Google-translated’ one titled ‘Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den’, or if read in Chinese, would be spelt equivocally similar ‘Shi shi shi shi shi’. Enough conundrum has been generated by the way it’s read, and what else couldn’t be more exasperatingly comprehensive than interpreting the ‘inherent meaning’ behind the soul of the poem? Like a finely sauteed piece of half-cooked salmon, welcome to one of the most enigmatic, but also mindfully engrossing, poems in the age of modern literature. (this poem was published in 1977)

 

« Shī Shì shí shī shǐ »

Shíshì shīshì Shī Shì, shì shī, shì shí shí shī.

Shì shíshí shì shì shì shī.

Shí shí, shì shí shī shì shì.

Shì shí, shì Shī Shì shì shì.

Shì shì shì shí shī, shì shǐ shì, shǐ shì shí shī shìshì.

Shì shí shì shí shī shī, shì shíshì.

Shíshì shī, Shì shǐ shì shì shíshì.

Shíshì shì, Shì shǐ shì shí shì shí shī.

Shí shí, shǐ shí shì shí shī shī, shí shí shí shī shī.

Shì shì shì shì.

 

《施氏食獅史》

石室詩士施氏，嗜獅，誓食十獅。

氏時時適市視獅。

十時，適十獅適市。

是時，適施氏適市。

氏視是十獅，恃矢勢，使是十獅逝世。

氏拾是十獅屍，適石室。

石室濕，氏使侍拭石室。

石室拭，氏始試食是十獅。

食時，始識是十獅屍，實十石獅屍。

試釋是事。

 

Translation:

 

« Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den »

 

In a stone den was a poet called Shi, who was a lion addict, and had resolved to eat ten lions.

He often went to the market to look for lions.

At ten o’clock, ten lions had just arrived at the market.

At that time, Shi had just arrived at the market.

He saw those ten lions, and using his trusty arrows, caused the ten lions to die.

He brought the corpses of the ten lions to the stone den.

The stone den was damp. He asked his servants to wipe it.

After the stone den was wiped, he tried to eat those ten lions.

When he ate, he realized that these ten lions were in fact ten stone lion corpses.

Try to explain this matter.

 

Eat me!

 

A blogger formulates several possible interpretations to let us comprehend further what the poet was trying to convey in the poet. Click: http://finecha.wordpress.com/2012/11/11/red-slider/.