司空圖二十四詩品《形容》 / Sikong Tu's Twenty-Four Classes of Poetry, 20 - "Form and Appearance"

The title and content of this poem is a bit vexing. 形 means form or appearance, as does 容, so there's not really a contrast between the two—it's not as if one stands for the inner form of something and the other its outward appearance. On top of that, taken together the characters mean "describe" or "description." There's inevitably some subtlety I'm missing, but I'll be damned if I can figure it out at the moment.

I like Sikong Tu's admonition to stop seeking the numinous and pure in favor of recognizing that what you're looking for in those things is right here in front of you. I especially dig the last couplet, which is a little clunky in my version; here he uses 似 rather than 容, but the meaning is effectively the same, and thus we're back at my original question of why he went with this phrasing.

I read this and saw a transition between the second and third stanzas, which is something I don't often do, but maybe should. Other poets might make more use of such a technique, so keeping an eye out for it would be worthwhile.

Stay safe, folks. It's been a brutal summer, and it's far from over.

微臣
史大偉

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形容

司空圖

絕佇靈素

少回清真

如覓水影

如寫陽春

風雲變態

花草精神
海之波瀾

山之嶙峋

俱似大道

妙契同塵

離形得似

庶幾斯人

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"Form and Appearance"

Sikong Tu

Cease expecting the numinous and pure

and soon clear reality will return—

as in seeking water's shadow

as in tracing the springtime

Clouds on the wind, appearances ever changing

flowers and grasses, essence and spirit

the sea's towering waves

the mountains' craggy ranks—

Completely like the great Dao

subtly inscribed in the dust of this world

leaving behind form to grasp appearance—

surely this resembles what it is to be human?