Oriental Studies (Apr 2018)
Research of the Poetic Part of «Ode to Mukden, Written by the Emperor»
Abstract
This article is devoted to the study of the poetic part of the Manchurian literary work «Han-i araha Mukden-i fuǯurun bithe», or „Ode to Mukden, written by the Emperor‟, the author of this text is the Emperor Qianlong. There are publications devoted to the study of the work, but in Russia it is little known and publications devoted to this work in Russian are available in single copies, though the most rare and unique editions of the text are kept in Russian libraries. The story of writing „Ode‟ is connected with Emperor’s visit (1743) to the former capital of the Manchu Mukden and tombs of ancestors in Manchuria. The article gives a poetic translation of the „Ode to Mukden‟ as well as comments. Analysis of the verse leads to the assumption that the „Ode‟ is written according to the canons of traditional Manchu poetry, i.e using sound alliteration. The laudatory part, written in verses, is a kind of poetic prose summary of the main part and consists of 98 lines, inside it is divided into 7 parts with 14 lines each.
