Splendor in the Grass (天涯何處無芳草)

Turner Classic Movies had Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty’s Splendor in the Grass tonight. The movie title is taken from the lines of William Wordsworth’s poem.

What though the radiance which was once so bright

Be now for ever taken from my sight,

Though nothing can bring back the hour

Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;

We will grieve not, rather find

Strength in what remains behind. . . . .

The Chinese name of the movie (天涯何處無芳草) matched or even outdid the original. It also came from a poem of Su Tungpo (蘇東坡)—the 11th century poet; one of the greatest poets in Chinese literary history.

花褪殘紅青杏小，

燕子飛時，綠水人家繞；

枝上柳綿吹又少，

天涯何處無芳草？

牆裡鞦韆牆外道，

牆外行人，牆裡佳人笑；

笑漸不聞聲漸悄，

多情卻被無情惱

---蘇東坡 蝶戀花---

(The following is my cousin, 陳英毅 , an ophthalmologist in Taiwan, commented on my Facebook page; quite a compliment; very kind of him.)

陳英毅 飽讀詩書，學貫中西，佩服！

Jer-Yuan Tsai; "飽讀詩書，學貫中西，佩服!"; 見笑, 見笑, 雖讀了不少, 但很多也都是點到而已. I like Natalie Wood. Her mysterious and tragic death about 20 years ago still puzzles many to this day; the yacht from which she fell off and drowned bore the name of “Splendor”.