Nineteen Ancient Poems

Nineteen Ancient Poems is the title of a poetry suite，made of nineteen five-character ancient poems.It first appeared in the book WenXuan(literally means Literature Selections) by XiaoTong in Liang period of Nan Dynasty,who picked these nineteen poems(because they are all five characters per line) from an ancient poem book by unknown authors(historians concluded that they were created by different people) handed down from earlier times.(basically during the East Han Dynasty,ie AD140-190)
This poetry suite uses the first line as the title of every single poem,and its value is highly set by many critics and ancient poets,for its unique esthetical beauty and delicacy.For instance,WangShizhen of MingDynasty said"Its argument is not as brilliant as Thousand Poems (another ancient book),but however,its characters are delicate,motifs are graceful and restrained,like tranquil minuets(its hard to translate the literal meaning,because you should imagine the ancient chinese aulic women's steps,so i described it in another way),its convincing to crown it as the ancestor of five-character poetry");ZhongRong(aboutAD468-518) in his brilliant book Taste of Poetry commented"the lines are gentle and classy,the visions of mood are plaintive and distant,I feel every character is glitterring";and HuYingLin put it as:"Images are exquisite while vague,sentiment and signification are deep and graceful,it can really astonish the ghosts and cry the fairies.
Indeed,its not without reason that so many masters' praises has focused upon one object,and thousand years still could not wash its pervasive splendor and magnificence,nay,it becomes more outstanding and classic through the time baptism.
In my opinion,chinese ancient literature has its ineffable unique glamour compared to modern chinese language and occidental languages.Modern chinese is peaceful and andante,just like a dry bread with different spices,and English poetry is smooth,fantastic,religious and light,just like a wandering wind or cloud;while ancient chinese literature,especially the poetry,is so tender and vague,so beautiful and implicit,so melodious and visional,just like a mood is melting into an image,and usually when you finish reading,jus as the last character is pronounced,you would feel your mood is particularly casted in the form of mist.Thats so called"Infinite Return Mood".I strongly recommend westerners to learn the ancient chinese literature,because thats a huge spiritual treasure for any human being,and you could find a deep and beautiful spiritual home there,just like a Utopia in a secret dale.Every time i read them,i feel iam chinese,and i have nothing to worry about,and i have my merry dream and sweet leisure then.
Nevertheless,i think i still need to spend some time studying it seriously in a system,because there are many masterpieces i still havent recited,understood,or even touched.And also,I hope i can write better ancient poems someday.

One of my favourites in the Nineteen Ancient Poems is the 10th one:(I would translate it in the future,tonight is too late)

10.迢迢牵牛星

迢迢牵牛星, 皎皎河汉女.
纤纤擢素手, 札札弄机杼.
终日不成章, 泣涕零如雨.
河汉清且浅, 相去复几许.
盈盈一水间, 脉脉不得语.
（Finally,methinks,'tis impossible to be translated because of the great rift in language's cultural orientation...)
Clearly,the last sentence is the most impressive one,and i would be glad to describe it as the immortal line.Alas,maybe people who know not the ancient chinese language and literature would never understand why i say its immortal.But friends, the immortal is just immortal.