He changed Tiwat

The real sky, poetry and songs outside the cage...

Were they not wishes worth fighting for?

Isn't it a desire worth fighting for?

We can notice that there are many variations in the form of the verses in this section, such as the pauses in phrases like "Said he" and "The true sky," which make the stanzas appear to vary in length and have a rhythmic quality, which is also in line with Shakespeare's poetic style.

The beauty of the iambic pentameter lies in its asymmetry, much like the lines in Song Dynasty poetry: "Last night in the small building, the east wind blew again; I cannot bear to look back at my homeland in the bright moonlight." The number of characters is asymmetrical, but it is very beautiful.

This is why I used "ci" (词) instead of "regulated verse" (律诗) to "Liyue-ize" Shakespeare's poems in the novel, because ci is closer to the asymmetrical beauty of sonnets.

Let's look at a classic passage from Hamlet, arranged in the following order:

【To be, or not to be, that is the question.

Whether'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

or to take arms against a sea of ​​troubles,

and by opposing end them? To die, to sleep,

no more. And by a sleep to say we end

the heartache, and thousand natural shocks

that flesh is his to, 'tis a consummation,

devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep.】

Why did Shakespeare like to split a perfectly good sentence into two lines and press the Enter key multiple times? It was for the aesthetic beauty of this five-step intonation.

Paragraph 3:

So the boy turned, extending his hand,

So the boy extended an invitation to me.

"Let's castdown the tyrant and his walls from this land!"

"Come with me—crush the tyrant, tear open the wind wall."

The young boy raised the flag of revolt,

The youth raised the banner of rebellion.

And I throw myself into freedom's tumult.

I also joined the war in pursuit of "freedom".

Victories were we who fought to be free,

Those who break free of their cages will triumph all the way.

Gods fell, winds whipped, nations shook violently.

The divine throne collapsed, a thousand winds swept through the chaos, and all nations trembled.

We can see that the first four lines of this six-line poem rhyme, but in the sixth line, although both "free" and "violently" end with the /i/ sound, -ly belongs to the entering tone and cannot be used interchangeably. This is called quasi-rhyme, which means using homophones but different rhyme groups to rhyme—which shows that the copywriter is not Shakespeare after all, haha.

Of course, minor flaws are not a big deal; its overall melody is still beautiful.

Paragraph 4:

In the smoke, a despot met his doom,

Amidst the smoke of war, we witnessed the demise of a tyrant.

And we watched his great tower fell none too soon.

In the ashes we witnessed the tower crumble.

Mondstadt began anew, the story passed down,

Thus began the "New Mondstadt"—

And since then never has another worn his crown.

From then on, no one ever ascended the throne again.

The first section is the background introduction, the second section is the reason why the boy rebelled against the lonely king in the tower, the third section is the result of the rebellion, and the fourth section is the "summary" and "sublimation".

The final couplet is also quite elegant, and the Chinese translation here is excellent: "In the smoke of battle we witnessed the death of the tyrant, in the ashes we witnessed the collapse of the tower. Thus began the new Mondstadt; from then on no one ascended the throne again."

That's why I say "The Breeze and the Boy" is a masterpiece of English poetry. The rhythm of an epic poem and the style of Shakespeare are brilliantly blended in this poem, making it truly eye-opening.

Besides "The Breeze and the Boy," there's "The Winds of the Four Directions," which uses Pushkin's Onegin stanza style, and "The Dragon and the Poem of Freedom," which uses Petrarch's special "single rhyme" (ABCB rhyme). There are also some short poems about the wind and flower festival that we've quoted in the novel, all of which are of a fairly good standard—in short, better than what an ordinary enthusiast like myself would write.

That's why I said at the beginning that it would be a shame not to show everyone these "wearing fine clothes in the dark" details in Genshin Impact.

What's even more regrettable is that... later versions of Venti also lost this amazing level, turning into... a poetic, flowery style of writing that just kept hitting the Enter key in the second Wind Flower Festival...

Third, the tragic second Flower Festival

We write this piece in Wendy's Pear Blossom style with heavy hearts:

Such colors have never been seen in the world.

This world has never seen such vibrant color

No one can avoid getting it.

it bestows upon everyone a brilliant hue

More like clouds than white

A shade more ethereal than white

More like the sun than gold

yet more radiant still than gold

Falling into your eyes

It eases into your eyes

To restore sight to a lonely heart

and restores to light a solitary soul

After reading "The Breeze and the Boy" above, and then looking back at this poem, you will find that it has no metrical rules whatsoever.

You can write English poetry without rhyme, but you should at least have basic iambic meter.

But the very first line of this song... Let me break it down into metrical feet for you:

This world / has ne / ver seen /such / vibrant / color

That's it... Up to "seen," the first half of the sentence is a standard iambic pentameter, but then the word "such" in the second half, which is a word that should be stressed no matter what... turns out the last three words are iambic pentameter. This is clearly a violation of the rules of prosody.

Poetry that changes so dramatically within a single line is very rare, but not nonexistent. Where is it found? — Hamlet.

"To be,/ or not /to be,/ that is/ the question."

That is changed from iambic to idiomatic.

But I don't need to elaborate on how famous this phrase is; it's the English version of "Don't let the words obscure the meaning," and it deserves to be used in a variant to emphasize emotion.

Good lines are not bound by strict rules of prosody, and everyone agrees on that. Recently, a pseudo-regulated poem went viral on Zhihu: "The first snow falls on thin clothes, red courage presses down on the cold sky. Eight million enemy soldiers are defeated, wine is poured to sacrifice to Chang'an." Of course, the tonal patterns are not discussed, but this kind of poem is like Fat Handsome's "Three Chapters of Meiling". It doesn't need to follow these rules of prosody; what's needed is its momentum.

Wendy's poetry is so bad, the only explanation is that she was drunk...

I just hope miHoYo doesn't use this level of perfunctory approach for the second Venti Legend quest...

The above is my analysis of Wendy's poetry; it's just my opinion, take it with a grain of salt.

If this allows readers to discover more cultural details in Genshin Impact, enjoy some fun, or spark your interest in Shakespeare, then I'll consider it a good deed.

Also... well, Shakespeare's sonnets are hailed as the "bible of love poetry," filled with countless beautiful words and phrases. If you're a university student, memorizing some wouldn't hurt. The author himself used to write love poems for others in university, and Shakespeare really is useful.

Chapter 240 This affection will last forever, I disdain kings and nobles.

Sister Victoria was the first to raise her scoreboard.

“10 points… no…” She picked up her pen and wrote a plus sign next to the number 10, “10+”.

A perfect score alone is not enough to express her love for this poem. Even the most abstinent nun could not resist the charm of this love poem. If a man wrote this love poem for her, she might fall for it too.

Considering the distinctly Barbatos-esque style permeating the poem, Sister Victoria even felt it deserved to be included in the choir's repertoire of hymns, to celebrate the immortal god of poetry.

Barbara even stood up from the judges' panel.

"Honorary Knight, please allow me to use your poem as lyrics to compose a new song!"

"Mondstadt Idol" has forgotten his role as a judge and is eager to collaborate with the lyricist on a song.

Of the judges, only Lisa probably remembered that she had to finish her comments.

“Summer in Mondstadt is the most beautiful season of the year, when everything is lush, the ground is shaded, and life is incredibly prosperous. And since ancient times, Mondstadt poets have had the tradition of using the four seasons to symbolize people: youth is spring, young adulthood is summer, middle age is autumn, and old age is winter. Using summer to symbolize the beauty of a lover is just the right thing to do.”

"—But we all know that the more beautiful a flower is, the shorter its blooming period. Under the ever-changing winds of time, even the most dazzling beauty will inevitably wither in the flow of time. Yet our poet has preserved the eternal beauty of his beloved with this poem."

"She never fades in her most splendid season, her beauty cannot be harmed by anything, nor can death take her away, for she is immortal along with poetry."

"Mr. Han's poem is a unique sonnet. The first three stanzas fully demonstrate his poetic talent, using novel and ingenious metaphors and beautiful and appropriate embellishments to make the characters vivid and lively. After the skillful foreshadowing, the last two lines conclude the poem and highlight the theme. I have heard the legend of the Geo Archon 'creating the dragon's eyes' in the Liyue lore, and I think this poem can also be described as 'creating the dragon's eyes'."

"What's even more commendable is that Mr. Han interpreted this poem in both Liyue and Mondstadt languages, allowing people from both countries to appreciate its charm. Just as he said in the poem: 'As long as people can breathe and people can see, my poem will endure, making you famous for all eternity.'"

"Without a doubt, this poem deserves full marks."

Han Fulai bowed gracefully to the judges and audience.

The poem that received such high praise is unique, even compared to the works of previous winners of the "Best Bard of Mondstadt".

Six-Fingered Joseph's face turned pale. Mondstadt's professional bard had actually been outshone by a tourist from Liyue next door.

He was originally full of confidence to win the championship of this poetry competition, and he did indeed receive a rare perfect score. However, compared with Han Fulai's poem, it was undoubtedly like fireflies compared to the bright moon, and could not be compared at all.

He got 10 points because his poem was of 10 quality; while Han Fulai got 10 points because the highest score was only 10 points... This is something that anyone with eyes can see.

No one remembers him now, this "Six-Fingered Joseph who rivaled Barbatos".

No, there is one more person who remembers.

The host, Wendy, very professionally asked the question: "Judges, two contestants have achieved the highest scores in the preliminary round. Should we proceed to the tiebreaker round?"

While it is unprecedented for two people to get a perfect score in a single preliminary round, ties are not uncommon.

After all, not every contestant is a professional bard. A group of five contestants often consists of the best among the worst, and in previous years, there have been groups where the entire group was at a level of 6 or 7. In such cases, an additional tiebreaker is necessary.

The three judges exchanged glances and nodded.

Wendy announced loudly, "Since neither of the two contestants has left the stage yet, I would like to ask the three judges to give another topic on the spot. According to the rules, the additional round will be strictly limited to a quarter of an hour. Whether it is composing a poem or reciting a poem, it must be completed within a quarter of an hour. Please be prepared."

The rules of this supplementary competition are quite strict; both the poem and the performance must be completed within fifteen minutes—in short, it's a race against time. The first to finish can use up all fifteen minutes, leaving no chance for the next person.

Of course, if the first person to claim to have completed their work stammers and can't say a few words, they will be eliminated on the spot.

In fact, the format of this additional match is the same as that of the final.

Upon hearing that there would be a tiebreaker, the audience immediately became excited again: "Isn't this a preview of the final?"

"There's going to be a good show!"

"The first preliminary round was so exciting, I'm so glad I came here so early."

The three judges discussed the matter in hushed tones for a moment, and then Lisa took a new topic board and held it up to show the audience.

“We often say ‘it’s all predestined’, and this exciting match must be a destiny ordained by the gods. So the theme of our additional match is ‘destiny’.”

"Ah, lamenting fate has been an eternal theme for poets since ancient times, and there are countless masterpieces on the theme of 'fate' in the history of Mondstadt's bard poetry. I believe that with the talent of the two contestants, they will surely create another masterpiece."

Joseph gripped the lyre tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force. He had to seize this opportunity to prove himself.

This additional round is clearly much more demanding on the contestants; even professional bards might not be able to complete it, but—

"When the sun sets on an ancient kingdom, even the brightest pearl loses its luster."

"Gold loses its luster, and white silk is stained a dull yellow."

These two sentences had already popped into Joseph's mind.

The ancient book "The Wind in the Forest" records the history from the fall of the Black Sun Dynasty of Kanria to the "Dark Calamity" that Mondstadt suffered in the form of poetry. Moreover, he had performed in the bar just half a month ago, and his memory of it was still very clear.

The topic of "fate" is exactly what I wanted to hear.

But... he secretly glanced at Lisa on the judges' panel.