A Letter Sent
- Poetry of Jia Dao

《寄远》

- Last updated: 2024-04-12 09:26:57

中文原文

家住锦水上，身征辽海边。

十书九不到，一到忽经年。

English Translation

The family's living up Brocade Creek,

while I've struggled off to this distant sea.

Of ten letters sent, maybe one gets through,

and when it does, it says

another year's gone by.

By Jia Dao

Why Chinese poems is so special?: The most distinctive features of Chinese poetry are: concision- many poems are only four lines, and few are much longer than eight; ambiguity- number, tense and parts of speech are often undetermined, creating particularly rich interpretative possibilities; and structure- most poems follow quite strict formal patterns which have beauty in themselves as well as highlighting meaningful contrasts.

How to read a Chinese poem?: Like an English poem, but more so. Everything is there for a reason, so try to find that reason. Think about all the possible connotations, and be aware of the different possibilities of number and tense. Look for contrasts: within lines, between the lines of each couplet and between successive couplets. Above all, don't worry about what the poet meant- find your meaning.

List of Chinese poets