While Journeying
- Poetry of Li Bai (Li Po)
兰陵美酒郁金香，玉椀盛来琥珀光。
但使主人能醉客，不知何处是他乡。
How flavorous is golden-tulip Lanling wine!
Filling my bowl of jade,in amber it will glow.
It is enough if you can make me drunk,host mine,
No more nostalgia in foreign land shall I know.
Lanling - In present-day Shandong Province.
Residing in a foreign land, Li Bai longs to return to his hometown. However, throughout this poem, Li reveals how a pleasing scent has the ability to make his nostalgia and homesickness reside temporarily. The poet begins with sensory descriptions of the fine wine of Lanling, describing the smell and color of the wine: the wine gives off the fragrance of 郁金 (tulips), a universal symbol of beauty, and glows with 琥珀光 (an amber hue). Known as a man who loved to drink wine, Li reveals that this Lanling wine holds special in his heart through his detailed descriptions of the wine itself as well as the valuable 玉碗 (jade bowl or cup) that he uses to hold the wine in. The joy that observing and drinking this wine gives him allows the poet to transcend his wallowing sadness and experience momentary pleasure — pleasure coming from a state of oblivion.
- 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
Pre-Qin Poetry
Han poetry
Ban Gu Cao Cao Cao Zhi Cao Pi Cai Wenji Kong Rong Liu Bang Liu Che Qin Jia Ruan Ji Su Wu Wang Can Xiang Yu Xu Gan Zhang Heng AnonymousSix Dynasties Poetry
Tao Yuanming Zhang HuaTang poetry
Bai Juyi Cen Shen Chen Zi'ang Cui Hao Chang Jian Cui Tu Chen Tao Du Fu Du Mu Du Shenyan Dai Shulun Du Xunhe Du Qiuniang Gao Shi Gu Kuang Gao Pian Han Yu He Zhizhang Han Hong Huangfu Ran Han Wo Huang Chao Jia Dao Jiaoran Jin Changzu Li Bai (Li Po) Li He Li Shangyin Liu Yuxi Liu Zongyuan Luo Binwang Li Qi Liu Changqing Lu Lun Li Shen Li Yu Li Qiao Li Yi Liu Fangping Liu Zhongyong Meng Haoran Meng Jiao Ma Dai Pei Di Qian Qi Quan Deyu Sikong Shu Song Zhiwen Shen Quanqi Shangguan Wan'er Xuanzong of Tang Wang Bo Wang Changling Wang Wei Wang Zhihuan Wei Yingwu Wen Tingyun Wang Han Wei Zhuang Wang Wan Xue Tao Xu Hun Yuan Zhen Yu Xuanji Yu Shinan Yuan Jie Zhang Jiuling Zhang Ji Zhang Hu Zhang Zhihe Zu Yong Zhang Xu Zhu Qingyu Zheng Tian Zhang Bi Zhang RuoxuSong Poetry
Cai Xiang Chao Chongzhi Fan Chengda Fan Zhongyan Huang Tingjian He Zhu Kou Zhun Jiang Kui Lu You Li Qingzhao Liu Yong Mei Yaochen Ouyang Xiu Pan Lang Qin Guan Qian Weiyan Su Shi Su Zhe Song Qi Wang Anshi Wen Tianxiang Weng Juan Xin Qiji Yang Wanli Yue Fei Yan Jidao Yan Shu Ye Shaoweng Zeng Gong Zhang Xian Zhou Bangyan Zhu Shuzhen Zhu Xi Zhou DunyiYuan poetry
Bai Pu Guan Hanqing Ma Zhiyuan Xu Zaisi Yang WeizhenMing poetry
Chen Jiru Tang Yin Tang Xianzu Xu Wei Yu Qian Yang ShenQing poetry
Cao Xueqin He Shuangqing Nalan Xingde Pu Songling Tsangyang Gyatso Wang Guowei Yuan Mei Zheng Xie Zhao Yi