Song of Sunrise and Sunset
- Poetry of Li Bai (Li Po)
日出东方隈，似从地底来。历天又入海，六龙所舍安在哉。
其始与终古不息，人非元气安得与之久裴徊。
草不谢荣于春风，木不怨落于秋天。
谁挥鞭策驱四运，万物兴歇皆自然。
羲和羲和，汝奚汩没于荒淫之波。
鲁阳何德，驻景挥戈。
逆道违天，矫诬实多。
吾将囊括大块，浩然与溟涬同科。
From the east the sun comes around;
It seems to rise from underground.
Crossing the sky,it sinks in the sea of the west.
Where could the six dragons driving it take their rest?
It never changes from beginning to end.
Man is not a spirit,
Could he accompany it
As a dear friend?
Grass will not for its growth thank the spring breeze;
Leaves won't complain of autumn when fallen from trees.
Who could drive summer and winter,autumn and spring?
Nature rules over rise and fall of everything.
O Driver of the Sun,
What on the boundless waves have you done?
O Herculean Son,
How could you wield your spear to stop the Driver's run?
You go against the law divine.
What you do is quite out of line.
I would embrace the universe
To be one with Nature for better or for worse.
The legend went that the Driver of the Sun rode on six dragons, but the poet doubts it and jeers at the legendary Driver and the Herculean Son who could stop his run. At last the poet would become one with Nature.
- 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 Cai Wenji Kong Rong Liu Bang Liu Che Qin Jia Ruan Ji Su Wu 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