Tender hands
- Poetry of Lu You

《钗头凤》
Tender hands by Lu You
中文原文( Chinese )

红酥手，黄藤酒，满城春色宫墙柳。

东风恶，欢情薄，一怀愁绪，几年离索。

错、错、错！

春如旧，人空瘦，泪痕红邑鲛绡透。

桃花落，闲池阁。

山盟虽在，锦书难托。

莫、莫、莫！

English Translation

Pink soft hands, yellow rippling wine,

The town is filled with Spring, willows by palace walls.

The east wind is biting, happiness is thin,

heart full of sorrow, so many years apart.


Wrong, Wrong, Wrong!


Spring is as of old; the person is empty and thin.

Traces of tears show through the sheer silk.

Peach blossoms falling, glimmering pond freezing,

The huge oath remains, the brocade book is hard to hold.


Don't, Don't, Don't!

Note: The words "wrong" and "don't" rhyme in Chinese.

This poem is about his real love story. In this poem, "Biting east wind" is a metaphor for traditional Chinese view about women. This view broke up his first marriage. "Brocade book", or "glorious/bright book," is another metaphor for his ambition of unifying China. But he doesn't seem to be successful in either of them (marriage and career). He also uses antithesis, which is very popular in Chinese poetry. It matches both sound and sense in two poetic lines, like "a heart of sorrow" pairing with "years apart" and "paramount promise" pairing "brocade book". The sounds match perfectly in Chinese. This poem falls in the first period of his works.

- Last updated: 2024-06-11 14:30:15
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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.

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