On “A River Spring Dawn”
- Poetry of Su Shi

《惠崇春江晓景》
On “A River Spring Dawn” by Su Shi
中文原文( Chinese )

竹外桃花三两枝，春江水暖鸭先知。

蒌蒿满地芦芽短，正是河豚欲上时。

English Translation

When old bamboos set off a few peach blooms

And one wild duck calls out: “The water is fine”,

And asparagus and wormwood show green shoots,

Then surfaces the globefish, in the nick of time.

Hui Chong（965- 1017）was a Song Dynasty monk, and a painter particularly famous for his landscape paintings with mountains and water features often enriched with geese, ducks and birds – an expression of everyday life in the country, or in an academic word, humanism. It could be a collector seeking for an inscription from Su Shi on the painting. Unfortunately, like many artistic works lost to the invasion of the Jin and the Liao, or later in history, the painting is no longer found. Fortunately, the picture has lived through this poem, and has been very well-known ever since. Every school pupil in China can recite it. The 2nd line is often quoted in literature.

- Last updated: 2024-11-09 21:55:50
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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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