Waiting for the moonshine at the West Chamber
- Poetry of Yuan Zhen

《月明三五夜》

- Last updated: 2024-03-16 21:25:53

中文原文

待月西厢下，迎风户半开。

拂墙花影动，疑是玉人来。

English Translation

Waiting for the moonshine at the West Chamber,

wind blew and opened half the window.

Moonshine snuck into here and waved the flowers' shadow,

i ran outside and seemed to hear your sweet whisper.

By Yuan Zhen

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