Mountain Walk, Asking Guest to Stay
- Poetry of Zhang Xu

《山行留客》
Mountain Walk, Asking Guest to Stay by Zhang Xu
中文原文( Chinese )

山光物态弄春晖，莫为轻阴便拟归。

纵使晴明无雨色，入云深处亦沾衣。

English Translation

Long mountain light, all things play spring's splendor.

Don't let these light clouds make you think of return.

Although this clear brightness has no tint of rain,

Clouds passing into distance can also soak my clothes.

The last line of this translation is an attempt to handle two conventions in the original. A cloud (云) is a symbol of a traveller. And on parting, Chinese soak (沾) their clothes and face. That is to say, they weep and the common idioms include soaking the lapels, front of clothes, handkerchief, eyes running, eyes and nose running, one or more tracks of tears. The Tang dynasty was a weepy time, if we go by all the soggy poems of parting.

- Last updated: 2024-11-10 11:13:36
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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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