Spring Grasses
- Poetry of Zhang Xu

《春草》
Spring Grasses by Zhang Xu
中文原文( Chinese )

春草青青万里馀，边城落日见离居。

情知塞上三年别，不寄云间一纸书。

English Translation

Spring grasses, green, green, horizon and beyond.

Border town, sundown, I see someone leaving home.

I know the feeling, ocean bound, three years gone.

No one sends, among those clouds, a single word from home.

If you had stood on the northern hills of central China during the Tang dynasty, the grassy plains of Central Asia ran north into the distance. In the spring, that greenness would have staggered the imagination. Only an ocean could have compared with that infinite green.

- Last updated: 2024-11-10 11:20:08
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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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