Poetry of Spring #4 Spring is the best!

(Title)
zǎo chūn
早 春

       (Author) hán yù
                 ----韩 愈

tiān jiē xiǎo yǔ rùn rú sū ，cǎo sè yáo kàn jìn què wú 。
天 街 小 雨 润 如 酥，草 色 遥 看 近 却 无。

zuì shì yī nián chūn hǎo chù ，jué shèng yān liǔ mǎn huáng dōu 。
最 是 一 年 春 好 处，绝 胜 烟 柳 满 皇 都。

(Translation)

早: early

春: spring

天街: streets in the capital city

小雨: light rain

润如酥: meaning that the rain is so light that it's like animal's oil

草色: the color of the grass

遥看: look at from far away

近: stay close

却: however

无: nothing, here it means sparse

最是: right now

一年: a year

好处: the best time

绝胜: much better

烟柳: willows

满: full

皇都: capital city, Chang An

(Appreciation)

I was standing in the street in Chang An, the capital city. It was raining slightly. The rain was so light that it felt like animal's oil. When I looked far away, the grass was so green that it filled the whole city. However when I moved close, the grass was actually pretty sparse. Right now was the best time in spring. It's much better than when the city was full of green willows.

Tips for appreciating ancient Chinese poetry #1

Ancient Chinese poems are much harder to understand than modern Chinese poems! There are a lot of reasons behind it. I will list them in a separate posts#save the space for the link#. I've been learning ancient Chinese poems since more than 10 years ago. Below are some tips that you can use if you are interested in learning some ancient Chinese poems but find them too hard to understand!

1) Start with some easier poems

Ancient Chinese poems can be separated by how difficult they are to understand. There are some poems that even professionals would find hard to understand, but there are some poems that we've been learning since very young.

As a beginner, it might be hard to tell which poems would be hard and which would be easy. The same poet could write something really easy and really hard, like Li Bai. His JingYeSi is very popular and easy to understand, but his XingLuNan is much harder!

However, there are still some tips that you can use to find some easy poems to start with:

• Try short poems! Short poems have fewer words, so the chance to encounter special word will be lower! The format of the easiest poem is like:

                                                           A short title

                                                     XXXXX, XXXXX.

                                                               XXXXX, XXXXX.

Four sentences with 5 characters in each sentence!

• Try famous poets! Famous poets could write something really hard to understand, but they usually wrote some easy and famous poems! Below are some poets that you can try first:

                                                   Li Bai, Du Fu, Bai Juyi

• Try poets living in peaceful times! Poets usually have much more emotions to write about when they were living through the wars, or they've been experiencing something unfair. Therefore, it will be safe to try the poems written during peaceful times. The periods I recommend are:

                     Early Tang Dynasty, Middle Tang Dynasty, Early Song Dynasty

• Try easy themes! There are a lot of themes that ancient poets like to write about! Some themes are always related to harder poems, for example, war, homesick or dying of a dynasty. Some themes are more often seen in easy poems:

• Nature: flowers, trees, rivers, moonlight, grass
• Seasons: spring, summer, autumn, winter

During the first two to three years of me learning ancient Chinese poetry, I was only reading easy poems with as few characters as possible. In this way, I learned a lot of special words and expressions without too much efforts! Hope this method will work for you as well!

I will make a page separating the easy poems from the hard ones that I've shared! #save the space for the link# 

Feel free to let me know in the comment if you find these tips useful!

Poetry of Spring #3 Spring is colorful!

(Title)

chūn rì

春 日

(Author) zhū xī

          ----朱 熹

shèng rì xún fāng sì shuǐ bīn，wú biān guāng jǐng yī shí xīn。
胜日寻芳泗水滨，无边光景一时新。

děng xián shí dé dōng fēng miàn，wàn zǐ qiān hóng zǒng shì chūn。
等闲识得东风面，万紫千红总是春。

(Translation)

春日: spring time

胜日: sunny days

寻芳: go onto a field trip, it's common for ancient Chinese poets to go out and enjoy the spring in the wild

泗水: Si River, a river in Shandong Province

滨: edge of the river

无边: meaning that the field was so big that you cannot see the limit/edge

光景: scenery

一时新: take on a completely new look

等闲: easy

识得: can recognize

东风: wind blowing from the east, referring to the wind of spring

面: appearance

万/千: meaning a lot

紫/红: purple/red, referring to colorful flowers

总是: always

(Appreciation)

On a sunny day in spring, I went out onto a field trip next to the Si River. The field was so big that I could not see the edge of it. Since spring time, the scenery had completely changed and now it looked so refreshing! It's easy to recognize the change that the spring wind had brought to this field. So many colorful flowers were blooming, suggesting that spring was here!

Poetry of Spring #2 Spring is coming! It's getting so green!

(Title)

yǒng liǔ

咏 柳

       (Author) hè zhī zhāng

                 ----贺 知 章

bì yù zhuāng chéng yī shù gāo， 

碧玉妆成一树高， 

wàn tiáo chuí xià lǜ sī tāo。 

万条垂下绿丝绦。 

bù zhī xì yè shuí cái chū，
不知细叶谁裁出，

èr yuè chūn fēng sì jiǎn dāo。

二月春风似剪刀。

(Translation)

柳: willow

碧玉: green jade, referring to the green leaves in the poem

妆: decorate

数: trees

高: tall

万条: a lot of branches

垂下: droop

丝绦: silk, referring to the willow branches

不知: do not know

细叶: thin leaves

裁: cut

二月: February

春风: wind in the spring

似: is like

剪刀: scissors

(Appreciation)

The willows are covered by green leaves already. A lot of green branches are drooping. I don't know who's so skilled to cut these leaves into this shape. However, the spring wind in the February is like a pair of scissors. The poem described that spring is coming so quickly and all the willows just turned green without noticing.

Poetry of Spring #1 When can I go home?

(Title)
bó chuán guā zhōu
泊 船 瓜 洲

                 (Author) wáng ān shí
                            ----王安石

jīng kǒu guā zhōu yī shuǐ jiān，
京 口 瓜 洲 一 水 间，

zhōng shān zhǐ gé shù chóng shān。
钟 山 只 隔 数 重 山。

chūn fēng yòu lǜ jiāng nán àn，
春 风 又 绿 江 南 岸，

míng yuè hé shí zhào wǒ huán。
明 月 何 时 照 我 还。

(Translation)

泊船: anchoring the boat
瓜洲: Guazhou, a town in the Song Dynasty, now it's in Yangzhou City
京口: Jingkou, a city in the Song Dynasty, now it's in Zhenjiang City
一水: a river
钟山: a mountain, now it's Zijin Mountain in Nanjing City
隔: behind
数重山: a few mountains
春风: wind in the spring
绿: make it green

江南: an area, referring to the South of the country
明月: the moon
何时: when
还: go back home


(Appreciation)
There's only one river seperate Jingkou and Guazhou. My hometown is behind a few mountains. The spring wind is blowing again, making the field look so green! When can I go back home in this moonlight?

Poetry of the moon #1 When can I see this moon again?

(Title)
zhōng qiū yuè
中 秋 月

                (Author) sū shì
                         ----苏 轼

mù yún shōu jìn yì qīng hán，yín hàn wú shēng zhuǎn yù pán。
暮 云 收 尽 溢 清 寒，银 汉 无 声 转 玉 盘。

cǐ shēng cǐ yè bù cháng hǎo，míng yuè míng nián hé chù kàn。
此 生 此 夜 不 长 好，明 月 明 年 何 处 看。

(Translations)

暮: night time

云: clouds

收尽: disappear completely

清寒: slight coldness

银汉: Milky Way

无声: silent

玉盘: the moon

此生: this life

此夜: tonight

不长: not often

明月: the bright moon

明年: next year

何处: where

看: appreciate

(Appreciation)

At night time, the clouds disappeared completely and it turned slightly cold. The milky way was silent with the moon moving on it. It would not be often to see such beautiful moon like tonight in this life. Next year, where could I go to see a moon like this?