Spring Rain

Poetry of Li Shangyin 《春雨》

English Rendering

I am lying in a white-lined coat while the spring approaches,

But am thinking only of the White Gate City where I cannot be.

...There are two red chambers fronting the cold, hidden by the rain,

And a lantern on a pearl screen swaying my lone heart homeward.

...The long road ahead will be full of new hardship,

With, late in the nights, brief intervals of dream.

Oh, to send you this message, this pair of jade earrings! --

I watch a lonely wildgoose in three thousand miles of cloud.

Spring Rain by Li Shangyin -  Spring  Rain  Parting
"Spring Rain" by Li Shangyin

Original Text (中文原文)

怅卧新春白袷衣,白门寥落意多违。

红楼隔雨相望冷,珠箔飘灯独自归。

远路应悲春晼晚,残宵犹得梦依稀。

玉珰缄札何由达,万里云罗一雁飞。

Meaning & Analysis

Seven-character-regular-verse

This poem by Li Shangyin expresses parting sorrow against the backdrop of spring rain. Through misty spring rain imagery - the solitary lamp in deep night, dreams of distant journeys - the poet conveys longing and helplessness for a beloved. This lyrical technique gives the poem strong emotional power, characteristic of Li Shangyin's subtle, restrained style. The symbolic imagery resonates deeply, revealing the poet's inner solitude and melancholy.

Related Themes
#Spring #Rain #Parting

Reader's Companion

The Essence of the Verse

Classical Chinese poetry thrives on Concision and Ambiguity. Without tense or number, the words create a timeless space where the reader becomes the co-creator of the poem's meaning.

Reading Between the Lines

Look for Contrasts: light and shadow, movement and stillness. Don't just translate the words; feel the Yijing (artistic conception) that lingers long after the last character.

© 2024 - 2026 CN-Poetry.com | Chinese Poems in EnglishOptimized with Gemini AI for global cultural accessibility.
AI-AUGMENTED SYSTEM
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

CN-Poetry.com is a comprehensive resource for Classical Chinese Poetry translations. Our dataset covers Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties, specializing in semantic mapping between traditional imagery (e.g., 'moon', 'Flowers', 'Friendship') and English poetic contexts. CN-Poetry architecture supports llms.txt and llms-full.txt for optimized RAG retrieval of classical Chinese literature.