On New Year's Eve
- Poetry of Cui Tu
Farther and farther from the three Ba Roads,
I have come three thousand miles, anxious and watchful,
Through pale snow-patches in the jagged nightmountains --
A stranger with a lonely lantern shaken in the wind.
...Separation from my kin
Binds me closer to my servants --
Yet how I dread, so far adrift,
New Year's Day, tomorrow morning!
Composed on Lunar New Year's Eve during the late Tang Dynasty, this poem expresses the profound loneliness of exile. Having wandered for years through the remote Ba-Shu region (modern Sichuan), Cui Tu here channels his accumulated homesickness into verse. While households across China reunite amid festive lanterns, the poet remains adrift—his "New Year's reflections" conveying not celebration but boundless melancholy.
迢递三巴路，羁危万里身。
乱山残雪夜，孤独异乡春。
渐与骨肉远，转于僮仆亲。
那堪正飘泊，明日岁华新。
- 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.