Overflowing (Casually Composed)
- Poetry of Du Fu
《漫成》This poem dates from 766.
The night was divided into five watches, so the third watch is around midnight.
This poem was composed during Du Fu's period of exile in the Ba-Shu region (approximately 760-768 CE), vividly depicting an experience of mooring on a river at night. At that time, the poet was enduring prolonged hardship, his life marked by poverty and an uncertain future. Yet, against this turbulent backdrop, Du Fu captured and crystallized several utterly ordinary yet profoundly fleeting moments of a moonlit river night with a mind approaching meditative stillness. The poem is titled "Casually Composed" ("漫成"), suggesting an improvisational piece. However, through its pure poetic immediacy, it achieves the supreme artistic state of "purposiveness without purpose," standing as an exquisitely refined masterpiece within Du Fu's body of work.
The moon's reflected on the river a few feet away,
A lantern shines in the night near the third watch.
On the sand, egrets sleep, curled up peacefully,
Behind the boat I hear the splash of jumping fish.
江月去人只数尺，风灯照夜欲三更。
沙头宿鹭联拳静，船尾跳鱼拨剌鸣。
- 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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