Leaving Fennin at Night, to Du Jiansou
- Poetry of Huang Tingjian
《夜发分宁寄杜涧叟》Composed in 1083, the sixth year of the Yuanfeng era during the Northern Song Dynasty, this poem was written by Huang Tingjian as he departed from his hometown. He was then reassigned from his post as the magistrate of Taihe to a supervisory position in Deping Town. En route to assume his new duties, he stopped to visit his family, and this work was born from that moment of parting. At thirty-eight, Huang Tingjian was in the prime of his life, yet he had already deeply experienced the vicissitudes of an official career and the weariness of constant travel. Fenning (present-day Xiushui, Jiangxi) was Huang Tingjian's hometown. After this visit, as he set out once more to assume his post, his family and friends saw him off, singing the parting song "Three Refrains of Yang Pass." The poet boarded the boat and drifted away; watching the lantern lights of Jingyang Hill gradually vanish into the night, an infinite melancholy welled up in his heart.
“The Sunlit Pass” — the tune. The water goes
East. A boat with a light, from the town, rows.
I shall be drunk, as on all nights before.
The wind and moon can do the grieving, from shore to shore.
阳关一曲水东流，灯火旌阳一钓舟。
我自只如常日醉，满川风月替人愁。
- 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.