The Partridge Sky-A Dream on the Night of Lanter Festival
- Poetry of Jiang Kui

《鹧鸪天·元夕有所梦》

- Last updated: 2024-03-19 15:23:39

The Partridge Sky-A Dream on the Night of Lanter Festival by Jiang Kui
中文原文

肥水东流无尽期，当初不合种相思。

梦中未比丹青见，暗里忽惊山鸟啼。

春未绿，鬓先丝，人间别久不成悲。

谁教岁岁红莲夜，两处沉吟各自知。

English Translation

The long River Fei to the east keeps on flowing;

The love-seeds we once sowed forever keep growing.

Your face I saw in dreams was not clear to my eyes 

As in your portrait,soon I'm woke up by birds'cries.


Spring not yet green,

My gray hair seen,

Our separation has been too long to grieve the heart.

Who makes the past reappear 

Before us from year to year

On Lantern Festival when we are far apart?

This is a love lyric written on the 15th day of the first lunar month in 1197.The over-forty-year-old poet dreamed of his beloved from whom he had been separated for more than twenty years.

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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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