Nostalgia for Gusu
- Poetry of Jiang Kui
Night-dark clouds circle the mast's silhouette,
The river cradles star-reflections—herons sleep on sand.
A traveler gazes wistfully at willows by the Su Terrace—
Once, they swept fallen blossoms for the King of Wu.
Composed during Jiang Kui's travels in the Southland, this poem captures the poet's contemplation of Wu's historic sites under the Southern Song Dynasty's precarious reign. With the nation clinging to the lower Yangtze region, its former glory diminished, Jiang Kui—witnessing the desolation of Wu's landscapes and the silence of its relics—pours forth profound historical melancholy and personal sorrow. Using Suzhou as his elegiac focal point, he contrasts the vanished splendor of King Fuchai's Gusu Terrace with the empty riverbanks and hushed night before him, merging collective memory with intimate grief.
夜暗归云绕柁牙，江涵星影鹭眠沙。
行人怅望苏台柳，曾与吴王扫落花。
- 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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