English Rendering
My whitening hair would make a long long rope,
In China would there be so much woe?
Look into the mirror, hold no hope!
Where comes the autumn frost, I don’t know!
Song of Qiupu XV
- Poetry of Li Bai (Li Po)
《秋浦歌 · 其十五》
Original Text (中文原文)
白发三千丈，缘愁似箇长？
不知明镜里，何处得秋霜！
Analysis & Context
This poem is the fifteenth in Li Bai's "Autumn River" series, composed around 754 CE when the poet was over fifty. More than a decade had passed since his dismissal from Chang'an ("golden dismissal"), and his once-grand political ambitions had repeatedly foundered against reality. This work crystallizes his late-life mentality, beginning with thunderous exaggeration that elevates personal decline and inescapable sorrow to a breathtaking aesthetic height.
Reader's Companion
The Essence of the Verse
Classical Chinese poetry thrives on Concision and Ambiguity. Without tense or number, the words create a timeless space where the reader becomes the co-creator of the poem's meaning.
Reading Between the Lines
Look for Contrasts: light and shadow, movement and stillness. Don't just translate the words; feel the Yijing (artistic conception) that lingers long after the last character.
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