Quatrain of Four Words: Deep Love, True Heart
- Poetry of Liu Guo
Love deep, heart true—
Eyebrows long, hair blue.
In moonlit bower she tunes her zither,
Singing spring breezes hither.
Missing you, dreaming you—
Soul entangled through and through.
Jade screens warm with vanished scent,
How can she bear wine's lament?
Composed during the Southern Song Dynasty, this lyric by Liu Guo delicately portrays a woman's profound longing for her beloved. Through layered descriptions—physical appearance, environmental atmosphere, musical expression, and dream visions—the poem reveals her solitary suffering in a moonlit tower. While embracing the restrained elegance of the wanyue (婉约) style, it retains Liu's characteristic emotional directness, blending subtlety with raw sincerity in a masterful fusion of poetic traditions.
情深意真。眉长鬓青。
小楼明月调筝。写春风数声。
思君忆君。魂牵梦萦。
翠销香暖云屏。更那堪酒醒。
- 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.