Dawn Visit to Yu Pool with Hermit Xie
- Poetry of Liu Zongyuan
Fresh-washed, I don a light hood's shade,
Yu Pool at dawn—wind and dew cascade.
In tune with realms beyond the dust,
How much more with this hermit just!
Rosy clouds scatter—peaks stretch wide,
Sky's vault—a few wild geese cried.
Leave cunning ways to those in power,
Let me be Fuxi's fool this hour!
Composed around 810 AD during the Yuanhe era of Emperor Xianzong's reign, this work emerges from Liu Zongyuan's prolonged exile in Yongzhou following the failed Yongzhen Reforms. Having relocated to the western banks of the Xiao River's Ran Creek (which he renamed "Fool's Creek"), the poet constructed his dwelling amidst eight deliberately "foolish" landscape features - including Fool's Pond and Fool's Pavilion - as physical manifestations of his chosen reclusion. This dawn excursion poem, written during a morning visit to Fool's Pond with the hermit Xie Shanren, masterfully intertwines pristine natural imagery with philosophical resignation, standing as a seminal work of Liu's recluse poetry.
新沐换轻帻，晓池风露清。
自谐尘外意，况与幽人行。
霞散众山迥，天高数雁鸣。
机心付当路，聊适羲皇情。
- 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.
- Villager's Song I
- Villager's Song II
- Villager's Song III
- The Ferry at Yiyang
- The Village Tavern
- Quatrain of Four Words: Deep Love, True Heart
- Mountain's End
- Seven Poems on Kaiyuan Era: Dancing Horses
- Midnight Song of the Four Seasons: Summer
- In Reply to Pimei’s Poem Written During Illness