A Song of a Pure-hearted Girl
- Poetry of Meng Jiao
《烈女操》Folk-song-styled-verse
This is a five-character ancient poem by Meng Jiao, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, and is included in The Complete Tang Poems. Plagued by poverty throughout his life, Meng Jiao mostly depicted the lives of poor scholars in his poetry, which features a simple and natural stylistic quality.
English Translation
Lakka-trees ripen two by two
And mandarin-ducks die side by side.
If a true-hearted girl will love only her husband,
In a life as faithfully lived as theirs,
What troubling wave can arrive to vex
A spirit like water in a timeless well?
中文原文( Chinese )
梧桐相待老，鸳鸯会双死。
贞妇贵殉夫，舍生亦如此。
波澜誓不起，妾心古井水。
- 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.
Famous Chinese Poems
- A Song of the Spring Palace
- Poems on Army Life IV
- Poems on Army Life V
- West Palace, Autumn
- Hearing the River-Song
- The Lotus Gatherers
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