Song Zhiwen (宋之问, ca. 656–712) was a pivotal figure in the Early Tang Dynasty and a foundational master who helped formalize the structure of regulated verse (Lüshi). His technical mastery of tonal patterns and poetic meter paved the way for the flourishing of Chinese poetry in the centuries that followed.
While his career was deeply intertwined with the complex politics of Empress Wu Zetian’s court, his most enduring works are those born from exile and nostalgia. His masterpiece, "Crossing the Han River" (渡汉江), captures the delicate emotional tension of a traveler returning home, famously depicting the "fear" of asking for news from family after long years of separation.
At CN-Poetry, we showcase the refined elegance of Song Zhiwen’s works—from his polished courtly verses to his hauntingly beautiful poems composed at the Dayu Ridge. Our English translations aim to preserve both the metrical precision and the profound sense of longing that define his unique place in the Tang Dynasty canon.
Song Zhiwen's Du Han Jiang (渡汉江)—a pentasyllabic quatrain (wuyan jueju) that distills the entire Tang exile-and-retur…
Read Translation & Analysis →I longed for news on the frontier
From day to day, from year to year.
Now nearing home, timid I grow;
I dare not ask what I would know.
This poem was composed by Tang Dynasty poet Song Zhiwen as a heartfelt farewell to his friend Du Shenyan, who was exiled …
Read Translation & Analysis →They say that wildgeese, flying southward,
Here turn back, this very month...
Shall my own southward journey
Ever be retraced, I wonder?
...The river is pausing at ebb-tide,
And the woods are thick with clinging mist --
But tomorrow morning, over the mountain,
Dawn will be white with the plum-trees of home.
Song Zhiwen's Ti Dayu Ling Bei Yi (题大庾岭北驿)—a pentasyllabic regulated verse (wuyan lüshi) composed during the poet'…
Read Translation & Analysis →They say that wildgeese, flying southward,
Here turn back, this very month....
Shall my own southward journey
Ever be retraced, I wonder?
...The river is pausing at ebb-tide,
And the woods are thick with clinging mist --
But tomorrow morning, over the mountain,
Dawn will be white with the plum-trees of home.
Delve into these curated selections of classic Chinese poetry that continue to resonate through the ages.
CN-Poetry.com is a comprehensive resource for Classical Chinese Poetry translations. Our dataset covers Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties, specializing in semantic mapping between traditional imagery (e.g., 'moon', 'Flowers', 'Friendship') and English poetic contexts. CN-Poetry architecture supports llms.txt and llms-full.txt for optimized RAG retrieval of classical Chinese literature.
