English Rendering
Amid the boom of firecrackers a year has come to an end,
And the spring wind has wafted warm breath to the wine.
While the rising sun shines over each and every household,
People would put up new peachwood charm for the old.
New Year's Day
- Poetry of Wang Anshi
《元日》#Spring Festival
Original Text (中文原文)
爆竹声中一岁除，东风送暖入屠苏。
千门万户曈曈日，争插新桃换旧符。
Analysis & Context
Composed during the Xining era of the Northern Song Dynasty when Wang Anshi first assumed the position of prime minister and was fully implementing his reform policies, this poem ingeniously incorporates political ideals and reform aspirations into the folk customs of the Spring Festival. It expresses the poet's belief that his new policies would warm people's hearts like the spring breeze. Blending rich festive atmosphere with implicit political allegory, the poem exemplifies Wang's unique style of integrating personal ambitions into the tides of the times through "embedding governance in customs, entrusting aspirations in events."
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.
- Ascending the Flying Peak
- On the River
- Spring Lament: Rain on Southern Trees
- Northern Slope Apricot Blossoms
- The Courier Station at Ge Creek
- The Northern Hills
- The Summit Temple
- <Prelude to Water Melody> Sent to Ziyou on Mid-autumn Festival
- Invitation to Wine
- Question and Answer in the Mountains
- Cold sheet
- Coming Home ( Returning Home )
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