On Zhuge Liang
- Poetry of Wang Anshi

《论诸葛武侯》

- Last updated: 2024-04-12 14:38:01

中文原文

恸哭杨顒为一言，余风今日更谁传。

区区庸蜀支吴魏，不是虚心岂得贤。

English Translation

You lamented Yang Yu’s death just for his one sharp word,

Who has inherited your fine style of taking advice today?

Small as it was, Kingdom of Shu could confront Wu and Wei,

Without an open mind how could you win over the great talents?

By Wang Anshi

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.

List of Chinese poets