Harmonizing a Poem By Palace-attendant Guo
- Poetry of Wang Wei

《酬郭给事》

English Rendering

High beyond the thick wall a tower shines with sunset

Where peach and plum are blooming and the willowcotton flies.

You have heard in your office the court-bell of twilight;

Birds find perches, officials head for home.

Your morning-jade will tinkle as you thread the golden palace;

You will bring the word of Heaven from the closing gates at night.

And I should serve there with you; but being full of years,

I have taken off official robes and am resting from my troubles.

Harmonizing a Poem By Palace-attendant Guo by Wang Wei
Harmonizing a Poem By Palace-attendant Guo by Wang Wei

Original Text (中文原文)

洞门高阁霭余晖,桃李阴阴柳絮飞。

禁里疏钟官舍晚,省中啼鸟吏人稀。

晨摇玉佩趋金殿,夕奉天书拜琐闱。

强欲从君无那老,将因卧病解朝衣。

Analysis & Context

Seven-character-regular-verse

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.

The Masters' Directory

Journey through the dynasties. Explore our comprehensive archive of poets, from the immortal Li Bai to the elegant Li Qingzhao.

View All Poets →
© CN-Poetry.com Chinese Poems in English  Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

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.