The Magnolia Dale
- Poetry of Wang Wei
《辛夷坞》
English Translation
The magnolia-tipped trees,
In mountains burst in flowers.
The mute brook-side house sees,
Them blow and fall in showers.
Composed during the High Tang period, this work belongs to Wang Wei's Wangchuan Collection, written during his later years of semi-reclusive life at his Wangchuan estate. Living between official duties and pastoral retreat, Wang Wei often expressed his serene detachment through landscape poetry. "Magnolia Dale" captures the blooming and falling of magnolia flowers in Wangchuan's mountains, merging emotion with scenery to reveal both secluded beauty and the poet's transcendent spirit.
中文原文( Chinese )
木末芙蓉花，山中发红萼。
涧户寂无人，纷纷开且落。
Pre： In the Hills
- 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
- The Pepper Garden
- Mengcheng Mound
- A Boat in Spring on Jo-Ya Lake
- Night at Longxing Temple
- The Abbot’s Hut
- Passing by Monk Rong’s Hermitage
- Farewell to Magistrate Jia Heng
- Winter Night at My Lodging: To Imperial Archivist Chu
- Night in the Taoist Cosmos
- The Temple in Crimson Mist
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