Zhang Xu (张旭, ca. 675–750) was a towering cultural icon of the High Tang Dynasty, immortalized in history as the "Sage of Cursive Script" (草圣). A key member of the "Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup" alongside Li Bai, he was as famous for his eccentric, wine-fueled persona as he was for his revolutionary calligraphy, which broke all traditional boundaries with its wild, flowing energy.
Though his primary fame rests on his brushwork, Zhang Xu was also a master of the Seven-Character Quatrain. His poetry is characterized by a vivid sense of movement and a profound connection to the natural world. His masterpiece, "Peach Blossom Creek" (桃花溪), is celebrated for its ethereal, dreamlike atmosphere, echoing the themes of reclusion and immortality. His work embodies a Wild and Transcendent Vibe, reflecting the soul of a man who found liberation through the intoxicating fusion of wine, ink, and verse.
At CN-Poetry, we explore the rhythmic vitality of Zhang Xu through dynamic English translations. Experience the "Vibe" of the High Tang at its most uninhibited—where every stroke of the pen and every line of poetry is an expression of absolute freedom. Discover the legacy of this legendary polymath within our digital archives.
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Zhang Xu's Tao Hua Xi (桃花溪) is a seven-character quatrain (jueju) written during the poet's later years, when he was l…
Read Translation & Analysis →A bridge flies away through a wild mist,
Yet here are the rocks and the fisherman's boat.
Oh, if only this river of floating peach-petals
Might lead me at last to the mythical cave!
Zhang Xu, with Henry Thoreau, is high on my list of people to take a canoe trip with. People like that take their pleasur…
Read Translation & Analysis →Wanderers lean hard on their oars and,
in the dusk, they sing a sailor's song.
Laughing, I throw a rope around the moon in the river.
In this clear radiance, even I'm not bored.
As a serious drinker, Zhang Xu knows his priorities. I'm doubtful that the wine will last till dawn. What I like most abo…
Read Translation & Analysis →I want to find a balcony with a railing for my wine jar.
On the river, clouds of mist rise up as day grows dark.
I'm waiting for a sweet east wind to blow the rain away
And waiting for the sun to rise to land on this green shore.
Zhang Xu is a clever man, a heavy drinker, a smasher of icons. The first line is as conventional as can be. The second gi…
Read Translation & Analysis →Bright green misty branches gently stroke the ground.
Spring thoughts come by towered shore just outside of town.
I ask you to read carefully these dissipated lines.
Poet powers from my palace days are still just fine.
If you had stood on the northern hills of central China during the Tang dynasty, the grassy plains of Central Asia ran no…
Read Translation & Analysis →Spring grasses, green, green, horizon and beyond.
Border town, sundown, I see someone leaving home.
I know the feeling, ocean bound, three years gone.
No one sends, among those clouds, a single word from home.
The last line of this translation is an attempt to handle two conventions in the original. A cloud (云) is a symbol of a …
Read Translation & Analysis →Long mountain light, all things play spring's splendor.
Don't let these light clouds make you think of return.
Although this clear brightness has no tint of rain,
Clouds passing into distance can also soak my clothes.
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.
