POEM
春望Chūn WàngSpring View
- Dynasty
- Tang
- Author
- 杜甫 Dù Fǔ (Du Fu)
- Genre
- 五言律诗
- Lines
- 8
- Era
- c. 8th century
THE POEM — LINE BY LINE
Tap a line for word-by-word gloss.
#1国破山河在Guó pò shān hé zàiThe state lies in ruins — yet the hills and rivers remain.word by word
#2城春草木深Chéng chūn cǎo mù shēnSpring comes to the city — and the weeds grow thick.word by word
#3感时花溅泪Gǎn shí huā jiàn lèiGrieving over the times, even the flowers make me weep;word by word
#4恨别鸟惊心Hèn bié niǎo jīng xīnhating separation, the very birdsong startles my heart.word by word
#6家书抵万金Jiā shū dǐ wàn jīna letter from home is worth ten thousand pieces of gold.word by word
#7白头搔更短Bái tóu sāo gèng duǎnI scratch my white head, and the hair grows thinner still —word by word
#8浑欲不胜簪Hún yù bù shèng zānsoon it will hardly hold a hairpin.word by word
POEM IN PLAIN ENGLISH
A plain-English guide, not a literary translationThe state lies in ruins, yet the hills and rivers remain. Spring comes to the captured city, and the weeds grow thick. Grieving over the times, even the flowers make me weep; hating separation, the very birdsong startles my heart. The beacon fires have burned for three months on end, and a letter from home is worth ten thousand pieces of gold. I scratch my white head, and the hair grows thinner still — soon it will hardly hold a hairpin. Written after the rebel armies took the capital, the poem counts the cost of war in the smallest things: weeds, birdsong, a hairpin. This is a plain-English guide, not a literary translation.
BACKGROUND & IMAGERY
Du Fu (712-770) wrote 春望 in 757, during the An Lushan rebellion, while the capital Chang'an was in rebel hands and his family was cut off from him. Every spring image in the poem is twisted by grief: flowers and birdsong, normally joys, only deepen his sorrow; the one thing worth more than gold is a letter. The poem is the standard example of how Du Fu folds private feeling into national catastrophe.
TRUST & SOURCES
- Reviewed by
- AI-assisted editorial review
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-15
Sources
- 《唐诗三百首》通行本（中华书局点校本）
- 本站飞花令语料 feihualing.db（poem 277254） — 文本以通行本为准，库本仅行级参考（库本与通行本一致）
- Original English paraphrase & gloss — 本站原创学习释义，非文学译本（plain-English guide, not a literary translation）
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