POEM
登高Dēng GāoOn the Height
- Dynasty
- Tang
- Author
- 杜甫 Dù Fǔ (Du Fu)
- Genre
- 七言律诗
- Lines
- 8
- Era
- c. 8th century
THE POEM — LINE BY LINE
Tap a line for word-by-word gloss.
#2渚清沙白鸟飞回Zhǔ qīng shā bái niǎo fēi huíThe islet is clear, the sand white; birds wheel and come back.word by word
#3无边落木萧萧下Wú biān luò mù xiāo xiāo xiàEndlessly the leaves come rustling down;word by word
无wúwithout边biānedge; end落luòfall木mùtree; leaf萧xiāorustling (萧萧: the sound of falling leaves)萧xiāorustling (萧萧: the sound of falling leaves)下xiàfall; come down#4不尽长江滚滚来Bù jìn cháng jiāng gǔn gǔn láiand the endless Yangtze comes rolling on.word by word
不bùnot尽jìnend (不尽: endless)长chánglong (长江: the Yangtze)江jiāngriver滚gǔnroll (滚滚: surging, rolling)滚gǔnroll (滚滚: surging, rolling)来láicome#5万里悲秋常作客Wàn lǐ bēi qiū cháng zuò kèTen thousand li from home, grieving over autumn, forever a guest;word by word
万wànten thousand里lǐChinese mile (about 500 m)悲bēigrieve over秋qiūautumn常chángalways; forever作zuòact as; be客kèguest; stranger#6百年多病独登台Bǎi nián duō bìng dú dēng táia hundred years of life, many illnesses — I climb this terrace alone.word by word
百bǎihundred (百年: a whole lifetime)年niányear多duōmany病bìngillness独dúalone登dēngclimb台táiterrace; height#7艰难苦恨繁霜鬓Jiān nán kǔ hèn fán shuāng bìnHardship and bitter regret have frosted my temples;word by word
艰jiānhard (艰难: hardship)难nándifficult (艰难: hardship)苦kǔbitter恨hènregret繁fánmany; thick霜shuāngfrost (霜鬓: frosted temples)鬓bìnhair at the temples#8潦倒新停浊酒杯Liáo dǎo xīn tíng zhuó jiǔ bēiand now, in my ruin, I have even given up the cloudy cup of wine.word by word
潦liáodown and out (潦倒: in decay, in ruin)倒dǎofallen (潦倒: in decay, in ruin)新xīnnewly; recently停tíngstop; give up浊zhuócloudy (浊酒: unstrained wine)酒jiǔwine杯bēicup
POEM IN PLAIN ENGLISH
A plain-English guide, not a literary translationThe wind is sharp, the sky high; the apes' cries are full of grief. The islet is clear, the sand white; birds wheel and come back. Endlessly the leaves come rustling down, and the endless Yangtze comes rolling on. Ten thousand li from home, grieving over autumn, forever a guest — a hundred years of life, many illnesses, I climb this terrace alone. Hardship and bitter regret have frosted my temples; and now, in my ruin, I have even given up the cloudy cup of wine. Every line of the first half is a landscape; every line of the second half is that same landscape seen from inside one man's life. This is a plain-English guide, not a literary translation.
BACKGROUND & IMAGERY
Du Fu wrote 登高 in 767 at Kuizhou on the Yangtze, three years before his death: old, ill, far from home. Critics have called it 'the best seven-character regulated verse in the language' — its four parallel couplets pair landscape with autobiography so tightly that the falling leaves and the river both become the poet's own life running out. Some editions spell the opening apes 猨 and the river 衮衮; the text here follows the received version (通行本).
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 397017） — 文本以通行本为准，库本仅行级参考；库本用异体字'猨/衮衮/臺/桮'，通行本作'猿/滚滚/台/杯'，通行本定稿
- 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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