POEM
绝句Jué JùA Quatrain
- Dynasty
- Tang
- Author
- 杜甫 Dù Fǔ (Du Fu)
- Genre
- 七言绝句
- Lines
- 4
- Era
- c. 8th century
THE POEM — LINE BY LINE
Tap a line for word-by-word gloss.
#1两个黄鹂鸣翠柳Liǎng gè huáng lí míng cuì liǔTwo golden orioles sing in the green willows;word by word
两liǎngtwo个gèmeasure word for birds (两个: a pair of)黄huángyellow; golden鹂líoriole (黄鹂: golden oriole)鸣míngsing; cry (of birds)翠cuìemerald green柳liǔwillow#2一行白鹭上青天Yī háng bái lù shàng qīng tiāna line of white egrets climbs into the blue sky.word by word
一yīone行hánga line; a row白báiwhite鹭lùegret (白鹭: white egret)上shànggo up; rise青qīngblue; green天tiānsky#3窗含西岭千秋雪Chuāng hán xī lǐng qiān qiū xuěThe window frames the west ridge's thousand-year snow;word by word
窗chuāngwindow含hánhold; frame (like a picture)西xīwest岭lǐngridge; mountain千qiānthousand秋qiūautumn; year (千秋: a thousand years)雪xuěsnow#4门泊东吴万里船Mén bó dōng wú wàn lǐ chuánat the door are moored boats bound for far-off eastern Wu.word by word
门méndoor; gate泊bómoor; anchor东dōngeast吴wúWu, the lower Yangtze region万wànten thousand里lǐChinese mile (about 500 m)船chuánboat; ship
POEM IN PLAIN ENGLISH
A plain-English guide, not a literary translationTwo golden orioles sing in the green willows; a line of white egrets climbs into the blue sky. The window frames the west ridge's thousand-year snow, and at the door are moored boats bound for far-off eastern Wu. Four lines, four pictures: near and far, sound and sight, the snows of the past at the window and the journeys of the future at the door. This is a plain-English guide, not a literary translation.
BACKGROUND & IMAGERY
Du Fu wrote this at his thatched cottage in Chengdu, after years of war and wandering had finally given way to a few quiet seasons. The poem's four snapshots are arranged like a painter's composition — the yellow orioles low and near, the egrets high and far, the mountain snow framed by the window, the river boats at the gate. The same title covers many of Du Fu's quatrains; this is the one every schoolchild learns.
HISTORIC TRANSLATION
Two orioles sit in the green willows singing;
See egrets in flight to the blue sky are winging!
From my window the snow-peaks eternal I spy,
And an ocean-bound vessel is anchored hard by.
Herbert Giles, Gems of Chinese Literature: Verse (1923)
Public domain (translator died 1935; first published 1923, before the 1929 US safety line).
TRUST & SOURCES
- Reviewed by
- AI-assisted editorial review
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-15
Sources
- 《全唐诗》（中华书局点校本）通行文本；部编版语文教材同文
- 本站飞花令语料 feihualing.db（poem 396563） — 文本以通行本为准，库本仅行级参考（库本与通行本一致）
- Herbert Giles, Gems of Chinese Literature: Verse (1923, 2nd ed.) — 公版译本，逐条登记于 license-ledger-poetry.json；书中题为 'A Landscape'（p. 102），逐字对照影印（archive.org item gems-of-chinese-literature）
- 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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