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Clear Peace Tune: Part Three

By Li Bai Tang Dynasty

English Poetic Translation

A celebrated blossom and a beauty swaying realms rejoice in one embrace,
Eliciting forever from the monarch's gaze a smiling grace.
She smooths away the bitter grief that stirs within the vernal air,
Beside the northern pavilion's rail, she rests in radiant care.

Classical Chinese & Pinyin

名花傾國兩相歡，常得君王帶笑看。
解得春風無限恨，沈香亭北倚闌幹。

míng huā qīng guó liǎng xiāng huān
cháng dé jūn wáng dài xiào kàn
jiě dé chūn fēng wú xiàn hèn
chén xiāng tíng běi yǐ lán gān

Philological Direct Translation

Famed flower and overthrown state, both mutually rejoicing,
Constantly getting the sovereign to bring a smile while looking.
Able to dissolve the spring wind's boundless bitterness,
By the Chenxiang Pavilion's north, leaning against the balustrade.

Scholarly Exegesis & Cultural Commentary

I. Formal Poetic Architecture & Meter

This poem is written in the jueju form, specifically a four-line regulated verse (qiyan jueju) with seven characters per line. It adheres strictly to the tonal meter of the Pingyun (level tone rhyme) category, utilizing the rhyme word 'han' (欢, 看, 杆) in the even-numbered lines. The architecture of the poem moves fluidly from a macro-level pairing of beauty and imperial grace down to a micro, highly intimate spatial focus at the Pavilion of Aloeswood, creating a cinematic zoom effect.

II. Historical Chronology & Existential Impulse

Composed during the Tianbao era of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, these three 'Qingping Diao' lyrics were commissioned at the height of the imperial court's cultural splendor. Li Bai was summoned to the Hanlin Academy to compose verse for the Emperor and his favored consort, Yang Guifei, while they strolled through the imperial gardens. The existential impulse of the poem captures the fleeting zenith of High Tang prosperity, masking deep structural vulnerabilities under the guise of peerless aesthetic appreciation.

III. Line-by-Line Exegesis & Allusion Decoding

Lines 1-2 (Opening Couplet): The poem opens with the famous equation between the famed peony and the peerless beauty of Yang Guifei. 'Renowned flower and倾国 (country-倾/overwhelming beauty) nation-toppling beauty' gaze upon each other with mutual joy, capturing the immediate captivation of the Emperor who views them with a perpetual smile.
Lines 3-4 (Closing Couplet): The concluding couplet personifies the peony as one that alone understands the infinite grievances or yearnings of the spring breeze. The spatial setting is anchored dramatically at the northern railing of the Shenxiang Pavilion (Aloeswood Pavilion), where the consort leans gracefully, immortalizing her idle, supreme elegance.

IV. Aesthetic Synthesis & Poetic Aftertaste

This concluding piece of the 'Qingping Diao' sequence achieves a supreme synthesis of floral and human beauty, elevating Yang Guifei's allure to a cosmic level. The lingering poetic aftertaste is one of poignant nostalgia; knowing the tragic fate of the An Lushan Rebellion that soon followed, the reader experiences the scene with an inherent sense of melancholy, transforming an apparent panegyric into a poignant elegy for a lost golden age.