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Lamenting by the River

By Du Fu Tang Dynasty
English Poetic Translation
An aged man of Shaoling chokes back muffled sobs,
Through the winding turns of Qujiang in spring I steal along.
Palace gates at the river's edge are locked with a thousand bars,
For whom do the slender willows and new rushes wear their green?
I call to mind when rainbow banners descended upon the southern park,
And every blade and blossom in the precinct bloomed with light.
She who reigned supreme within the chambers of Zhaoyang Palace,
Rode beside the sovereign, attending close against his side.
Before the imperial carriage, court maidens bore bows and quivers,
While white steeds champed upon their heavy golden bits.
Twisting round toward the heavens, they loosed arrows at the clouds,
And a single shaft brought tumbling down a pair of flying wings.
Those radiant eyes and brilliant teeth, where are they now?
Her wandering spirit, stained with blood, can find no road back home.
The clear Wei flows eastward, the Sword Pavilion towers deep;
Parted in going and staying, neither side sends word or sign.
Mortals born with sentient hearts soak their robes with tears,
While river waters and river blossoms know no final end.
Dusk falls; barbarian horsemen fill the city with blinding dust—
Seeking to flee south of the walls, I lose the northern paths.
Classical Chinese & Pinyin
少陵野老吞聲哭，春日潛行曲江曲。
江頭宮殿鎖千門，細柳新蒲爲誰綠。
憶昔霓旌下南苑，苑中萬物生顏色。
昭陽殿裏第一人，同輦隨君侍君側。
輦前才人帶弓箭，白馬嚼齧黃金勒。
翻身向天仰射雲，一箭正墜雙飛翼。
明眸皓齒今何在，血污遊魂歸不得。
清渭東流劒閣深，去住彼此無消息。
人生有情淚霑臆，江水江花豈終極。
黃昏胡騎塵滿城，欲往城南忘南北。
shǎo líng yě lǎo tūn shēng kū, chūn rì qián xíng qǔ jiāng qū.
jiāng tóu gōng diàn suǒ qiān mén, xì liǔ xīn pú wéi shuí lǜ.
yì xī ní jīng xià nán yuàn, yuàn zhōng wàn wù shēng yán sè.
zhao yáng diàn lǐ dì yī rén, tóng niǎn suí jūn shì jūn cè.
niǎn qián cái rén dài gōng jiàn, bái mǎ jiáo niè huáng jīn lè.
fān shēn xiàng tiān yǎng shè yún, yī jiàn zhèng zhuì shuāng fēi yì.
míng móu hào chǐ jīn hé zài, xuè wū yóu hún guī bù dé.
qīng wèi dōng liú jiàn gé shēn, qù zhù bǐ cǐ wú xiāo xī.
rén shēng yǒu qíng lèi zhān yì, jiāng shuǐ jiāng huā qǐ zhōng jí.
huáng hūn hú qí chén mǎn chéng, yù wǎng chéng nán wàng nán běi.
Philological Direct Translation
Shaoling's wild old man swallows voice and weeps, spring day stealthily walks Qujiang's bend.
River head palace gates lock a thousand doors, fine willows new rushes for whom are they green?
Remembering past rainbow banners descending South Park, in the park all things generated colors.
Zhaoyang Palace's number one person, sharing the chariot following the ruler attending the ruler's side.
Chariot front talented ladies wore bows and arrows, white horses chewed on golden bridles.
Turning body facing sky upward shot clouds, one arrow just fell paired flying wings.
Bright eyes white teeth now where are they, blood-stained wandering soul returns unable.
Clear Wei flows east Sword Pavilion deep, going and staying each other without news.
Life has feeling tears soak chest, river water river flowers how are they final limits.
Dusk barbarian cavalry dust fills city, wishing to go south of the city forgets north and south.
Scholarly Exegesis & Cultural Commentary

I. Formal Poetic Architecture & Meter

This masterpiece is composed in the heptasyllabic ancient verse form known as Gushi, which allows for free modulation of tonal patterns, shifting rhymes, and expansive narrative scope unconstrained by the rigid acoustic rules of regulated verse. The poem traverses multiple rhyme shifts to mirror the protagonist's fractured psychological state as he moves from personal grief to expansive historical lament. Antithetical couplets appear fluidly, contrasting the brilliant past of imperial splendor with the desolate ruin of the present.

II. Historical Chronology & Existential Impulse

Written in the spring of 757, this poem captures Du Fu's immediate psychological and physical trauma following the catastrophic upheaval of the An Lushan Rebellion. Having recently escaped the rebel-occupied capital of Chang'an to join the temporary court of Emperor Suzong, the poet secretly revisited the winding precincts of the Qujiang pleasure grounds. The once-vibrant imperial gardens, formerly the site of lavish seasonal banquets and the tragic romance of Emperor Xuanzong and Consort Yang, now lay abandoned and desecrated by invading nomadic cavalry.

III. Line-by-Line Exegesis & Allusion Decoding

The poem unfolds as a cinematic journey from internal mourning to desolate panic across the ruined imperial landscape.

  • Lines 1-2 (Opening Couplet): The poet introduces himself as an aging commoner choking back his tears, moving covertly through the desolate spring landscape of the Qujiang reservoir.
  • Lines 3-4 (First Antithetical Turn): The locked palace gates and indifferent greenery establish an agonizing juxtaposition between eternal natural renewal and human political devastation.
  • Lines 5-6 (Second Antithetical Turn / Climax): The poem flashes back to the golden era of imperial excess, invoking Consort Yang and her female guards displaying archery prowess in the southern park.
  • Closing Lines (Resolving Couplet): The narrative snaps back to the terrifying present as evening falls, filled with the dust of foreign cavalry, leaving the poet disoriented and lost within the fallen capital.

IV. Cultural Symbolism & Key Metaphors

The imagery within the verse relies upon deeply embedded classical motifs that resonate with centuries of dynastic elegy.

  • Qujiang (The Winding River): Symbolizes the fleeting nature of imperial favor, hedonistic excess, and the inevitable collapse of state stability.
  • Consort Yang's Fate: Represents the tragic intersection of personal beauty and political scapegoating, whose violent death at Mawei Station haunts the entire poetic topography of the mid-Tang era.

V. Philosophical Core & Global Resonance

The philosophical foundation of the poem marries Confucian moral anguish over state destruction with a profound Daoist sorrow regarding the unfeeling permanence of nature. River waters and spring blossoms continue their cycle indifferent to human suffering, heightening the tragic vulnerability of mortal existence caught in the machinery of dynastic collapse.

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