Home › Poems › Summer Evening at the South Pavilion
Xià Rì Nán Tíng Huái Xīn DàSummer Evening at the South Pavilion 夏日南亭怀辛大
Meng Haoran enjoying the cool on a summer night: lotus scent, dew dripping from bamboo.
Original Chinese text with pinyin
散发乘夕凉
sàn fà chéng xī liáng
开轩卧闲敞
kāi xuān wò xián chǎng
荷风送香气
hé fēng sòng xiāng qì
竹露滴清响
zhú lù dī qīng xiǎng
Simplified characters; traditional title: 夏日南亭懷辛大. This is a long poem; only the best-known lines are shown, and “……” marks omitted passages.
Note on the text: This page presents a well-known excerpt; the full poem is longer in the traditional corpus.
English translation
Hair let down, I enjoy the evening cool,
open the window and lie in the quiet space.
The lotus breeze carries its fragrance;
dew drips from the bamboo with a clear sound.
Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.
Line by line
Meaning and imagery
Meng Haoran enjoying the cool on a summer night: lotus scent, dew dripping from bamboo. The scene stays with you.
Background
Meng Haoran enjoying the cool on a summer night: lotus scent, dew dripping from bamboo.
Key words
- 闲敞 xián chǎng
- open and spacious at ease
- 散发 sàn fà
- hair let loose; unbound hair
- 乘夕 chéng xī
- riding the evening; at dusk
About the poet: Meng Haoran
Meng Haoran spent most of his life as a recluse near his home of Xiangyang, never holding high office. A friend of Li Bai and Wang Wei, he is a leading voice of the Tang "landscape and pastoral" school, admired for plain words and quiet feeling.
Lifetime: 689–740. Other famous works: Spring Dawn (春晓); Visiting an Old Friend's Farm (过故人庄); Mooring on the Jiande River (宿建德江); Looking at Dongting Lake (望洞庭湖赠张丞相); New Year's Day on the Farm (田家元日); Summer Evening at the South Pavilion (夏日南亭怀辛大).
More by Meng Haoran
- Spring Dawn春晓
- Visiting an Old Friend's Farm过故人庄
- Mooring on the Jiande River宿建德江
- New Year's Day on the Farm田家元日