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Guān Shū Yǒu Gǎn Qí ÈrThoughts on Reading II 观书有感 其二
Zhu Xi: spring floods float a huge ship, like understanding that comes suddenly.
Original Chinese text with pinyin
昨夜江边春水生
zuó yè jiāng biān chūn shuǐ shēng
艨艟巨舰一毛轻
méng chōng jù jiàn yī máo qīng
向来枉费推移力
xiàng lái wǎng fèi tuī yí lì
此日中流自在行
cǐ rì zhōng liú zì zài háng
Simplified characters; traditional title: 觀書有感 其二.
English translation
Last night by the river the spring water rose;
the huge warship is now light as a feather.
All that effort spent trying to push it before —
today it moves freely in midstream.
Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.
Line by line
Meaning and imagery
Zhu Xi: spring floods float a huge ship, like understanding that comes suddenly. The scene stays with you.
Background
Zhu Xi: spring floods float a huge ship, like understanding that comes suddenly.
Key words
- 艨艟 méng chōng
- a war junk; armored boat
- 向来 xiàng lái
- all along; from the start
About the poet: Zhu Xi
Zhu Xi was the most influential Neo-Confucian philosopher of later imperial China; his commentaries on the Four Books became the basis of the civil-service examinations. He also wrote poems that express philosophical ideas through everyday images.
Lifetime: 1130–1200. Other famous works: Thoughts on Reading (观书有感); Impromptu (Youth Ages Easily) (偶成); Thoughts on Reading II (观书有感 其二); A Spring Day (春日).