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Dēng Lè Yóu YuánClimbing Leyou Plain 登乐游原
Li Shangyin's beautiful sunset that is nearly over.
Original Chinese text with pinyin
向晚意不适
xiàng wǎn yì bù shì
驱车登古原
qū chē dēng gǔ yuán
夕阳无限好
xī yáng wú xiàn hǎo
只是近黄昏
zhǐ shì jìn huáng hūn
Simplified characters; traditional title: 登樂遊原.
English translation
Toward evening my mood was not well;
I drove my coach up the ancient plain.
The setting sun is infinitely fair—
Only, it is near dusk again.
Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.
Line by line
Meaning and imagery
The final couplet is one of the most quoted in Chinese: beauty is at its peak precisely as it is about to vanish. Readers have taken it as a comment on old age, on the decline of the Tang, or simply on the sunset. The word "only" (只是) turns admiration into regret in a single breath.
Background
Leyou Plain was a high place in southeast Chang'an popular for outings. The poem dates from Li Shangyin's later years.
Key words
- 向晚 xiàng wǎn
- toward evening
- 意不适 yì bù shì
- in low spirits
- 黄昏 huáng hūn
- dusk
About the poet: Li Shangyin
Li Shangyin wrote dense, allusive and beautiful poems, many of them untitled love poems whose meaning is still debated. Caught between court factions, he never rose high in office.
Lifetime: c. 813–858. Other famous works: Night Rain: Sent North (夜雨寄北); Climbing Leyou Plain (登乐游原); Untitled (Hard Is the Meeting) (无题); The Ornate Zither (锦瑟); Clearing at Dusk (晚晴); Drunk Beneath the Flowers (花下醉); Frost and Moon (霜月).
More by Li Shangyin
- Night Rain: Sent North夜雨寄北
- Untitled (Hard Is the Meeting)无题
- The Ornate Zither锦瑟
- Clearing at Dusk晚晴
- Drunk Beneath the Flowers花下醉
- Frost and Moon霜月