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Xuě Méi Qí ÈrSnow and Plum II 雪梅 其二

Lu Meipo (卢梅坡, also known as Lu Mei-p'o)|Southern Song|seven-character quatrain

Lu Meipo: plum blossom, snow and a poem together make a full spring.

Original Chinese text with pinyin

有梅无雪不精神
yǒu méi wú xuě bù jīng shén

有雪无诗俗了人
yǒu xuě wú shī sú le rén

日暮诗成天又雪
rì mù shī chéng tiān yòu xuě

与梅倂作十分春
yǔ méi bìng zuò shí fēn chūn

Simplified characters; traditional title: 雪梅 其二.

English translation

Plum without snow has no spirit;

snow without a poem makes one dull.

At dusk the poem is done and it snows again —

with the plum, they make a perfect spring.

Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.

Line by line

有梅无雪不精神 · yǒu méi wú xuě bù jīng shén — Plum without snow has no spirit;
有雪无诗俗了人 · yǒu xuě wú shī sú le rén — snow without a poem makes one dull.
日暮诗成天又雪 · rì mù shī chéng tiān yòu xuě — At dusk the poem is done and it snows again —
与梅倂作十分春 · yǔ méi bìng zuò shí fēn chūn — with the plum, they make a perfect spring.

Meaning and imagery

Lu Meipo: plum blossom, snow and a poem together make a full spring. The scene stays with you.

Background

Lu Meipo: plum blossom, snow and a poem together make a full spring.

Key words

有梅 yǒu méi
there are plums
无雪 wú xuě
without snow
不精 bù jīng
not refined; not essential

About the poet: Lu Meipo

Lu Meipo is remembered for the paired Snow-and-Plum poems.

Lifetime: Southern Song (dates unknown). Other famous works: Snow and Plum (雪梅 其一); Snow and Plum II (雪梅 其二).

More by Lu Meipo

More famous poems

日本語版(書き下し文・現代語訳) · 繁體中文版