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Chūn Tí Hú ShàngSpring on the Lake 春题湖上
Bai Juyi on West Lake in spring, the moon like a pearl on the water.
Original Chinese text with pinyin
湖上春来似画图
hú shàng chūn lái shì huà tú
乱峰围绕水平铺
luàn fēng wéi rào shuǐ píng pū
松排山面千重翠
sōng pái shān miàn qiān zhòng cuì
月点波心一颗珠
yuè diǎn bō xīn yī kē zhū
Simplified characters; traditional title: 春題湖上. 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
Spring on the lake looks like a painting;
jagged peaks surround the level water.
Pines line the hillsides in a thousand layers of green;
the moon dots the heart of the waves, a single pearl.
Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.
Line by line
Meaning and imagery
Bai Juyi on West Lake in spring, the moon like a pearl on the water. The scene stays with you.
Background
Bai Juyi on West Lake in spring, the moon like a pearl on the water.
Key words
- 湖上 hú shàng
- on the lake
- 春来 chūn lái
- when spring comes
- 似画 shì huà
- like a painting
About the poet: Bai Juyi
Bai Juyi (also romanized Po Chü-i; courtesy name Letian) wrote in a famously plain style — legend says he read drafts to an old woman and revised anything she could not understand. An outspoken official, he was exiled to Jiangzhou and later governed Hangzhou and Suzhou. His poems were hugely popular in Heian Japan.
Lifetime: 772–846. Other famous works: On the Night of the Fifteenth of the Eighth Month, on Duty in the Palace, Thinking of Yuan Zhen (八月十五日夜禁中独直对月忆元九); A Question for Liu the Nineteenth (问刘十九); A New Mountain Cottage Below Incense Burner Peak, Written on the East Wall (香炉峰下新卜山居草堂初成偶题东壁); Grass on the Ancient Plain: A Farewell (赋得古原草送别); Song of Everlasting Sorrow (长恨歌); The Song of the Lute (琵琶行); The Old Charcoal Seller (卖炭翁); Evening Song by the River (暮江吟); On the Pond (池上); White Cloud Spring (白云泉); Remembering the South (忆江南); Sent to Xianyou Temple (送王十八归山寄题仙游寺); Lotus-Picking Song (采莲曲); Spring Walk by Qiantang Lake (钱塘湖春行); To Yin, Master of Music (寄殷协律); Spring on the Lake (春题湖上); Peach Blossoms at Dalin Temple (大林寺桃花); Night Snow (夜雪).
More by Bai Juyi
- A New Mountain Cottage Below Incense Burner Peak, Written on the East Wall香炉峰下新卜山居草堂初成偶题东壁
- Song of Everlasting Sorrow长恨歌
- Grass on the Ancient Plain: A Farewell赋得古原草送别
- A Question for Liu the Nineteenth问刘十九
- On the Night of the Fifteenth of the Eighth Month, on Duty in the Palace, Thinking of Yuan Zhen八月十五日夜禁中独直对月忆元九
- Evening Song by the River暮江吟
- On the Pond池上
- White Cloud Spring白云泉