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Dōng Yè Dú Shū Shì Zi YùReading on a Winter Night 冬夜读书示子聿
Lu You to his son: what you learn from books stays shallow until you practise it.
Original Chinese text with pinyin
古人学问无遗力
gǔ rén xué wèn wú yí lì
少壮工夫老始成
shào zhuàng gōng fu lǎo shǐ chéng
纸上得来终觉浅
zhǐ shàng dé lái zhōng jué qiǎn
绝知此事要躬行
jué zhī cǐ shì yào gōng xíng
Simplified characters; traditional title: 冬夜讀書示子聿.
English translation
The ancients spared no effort in their learning;
what you work at when young bears fruit only when old.
What you learn from paper always stays shallow —
to truly know a thing, you must do it yourself.
Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.
Line by line
Meaning and imagery
Lu You to his son: what you learn from books stays shallow until you practise it. The scene stays with you.
Background
Lu You to his son: what you learn from books stays shallow until you practise it.
Key words
- 躬行 gōng xíng
- practicing in person; doing it oneself
- 古人 gǔ rén
- the ancients; people of old
- 学问 xué wèn
- learning; scholarship
About the poet: Lu You
Lu You is the most prolific poet in Chinese history, with nearly ten thousand poems. Throughout his life he urged the Southern Song to recover the north from the Jurchen Jin; patriotism and rural life are his two great themes.
Lifetime: 1125–1210. Other famous works: Visiting a Village West of the Mountains (游山西村); To My Son (示儿); Phoenix Hairpin (钗头凤); Plum Blossom Quatrain (梅花绝句); Spring Rain Clearing in Lin'an (临安春雨初霁); Reading on a Winter Night (冬夜读书示子聿).
More by Lu You
- To My Son示儿
- Visiting a Village West of the Mountains游山西村
- Plum Blossom Quatrain梅花绝句
- Spring Rain Clearing in Lin'an临安春雨初霁