Chinese Poems 古诗词 Seeing Off Meng Haoran at Tower of Yellow Crane

Seeing Off Meng Haoran at Tower of Yellow Crane

Introducion:

This is an emotional and graphic picture of seeing a friend off. Standing on the Tower of Yellow Crane.   

Text:

Huáng Hè Lóu Sòng Mèng Hàorán Zhī Guǎng Líng

  黄  鹤  楼   送    孟  浩  然  之    广  陵

李白(唐)

 

Gù rén xī cí huáng hè lóu

 故 人 西辞 黄      鹤 楼，

yān huā sān yuè xià yáng zhōu

 烟    花  三    月   下   扬    州。

Gū fān yuǎn yǐng bì kōng jìn

 孤 帆   远     影  碧  空   尽，

wéi jiàn cháng jiāng tiān jì liú

 唯  见    长       江      天  际流。

 

Seeing Off Meng Haoran at Tower of Yellow Crane

Li Bai(Tang)

 

From Tower of Yellow Crane my friend is going away to,

Yangzhou in the month of glowing blooms and dimmig willows.

The distant shadow of a lonely sail now melts into the blue,

And I can see yonder only a mighty river idly flows.

 

Comment:

This is an emotional and graphic picture of seeing a friend off Standing on the Tower of Yellow Crane amid the spring willow downs, the poet sees his friend off to Yangzhou and naturally thinks of the old legend in which the divine being flew away on the crane which lends a touch of consolation to the sad farewell. The first two lines give the time place people in regard to the send-off conveying the poet's best wishes for his friend, and have all along been regarded as the most beautiful eternal lines in Chinese literature treasure-house. The next two lines portray the flowing water and the sailing boat. As the vessel is going down the River and vanishing into the blue waters the poet's feelings are rising high in his heart like the rolling waves and the boundless expanses of sky and land. These two unique lines dialectically combine the visible material and the invisible spirit, striking the reader as profoundly philosophical. Richly textured the poem is indeed thought-provoking and compelling.