A Visit to My Friend

Introducion:

The poem gives a full description of the poet being invited, treated as a guest and setting up another appointment---All this is invited with the countryside homely atmosphere.   

Text:

guò gù rén zhuāng

 过  故 人    庄

(唐)孟浩然

 

gù rén jù jī shǔ

故 人 具鸡 黍，

yāo wǒ zhì tián jiā

 邀  我  至 田 家。

lǜ shù cūn biān hé

绿 树   村  边  合，

qīng shān guō wài xiá

  青  山   郭   外  斜。

kāi xuān miàn chǎng pǔ

 开  轩  面    场   圃，

bǎ jiǔ huà sāng mā

把 酒 话    桑     麻。

dài dào chóng yáng rì

待   到   重   阳   日，

huán lái jiù jǘ huā

 还    来 就 菊 花。

 

A Visit to My Friend

Meng Haoran(Tang)

 

My dear friend asks me his cottage to visit,

And entertains me with chicken and millet.

The village is encircled with trees of green,

Beyond the wall meanders the blue mountain.

From the window the garden and fields we see,

And talk o' er wine about the jute and mulberry.

When the Double Ninth Day comes, I should think,

To come again for the chrysanthemum and a drink.

 

Comment:

The poem gives a full description of the poet being invited, treated as a guest and setting up another appointment---All this is invited with the countryside homely atmosphere. Enthusiastic and sincere, his friend entertains him with a dinner of chicken and millet, which his friend himself has raised. The third and fourth lines of the poem depict the surroundings of his friend’s home with the green trees around and the blue mountain beyond, a characteristic scene of the countryside. Over a cup of wine the two close friends, looking out of the window at the thrashing floor and the vegetable garden, are naturally talking about spring sowing and autumn harvesting. Deeply moved and attracted by the easy, relaxed life of the farmer, the poet openly expresses his wish “When the Double Ninth Day comes, I should think, To come again for the chrysanthemum and a drink”. Though short in eight lines, the poem contains much marrow with a swift but smooth change of time and space the beginning logically following the end and the outside shifting to the inside. Homespun in style and mellow in tone, the poem conveys the poet’s deep appreciation of the rural landscapes and idyllic life as well.