Night Reading——to My Son Ziyu

Introducion:

Based upon the experiences of ancients in acquiring knowledge and his own practice as well, the poet urges on his disciples the importance of concentration, exertion and application of theory to practice while pursuing their studies.   

 

Text:

Dōng yè dúshū shì zǐyù

 冬    夜  读书  示子聿

Lù Yóu

陆游

 

gǔ rén xué wèn wú yí lì

古 人  学    问 无 遗力，

shào zhuàng gōngfu lǎo shǐ chéng

  少     壮    功夫  老   始  成。

zhǐ shàng dé lái zhōng jué qiǎn

 纸   上得 来    终    觉   浅，

jué zhī cǐ shì yào gōng xíng

绝   知 此事  要    躬    行。

 

Night Reading——to My Son Ziyu

Lu You

 

The ancients labour hard the learning’s fields to till,

From youth of industry grows the fruit of old age.

What is only gained from the pages is shallow still,

In use lies the way to perfect grasp of knowledge.

 

Comment

Based upon the experiences of ancients in acquiring knowledge and his own practice as well, the poet urges on his disciples the importance of concentration, exertion and application of theory to practice while pursuing their studies. It rarely occurs that study methods are theoretically expounded in the form of a poem in Chinese ancient poetry and still less are poems like this one by Lu You who uses plain language to compose a philosophically penetrating poem. “From youth of industry grows the fruit of old age” has become a highly popular motto and the line “What is only gained from the pages is shallow still” warns us against reading books without proper understanding or digestion.