Yellow Crane Tower

Introducion:

The Yellow Crane Tower has a great myth behind it which induces contemplation on the part of whoever ascends the tower.    

 

Text:

黄鹤楼

崔颢（唐）

 

xī rén yǐ chéng huáng hè qù，cǐ dì kōng yú huáng hè lóu。

昔 人已   乘    黄     鹤 去，此地  空   余   黄    鹤 楼 。

huáng hè yí  qù  bú  fù  fǎn，  bái yún qiān zǎi kōng yōu yōu。

黄    鹤  一  去  不 复 返， 白   云    千   载    空    幽  幽。

qíng chuān lì lì hàn yáng shù，fāng cǎo qī qī yīng wǔ zhōu。

  晴   川  历历 汉   阳     树， 芳    草  萋萋  鹦   鹉   洲。

rì mù xiāng guān hé chù shì，yān bō jiāng shàng shǐ rén chóu。

日暮    乡  关   何 处   是， 烟   波  江   上     使  人   愁。

 

Yellow Crane Tower

Cui Hao(Tang)

 

Gone are the angelsmounted on the yellow crane

Here idly stands but the Yellow Crane Tower

Ohgoneforever goneis the yellow crane

The clouds for a thousand years vainly hover

The trees still border the river glistening bright

The isle is green with grass that in luxury grows

But where can my home be found in the twilight?

I am so sad to see the misty rolling billows

 

Comment

The Yellow Crane Tower has a great myth behind it which induces contemplation on the part of whoever ascends the tower. Highly compact deeply meditative and emotional the first four lines focus on the poet's immediate impression of the Tower that has been idly standing there for ages watching men coming and going beneath. Awakened to reality and looking far from the tower the poet sees the sun-lit Hanyang lying still beyond the luxuriant green trees stretching along the banks of the Yangtze River and the lush green grasses glistening on the mist-veiled Parrot Isle in the river. Climbing up the deserted tower and watching the Yangtze flow eastward in the twilight, the poet is deeply touched asking from the bottom of his heart "Where is my home?"

In the poem, sentiment scene image and spirit are seamlessly blended as seen from below,the image developing from abstract to concrete its antitheses getting perfect as the poem moves along the scenes turning real from imaginary and the sentiment being transmitted from others to the poet himself. No wonder the poem has been considered the peak of all inscriptive poetry in ancient Chinese art and literature.