Home › Poems › Seeking Cool on a Summer Night
Xià Yè Zhuī LiángSeeking Cool on a Summer Night 夏夜追凉
Yang Wanli on a hot summer night, finding a little cool deep in the bamboo.
Original Chinese text with pinyin
夜热依然午热同
yè rè yī rán wǔ rè tóng
开门小立月明中
kāi mén xiǎo lì yuè míng zhōng
竹深树密虫鸣处
zhú shēn shù mì chóng míng chù
时有微凉不是风
shí yǒu wēi liáng bú shì fēng
Simplified characters; traditional title: 夏夜追涼.
English translation
At night the heat is still the same as at noon;
I open the door and stand a while in the moonlight.
Where the bamboo is deep and the trees dense and insects sing,
now and then comes a faint coolness — and it isn't the wind.
Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.
Line by line
Meaning and imagery
Yang Wanli on a hot summer night, finding a little cool deep in the bamboo. The scene stays with you.
Background
Yang Wanli on a hot summer night, finding a little cool deep in the bamboo.
Key words
- 夜热 yè rè
- key word in the poem
- 依然 yī rán
- key word in the poem
- 午热 wǔ rè
- key word in the poem
About the poet: Yang Wanli
Yang Wanli developed a fresh, witty style that captured small moments of nature as if seen for the first time. He wrote over four thousand surviving poems.
Lifetime: 1127–1206. Other famous works: The Little Pond (小池); A Child Playing with Ice (稚子弄氷); Leaving Jingci Temple at Dawn (晓出净慈寺送林子方); Waking from an Early-Summer Nap (闲居初夏午睡起); Seeking Cool on a Summer Night (夏夜追凉); Boating Past Anren (舟过安仁); At Xu's Inn in Xinshi (宿新市徐公店).
More by Yang Wanli
- The Little Pond小池
- A Child Playing with Ice稚子弄氷
- Leaving Jingci Temple at Dawn晓出净慈寺送林子方
- Waking from an Early-Summer Nap闲居初夏午睡起
- Boating Past Anren舟过安仁
- At Xu's Inn in Xinshi宿新市徐公店