Chūn RìA Spring Day 春日
Zhu Xi on a spring outing: "ten thousand reds and purples, all of it spring".
Original Chinese text with pinyin
胜日寻芳泗水滨
shèng rì xún fāng sì shuǐ bīn
无边光景一时新
wú biān guāng jǐng yī shí xīn
等闲识得东风面
děng xián shí dé dōng fēng miàn
万紫千红总是春
wàn zǐ qiān hóng zǒng shì chūn
Simplified characters; traditional title: 春日.
English translation
On a fine day I seek spring by the Si River;
the boundless scenery is all at once made new.
Anyone can recognise the face of the east wind —
ten thousand purples, a thousand reds: all of it is spring.
Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.
Line by line
Meaning and imagery
Zhu Xi on a spring outing: "ten thousand reds and purples, all of it spring". The scene stays with you.
Background
Zhu Xi on a spring outing: "ten thousand reds and purples, all of it spring".
Key words
- 等闲 děng xián
- key word in the poem
- 胜日 shèng rì
- key word in the poem
- 寻芳 xún fāng
- key word in the poem
About the poet: Zhu Xi
Zhu Xi was the most influential Neo-Confucian philosopher of later imperial China; his commentaries on the Four Books became the basis of the civil-service examinations. He also wrote poems that express philosophical ideas through everyday images.
Lifetime: 1130–1200. Other famous works: Thoughts on Reading (观书有感); Impromptu (Youth Ages Easily) (偶成); Thoughts on Reading II (观书有感 其二); A Spring Day (春日).