Wǎn ChūnLate Spring 晚春
Late spring: flowers compete and willow catkins fill the air.
Original Chinese text with pinyin
草树知春不久归
cǎo shù zhī chūn bù jiǔ guī
百般红紫鬭芳菲
bǎi bān hóng zǐ dòu fāng fēi
杨花楡荚无才思
yáng huā yú jiá wú cái sī
惟解漫天作雪飞
wéi jiě màn tiān zuò xuě fēi
Simplified characters; traditional title: 晚春.
English translation
Grass and trees know spring will soon be gone,
so reds and purples vie in every kind of bloom.
Willow catkins and elm seeds, having no such art,
can only fill the sky, flying like snow.
Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.
Line by line
Meaning and imagery
Late spring: flowers compete and willow catkins fill the air. The scene stays with you.
Background
Late spring: flowers compete and willow catkins fill the air.
Key words
- 杨花楡荚 yáng huā yú jiá
- willow catkins and elm seeds
- 草树 cǎo shù
- grass and trees; vegetation
- 知春 zhī chūn
- knowing spring; sensing spring
About the poet: Han Yu
Han Yu was a leading prose writer and Confucian thinker who championed the "ancient prose" movement. His poetry can be bold and unusual, but also delicate, as in his early-spring quatrain.
Lifetime: 768–824. Other famous works: Early Spring: For Zhang the Eighteenth of the Ministry of Water (早春呈水部张十八员外); On Teachers (师说); Late Spring (晚春); Spring Snow (春雪).