Home › Poems › Song on Climbing Youzhou Terrace
Dēng Yōu Zhōu Tái GēSong on Climbing Youzhou Terrace 登幽州台歌
Chen Zi'ang alone between past and future.
Original Chinese text with pinyin
前不见古人
qián bù jiàn gǔ rén
后不见来者
hòu bù jiàn lái zhě
念天地之悠悠
niàn tiān dì zhī yōu yōu
独怆然而涕下
dú chuàng rán ér tì xià
Simplified characters; traditional title: 登幽州臺歌.
English translation
Where are the great men of the past?
And where are those of future years?
The sky and earth forever last;
Here and now I alone shed tears.
Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.
Line by line
Meaning and imagery
Four lines of uneven length break with the polished style of the time. The first two set the poet between a past he cannot reach (wise rulers who valued talent) and a future he will not see. The third opens out to the infinity of heaven and earth, and the fourth collapses into a single man weeping. The poem expresses the loneliness of one born at the wrong time.
Background
Written in 697 when Chen Zi'ang, serving in a military campaign in the north, climbed the Youzhou Terrace (near Beijing), said to be where King Zhao of Yan recruited talented men.
Key words
- 古人 gǔ rén
- the ancients
- 来者 lái zhě
- those to come
- 悠悠 yōu yōu
- vast and endless
- 怆然 chuàng rán
- grieved, sorrowful
About the poet: Chen Zi'ang
Chen Zi'ang called for poetry to return to the vigor of earlier ages and paved the way for the High Tang. He died in prison after offending a powerful official.
Lifetime: 661–702. Other famous works: Song on Climbing Youzhou Terrace (登幽州台歌).