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English translation of Tang poetry and Song lyrics: Du Mu Qingming (8 different translations by famous writers)

Du Mu (803-852) Qingming

It rains heavily during Qingming, and pedestrians on the road Want to die.

May I ask where the restaurant is? The shepherd boy points to Xinghua Village in the distance.

Translated by Tang Yihe:

Pure Brightness (Qing Ming) Festival

By Du MU

It's drizzling thickly and profusely

On the Pure Brightness Day.

A wayfarer is overwhelmed with sorrows

On his way.

“Excuse me, can you tell me

p>

Where to find a wineshop in the village?"

"Over there," the shepherd boy pointing to

The distant Apricot Blossoms Village.

Note and Commentary:

The poem describes a pedestrian traveling in the countryside in the midst of drizzling on the Qing Ming Festival, who asks a shepherd boy where to find a wineshop to dispel his sorrows.

Translated by Chen Junpu:

The Qingming Festival

By Du Mu

On the Qingming Day, rain is falling uninterrupted,

And the wayfarer is more than ever broken-hearted;

“Is there any wine shop hereabouts?” A buffalo boy

Points to a distant village where apricots are spotted.

Translated by Cai Tingqian:

The rain falls thick and fast on All Souls' Day,

The men and women sadly move along the way.

They ask where wineshops can be found or where to rest ----

And there the herdboy's fingers Almond-Town suggest.

Translated by Wan Changsheng and Wang Xun:

The ceaseless drizzle drips all the dismal day,

So broken-hearted fares the traveler on the way.

When asked where could be found a tavern bower,

p>

A cowboy points to yonder village of the a

pricot flower.

Translated by Xu Yuanchong:

A drizzling rain falls like tears on the Mourning Day;

The mourner's heart is going to break on his way.

Where can a wineshop be found to drown his sad hours?

A cowherd points to a cot 'mid apricot flowers.

Translated by Wu Juntao:

It drizzles thick and fast on the Pure Brightness Day,

I travel with my heart lost in dismay.

"Is there a public house somewhere, cowboy?"

p>

He points at Apricot Village faraway.

Translated by Yang Xianyi and Gladys Dai:

It drizzles endless during the rainy season in spring,

Travelers along the road look gloomy and miserable.

When I ask a shepherd boy where I can find a tavern,

He points at a distant hamlet nestling amidst apricot blossoms.

Translated by Sun Dayu:

The Clear-and-Bridge Feast

By Du Mu

Upon the Clear-and-Bright Feast of spring

The rain drizzleth down in spray.

Pedestrians on country-side ways

In gloom are pining away.

When asked “where a tavern fair for rest

Is hereabouts to be found",

The shepherd boy the Apricot Bloom Vill

Doth point to afar and say.

This day is the Qingming Festival. The poet Xiao Du happened to encounter rain while traveling. Although Qingming is a time of bright spring flowers and bright spring flowers, it is also a time when the climate is prone to changes, and there may even be "strong winds and even rain" from time to time. But the drizzle on this day was the kind of rain that "the light rain in the sky is as moist as crisp" - this is also the characteristic of spring rain. This "rainfall" conveys the melancholy and beautiful state of "being cold and bullying the flowers, trapping the smoke in the willows".

The word "profusion" here undoubtedly describes the artistic conception of the spring rain; but it is more than that, it also has a special function, that is, it actually describes It reflects the mood of the traveler in the rain.

Look at the following sentence: "Pedestrians on the road want to die."

"Pedestrian" is a person who travels away from home. So what is "broken soul"? In poetry, "soul" mostly refers to spiritual and emotional matters. "Broken Soul" is an attempt to describe the deep and hidden feelings that are very strong but not clearly expressed on the outside. In ancient customs, Tomb-Sweeping Day is a big festival with rich colors and sentiments. It should be a time for family reunions, entertainment and viewing, or visiting tombs. Nowadays, pedestrians are traveling alone, feeling sad at the scene, and the feelings in their hearts are complicated. It happened to catch up with the drizzle again, and the spring clothes were soaked, which added another layer of sadness. Therefore, the poet used the word "soul-breaking"; otherwise, a little rain would be worthy of "soul-breaking". Isn't that quite unreasonable? -In this way, we can return to the word "one after another". Originally, people traveling during the festival already have a lot of things on their minds. In addition, walking in the rain and wind, and walking in the rain, makes the mood even more miserable and confusing. Therefore, they are used to describe spring rain, but they can also describe emotions. It might even be said that describing spring rain is to describe emotions. This is a unique art and a beautiful scene in Chinese classical poetry, where love is in the scenery and the scenery is the emotion.

The first two sentences describe the situation, and then write about an idea that came to the pedestrian's mind at this time: Where to find a small hotel. The thing is very clear: find a small hotel, where you can rest and take shelter from the rain, have three drinks to relieve the cold spring weather, warm your clothes soaked by the rain, and most importantly, take advantage of the hotel. This can also dispel the sadness in your heart. So, I asked people for directions.

Who are you asking for directions? The poet did not tell us in the third sentence, but it is more wonderful than the fourth sentence: "The shepherd boy points to Xinghua Village in the distance." Grammatically speaking, "shepherd boy" is the subject of this sentence, but it is actually the predicate of "borrowing" in the previous sentence - it completes both the question and answer of the previous sentence. Did the shepherd boy answer? We don't know, but the answer with "action" is more vivid and powerful than the answer. Let's watch the play "Little Cowherd". When someone asks the shepherd boy for directions, he points his hand and says, "Look at my hand!" It's a combination of words and actions - that is, "music" "With "picture", both allow the viewer to enjoy beauty at the same time; now the poet's technique is simpler and more advanced: he only gives the "picture" to the readers, and omits "music" - no, it is better to say It includes "music". The reader appreciates the beautiful "picture" of the guide, and at the same time faintly hears the "music" of the answer.

"Yao" literally means far. However, this meaning cannot be adhered to here. With this finger, we seem to see a wine curtain emerging from the faint red apricot tips - "Jiuwangzi". If the distance is really far away, it will be difficult to have an artistic connection; if it is really right in front of you, the implicit and endless interest will be lost: the beauty lies in the balance between not far and not close. In "A Dream of Red Mansions", there is a scene in the Grand View Garden titled "Apricot curtain is in sight". The "looking in" look is derived from the experience here, which is a footnote to Du Lang's sentence. "Xinghua Village" is not necessarily the name of the real village, nor does it necessarily refer to the restaurant. It is enough to point to this beautiful village deep in the apricot blossoms. It goes without saying that there is a small hotel there waiting to receive guests traveling in the rain.

The poem only ends at "pointing to Xinghua Village in the distance" without spending another sentence. For the rest, pedestrians were delighted to hear the news, stepped forward with more energy, found the hotel excitedly, and were relieved to obtain the satisfaction and joy of sheltering from the rain and relieving their worries... ..., the poet can "ignore" these. He gives all these to the readers' imagination, opening up a much broader space for readers' imagination than the words and sentences of the poem show. This is the "more than enough" of art.

This little poem contains not a single difficult word, nor a single allusion. The entire poem is written in very popular language, and is written with great ease, without any trace of artificiality. The syllables are very harmonious and perfect, the scene is very fresh and vivid, and the realm is beautiful and interesting. It is also natural for poems to be told from chapter to chapter, and they are written sequentially.

The first sentence describes the situation, environment, and atmosphere, which is "qi"; the second sentence is "carrying", describing the character, showing the character's confused and confused state of mind; the third sentence is "turning", but it also puts forward the idea How to get rid of this state of mind; and this directly forced the fourth sentence, which became the highlight of the whole article - "he". In art, this is a technique of starting from low to high, gradually rising, and putting the climax at the end. The so-called climax is not a sweeping view, and the excitement is exhausted, but the aftertaste is vague and intriguing. These are the poet's brilliance, which are worthy of our learning and inheritance!