The limpid river, past its bushes
Running slowly as my chariot,
Becomes a fellow voyager
Returning home with the evening birds.
A ruined city-wall overtops an old ferry,
Autumn sunset floods the peaks.
...Far away, beside Mount Song,
I shall close my door and be at peace.
Original Poem:
「归嵩山作」
王维
清川带长薄， 车马去闲闲。
流水如有意， 暮禽相与还。
荒城临古渡， 落日满秋山。
迢递嵩高下， 归来且闭关。
Interpretation:
This poem was written in the autumn of 734 A.D. It is a reflection of the scenery and the mood of the writer on his way back to Songshan Mountain after resigning from the government.
The first line describes the scene at the time of departure. The clear flowing water surrounds the place where grass and trees grow, and the poet’s own car and horse walk leisurely on the road. Free from the officialdom of right and wrong, the poet feels as free as the clear river, as leisurely as the car and horse.
The jaw is still the object sentiments, write their own feelings of reclusion as flowing water to the sea of the heart does not change, such as birds to the twilight know also, suggesting that the reason for their own retreat is the reality, the career of boredom and disappointment.
Then he describes the deserted city, the ancient ferry, the sunset and the autumn mountains. Wang Wei is very good at choosing and combining scenes that are suitable for expressing his state of mind. The four scenes, the city is deserted for many days, the ferry is from a long time ago, the sunlight is setting, it’s already dusk, even the mountains in front of us are autumn scenery, the grass and trees are withering. The four scenes combined together over and over again are all saying one word – depression.
The last couplet writes that the poet came to settle down under Songshan Mountain, intending to retire to the mountains. This line in the narrative scene is still expressing the mood after the retreat, we can see that the poet’s mood at this time and turned to calm and peaceful.
The first four lines of the poem write about the scenery on the way back to the mountain, the mood of leisure; the last four lines of the poem through the deserted city of the ancient ferry, the autumn mountain sunset depressing scene, showing the poet’s feelings of loneliness after going back to seclusion, the scene and the mood fit together, the words vaguely show the author’s mood of the subtle changes: by the leisure and self-satisfaction, to the lonely and desolate, and then finally turned to peace and tranquility.
Poem translator:
Kiang Kanghu
About the poet:
Wang Wei (王维), 701-761 A.D., was a native of Yuncheng, Shanxi Province. Wang Wei was a poet of landscape and idylls. His poems of landscape and idylls, with far-reaching images and mysterious meanings, were widely loved by readers in later generations, but Wang Wei never really became a man of landscape and idylls.
