Snow is white on the westward mountains and on three fortified towns,
And waters in this southern lake flash on a long bridge.
But wind and dust from sea to sea bar me from my brothers;
And I cannot help crying, I am so far away.
I have nothing to expect now but the ills of old age.
I am of less use to my country than a grain of dust.
I ride out to the edge of town. I watch on the horizon,
Day after day, the chaos of the world.
Original Poem
「野望」
杜甫
西山白雪三城戍，南浦清江万里桥。
海内风尘诸弟隔，天涯涕泪一身遥。
唯将迟暮供多病，未有涓埃答圣朝。
跨马出郊时极目，不堪人事日萧条。
Interpretation
This poem was composed in the winter of 761 CE, the second year of the Shangyuan era under Emperor Suzong of the Tang dynasty, during Du Fu's stay at his Thatched Cottage by the Huanhua Stream in Chengdu. The An Lushan Rebellion still raged on, while Tibetan incursions occurred frequently. The three strategic towns of Songzhou, Weizhou, and Baozhou (in present-day western Sichuan) faced imminent threat, keeping the western Sichuan region in a state of tension. The poet was nearing fifty, in declining health, burdened by both familial strife and national disaster, and separated from his brothers. During a horseback ride into the outskirts, gazing into the distance, the starkness of winter intertwined with the desolation of human affairs, stirring within him profound contemplation on the current crisis, his scattered family, and his own fate. This poem is a quintessential example of Du Fu examining his personal destiny within the multidimensional context of a nation in turmoil.
First Couplet: “西山白雪三城戍，南浦清江万里桥。”
Xī shān bái xuě sān chéng shù, nán pǔ qīng jiāng wàn lǐ qiáo.
Snows crown the western hills where garrisoned towns stand; / The Long Bridge spans clear streams in southern lowland.
The couplet sketches a vast, tension-filled spatial panorama through impeccable parallelism. "Snows crown the western hills" connects with "garrisoned towns," where the severe winter landscape mirrors the tense military preparedness, subtly conveying border unrest and nature's harshness. "Clear streams in southern lowland" contrasts with "The Long Bridge"; the nearby river scene presents an immediate view, while the historical place name "The Long Bridge" (traditionally where Zhuge Liang bid farewell to an envoy) adds temporal depth and evokes feelings of displacement. One scene is distant, one near; one suggests martial concerns, the other civil reflection—this establishes the poem's overarching tone of vast desolation and profound anxiety.
Second Couplet: “海内风尘诸弟隔，天涯涕泪一身遥。”
Hǎi nèi fēng chén zhū dì gé, tiān yá tì lèi yī shēn yáo.
War's dust fills the land, my brothers far and few; / At world's edge, a lone man sheds helpless tears for you.
The focus shifts naturally from the external scene to internal sentiment. "War's dust fills the land" paints the grand, troubled backdrop of the era; "my brothers far and few" specifies the intimate tragedy of familial separation. "At world's edge" and "a lone man" intensify the feeling of personal isolation and exile. "Sheds helpless tears" is a direct emotional outpouring, yet the phrase "a lone man" imbues these sorrows with the crushing weight of solitude and unshared suffering. Here, anxiety for the nation and grief for personal circumstance are inseparably fused.
Third Couplet: “惟将迟暮供多病，未有涓埃答圣朝。”
Wéi jiāng chí mù gōng duō bìng, wèi yǒu juān āi dá shèng cháo.
My fading years are all I yield to constant ill; / Not a whit have I done our glorious court to fill.
The emotion turns further inward, deepening into painful self-scrutiny. "My fading years are all I yield" and "Not a whit have I done" create a sharp, poignant contrast, brimming with a sense of impotence and guilt. "Fading years" and "constant ill" represent a dual affliction of physical existence; "a whit" minimizes the notion of contribution to an extreme, yet he has achieved none, highlighting the vast chasm between the poet's aspirations and his reality. Beyond concern for country and family lies a profound layer of self-reproach for his lack of accomplishment and failure to serve his times, creating a richly layered emotional texture.
Fourth Couplet: “跨马出郊时极目，不堪人事日萧条。”
Kuà mǎ chū jiāo shí jí mù, bù kān rén shì rì xiāo tiáo.
I ride beyond the town, straining my sight afar—/ The human world sinks deeper into decay, a grievous scar.
The poem concludes with action (mounting, riding, gazing) and gathers all contemplation into a lament over the world's pervasive decline. "I ride beyond the town" directly echoes the poem's title, "A View from the Outskirts," completing a narrative circle. What "straining my sight" beholds is no longer mere scenery but a human condition saturated with the poet's subjective despair. The words "a grievous scar" convey his heart-rending, yet unavailing, distress in the face of intertwined national, familial, and personal decline. "Sinks deeper into decay" suggests a dynamic, worsening state, making the underlying anxiety all the more profound and enduring.
Holistic Appreciation
This poem is a paradigm of the "somber, restrained, and powerful" style in Du Fu's seven-character regulated verse. The entire poem is structured around the act of "gazing": the first couplet presents the viewed scene, vast yet ominous; the second and third couplets derive layered sorrow from the scene—brothers scattered, self adrift, achievements nil; the final couplet returns to the act of gazing, condensing emotion into a sweeping lament for the era's fate, achieving perfect thematic closure.
Its artistic core lies in "observing and synthesizing personal, nuanced emotions within a grand temporal and spatial framework." The poet connects the "helpless tears" of a "lone man" with the "War's dust [that] fills the land"; juxtaposes the personal plight of "fading years" and "constant ill" against the national peril of "garrisoned towns"; and interweaves the historical memory of "The Long Bridge" with the present anguish over "The human world sink[ing] deeper into decay." Thus, a poem ostensibly expressing personal melancholy attains a weighty historical sense and profound contemporary relevance. In Du Fu's work, personal misfortune perpetually resonates with the destiny of the state.
Artistic Merits
- Exquisite Parallelism with Fluid Conception
All four couplets employ parallel structure, with the first achieving particular brilliance in its pairing of place and image. Yet this technical mastery conveys a spirit of vast desolation, avoiding any rigid formalism. The parallelism serves not only aesthetic harmony but also emotional contrast and the expansion of poetic realm (e.g., "the land" vs. "world's edge"; "fading years" vs. "a whit"). - Condensed Imagery, Desolate Ambience
Images such as "Snows crown the western hills" and "The Long Bridge spans clear streams" possess distinct regional character and rich symbolic resonance (snow signifies harsh cold and military vigilance; the clear river and bridge evoke journeying and separation). Together, they construct a poetic atmosphere that is expansive, bleak, somber, and deeply resonant. - Layered Emotional Progression, Somber and Powerful Rhythm
The emotional current flows from implicit foreboding about the situation (first couplet), to longing for kin and lament of exile (second couplet), to shame over futility and failure to serve (third couplet), culminating in a sweeping sorrow for the world's decline (final couplet). This deepening, undulating progression fully embodies the distinctive "somber and powerful" emotional cadence of Du Fu's poetry. - Unadorned yet Weighty Diction, Potent and Penetrating
Phrases like "my brothers far and few," "a lone man," "yield to constant ill," and "sinks deeper into decay" may seem plain, but burdened as they are with the era's profound suffering and personal anguish, they carry a crushing, heart-piercing force.
Insights
This poem reveals the defining quality of Du Fu as the "Poet Sage": his grief is never merely personal; rather, he employs his own lived experience as a prism to refract the full spectrum of his era's suffering. The solitude of "a lone man," the resignation of "yield to constant ill," ultimately direct our gaze toward a deeply compassionate concern for "The human world sink[ing] deeper into decay."
The insight it offers modern readers is this: genuine responsibility and compassion begin with an awareness of the specific suffering around us, but must not end there. It demands a transcendent perspective, an ability to comprehend and bear our personal fate within a broader social and historical context. Even amidst the affliction of "fading years" and "constant ill," even while tormented by a sense of having "done" nothing, that heart which finds the world's decay "a grievous scar," that ever-present anxiety and care, constitutes in itself a noble form of spiritual being—an inner force resisting "decay." Through his poetry, Du Fu demonstrates that the most profound personal lament can simultaneously serve as the most poignant chronicle of an age and a vigil for our shared humanity.
Poem translator
Kiang Kanghu
About the poet
Du Fu (杜甫), 712 - 770 AD, was a great poet of the Tang Dynasty, known as the "Sage of Poetry". Born into a declining bureaucratic family, Du Fu had a rough life, and his turbulent and dislocated life made him keenly aware of the plight of the masses. Therefore, his poems were always closely related to the current affairs, reflecting the social life of that era in a more comprehensive way, with profound thoughts and a broad realm. In his poetic art, he was able to combine many styles, forming a unique style of "profound and thick", and becoming a great realist poet in the history of China.
