Too young to have learned what sorrow means,
Attired for spring, she climbs to her high chamber....
The new green of the street-willows is wounding her heart --
Just for a title she sent him to war.
Original Poem:
「闺怨」
王昌龄
闺中少妇不知愁，春日凝妆上翠楼。
忽见陌头杨柳色，悔教夫婿觅封侯。
Interpretation:
This is a poem about a young woman who climbs a building to enjoy the spring and the psychological changes it brings. The title is to write about the girl’s love, but the whole poem is written from the happy activities of enjoying the spring, to view the scenery and then write about the sadness, which adds to the bleakness of the whole poem.
The first and second lines of the poem are about a young woman who is unaware of her sorrows and sees the spring sun melting, so she puts on her make-up carefully and climbs up a building to look into the distance. In fact, climbing the stairs in ancient China is generally more than a worry, expressing feelings of activities, young women climbing the stairs to enjoy the spring, itself has to relieve the heart of the subconscious in the inside.
The poem takes a sharp turn in the third line. In ancient China, willow was almost synonymous with sadness. Like the love of red beans, the willow itself represents separation sorrow. Because of this, when the young woman who knows no sorrow sees the willow, her subconscious feeling of missing her husband is immediately aroused.
In that era, the general mentality of men is to be successful and famous, this high spirit of enterprise created the greatness of the Tang Dynasty, but also sacrificed the time of how many women in the bosom of the complaining woman.
Poem translator:
Kiang Kanghu
About the poet:
Wang Changling (王昌龄), circa A.D. 690 – 756, was a native of Xi’an, Shaanxi Province. Wang Changling’s poems were mostly about the Border Places, love affairs and farewells, and he was well known during his lifetime. His seven poems are equal to those of Li Bai, and he is known as the “Master of seven lines”.
