West of Jia Pavilion and north of Lonely Hill,
Water brims level with the bank and clouds hang low.
Disputing for sunny trees, early orioles trill;Pecking vernal mud in,
young swallows come and go.A riot of blooms begins to dazzle the eye;
Amid short grass the horse hoofs can barely be seen.
I love best the east of the lake under the sky;
The bank paved with white sand is shaded by willows green.
Original Poem:
「钱塘湖春行」
白居易
孤山寺北贾亭西，水面初平云脚低。
几处早莺争暖树，谁家新燕啄春泥。
乱花渐欲迷人眼，浅草才能没马蹄。
最爱湖东行不足，绿杨阴里白沙堤。
Interpretation:
This poem expresses the author's joy of visiting the lake in early spring and his love for the scenery of the West Lake in Hangzhou through the depiction of the bright scenery of the lake in early spring, and it also expresses the author's love for the beauty of nature.
The first two lines: from the north of the Lonely Mountain Temple to the west of the Jia Pavilion, the spring water is rising, the lake is just flush with the embankment, and the low-hanging white clouds are connected to the lake.
These two lines show that the poet is walking and viewing at the same time. Spring water is rising, the surface of the water and embankment level, the air scrolling white clouds and the lake surface ripples together, is the typical Chinese Jiangnan spring lake water state Tianrong.
The third and fourth sentences: a few early yellow warblers scrambling to fly to the sunny trees, whose new swallows are busy building nests and mud.
These two lines show the vitality of spring. The yellow warbler and the swallow are the messengers of spring, the warbler's voice, spreading the good news of spring; swallow hard work, and enlighten people to start the spring labor, are written out of the early spring vitality.
Fifth, six sentences: the flowers gradually open dazzling, shallow grass just enough to cover the horse's hooves.
Because it is early spring, not yet in full bloom season, so what you can see is not yet a beautiful purple and red bloom all over, but a group in the east, a cluster in the west, with a “chaotic” word to describe. And spring grass has not grown abundantly, only not over the horse's hoof so long. These two lines and the poet observed, appreciate the feelings and judgments, which makes the objective natural scenery into with the poet's subjective emotional color in the eyes of the scenery, so that the reader is infected.
The last two lines: favorite Hudong beautiful scenery never get tired of traveling, willow rows of green shade through a white sand dike.
Write the poet's favorite Hudong sandbank. The white dike through the Qiantang Lake, in the east of the lake, you can total the victory of the whole lake. Just see the green poplar shade, flat and long white sand embankment lying quietly in the blue waves, the embankment horseback riding spring people come and go as weaving, enjoy the spring scenery. The poet was in the middle of it, enjoying the beauty of the lake and the mountains, and his heart was relaxed and happy.
This poem is like a short and concise travelogue, starting from the lonely mountain, Jia Ting, to the east of the lake, the white dike stop, along the way, in the lake, green mountains and the beauty of the scenery like paradise, the poet saturated with warblers and swallows, intoxicated in the fragrance of the birds and flowers, and finally, not yet finished along the white sand embankment, reluctant to part with the departed.
Poem translator:
Xu Yuan-chong (许渊冲)
About the poet:
Bai Juyi (白居易), 772-846 AD, was originally from Taiyuan, then moved to Weinan in Shaanxi. Bai Juyi was the most prolific poet of the Tang Dynasty, with poems in the categories of satirical oracles, idleness, sentimentality, and miscellaneous rhythms, and the most influential poet after Li Bai Du Fu.
