Under the crescent moon a light autumn dew
Has chilled the robe she will not change --
And she touches a silver lute all night,
Afraid to go back to her empty room.
Original Poem:
「秋夜曲」
王维
桂魄初生秋露微， 轻罗已薄未更衣。
银筝夜久殷勤弄， 心怯空房不忍归。
Interpretation:
This is a euphemistic and subtle poem of boudoir resentment.
In the first line, it is an autumn night, and it is said that there is a laurel tree in the moon, rendering a tranquil and soft atmosphere. At the same time, it also implies that in such an autumn night, there is a faint coolness and a faint bleakness enveloping the surroundings. Such a description for the later writing of the thinking woman’s grudge has made the ambush.
The second line, that is a beautiful woman. The poet did not positively on its appearance for the slightest depiction, but a beautiful woman image jumped to the paper.
The third line shows that in the dead of night, she is still attentively plucking the silver kite. In the silence of the night, the sound of the silver kite becomes more and more clear and crisp, and the sound of the kite cuts and cuts, seeming to stir her inner world.
This fourth line is like a riddle, pointing out the center of the whole poem at once: it turns out that sitting alone in the autumn night, being lazy to change the new clothes, and playing with the silver kite for a long time are in fact the euphemistic explanations for no one’s pleasure.
The whole poem is writing about the seclusion and loneliness of the thinking woman, the language is very euphemistic, the feelings are very delicate, and the shyness of the emotions are covered up tightly. Once the point is broken, the feeling of resentment jumps out at you, and it is an extremely popular poem of bosom grudge.
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.
