I petition no more at the north palace-gate.
...To this tumble-down hut on Zhongnan Mountain
I was banished for my blunders, by a wise ruler.
I have been sick so long I see none of my friends.
My white hairs hasten my decline,
Like pale beams ending the old year.
Therefore I lie awake and ponder
On the pine-shadowed moonlight in my empty window.
Original Poem:
「岁暮归南山」
孟浩然
北阙休上书， 南山归敝庐。
不才明主弃， 多病故人疏。
白发催年老， 青阳逼岁除。
永怀愁不寐， 松月夜窗墟。
Interpretation:
This is a poem that expresses the poet’s indignation when he returned home at the end of the year after he had failed to get a job in Beijing.
In 728 A.D., at the age of forty, Meng Haoran failed in the examination for the title of scholar in Chang’an, and his mood was very bitter. At that time, Meng Haoran was full of essays, and was already quite famous for his poems, and had been praised by Wang Wei and Zhang Jiuling. Therefore, the failure of this examination, Meng Haoran was greatly chagrined, the reality mercilessly crushed Meng Haoran in the political illusions, resentment, despair came to life. This poem poet to self-hatred in the form of self-loathing to give vent to a helpless feeling.
At the beginning of the poem, the poet expresses his determination not to write to the court anymore, but to return to his hometown in his hut. Then, in a tone of self-hatred: I am not talented, so I can not get the appointment of the Holy Lord; age and gradually old, sickly body, resulting in old friends also alienated from me; gradually more gray hair on the head, seems to urge me to old age; the spring sun shines brightly, such as in the old years forced to leave; I am so sad that I can not sleep all night; the moon from the pines into the window, I feel even lonelier.
This poem seems to be explicit in language, but it is actually rich in meaning. Layers and layers of expression, sentences involving several meanings, constitute a long and deep artistic style.
Poem translator:
Kiang Kanghu
About the poet:
Meng Haoran (孟浩然), 689-740 AD, a native of Xiangyang, Hubei, was a famous poet of the Sheng Tang Dynasty. With the exception of one trip to the north when he was in his forties, when he was seeking fame in Chang’an and Luoyang, he spent most of his life in seclusion in his hometown of Lumenshan or roaming around.
