What shall I say of the Great Peak? --
The ancient dukedoms are everywhere green,
Inspired and stirred by the breath of creation,
With the Twin Forces balancing day and night.
...I bare my breast toward opening clouds,
I strain my sight after birds flying home.
When shall I reach the top and hold
All mountains in a single glance?
Original Poem:
「望岳」
杜甫
岱宗夫如何？齐鲁青未了。
造化钟神秀，阴阳割昏晓。
荡胸生层云，决眦入归鸟。
会当凌绝顶，一览众山小。
Interpretation:
In 735 A.D., Du Fu went to Luoyang and failed the examination. He then traveled around Henan, Hebei and Shandong for about five years. The poem “Looking at Yue” was written during his travels in Shandong, when he first passed Mount Tai, and is the earliest of Du Fu’s extant poems. The poem is “looking at” and “praising”, reproducing the high and majestic Mount Tai, with an open mood, showing the youthful vigor and extraordinary mind of the poet.
The first and second lines are about looking at the mountain from afar. The first line expresses the joy, marvel and admiration of seeing Mount Tai for the first time. Mount Tai is the first of the five mountains, so it is called Dai Zong. The poet does not directly answer how high Mount Tai, how big, but to the ancient land of Qi, Lu and the two countries to show that Mount Tai across the broad, Mount Tai is also self-evidently tall. In terms of vertical time, for thousands of years, Mount Tai is so luxuriant green; in terms of horizontal space, thousands of hundreds of miles of lush green, stretching, showing the lofty momentum and magnificent color of Mount Tai.
You see, as if nature are specialized in love with Mount Tai, making it dynamic and beautiful, lofty and grand. Mount Tai itself due to the tall, surprisingly, can distinguish between yin and yang dawn and dusk. Because Mount Tai south to the sun for the sun, Mount Tai north back to the sun for the yin. Mountain south to the sun has been dawn, the mountain north of the back of the sun is still dark. This is from the close look and show the characteristics of Mount Tai’s mountain.
The fifth and sixth sentences write the feeling of fine look. Look closely at Mount Tai, the clouds are stacked, circling; tired birds return to the forest, the twilight is heavy. Such a fine look from morning to night, the magnificent mountain landscape triggered the poet’s main feeling, by the eyes wide open to focus on viewing the clouds, the return of the birds, the chest can not help but stir up the gas, suddenly feel the eyes wide open, the field of vision is wide open.
The seventh and eighth sentences are about the feelings of extreme hope. The seventh and eighth lines are about the feeling of looking into the sky. They fully express that even though young Du Fu was disappointed in his exams, he was still full of ambition and heroic spirit that he was not afraid of difficulties and looked down on everything.
This poem is regarded as a “masterpiece” by the later generations, and carved as a monument at the foot of the mountain, which can be seen its immortal artistic charm!
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.
