Do not complain of golden cage and wings cut short;
The southern land is far warmer than the northwest.
Don't clearly speak if you listen to my exhort;
You will offend if clearly your complaint's expressed.
Original Poem
「鹦鹉」
罗隐
莫恨雕笼翠羽残，江南地暖陇西寒。
劝君不用分明语，语得分明出转难。
Interpretation
Composed during the turbulent Tang-Five Dynasties transition, this poem reflects Luo Yin's lifelong frustrations - repeated examination failures and unfulfilled ambitions. In his later years, though finding refuge with King Qian Liu of Wuyue, he remained discontent. Using a caged parrot as metaphor, the poem expresses his melancholy as an intellectual dependent on patronage, exemplifying allegorical self-expression through objects.
First Couplet: "莫恨雕笼翠羽残，江南地暖陇西寒。"
Mò hèn diāo lóng cuì yǔ cán, jiāngnán dì nuǎn lǒngxī hán.
Don't resent the gilded cage or clipped emerald plumes - Jiangnan's warmth surpasses Longxi's bitter cold.
These seemingly consoling words to the parrot reveal the poet's self-mockery and suppressed yearning. The contrast between southern comfort and northern harshness mirrors his conflicted acceptance of political shelter versus lost freedom, with "clipped plumes" symbolizing compromised integrity.
Second Couplet: "劝君不用分明语，语得分明出转难。"
Quàn jūn bùyòng fēnmíng yǔ, yǔ dé fēnmíng chū zhuǎn nán.
I advise against speaking too plainly - clear words make cage exits harder.
The parrot's linguistic ability becomes a cautionary metaphor. This advice about guarded speech reflects the poet's self-preservation tactics in aristocratic circles, where intellectual honesty could prove dangerous. The couplet encapsulates the dilemma of scholar-officials navigating political minefields.
Holistic Appreciation
Through the parrot's predicament, the poem articulates an intellectual's constrained existence. The "gilded cage" represents comfortable yet restrictive patronage; "clipped plumes" signify the personal compromises involved. While acknowledging material advantages ("Jiangnan's warmth"), the subtext reveals spiritual suffocation. The warning against "plain speech" exposes the perilous tightrope walk between expression and survival in authoritarian systems, making this seemingly simple animal poem a profound political allegory.
Artistic Merits
- Allegorical precision: Each parrot detail mirrors the scholar's dilemma
- Layered irony: Surface consolation conceals deep discontent
- Political cryptography: Avian imagery safely encodes dangerous truths
- Psychological depth: Captures the intellectual's dual consciousness
Insights
This poem illuminates the perennial dilemma of thinkers under authoritarianism - the trade-off between security and authenticity. Its warning about "plain speech" resonates across eras where truth-telling carries risks. The parrot's clipped wings symbolize how power structures limit intellectual flight, while the gilded cage represents the seductive traps of patronage. Ultimately, the poem suggests that survival sometimes demands strategic silence, but at the cost of one's inner freedom - a sobering meditation on the price of dissent throughout history.
Poem translator
Xu Yuanchong (许渊冲)
About the poet
Luo Yin (罗隐), 833 - 909 AD, was a poet of the Tang Dynasty, a native of Hangzhou. His poems have the spirit of entering the world by facing the reality and life directly, bravely fighting against the darkness of the society with his poetic pen, attacking the bad government of the society, reflecting the hardship of the people in the society and expressing his personal hardships.
