Fifteen Nights Looking at the Moon Ancient Poem Translation Commentary

Fifteen Nights Looking at the Moon in Ancient Chinese Poetry:

Original text:

Fifteen Nights Looking at the Moon

[Tang] Wang Jian

Crows roosting on white trees in the middle of the garden, and the osmanthus blossoms are wet with the sound of cold dew.

Tonight the moon is bright and people are looking at it, I don't know whose home the thoughts of autumn have fallen on.

Translation:

There are magpies and crows perched on the snow-white trees in the courtyard, and the osmanthus blossoms in the courtyard are dampened by the cold dew.

Tonight the bright moon is in the sky and everyone in the world is looking up to it, I wonder to whose house this autumn love can fall?

Works Notes:

1, fifteenth night: refers to the night of the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, that is, the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival. Du Langzhong: i.e. Du Yuanying.

2. Zhongting: i.e. in the court, in the courtyard. Ground White: refers to the way the moonlight shines in the courtyard.

3. Cold Dew: the cold dew of autumn.

4, all: all.

5. Autumn Thoughts (sì): thoughts of autumn, here referring to thoughts of remembrance. In: a "fall".

Poetry Appreciation

This is a seven-character stanza of looking at the moon and thinking of the distance on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival. In folklore, the Mid-Autumn Festival has a long history of formation. The poet looks at the moon and sighs, but the writing style is completely different from other mid-autumn moon poems, very creative and even more memorable.

The poem "Crows Roosting in White Trees in the Middle Kingdom" is a concise and subtle way of writing about the environment of the moon and the mood of the characters. This line, like the first line of Ma Zhiyuan's "Tianjingsha - Autumn Thoughts", immediately pushes the desolate scene to the reader's eyes with the help of the unique scenery, giving people an unforgettable impression. The poet writes about the moonlight in the courtyard, using only the words "white", but it gives people a sense of empty water, quiet and clean, cold.