Home › Poems › Mooring Below Beigu Mountain
Cì Běi Gù Shān XiàMooring Below Beigu Mountain 次北固山下
Wang Wan sailing at year's end: the sun rises from the sea before night is over.
Original Chinese text with pinyin
潮平两岸阔
cháo píng liǎng àn kuò
风正一帆悬
fēng zhèng yī fān xuán
海日生残夜
hǎi rì shēng cán yè
江春入旧年
jiāng chūn rù jiù nián
Simplified characters; traditional title: 次北固山下. This is a long poem; only the best-known lines are shown, and “……” marks omitted passages.
Note on the text: This page presents a well-known excerpt; the full poem is longer in the traditional corpus.
English translation
The tide is level, both banks wide;
the wind is fair, a single sail hangs high.
The sea sun is born from the remnants of night;
the river's spring enters the old year.
Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.
Line by line
Meaning and imagery
Tide level, banks wide, one sail in a fair wind. The sea sun is born from leftover night; river spring enters the old year. Travel time and calendar cross on the Yangtze.
Background
Wang Wan sailing at year's end: the sun rises from the sea before night is over.
Key words
- 北固山 běi gù shān
- key word in the poem
- 残夜 cán yè
- key word in the poem
- 旧年 jiù nián
- key word in the poem
About the poet: Wang Wan
Wang Wan is remembered for Mooring Below Beigu Mountain.
Lifetime: fl. early 8th c.. Other famous works: Mooring Below Beigu Mountain (次北固山下).