Home › Poems › Viewing the Vast Sea
Guān Cāng HǎiViewing the Vast Sea 观沧海
Cao Cao looks at the sea; the sun, moon and stars seem to rise from it.
Original Chinese text with pinyin
日月之行
rì yuè zhī xíng
若出其中
ruò chū qí zhōng
星汉灿烂
xīng hàn càn làn
若出其里
ruò chū qí lǐ
Simplified characters; traditional title: 觀滄海. 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 courses of the sun and moon
seem to rise from within it;
the brilliant Milky Way
seems to emerge from inside it.
Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.
Line by line
Meaning and imagery
Cao Cao looks at the sea; the sun, moon and stars seem to rise from it. The scene stays with you.
Background
Cao Cao looks at the sea; the sun, moon and stars seem to rise from it.
Key words
- 日月 rì yuè
- key word in the poem
- 之行 zhī xíng
- key word in the poem
- 若出 ruò chū
- key word in the poem
About the poet: Cao Cao
Cao Cao renewed yuefu song with spare, forceful verse.
Lifetime: 155–220. Other famous works: Viewing the Vast Sea (观沧海); Though the Tortoise Lives Long (龟虽寿).