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Jué JùQuatrain (The River Blue) 绝句

Du Fu (杜甫, also known as Tu Fu, Du Zimei)｜High Tang｜five-character quatrain

Du Fu's bright spring that only deepens his homesickness.

Original Chinese text with pinyin

江碧鸟逾白
jiāng bì niǎo yú bái

山青花欲燃
shān qīng huā yù rán

今春看又过
jīn chūn kàn yòu guò

何日是归年
hé rì shì guī nián

Simplified characters; traditional title: 絕句.

Note on the text: Variant: older texts write 山青花欲然 (然 = 燃).

English translation

Against the blue river the birds look whiter;

On green hills the flowers seem about to burn.

This spring I watch is passing once more—

When will come the year for me to return?

Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.

Line by line

江碧鸟逾白 · jiāng bì niǎo yú bái — Against the blue river the birds look whiter;

山青花欲燃 · shān qīng huā yù rán — On green hills the flowers seem about to burn.

今春看又过 · jīn chūn kàn yòu guò — This spring I watch is passing once more—

何日是归年 · hé rì shì guī nián — When will come the year for me to return?

Meaning and imagery

The first couplet is a burst of color: blue river, white birds, green hills, flowers like flames, with each color heightening the next. The second couplet turns abruptly: another spring is passing, and he still cannot go home. The beauty of the scene makes the exile's sorrow sharper.

Background

The second of two quatrains written in 764 in Chengdu. This page uses the standard modern text 山青花欲燃; the Japanese data and older editions write 然, which was the original form of 燃 ("to burn").

Key words

逾 yú: even more
欲燃 yù rán: about to burst into flame
归年 guī nián: the year of returning home

About the poet: Du Fu

Du Fu (also romanized Tu Fu) lived through the An Lushan Rebellion, which tore apart the Tang empire and his own family life. His precise, compassionate poems record war, poverty and loyalty, earning him the titles "Sage of Poetry" and "poet-historian."

Lifetime: 712–770. Other famous works: Happy Rain on a Spring Night (春夜喜雨); The Prime Minister of Shu (蜀相); The Officer at Shihao Village (石壕吏); Thoughts While Traveling at Night (旅夜书怀); Qujiang (曲江); Meeting Li Guinian in Jiangnan (江南逢李龟年); Ballad of the Army Carts (兵车行); Moonlit Night (月夜); Spring View (春望); Climbing High (登高); Quatrain: Two Orioles (绝句·两个黄鹂鸣翠柳); On Yueyang Tower (登岳阳楼); My Thatched Hut Torn by the Autumn Wind (茅屋为秋风所破歌).