Galleries and Translations > Recent Works / Poetry and Others > Upon the Lake on an Autumn Day《 秋日湖上 》
Upon the Lake on an Autumn Day
(《 秋日湖上 》)
Translation
Original Chinese
English Translation
1. 落日五湖游,
I tour the Five Lakes (五湖, 1) during Sunset,
2. 煙波處處愁.
The fog is over the surface, and everywhere seems so depressed.
3. 沈浮千古事,
The tales of the rise-and-fall (沈浮, 2) from aeons past (千古, 3),
4. 誰與問東流.
About those bygones (東流, 4), who can I find to ask?
(translated by KS Vincent POON, November 2024)
Remarks
This short poem was written by Xue Ying (薛瑩) of the Tang Dynasty. Very little is known about the poet except he lived during the era of Emperor Wenzong of Tang (唐文宗, 809-840) (5), a period when the Niu–Li Factional Strife (牛李黨爭) was at its peak (6). Many of Xue's works are long lost (7), and only eleven of his poems remain documented in the Complete Tang Poems (《全唐詩》) (8).
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(1) "五湖" here refers to "Dongting Lake (洞庭湖)" in Hunan province (湖南省), as in 杜甫《歸雁》: "年年霜露隔, 不過五湖秋. " 朱鶴齡注: "雁至衡陽則回. 此五湖當指洞庭湖言. " See《漢語大詞典》. Shanghai: 上海辭書出版社, 2008, p.381.
(2) "沈浮" here is "rise and fall (盛衰) ", as in 《莊子∙知北遊》："天下莫不沈浮, 終身不故; 陰陽四時運行, 各得其序. " See《漢語大詞典》. Ibid., p.1002.
(3) "千古" here means "aeons past (久遠的年代) ", as in 酈道元《水經注∙睢水四》: "追芳昔娛, 神遊千古, 故亦一時之盛事. " Ibid., 2008, p.834.
(4) "東流" literally means "the waters that had already flown (流) east (東)", which is a metaphor for "bygones (事物消逝, 不可復返)", as in 李白《金陵歌送別范宣》: "四十餘帝三百秋, 功名事跡隨東流. " Ibid., p.842.
(5) 陳振孫,《直齋書錄解題》Vol.19. 欽定四庫全書薈要史部, 乾隆四十一年版, pp.19b-20a.
(6) 司馬光, 《資治通鑑》Vol.245, 胡三省注. Hong Kong: 世界書局, 1970, pp.7899-7900.
(7) 張撝之,《中國歷代人名大辭典》Vol.2. Shanghai: 上海古籍出版社, 1999, p.2536.
(8) 曹寅,《全唐詩》Vol.542. Beijing: 中華書局, 1979, pp.6264-6266.
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