liè列nǚ女cāo操

"Lienü Cao" is an old title for a song played on the qin, a kind of zither. Cao is a type of qin song, and lienü means women of firm virtue. Meng Jiao uses this old title and speaks in the voice of a widow. She says she will never marry again after her husband's death, and her heart will stay still. This was the old ideal of a wife's faithfulness. Another view says Meng Jiao uses the faithful wife to speak of his own firm principles. We do not know when he wrote it.

《列女操》是一个古老的琴曲题目。“操”是琴曲的一种，“列女”指有节操的女子。孟郊用这个旧题目，借一位女子的口吻，说丈夫死后她决不改嫁、心如止水。这是古代推崇的“贞节”观念。一说孟郊是借女子守节，表达自己坚守节操、不随便改变心志。这首诗的写作时间不详。

Meng Jiao (751–814) was a Tang poet who was poor all his life. He failed the imperial exam many times and passed only in his forties. He worked hard over every word, and his style is cool and spare. People paired him with Jia Dao as "Meng the cold, Jia the thin". His best-known poem is "Song of the Traveling Son".

孟郊（751—814），唐代诗人，一生贫穷，考了很多次才中进士，四十多岁才中。他写诗喜欢苦心琢磨字句，风格清冷瘦硬，和贾岛并称“郊寒岛瘦”。他最有名的诗是《游子吟》。

The first two lines use comparisons. The trees grow old side by side, and the ducks live and die together. Lines three and four state the point: a faithful wife should do the same. The last two lines are the most famous. She compares her heart to water in a well, deep and still. No wind can stir it, and no wave will rise again. The image is fresh and easy to grasp. Today no one would ask a person to die for someone else. That was an old belief. But the poem's firm, unchanging will still leaves a strong mark.

前两句用梧桐和鸳鸯打比方：树会相伴到老，鸟会同生共死。三四句说出主题：忠贞的妻子也要这样。最后两句最有名：“波澜誓不起，妾心井中水。”她把自己的心比成井里的水，又深又静，风吹不动，再也不起波浪。这个比喻很新鲜，也很好懂。今天我们不会要求谁为别人去死，这是古代的观念。但诗里那种认定了就不改变的坚定，还是让人印象很深。