Tang poem · seven-character quatrain唐诗 · 七言绝句

zhú竹zhī枝cí词èr二shǒu首·qí其yī一

liú刘yǔ禹xī锡Liu Yuxi · Tang唐

Bamboo Branch Song (First of Two)

yáng杨liǔ柳qīng青qīng青jiāng江shuǐ水píng平

wén闻láng郎jiāng江shàng上chàng唱gē歌shēng声

dōng东biān边rì日chū出xī西biān边yǔ雨

dào道shì是wú无qíng晴què却yǒu有qíng晴

Underlined words have notes: tap one. The Pinyin button below shows or hides all pinyin. 一 and 不 are marked with the tone you actually say.字下有虚线的，点开有注释。下方的“拼音”按钮可以显示或隐藏全部拼音。“一”“不”标的是实际读出来的变调。

Line by line逐句翻译

杨柳青青江水平Willows by the shore are fresh and green, and the river runs full to its banks.岸边杨柳青青，江水涨得和岸一样平。
闻郎江上唱歌声Suddenly she hears her young man singing out on the river.忽然听见心上人在江上唱歌的声音。
东边日出西边雨The sun is out in the east, while rain falls in the west.东边出着太阳，西边却下着雨。
道是无晴却有晴You'd say there is no sun, yet there is sun. Just like his heart: you'd say there is no love, yet there is love.说是没有晴天吧，却又有晴天；就像他的心，说无情又像有情。

Words字词注释

杨柳yáng liǔ: yáng liǔ: willow trees.杨柳：柳树。
江水平jiāng shuǐ píng: jiāng shuǐ píng: the river is full, its water almost level with the banks.江水平：江水涨得满满的，和岸差不多平。
闻wén: wén: to hear.闻：听见。
郎láng: láng: what a girl calls the young man she loves, like saying "my dear".郎：女子对心上人的称呼，就像说“情郎”“哥哥”。
唱歌声chàng gē shēng: chàng gē shēng: the sound of singing. Some copies say tà gē, singing while stamping out the beat with your feet, a local custom.唱歌声：一作“踏歌声”。踏歌是一边用脚踏着拍子一边唱歌，是当地的风俗。
道是dào shì: dào shì: you could say, one might say.道是：说是。
晴qíng: qíng: sunny weather. It sounds just like qíng meaning love, so the line talks about the weather and about love at the same time.晴：天晴。这里和“情”同音，一语双关，表面说天气，其实说感情。
却què: què: but, yet.却：可是，却又。

Background创作背景

Bamboo branch songs were folk songs from the Ba and Yu region, today's Chongqing and eastern Sichuan. People sang and danced to them. In the early 820s Liu Yuxi was governor of Kuizhou, today's Fengjie in Chongqing. He heard local people sing these songs and wrote new words in the same folk style. These two poems are usually thought to come from that time. This one shows a girl by the river who hears the young man she loves singing, and feels both happy and unsure.

竹枝词本来是巴渝一带（今天的重庆、四川东部）的民歌，人们边唱边跳。唐穆宗长庆年间，刘禹锡在夔州（今重庆奉节）做刺史，听到当地人唱竹枝词，就学着民歌的样子写了新词。一般认为这两首就是那时写的。诗里写一个少女在江边听见心上人唱歌，心里又喜又疑。

The poet作者

Liu Yuxi (772–842) was a Tang poet and a close friend of Bai Juyi; people spoke of them together. Because he joined a political reform, he was sent away to the south and spent over twenty years in far-off places. He loved folk songs and brought their fresh, lively feeling into poetry. His bamboo branch songs are his most famous try at this.

刘禹锡（772—842），唐代诗人，和白居易是好朋友，人称“刘白”。他因为参加政治改革被贬到南方，在外地漂泊了二十多年。他很喜欢民歌，把民歌清新活泼的味道带进了诗里，竹枝词就是他最有名的尝试。

The mood意境

First picture the scene: green willows on the shore, a full river, and a girl standing by the water. Suddenly the song of the young man she loves comes from the river. Her heart jumps. Is he singing for me? Does he like me or not? The poet does not tell us her thoughts directly. He talks about the weather instead: sun in the east, rain in the west. Is it sunny or rainy? In Chinese, qíng for sunny sounds the same as qíng for love. So when she guesses about the weather, she is really guessing about his heart. Saying two things with one word like this is a pun, and folk songs love it. The whole poem reads like a light, quick song, sweet and a little anxious.

先看画面：岸边柳树青青，江水满满，一个姑娘站在江边。忽然，江上传来心上人的歌声。她心里一动：他是在唱给我听吗？他到底喜不喜欢我？诗人没有直接写她的心事，而是写天气：东边出太阳，西边下雨，你说是晴天还是雨天？“晴”和“情”读音一样，姑娘猜天气，其实是在猜他的心。这种一个词说两件事的写法叫双关，是民歌里常用的。全诗读起来像一首轻快的歌，又甜又有点着急。