Home › Poems › On Yueyang Tower
Dēng Yuè Yáng LóuOn Yueyang Tower 登岳阳楼
Du Fu, old and ill, gazes over Dongting Lake.
Original Chinese text with pinyin
昔闻洞庭水
xī wén dòng tíng shuǐ
今上岳阳楼
jīn shàng yuè yáng lóu
吴楚东南坼
wú chǔ dōng nán chè
乾坤日夜浮
qián kūn rì yè fú
亲朋无一字
qīn péng wú yī zì
老病有孤舟
lǎo bìng yǒu gū zhōu
戎马关山北
róng mǎ guān shān běi
凭轩涕泗流
píng xuān tì sì liú
Simplified characters; traditional title: 登岳陽樓.
English translation
I had always heard of Lake Dongting—
And now at last I have climbed to this tower.
With Wu country to the east of me and Chu to the south,
I can see heaven and earth endlessly floating…
But no word has reached me from kin or friends.
I am old and sick and alone with my boat.
North of this wall there are wars and mountains—
And here by the rail how can I help crying?
Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.
Line by line
Meaning and imagery
The first couplet fulfills a lifelong wish; the second is one of the grandest in Chinese poetry, as the lake seems to split two ancient states apart and carry the whole universe on its surface. Then the scale collapses: no letters, an old man in a boat, war in the north, tears. The contrast between cosmic vastness and personal helplessness gives the poem its power.
Background
Written in 768, two years before Du Fu's death, when he was drifting by boat through Hunan, poor and sick, while fighting continued in the north.
Key words
- 坼 chè
- to split apart
- 乾坤 qián kūn
- heaven and earth
- 戎马 róng mǎ
- war horses; warfare
- 凭轩 píng xuān
- leaning on a railing
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).
More by Du Fu
- Spring View春望
- Quatrain (The River Blue)绝句
- Climbing High登高
- Moonlit Night月夜
- Happy Rain on a Spring Night春夜喜雨
- Meeting Li Guinian in Jiangnan江南逢李龟年
- Qujiang曲江
- The Officer at Shihao Village石壕吏