Army Song: The Report Arrives
從軍行七首（其五）
Cóng jūn xíng qī shǒu · qí wǔ
Wang Changling begins with troops moving into dust, then lets an earlier battle arrive as a report before the march is complete.
Read the poem
Read the original and its translation together. Open a line’s word meanings for a closer look.
About the text and pronunciation
The simplified view changes character forms, not the edition. Notes and sources retain the cited text.
The Chinese source is shown in traditional characters by default, with a simplified view available. Pinyin is modern standard Mandarin, a reading aid, not Tang or Song pronunciation.
Word by word, in the order of the line. A gloss is a crib. It is not the translation.
Word meanings — Line 1
- 大 dà great
- 漠 mò desert
- 風 fēng wind
- 塵 chén dust
- 日 rì sun
- 色 sè light
- 昏 hūn dim
Word meanings — Line 2
- 紅 hóng red
- 旗 qí flag
- 半 bàn half
- 捲 juǎn rolled
- 出 chū leaves
- 轅 yuán camp
- 門 mén gate
Word meanings — Line 3
- 前 qián advance
- 軍 jūn army
- 夜 yè night
- 戰 zhàn battle
- 洮 táo Tao
- 河 hé River
- 北 běi north
Word meanings — Line 4
- 已 yǐ already
- 報 bào report
- 生 shēng alive
- 擒 qín capture
- 吐 tǔ Tu
- 谷 yù yu
- 渾 hún hun
English translation by PoemWell.
Read the whole poem
Original
大漠風塵日色昏，
紅旗半捲出轅門。
前軍夜戰洮河北，
已報生擒吐谷渾。
Translation
Wind and dust dim the daylight over the great desert;
a red flag, half furled, passes out through the camp gate.
The advance force fought north of the Tao River last night—
news already says the Tuyuhun leader was taken alive.
Try it from memory
After reading, recall the underlined word or phrase in each line. Say its meaning before opening the answer. These prompts use the text edition printed above.
-
Line 1 · What does the marked word mean?
大漠風塵日色昏，
Pronunciation hint
chén
Reveal meaning and translation
塵 — dust
Wind and dust dim the daylight over the great desert;
-
Line 3 · What does the marked word mean?
前軍夜戰洮河北，
Pronunciation hint
zhàn
Reveal meaning and translation
戰 — battle
The advance force fought north of the Tao River last night—
-
Line 4 · What does the marked word mean?
已報生擒吐谷渾。
Pronunciation hint
qín
Reveal meaning and translation
擒 — capture
news already says the Tuyuhun leader was taken alive.
One more question: what changes?
Compare the opening and closing lines. What changes in the scene, the speaker’s attention, or the feeling? Choose a Chinese word as evidence, then compare your reading with the notes. More than one answer may be reasonable.
Line-by-line notes →Self-check at your own pace. No score or progress is saved. Open only the answers you want included when printing.
Line-by-line notes
Lines 1–2 · A flag moves through dust
日色昏 makes the daylight dim. 風塵 gives the desert a wind full of dust and can also suggest the commotion of a campaign. The half-furled flag stays visible in that haze. 出轅門 gives it a definite direction through the army camp’s gate. The reader sees this force setting out.
Lines 3–4 · The report is ahead of the march
前軍 identifies the troops already in advance. 夜戰 places their fighting north of the Tao River at night. 已報 then makes the news arrive before the poem has described a battle in progress. 生擒 means taking someone alive. 吐谷渾, Tǔyùhún, names the historical people or polity and stands for the opposing leader in the English. The poem leaves combat between its two moments, the sight of departure and the receipt of completed news.
Form and tone
This fifth seven-character jueju rhymes 昏, 門, and 渾. The hinge is 已, 'already': the second pair overtakes the marching first pair with completed news. Modern pinyin is supplied; no historical level/oblique grid is invented.
Historical context
Wang Changling can make a frontier poem out of the transmission of news. Compare The Vow at Qinghai, which leaves victory in the future, and Beyond the Frontier: After the Battle, which keeps the reader among combat's physical residues. Each chooses a different distance from the fighting.
Sources
《全唐詩》, juan 143, Wang Changling; the main reading in the Wikisource transcription is followed. A numbered poem is printed complete, not excerpted from within a poem. Punctuation is editorial.
English translation, gloss, and notes by PoemWell. The translation is original to this site.
The Chinese source is shown in traditional characters by default, with a simplified view available. Pinyin is modern standard Mandarin, a reading aid, not Tang or Song pronunciation.
Updated .
Cite this reading
Wang Changling. “Army Song: The Report Arrives” (從軍行七首（其五）). PoemWell. English translation by PoemWell. Updated .
https://poemwell.org/poems/army-song-victory-report
Credit the poet for the Chinese original and PoemWell for this translation and commentary. Use the permanent page link above; source editions are listed separately.