Autumn Night Song
秋夜曲
Qiū yè qǔ
A musician keeps playing in the cold because returning to an empty room is harder. Read the Chinese, pinyin, word meanings, and original English translation.
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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
- 桂魄 guì pò the moon
- 初生 chū shēng just arise
- 秋露 qiū lù autumn dew
- 微 wēi slight
Word meanings — Line 2
- 輕羅 qīng luó light silk gauze
- 已 yǐ already
- 薄 bó thin
- 未 wèi not yet
- 更衣 gēng yī change clothes
Word meanings — Line 3
- 銀箏 yín zhēng silver-adorned zheng
- 夜久 yè jiǔ night grows long
- 殷勤 yīn qín diligently; with care
- 弄 nòng play
Word meanings — Line 4
- 心 xīn heart
- 怯 qiè fear
- 空房 kōng fáng empty room
- 不忍 bù rěn cannot bear
- 歸 guī return
English translation by PoemWell.
Read the whole poem
Original
桂魄初生秋露微，
輕羅已薄未更衣。
銀箏夜久殷勤弄，
心怯空房不忍歸。
Translation
The moon has just appeared; autumn dew is faint.
The light silk is already too thin, but no clothes are changed.
Late into the night, the silvered zheng is played with care;
the heart fears the empty room and cannot bear to return.
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.
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Line 1 · What does the marked word mean?
桂魄初生秋露微，
Pronunciation hint
guì pò
Reveal meaning and translation
桂魄 — the moon
The moon has just appeared; autumn dew is faint.
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Line 3 · What does the marked word mean?
銀箏夜久殷勤弄，
Pronunciation hint
yín zhēng
Reveal meaning and translation
銀箏 — silver-adorned zheng
Late into the night, the silvered zheng is played with care;
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Line 4 · What does the marked word mean?
心怯空房不忍歸。
Pronunciation hint
kōng fáng
Reveal meaning and translation
空房 — empty room
the heart fears the empty room and cannot bear to return.
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.
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Line-by-line notes
Lines 1–2 · The night's change reaches the body
桂魄 names the moon through its association with the gui tree. 初生 catches it at its first appearance, and 微 leaves the autumn dew barely perceptible. The next line picks up that delicacy with 輕羅, light silk, then sets 已 against 未. The garment has already become too thin for the cold, and the person has yet to change it. 更衣 is read gēng yī, “change clothes.”
Lines 3–4 · Staying with the instrument
The instrument is a zheng, a plucked zither with bridges, distinct from the qin in Bamboo Grove. 夜久 marks how long the night has gone on, while 殷勤 describes the care the player still gives the strings. The English leaves the player unnamed, as does the verse.
The last line brings the reluctance behind that delay into focus. 心怯 gives fear to the heart, and 不忍歸 makes returning feel unbearable. 空房 names the empty room the person would return to. The poem leaves the reason for the room's emptiness open. The reader can trace the delay back to 未更衣, when a change of clothes would have meant going inside.
Form and tone
The seven-character lines defer their explanation until the close. 微, 衣, and 歸 rhyme; the repeated signs of continuing time, 已 and 夜久, make the final refusal to return more pressing.
See the quatrain guide for the form. Pinyin gives modern Mandarin pronunciation; no unverified historical tone grid is supplied.
Historical context
This song presents an imagined interior voice rather than an identified event from Wang Wei’s life. Its music delays an encounter with absence. The surrounding luxury does not remove the cold or the difficulty of going indoors.
Continue with Wang Wei or the love shelf.
Sources
Chinese text compared with 秋夜曲, public transcription on Wikisource. Punctuation is editorial; the English translation and reading notes are original to PoemWell.
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 Wei. “Autumn Night Song” (秋夜曲). PoemWell. English translation by PoemWell. Updated .
https://poemwell.org/poems/autumn-night-song-wang-wei
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.