Autumn Poem, I
秋詞二首·其一
Qiū cí èr shǒu · qí yī
Liu Yuxi’s first Autumn Poem, with pinyin and English notes on its argument against autumn sadness and the crane that carries poetic feeling upward.
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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
- 自 zì since
- 古 gǔ antiquity
- 逢 féng meet
- 秋 qiū autumn
- 悲 bēi grieve
- 寂寥 jì liáo desolation; emptiness
Word meanings — Line 2
- 我 wǒ I
- 言 yán say
- 秋 qiū autumn
- 日 rì days
- 勝 shèng surpass
- 春 chūn spring
- 朝 zhāo mornings
Word meanings — Line 3
- 晴 qíng clear
- 空 kōng sky
- 一 yí one
- 鶴 hè crane
- 排 pái push through
- 雲 yún clouds
- 上 shàng rise
Word meanings — Line 4
- 便 biàn then
- 引 yǐn draw
- 詩情 shī qíng poetic feeling or impulse
- 到 dào to
- 碧霄 bì xiāo blue heavens
English translation by PoemWell.
Read the whole poem
Original
自古逢秋悲寂寥，
我言秋日勝春朝。
晴空一鶴排雲上，
便引詩情到碧霄。
Translation
Since ancient times, autumn has meant grief and emptiness;
I say an autumn day surpasses a spring morning.
In a clear sky, a crane thrusts through the clouds;
it draws the impulse of my poem into the blue.
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?
自古逢秋悲寂寥，
Pronunciation hint
jì liáo
Reveal meaning and translation
寂寥 — desolation; emptiness
Since ancient times, autumn has meant grief and emptiness;
-
Line 3 · What does the marked word mean?
晴空一鶴排雲上，
Pronunciation hint
hè
Reveal meaning and translation
鶴 — crane
In a clear sky, a crane thrusts through the clouds;
-
Line 4 · What does the marked word mean?
便引詩情到碧霄。
Pronunciation hint
shī qíng
Reveal meaning and translation
詩情 — poetic feeling or impulse
it draws the impulse of my poem into the blue.
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
An argument announced openly
自古 gives the first line the weight of an inherited response: meeting autumn has meant grieving at desolation. The next line counters with 我言, “I say.” The speaker does not need to deny that other poems have felt sadness; the first line names the convention so that his own judgment can answer it.
勝 means surpass. 春朝 is a spring morning, making a pointed comparison with a season readers might expect to favor. The poem’s force lies in taking a position rather than describing an emotionally neutral calendar.
A single upward movement
晴空 opens a clear sky. 一鶴 puts one crane into it; 排雲 makes the bird’s movement energetic, pushing through or parting cloud. The clear sky does not require a claim that every part of it is cloudless.
便引 turns that movement into an impulse for poetry. 詩情 belongs to the activity of making or feeling a poem; the crane is not carrying a physical manuscript. 到 gives the inward motion a destination in the blue heights. Scene and argument meet because both rise.
This is the first complete quatrain of a pair. The second, visible in the source, develops a different autumn view; it is not a missing second stanza of this four-line work. Compare Autumn Evening in the Mountains: Wang Wei finds grounds to remain, while Liu Yuxi finds an upward direction for feeling.
The translation keeps “thrusts” for 排, a verb with resistance in it. A crane merely floating through blue sky would offer a pretty scene. The stronger movement fits the first couplet’s active disagreement and makes the ascent of 詩情 feel like a response to something the eye has just seen.
Form and tone
This is the complete first poem of a pair, each a seven-character quatrain. The first couplet debates; the second demonstrates through motion. The repeated 秋 in the opening pair creates a common subject around which the speaker reverses the usual judgment.
See jueju for the larger formal pattern. Pinyin gives modern Mandarin pronunciation; a historical level/oblique grid is not inferred from those modern tones.
Historical context
Liu Yuxi’s first Autumn Poem is useful beside other seasonal works because it names the inherited expectation that they may leave unstated. Its challenge works as literary argument without requiring a claim about the poet’s permanent temperament or an exact date of composition.
Continue with Liu Yuxi and the nature reading path. Compare A Mountain Walk and Late Spring: Grass and Trees using the reading connections below.
Read this poem alongside the contrasting selections in our four-season reading guide.
Sources
全唐詩/卷365 — Chinese text. Checked against the linked Wikisource transcription. The displayed traditional text follows this reading. Punctuation and line breaks are editorial. Translation, glosses, 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
Liu Yuxi. “Autumn Poem, I” (秋詞二首·其一). PoemWell. English translation by PoemWell. Updated .
https://poemwell.org/poems/autumn-poem-liu-yuxi
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.