Thoughts on the River in Early Cold
早寒江上有懷
Zǎo hán jiāng shàng yǒu huái
Falling leaves and migrating geese sharpen a traveler’s longing, but the river crossing remains uncertain. 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
- 木落 mù luò tree leaves fall
- 雁 yàn geese
- 南度 nán dù pass south
Word meanings — Line 2
- 北風 běi fēng north wind
- 江上 jiāng shàng on the river
- 寒 hán cold
Word meanings — Line 3
- 我家 wǒ jiā my home
- 襄水 xiāng shuǐ Xiang waters
- 上 shàng beside
Word meanings — Line 4
- 遙隔 yáo gé separated far away
- 楚雲 chǔ yún clouds of Chu
- 端 duān far edge
Word meanings — Line 5
- 鄉淚 xiāng lèi tears for home
- 客中 kè zhōng while away
- 盡 jìn run out
Word meanings — Line 6
- 孤帆 gū fān lone sail
- 天際 tiān jì sky's edge
- 看 kàn watch
Word meanings — Line 7
- 迷津 mí jīn lose the way to the ford
- 欲 yù want
- 有問 yǒu wèn have someone to ask
Word meanings — Line 8
- 平海 píng hǎi wide level waters
- 夕 xī dusk
- 漫漫 màn màn vast and indistinct
English translation by PoemWell.
Read the whole poem
Original
木落雁南度，
北風江上寒。
我家襄水上，
遙隔楚雲端。
鄉淚客中盡，
孤帆天際看。
迷津欲有問，
平海夕漫漫。
Translation
Leaves fall from trees; geese pass south.
The north wind makes the river cold.
My home is beside the Xiang waters,
far away beyond the clouds of Chu.
My tears for home run out while I am a traveler;
I watch a lone sail at the edge of the sky.
Lost at the crossing, I want someone to ask;
the level waters stretch endlessly in the dusk.
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?
木落雁南度，
Pronunciation hint
mù luò
Reveal meaning and translation
木落 — tree leaves fall
Leaves fall from trees; geese pass south.
-
Line 5 · What does the marked word mean?
鄉淚客中盡，
Pronunciation hint
xiāng lèi
Reveal meaning and translation
鄉淚 — tears for home
My tears for home run out while I am a traveler;
-
Line 8 · What does the marked word mean?
平海夕漫漫。
Pronunciation hint
píng hǎi
Reveal meaning and translation
平海 — wide level waters
the level waters stretch endlessly in the dusk.
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 season has directions
雁南度 gives the geese a southward passage, while 北風 brings the cold from the north. The English adds “leaves” to make 木落 readable as the shedding of foliage. The first pair has the clarity of things whose movement and direction the traveler can recognize.
Lines 3–4 · Home can be named
我家 brings the voice close after the wind and geese. 襄水 names the waters by the speaker’s home and has a different written name from 湘. 隔 makes the clouds of Chu a separation, and 遙 enlarges it. The location is known, even when the view cannot reach it.
Lines 5–6 · Where the eye can reach
盡 takes the traveler’s tears to exhaustion. The eye continues out to 天際, the edge of the sky, where the selected reading has 孤帆, a lone sail. The recorded 歸帆 would make it a returning sail. Our English follows 孤, keeping the boat’s destination open.
Lines 7–8 · A question left at the crossing
迷津 is being lost at a ford or crossing and can also suggest the older literary problem of finding one’s way. 欲有問 gives the traveler a wish to ask. The final line answers with 平海 and evening, an expanse of level water rather than an arrival. The repetition in 漫漫 prolongs the view after the question.
Form and tone
The five-character regulated verse gives clear directions, south and north, before ending in uncertainty about the traveler’s own route. 寒, 端, 看, and 漫 carry the historical even-line rhyme; modern pinyin is only a pronunciation aid.
See the regulated verse guide for the form. Pinyin gives modern Mandarin pronunciation; no unverified historical tone grid is supplied.
Historical context
A seasonal migration makes the human traveler’s inability to settle more painful. The poem supplies home, distance, tears, and an uncertain crossing without naming a successful arrival. Its final view keeps the problem open.
Continue with Meng Haoran or the homesickness shelf.
Sources
Chinese text compared with 早寒江上有懷, public transcription on Wikisource. We follow 孤帆天際看 in the cited text, rather than its recorded variant 歸帆. The sail is translated as solitary, without adding an explicit homeward destination. 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
Meng Haoran. “Thoughts on the River in Early Cold” (早寒江上有懷). PoemWell. English translation by PoemWell. Updated .
https://poemwell.org/poems/early-cold-thoughts-on-the-river
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.