Seeking Flowers Alone by the River: VI
江畔獨步尋花七絕句·其六
Jiāng pàn dú bù xún huā qī jué jù · qí liù
A flower-heavy path becomes a place of lingering butterflies and repeated birdsong. Read the Chinese, pinyin, word meanings, and original English translation.
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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
- 黃四娘 huáng sì niáng Huang Fourth Sister
- 家 jiā home
- 花 huā flowers
- 滿 mǎn fill
- 蹊 xī path
Word meanings — Line 2
- 千朵萬朵 qiān duǒ wàn duǒ countless blossoms
- 壓 yā press down
- 枝 zhī branches
- 低 dī low
Word meanings — Line 3
- 留連 liú lián linger
- 戲蝶 xì dié playful butterflies
- 時時 shí shí again and again
- 舞 wǔ dance
Word meanings — Line 4
- 自在 zì zài at ease
- 嬌鶯 jiāo yīng lovely orioles
- 恰恰 qià qià bird-call sound
- 啼 tí call
English translation by PoemWell.
Read the whole poem
Original
黃四娘家花滿蹊，
千朵萬朵壓枝低。
留連戲蝶時時舞，
自在嬌鶯恰恰啼。
Translation
At Huang Fourth Sister's home, flowers fill the path;
thousands upon thousands weigh the branches low.
Lingering, the playful butterflies dance again and again;
at ease, lovely orioles call in answering notes.
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?
黃四娘家花滿蹊，
Pronunciation hint
huáng sì niáng
Reveal meaning and translation
黃四娘 — Huang Fourth Sister
At Huang Fourth Sister's home, flowers fill the path;
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Line 3 · What does the marked word mean?
留連戲蝶時時舞，
Pronunciation hint
liú lián
Reveal meaning and translation
留連 — linger
Lingering, the playful butterflies dance again and again;
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Line 4 · What does the marked word mean?
自在嬌鶯恰恰啼。
Pronunciation hint
zì zài
Reveal meaning and translation
自在 — at ease
at ease, lovely orioles call in answering notes.
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: abundance measured by its weight
黃四娘 names a neighbor through a familiar family-rank designation, rendered Fourth Sister in English. 滿蹊 places the flowers along the walking path. 千朵萬朵 expands their number, and 壓枝低 gives that number a visible effect: the laden branches bend low. The poem makes the flowers abundant through force as well as color.
Lines 3–4: two ways of lingering
留連 describes the butterflies staying and turning among the blossoms. 時時 repeats the times at which they dance. 自在 gives the orioles a different ease, while 恰恰 answers the repeated rhythm with the sound of a call. The translation’s “answering notes” gives that sound a shape without supplying words. Both activities slow down what could have been a passing view.
Form and tone
This is the complete sixth quatrain in a seven-poem sequence. Its seven-character lines move from a fixed path to swaying branches, dancing insects, and calls. 蹊, 低, and 啼 supply the rhyme.
See the quatrain guide for the form. Pinyin gives modern Mandarin pronunciation; no unverified historical tone grid is supplied.
Historical context
The sequence is associated with Du Fu’s Chengdu period. A named neighbor’s home gives this scene a domestic scale rather than an idealized garden without residents. We use standard 黃 and 朵 for the witness’s graph forms 黄 and 朶.
Continue with Du Fu or the nature shelf.
Sources
Chinese text compared with 江畔獨步尋花七絕句·其六, 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
Du Fu. “Seeking Flowers Alone by the River: VI” (江畔獨步尋花七絕句·其六). PoemWell. English translation by PoemWell. Updated .
https://poemwell.org/poems/flowers-by-the-river-six
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.