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Tang Dynasty Lüshi Du Fu

News That the Imperial Army Has Recovered the North

聞官軍收河南河北

Wén guān jūn shōu Hénán Héběi

News of military recovery turns tears into a rush of plans for the journey home. 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.

01

劍外忽傳收薊北，

jiàn wài hū chuán shōu jì běi

Beyond the Sword Pass, sudden news: Jibei is recovered.

Word meanings — Line 1
  1. 劍外 jiàn wài beyond the Sword Pass
  2. 忽傳 hū chuán suddenly reported
  3. 收 shōu recover
  4. 薊北 jì běi Jibei
02

初聞涕淚滿衣裳。

chū wén tì lèi mǎn yī cháng

At the first hearing, tears soak my clothes.

Word meanings — Line 2
  1. 初聞 chū wén first hear
  2. 涕淚 tì lèi tears
  3. 滿 mǎn fill
  4. 衣裳 yī cháng clothing
03

卻看妻子愁何在，

què kàn qī zǐ chóu hé zài

I turn to my wife and children: where has the sorrow gone?

Word meanings — Line 3
  1. 卻看 què kàn turn to look
  2. 妻子 qī zǐ wife and children
  3. 愁 chóu sorrow
  4. 何在 hé zài where is it
04

漫卷詩書喜欲狂。

màn juǎn shī shū xǐ yù kuáng

I roll my poems and books together, almost wild with joy.

Word meanings — Line 4
  1. 漫卷 màn juǎn roll up carelessly
  2. 詩書 shī shū poems and books
  3. 喜 xǐ joy
  4. 欲狂 yù kuáng about to go wild
05

白日放歌須縱酒，

bái rì fàng gē xū zòng jiǔ

In broad daylight I must sing aloud and give wine free rein;

Word meanings — Line 5
  1. 白日 bái rì broad daylight
  2. 放歌 fàng gē sing freely
  3. 須 xū must
  4. 縱酒 zòng jiǔ drink without restraint
06

青春作伴好還鄉。

qīng chūn zuò bàn hǎo huán xiāng

with green spring as companion, it is good to head home.

Word meanings — Line 6
  1. 青春 qīng chūn green spring
  2. 作伴 zuò bàn act as companion
  3. 好 hǎo good to
  4. 還鄉 huán xiāng return home
07

即從巴峽穿巫峽，

jí cóng bā xiá chuān wū xiá

Straight from Ba Gorge through Wu Gorge,

Word meanings — Line 7
  1. 即從 jí cóng straight from
  2. 巴峽 bā xiá Ba Gorge
  3. 穿 chuān pass through
  4. 巫峽 wū xiá Wu Gorge
08

便下襄陽向洛陽。

biàn xià xiāng yáng xiàng luò yáng

then down to Xiangyang, on toward Luoyang!

Word meanings — Line 8
  1. 便下 biàn xià then go down to
  2. 襄陽 xiāng yáng Xiangyang
  3. 向 xiàng toward
  4. 洛陽 luò yáng Luoyang

English translation by PoemWell.

Read the whole poem

Original

劍外忽傳收薊北，

初聞涕淚滿衣裳。

卻看妻子愁何在，

漫卷詩書喜欲狂。

白日放歌須縱酒，

青春作伴好還鄉。

即從巴峽穿巫峽，

便下襄陽向洛陽。

Translation

Beyond the Sword Pass, sudden news: Jibei is recovered.

At the first hearing, tears soak my clothes.

I turn to my wife and children: where has the sorrow gone?

I roll my poems and books together, almost wild with joy.

In broad daylight I must sing aloud and give wine free rein;

with green spring as companion, it is good to head home.

Straight from Ba Gorge through Wu Gorge,

then down to Xiangyang, on toward Luoyang!

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.

  1. Line 1 · What does the marked word mean?

    劍外忽傳收薊北，

    Pronunciation hint

    jiàn wài

    Reveal meaning and translation

    劍外 — beyond the Sword Pass

    Beyond the Sword Pass, sudden news: Jibei is recovered.

  2. Line 5 · What does the marked word mean?

    白日放歌須縱酒，

    Pronunciation hint

    bái rì

    Reveal meaning and translation

    白日 — broad daylight

    In broad daylight I must sing aloud and give wine free rein;

  3. Line 8 · What does the marked word mean?

    便下襄陽向洛陽。

    Pronunciation hint

    biàn xià

    Reveal meaning and translation

    便下 — then go down to

    then down to Xiangyang, on toward Luoyang!

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 →

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Line-by-line notes

Lines 1–2: news reaches a person before a plan does

劍外 gives the location of the hearing, and 薊北, with 薊 read jì, gives the place named in the news. 忽傳 makes the report sudden. 初聞 keeps us at its first impact, registered by tears soaking 衣裳. Their emotion becomes clear as the next two lines unfold.

Lines 3–4: sorrow searched for and gone

卻看 turns the speaker to 妻子, wife and children. 愁何在 asks where sorrow has gone. The English keeps the question instead of describing the family’s feelings for them. 漫卷 lets us see the books rolled up without the ordinary care of packing. 喜欲狂 finally names the joy that prompted the tears.

Lines 5–6: the present opens toward home

放歌 and 縱酒 give the release a voice and a drink. 青春 is spring in its greenness, which the person can now imagine as a companion on the way home. The translation’s “green spring” preserves that seasonal sense.

Lines 7–8: a journey that thought can make at once

即 and 便 move rapidly through the place names. 穿 goes through the gorges, 下 continues downriver, and 向 points onward. The route is anticipated in the excitement of the news. The rush of verbs makes it feel as though the speaker has already begun to travel.

Form and tone

Eight seven-character lines move with an unusually rapid succession of actions: hearing, looking, gathering books, singing, and imagining departure. 裳, 狂, 鄉, and 陽 rhyme. The paired place-names make the closing couplet feel like movement rather than a static list.

See the regulated verse guide for the form. Pinyin gives modern Mandarin pronunciation; no unverified historical tone grid is supplied.

Historical context

The poem responds to news associated with the collapse of Shi Chaoyi’s forces in 763. Its immediate scale is domestic: a family may be able to return home. The text’s delight should not be flattened into a claim that every conflict of the period ended at once.

Continue with Du Fu or the homesickness shelf.

Sources

Chinese text compared with 聞官軍收河南河北, 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. “News That the Imperial Army Has Recovered the North” (聞官軍收河南河北). PoemWell. English translation by PoemWell. Updated .

https://poemwell.org/poems/news-of-the-imperial-armys-recovery

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.