Regret in the Chamber
閨怨
Guī yuàn
A young wife’s spring outing becomes regret for the ambition that sent her husband away in Wang Changling’s sudden-turn quatrain.
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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
- 閨 guī chamber
- 中 zhōng within
- 少 shào young
- 婦 fù wife
- 不 bù not
- 曾 céng ever
- 愁 chóu sorrow
Word meanings — Line 2
- 春 chūn spring
- 日 rì day
- 凝 níng careful
- 妝 zhuāng adornment
- 上 shàng ascend
- 翠 cuì green
- 樓 lóu tower
Word meanings — Line 3
- 忽 hū suddenly
- 見 jiàn sees
- 陌 mò road
- 頭 tóu edge
- 楊 yáng poplar
- 柳 liǔ willow
- 色 sè color
Word meanings — Line 4
- 悔 huǐ regrets
- 教 jiào letting
- 夫 fū husband
- 婿 xù husband
- 覓 mì seek
- 封 fēng enfeoffment
- 侯 hóu marquis
English translation by PoemWell.
Read the whole poem
Original
閨中少婦不曾愁，
春日凝妝上翠樓。
忽見陌頭楊柳色，
悔教夫婿覓封侯。
Translation
The young wife in her chamber had never felt this sorrow;
on a spring day, carefully adorned, she climbs the green tower.
Suddenly she sees the willows' color beside the road,
and regrets sending her husband to seek a marquis's rank.
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?
閨中少婦不曾愁，
Pronunciation hint
fù
Reveal meaning and translation
婦 — wife
The young wife in her chamber had never felt this sorrow;
-
Line 3 · What does the marked word mean?
忽見陌頭楊柳色，
Pronunciation hint
tóu
Reveal meaning and translation
頭 — edge
Suddenly she sees the willows' color beside the road,
-
Line 4 · What does the marked word mean?
悔教夫婿覓封侯。
Pronunciation hint
xù
Reveal meaning and translation
婿 — husband
and regrets sending her husband to seek a marquis's rank.
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 · Before the change
不曾愁 postpones the feeling named by the title. The woman still has the composed adornment of 凝妝 and the purposeful action of climbing the green tower. 上 moves her from the chamber to an elevated view. A spring day initially gives her something to look at rather than something to lament.
Lines 3–4 · A sight changes the earlier decision
忽見 makes the turn sudden. 楊柳色 is the visible color of the roadside willows. Their association with parting can deepen the moment, and the green also tells her how much of a season she is seeing apart from her husband. In 悔教, she regrets having sent, encouraged, or let him go. 覓封侯 names the hoped-for rank in concrete terms. The last line makes her reconsider that earlier choice as soon as she sees what the spring has become.
Form and tone
The seven-character jueju rhymes 愁, 樓, and 侯. 不曾 and 悔 frame a reversal; 忽 is the sharp pivot that enables it. The last word names the worldly reward against which absence has been measured. Pinyin is modern Mandarin; no historical tone grid is supplied.
Historical context
Wang Changling writes in an imagined domestic voice linked to the frontier. Compare Yi Jian Mei, where longing is sustained without a named career decision, and The Vow at Qinghai, where a military speaker makes return conditional on victory. Reading the positions together prevents either from standing for everyone.
Sources
《全唐詩》, juan 143, Wang Changling; the main reading in the Wikisource transcription is followed. A numbered poem is printed complete, not excerpted from within a poem. Punctuation is editorial.
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 Changling. “Regret in the Chamber” (閨怨). PoemWell. English translation by PoemWell. Updated .
https://poemwell.org/poems/regret-in-the-chamber
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