Replying to Lu Li
答陸澧
Dá Lù Lǐ
Zhang Jiuling asks how much pine-leaf wine his friend has made and promises that neither distance nor snow will prevent a visit.
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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
- 松 sōng pine
- 葉 yè leaves
- 堪 kān can
- 為 wéi make
- 酒 jiǔ wine
Word meanings — Line 2
- 春 chūn spring
- 來 lái since
- 釀 niàng brew
- 幾 jǐ how
- 多 duō much
Word meanings — Line 3
- 不 bù not
- 辭 cí decline
- 山 shān mountain
- 路 lù road
- 遠 yuǎn far
Word meanings — Line 4
- 踏 tà tread
- 雪 xuě snow
- 也 yě even
- 相 xiāng you
- 過 guò visit
English translation by PoemWell.
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Original
松葉堪為酒，
春來釀幾多。
不辭山路遠，
踏雪也相過。
Translation
Pine needles can go into wine—
how much have you brewed since spring came?
I will not object to a long mountain road:
even through snow, I will come to see you.
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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?
松葉堪為酒，
Pronunciation hint
kān
Reveal meaning and translation
堪 — can
Pine needles can go into wine—
-
Line 3 · What does the marked word mean?
不辭山路遠，
Pronunciation hint
shān
Reveal meaning and translation
山 — mountain
I will not object to a long mountain road:
-
Line 4 · What does the marked word mean?
踏雪也相過。
Pronunciation hint
yě
Reveal meaning and translation
也 — even
even through snow, I will come to see you.
One more question: what changes?
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Line-by-line notes
Lines 1–2 · A question with a visit in it
松葉 gives the wine its unusual starting material, pine needles. 堪為 speaks of what they can be made into, and 釀 turns that possibility toward the friend's brewing. The question 幾多 asks about quantity with the easy expectation of a guest hoping there will be some to share. The English carries the question from what can be brewed to what has been made since spring came.
Lines 3–4 · The speaker takes on the distance
不辭 gives the long mountain road as a difficulty the speaker is willing to accept. 踏雪 makes that willingness physical in the next line. 相 in 相過 directs the visit toward the friend, and 過 gives the English “come to see you.” The small word 也 carries “even” through the sentence. The snow still makes the journey hard, and the answer turns that difficulty into a measure of the speaker's wish to come.
Form and tone
The five-character quatrain begins with the drink and ends with the visitor. Its question leads into an undertaking, giving a brief reply the energy of movement. The pinyin uses modern Mandarin; no historical tone grid is asserted.
Historical context
The title identifies this as Zhang Jiuling's answer to Lu Li. We need not reconstruct the missing first message to hear the invitation-and-response situation. The wine matters because it gives friends a reason to cross the distance between their homes.
Sources
Chinese text follows Quan Tang shi, juan 49, Da Lu Li. Punctuation is editorial. English translation and annotations 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
Zhang Jiuling. “Replying to Lu Li” (答陸澧). PoemWell. English translation by PoemWell. Updated .
https://poemwell.org/poems/replying-to-lu-li
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