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Tang Dynasty Jueju Bai Juyi

Song of the River at Dusk

暮江吟

Mù jiāng yín

Sunset divides the river into colors; night brings a crescent moon and pearl-like dew. Read the original Chinese with pinyin, word meanings, an original English translation, and notes.

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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

一道殘陽鋪水中，

yí dào cán yáng pū shuǐ zhōng

A band of fading sunlight spreads across the water;

Word meanings — Line 1
  1. 一道 yí dào one band
  2. 殘陽 cán yáng setting sunlight
  3. 鋪 pū spread
  4. 水中 shuǐ zhōng on the water
02

半江瑟瑟半江紅。

bàn jiāng sè sè bàn jiāng hóng

half the river is green-blue, half the river red.

Word meanings — Line 2
  1. 半江 bàn jiāng half the river
  2. 瑟瑟 sè sè green-blue
  3. 半江 bàn jiāng half the river
  4. 紅 hóng red
03

可憐九月初三夜，

kě lián jiǔ yuè chū sān yè

How lovely, this night of the ninth month's third day:

Word meanings — Line 3
  1. 可憐 kě lián lovely
  2. 九月 jiǔ yuè ninth lunar month
  3. 初三 chū sān third day
  4. 夜 yè night
04

露似真珠月似弓。

lù sì zhēn zhū yuè sì gōng

dew like pearls, the moon like a bow.

Word meanings — Line 4
  1. 露 lù dew
  2. 似 sì like
  3. 真珠 zhēn zhū pearls
  4. 月 yuè moon
  5. 似 sì like
  6. 弓 gōng bow

English translation by PoemWell.

Read the whole poem

Original

一道殘陽鋪水中，

半江瑟瑟半江紅。

可憐九月初三夜，

露似真珠月似弓。

Translation

A band of fading sunlight spreads across the water;

half the river is green-blue, half the river red.

How lovely, this night of the ninth month's third day:

dew like pearls, the moon like a bow.

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?

    一道殘陽鋪水中，

    Pronunciation hint

    yí dào

    Reveal meaning and translation

    一道 — one band

    A band of fading sunlight spreads across the water;

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

    可憐九月初三夜，

    Pronunciation hint

    kě lián

    Reveal meaning and translation

    可憐 — lovely

    How lovely, this night of the ninth month's third day:

  3. Line 4 · What does the marked word mean?

    露似真珠月似弓。

    Pronunciation hint

    zhēn zhū

    Reveal meaning and translation

    真珠 — pearls

    dew like pearls, the moon like a bow.

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: light laid over water

一道 makes the last sunlight a visible strip. 鋪 gives it the action of spreading out across a surface. 殘陽 means what remains of the setting sun. In the next line, 半江 repeats, dividing the view by color. 瑟瑟 is green-blue here. The repetition helps the ear register the contrast with 紅 without turning the river into a measured diagram.

Lines 3–4: the dew and the moon share a pattern

可憐 is affectionate admiration in this setting. 九月初三 is a lunar date early in the month, fitting the crescent named by the bow comparison. 露似真珠 and 月似弓 share 似 and place a very small shape beside a distant one. The English keeps both “like” phrases. 真珠 is the source’s spelling for pearls.

Form and tone

The seven-character quatrain changes its light between the two couplets. A sunset view gives way to a night view, so the whole scene should not be read as one frozen instant. 中, 紅, and 弓 provide the rhyme. Repeated 半江 and 似 create balance at different scales.

See the jueju guide for the form. Pinyin gives modern Mandarin; no historical tone grid is supplied.

Historical context

The poem names a day within a lunar month but does not name the river or the year. Its movement from the sun’s remaining light to a young moon can be followed without attaching it to a particular journey. Delight is stated once, in 可憐, then given specific shapes and colors rather than a general account of the speaker’s happiness.

Read more by Bai Juyi, or follow the nature shelf. The English translation, gloss, and notes are original to PoemWell.

Sources

暮江吟, public transcription. We retain 瑟瑟 and 真珠, the readings displayed in the linked text. Punctuation and reading-line divisions are 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

Bai Juyi. “Song of the River at Dusk” (暮江吟). PoemWell. English translation by PoemWell. Updated .

https://poemwell.org/poems/song-of-the-river-at-dusk

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.