To Liu Jingwen
贈劉景文
Zèng Liú Jǐngwén
Withered lotus and chrysanthemums lead to an unexpectedly affirmative view of the year’s late colors. 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.
Word meanings — Line 1
- 荷盡 hé jìn lotus spent
- 已無 yǐ wú no longer has
- 擎 qíng hold aloft
- 雨蓋 yǔ gài rain canopy
Word meanings — Line 2
- 菊殘 jú cán chrysanthemums faded
- 猶有 yóu yǒu still have
- 傲霜 ào shuāng defy frost
- 枝 zhī stems
Word meanings — Line 3
- 一年 yì nián one year
- 好景 hǎo jǐng fine scenery
- 君 jūn you
- 須記 xū jì must remember
Word meanings — Line 4
- 最是 zuì shì above all it is
- 橙黃 chéng huáng oranges yellow
- 橘綠 jú lǜ tangerines green
- 時 shí season
English translation by PoemWell.
Read the whole poem
Original
荷盡已無擎雨蓋，
菊殘猶有傲霜枝。
一年好景君須記，
最是橙黃橘綠時。
Translation
The lotus is spent, no longer holding its rain-canopy leaves aloft.
The chrysanthemums fade, yet their stems still defy frost.
Remember the year's fine season:
above all, the time of yellow oranges and green tangerines.
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?
荷盡已無擎雨蓋，
Pronunciation hint
hé jìn
Reveal meaning and translation
荷盡 — lotus spent
The lotus is spent, no longer holding its rain-canopy leaves aloft.
-
Line 3 · What does the marked word mean?
一年好景君須記，
Pronunciation hint
yì nián
Reveal meaning and translation
一年 — one year
Remember the year's fine season:
-
Line 4 · What does the marked word mean?
最是橙黃橘綠時。
Pronunciation hint
zuì shì
Reveal meaning and translation
最是 — above all it is
above all, the time of yellow oranges and green tangerines.
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 →Self-check at your own pace. No score or progress is saved. Open only the answers you want included when printing.
Line-by-line notes
Lines 1–2 · What remains when flowers fade
擎雨蓋 sees the lotus leaf as a canopy held up against rain. 已無 says that support is already gone. 猶有 answers it in the next line with something still present, the chrysanthemum’s stem. 傲 makes the stem seem to defy the frost. The pair asks the reader to see decay and endurance at the same time.
Lines 3–4 · Remember this part of the year
君須記 makes the observation an address to Liu. 好景 is the fine scene, and 最是 singles out the season at its best. We keep these readings where the source also records 好處 and 正是. 橙黃 and 橘綠 make the speaker’s encouragement concrete in yellow and green. The ripe season has colors and fruit of its own, precisely when the earlier plants have lost their display.
Form and tone
Four seven-character lines balance loss against persistence before revising the expected evaluation of autumn. 枝 and 時 supply the even-line rhyme. The final color pair offers a fresh scene instead of simply repeating the opening plants.
See the quatrain guide for the form. Pinyin gives modern Mandarin pronunciation; no unverified historical tone grid is supplied.
Historical context
The title makes this a gift to a person, not only a seasonal sketch. Its tact lies in offering a way to value lateness through visible things. No exact statement about Liu’s inner feelings is required for the encouragement to work.
Continue with Su Shi or the nature shelf.
Sources
Chinese text compared with 贈劉景文, public transcription on Wikisource. We follow 好景 and 最是 in the linked main text. Its apparatus records 好處 and 正是 in other witnesses. 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
Su Shi. “To Liu Jingwen” (贈劉景文). PoemWell. English translation by PoemWell. Updated .
https://poemwell.org/poems/to-liu-jingwen
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.