Spring Thoughts of Home
春日歸思
Chūn rì guī sī
Spring blossoms make Wang Han’s traveler imagine singing women and boats on Ruoye Stream, with glosses and notes on the final question.
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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
- 楊 yáng poplar
- 柳 liǔ willow
- 青 qīng green
- 青 qīng green
- 杏 xìng apricot
- 發 fā opens
- 花 huā blossoms
Word meanings — Line 2
- 年 nián year
- 光 guāng light
- 誤 wù delays
- 客 kè traveler
- 轉 zhuǎn increasingly
- 思 sī think
- 家 jiā home
Word meanings — Line 3
- 不 bù not
- 知 zhī know
- 湖 hú lake
- 上 shàng on
- 菱 líng water caltrop
- 歌 gē singing
- 女 nǚ women
Word meanings — Line 4
- 幾 jǐ how many
- 箇 gè classifier
- 春 chūn spring
- 舟 zhōu boats
- 在 zài at
- 若 ruò Ruo
- 耶 yé ye
English translation by PoemWell.
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Original
楊柳青青杏發花，
年光誤客轉思家。
不知湖上菱歌女，
幾箇春舟在若耶。
Translation
Willows are green, so green; apricots open their flowers.
The season has delayed this traveler, turning my thoughts toward home.
I wonder about the women singing over the water caltrops:
how many spring boats are out on Ruoye Stream?
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?
楊柳青青杏發花，
Pronunciation hint
qīng
Reveal meaning and translation
青 — green
Willows are green, so green; apricots open their flowers.
-
Line 3 · What does the marked word mean?
不知湖上菱歌女，
Pronunciation hint
shàng
Reveal meaning and translation
上 — on
I wonder about the women singing over the water caltrops:
-
Line 4 · What does the marked word mean?
幾箇春舟在若耶。
Pronunciation hint
zhōu
Reveal meaning and translation
舟 — boats
how many spring boats are out on Ruoye Stream?
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 · Spring sharpens the feeling of delay
青青 repeats the willows’ green, while 發 gives the apricot flowers the movement of opening. 年光 can be the light or passage of the year, and 誤客 makes the season feel as if it has delayed or led the traveler astray. The English makes that delay lead into 轉思家, a stronger turning of thought toward home.
Lines 3–4 · A scene the traveler cannot count
不知 introduces what the speaker wonders about. 菱歌 is singing associated with gathering water caltrops. The next line asks 幾箇, how many spring boats are out on Ruoye Stream. Reading the question through to the named stream makes clear that the final scene is being imagined from elsewhere. Spring began as the sight of nearby willows and ends with boats the traveler cannot see.
Form and tone
In this seven-character jueju, 花, 家, and 耶 rhyme. The first two lines locate the traveler's feeling; the last two let imagination take the place of travel. Modern pinyin is supplied. A historical tone table is omitted rather than derived from Mandarin.
Historical context
Wang Han's homesickness here uses spring flowers and imagined boats instead of a frontier instrument. Compare his second Liangzhou song, where the season near home is also imagined, and Spring Dawn, where an unseen scene becomes a question about flowers.
Sources
《全唐詩》, juan 156, Wang Han; the main reading of the Wikisource transcription is followed. 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 Han. “Spring Thoughts of Home” (春日歸思). PoemWell. English translation by PoemWell. Updated .
https://poemwell.org/poems/wang-han-spring-thoughts-of-home
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.