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Tang Dynasty Jueju Wang Wan

The Weaving Girl in a Leap Month

閏月七日織女

Rùn yuè qī rì Zhīnǚ

An intercalary seventh month gives Wang Wan a playful hope that the Weaving Girl may cross the sky twice in one year.

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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.

01

耿耿曙河微，

gěng gěng shǔ hé wēi

The shining star-river fades toward dawn;

Word meanings — Line 1
  1. 耿 gěng bright
  2. 耿 gěng bright
  3. 曙 shǔ dawn
  4. 河 hé star river
  5. 微 wēi faint
02

神仙此夜稀。

shén xiān cǐ yè xī

for the immortals, nights like this are rare.

Word meanings — Line 2
  1. 神 shén divine
  2. 仙 xiān immortals
  3. 此 cǐ this
  4. 夜 yè night
  5. 稀 xī rare
03

今年七月閏，

jīn nián qī yuè rùn

This year repeats the seventh month—

Word meanings — Line 3
  1. 今 jīn this
  2. 年 nián year
  3. 七 qī seventh
  4. 月 yuè month
  5. 閏 rùn intercalary
04

應得兩回歸。

yīng dé liǎng huí guī

surely she may return twice.

Word meanings — Line 4
  1. 應 yīng should
  2. 得 dé get
  3. 兩 liǎng two
  4. 回 huí times
  5. 歸 guī return

English translation by PoemWell.

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Original

耿耿曙河微，

神仙此夜稀。

今年七月閏，

應得兩回歸。

Translation

The shining star-river fades toward dawn;

for the immortals, nights like this are rare.

This year repeats the seventh month—

surely she may return twice.

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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.

  1. Line 1 · What does the marked word mean?

    耿耿曙河微，

    Pronunciation hint

    shǔ

    Reveal meaning and translation

    曙 — dawn

    The shining star-river fades toward dawn;

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

    今年七月閏，

    Pronunciation hint

    qī

    Reveal meaning and translation

    七 — seventh

    This year repeats the seventh month—

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

    應得兩回歸。

    Pronunciation hint

    liǎng

    Reveal meaning and translation

    兩 — two

    surely she may return twice.

One more question: what changes?

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Line-by-line notes

Lines 1–2 · Dawn sets a limit

耿耿 gives the celestial river its glow. 曙河 places it at dawn, when its light is becoming faint (微). The English “fades toward dawn” brings out the passage of time already implied by that pairing. The title names the Weaving Girl, whose meeting with her lover falls on the seventh night of the seventh lunar month. 此夜稀 says that a night like this is scarce even for 神仙, the immortals. Their longevity gives them no extra nights together.

Lines 3–4 · Counting on another meeting

今年 shifts from the sky to this year's calendar. 閏 means that an extra month is inserted. Here the seventh month is repeated, so the speaker reasons that the night of meeting might come a second time. 應得 is the hopeful step in that reasoning, carried in English by “surely she may.” It leaves the second meeting in prospect. 兩回 counts occasions, while 歸 gives them the motion of coming back. The final “twice” gives a precise answer to the earlier feeling of scarcity.

Form and tone

Four five-character lines make a jueju. 微, 稀, and 歸 carry the rhyme, while 今年 introduces the calendar's unexpected possibility. The final number 兩 is the answer to the earlier scarcity. Pinyin is modern Mandarin; no historical tone grid is supplied.

Historical context

Wang Wan turns a calendar detail into a wish about love. Compare Shui Diao Ge Tou, where lunar completeness cannot guarantee human reunion, and Yi Jian Mei, where one longing occupies two places. Here an extra month briefly appears to offer extra time together.

Sources

《全唐詩》, juan 115, checked in the Wikisource transcription. The main reading is followed; variant graphs 爲、却 are normalized to 為、卻. 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 Wan. “The Weaving Girl in a Leap Month” (閏月七日織女). PoemWell. English translation by PoemWell. Updated .

https://poemwell.org/poems/weaving-girl-in-a-leap-month

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