West Lake in Sunshine and Rain

Lines 1–2 · Two ways the lake can look

水光 is light on the water, and 瀲灧 makes its surface shimmer in clear weather. 山色 looks up to the hills, which 空濛 softens in the rain. 晴方好 grants the bright scene its beauty, while 雨亦奇 gives the rainy view a quality of its own. Notice that the observer changes both the weather and the object of attention. The title places the clear weather first and the rain afterward.

Lines 3–4 · A comparison that fits both views

欲把 sets up a proposed likeness, and the shared 西 helps the ear move from 西湖, West Lake, to 西子, the celebrated beauty Xi Shi. 淡粧 and 濃抹 are two degrees of adornment, one light and the other rich. 總相宜 gathers both into one judgment, “would suit her equally.”

Read back from 總 to 亦. Each word makes room for more than one appearance, and the Chinese leaves open which kind of makeup goes with which weather. The flexible comparison can hold both experiences. In Written on the Wall at West Forest Temple, changing views instead raise a question about how much the observer can know.

This is the complete second seven-character quatrain of a two-poem set. The first pair balances weather conditions; the second gives a comparison broad enough to contain both. 奇 and 宜 close the even-line rhyme.

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

The title situates drinking on Hangzhou’s West Lake during a change of weather. The poem’s judgment survives that change. It is especially useful beside Su Shi’s poem on Mount Lu, where altered viewpoints expose the limits of a single judgment.

Continue with Su Shi or the nature shelf.

Read this poem alongside the contrasting selections in our rain poetry guide.