Era: Tang and Five Dynasties
Author: Cui Hao
Work: Yellow Crane Tower
Content:
People in the past had gone there by Yellow Crane, and the Yellow Crane Tower was vacant here.
The yellow crane will never return, and the white clouds will remain empty for thousands of years.
Qingchuan is surrounded by Hanyang trees and luxuriant grasses in Parrot Island.
Where is the country gate at dusk? The misty waves on the river make people sad.
Notes:
Yellow Crane Tower: The original site is on Huangheji at the Wuchang Bridge of the Yangtze River Bridge in Wuhan, Hubei Province today, with Snake Mountain as its back and overlooking the Yangtze River.
The ancients: the legendary immortals. There are two theories: one is that during the Three Kingdoms period, people from Shu used their coats to cross cranes to reach immortals and once rested on the Yellow Crane Tower; the other is that the immortal Zi'an once passed by the Yellow Crane Tower on a crane. This sentence is translated as "People of the past have gone on white clouds".
Qingchuan: refers to the Han River under the sun.
Hanyang: Today's Hanyang District, Wuhan City, Hubei Province, is located at the angle between the Yangtze River and the Han River, across the river from the Wuchang Yellow Crane Tower.
Parrot Island: Located in the Yangtze River two miles southeast of Hanyang, it was gradually washed away by the river. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Huang Zu killed Ni Heng and buried him on the island. Mi Heng once wrote "Ode to Parrot", and later generations called the island Parrot Island.
Brief analysis:
It uses rich imagination to lead readers into ancient times, and then back to reality. Various emotions and natural scenery are blended together. Who can not feel its sadness and desolation. This poem has always been highly praised by people and is listed as the first of the seven rhymes of the Tang Dynasty.