"Climbing Yueyang Tower" Translation and Annotation of Du Fu's Ancient Poetry
Translation
In the past days, I heard about the majestic Dongting Lake, and today I finally climbed up to Yueyang Tower.
The vast lake tore apart Wu and Chu, as if the sun, moon and stars were floating in the water.
There is no news from my relatives and friends. I am old and sick, drifting around in a lonely boat.
The fighting at the northern border broke out again. I leaned on the railing and looked away with tears streaming down my face.
Notes
①Dongting water: Dongting Lake. In what is now northern Hunan, on the south bank of the Yangtze River, is the second largest freshwater lake in my country.
②Yueyang Tower: In today's Yueyang City, Hunan Province, next to Dongting Lake, it is a tourist attraction.
③Wu Chu: The names of two countries (Wu and Chu) in the Spring and Autumn Period. Their territory was roughly in the present-day Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang areas. Looking down at the Dongting, you can see the vast expanse of blue lake, and looking at the Junshan Mountain in the distance, you can see the various scenes. It was built by Zhang Zhang in the Tang Dynasty and built by Teng Zijing in the Song Dynasty. It is famous for Fan Zhongyan's eternal masterpiece "Yueyang Tower". Chu (chè): split, here it is extended to division. This sentence means: The vast land of Wu and Chu is divided by Dongting Lake.
④ Qiankun (qián kūn) floats day and night (one is "moon"): the sun, moon, stars and the earth float on Dongting Lake day and night. According to Volume 38 of "Shui Jing Zhu": "The lake is more than five hundred miles wide, and the sun and moon appear and disappear in it." Qiankun: heaven and earth, this refers to the sun and the moon.
⑤No word: no news. Words: This refers to letters.
⑥Old disease: old and sick. Du Fu was fifty-seven years old, suffering from lung disease, wind paralysis, and was deaf in his right ear. There is a solitary boat: only one leaf of the solitary boat is drifting uncertainly. The poet spent most of the last three years of his life on board a ship. This sentence writes about the actual situation of Du Fu's life.
⑦Róng Maguan Mountain North: The northern border war breaks out again. At that time, Tubo invaded Lingwu, Ningxia, and Pingzhou, Shaanxi. The imperial court was shocked and hurriedly mobilized troops to fight against the enemy. Military Horse: Military Horse also refers to military affairs, war, and chaos. In the autumn and winter of this year, Tubo invaded the Longyou and Guanzhong areas again.
⑧Pingxuan: Leaning against the window. Tears flow: Tears flow uncontrollably. Tisi: tears and nasal mucus, partial meaning refers to tears.