Selected Poems by Du Fu, Nine Days Du Fu Series: Selected Poems by Du Fu | Selected Poems by Du Fu, Selected Poems by Du Fu, Nine Days
Original text On the Double Ninth Festival, I was drinking wine from a cup alone, and got up sick and climbed the river to the stage. Bamboo leaves have no part in human beings, and chrysanthemums no longer need to bloom. The ape cries when the sun sets in a different place, and the white geese come before the frost in the old country. Where are the brothers and sisters in each other's depression 3? They are at war with each other in 4 and are in decline and decline!
Notes 1 Bamboo leaves: Bamboo leaf green wine. 2 Two sentences from "Shu Fang": Wandering in a different place, I hear the cries of black apes at dusk, which makes me wet my clothes with tears; on a frosty autumn night, white geese come south, which triggers the feeling of homesickness. Special formula: foreign land, foreign land. Ban Gu's "Ode to the Western Capital" said: "Beyond Kunlun and across the huge sea, there are different places and different types, as far as thirty thousand miles away." 3 Depression: desolate, lifeless. 4Gangge: Refers to war.
Translation: It was the Double Ninth Festival again. On a whim, I went on stage despite being sick, drinking alone and admiring the autumn colors. I am ill and cannot drink much, so I have no intention of admiring the chrysanthemums. At dusk, bursts of ape cries came, which made me burst into tears. In my hometown, it is the time when frost is everywhere and white geese are coming south. So far, there is little news about the brothers and sisters, and they don’t know where they live. Continuous wars, aging and illness, all these are constantly urging me towards death.
Appreciation This poem is a poem written during the Double Ninth Festival. At that time, the poet was living in Kuizhou. He was old and sick. He missed his hometown and worried about national affairs. He was extremely sad in his heart, so he wrote this poem. The first couplet uses the word "Double Ninth Festival" to indicate the time, and then writes that on a whim, he went on stage to drink while sick and appreciate the autumn colors, showing a strong interest in life. The strokes of the couplets turned sharply, and the mood was low. The poet is old and sick and cannot drink as much as he wants. Without the company of fine wine, the poet has no intention of admiring the chrysanthemums. The neck couplet describes what the poet saw, heard and felt after climbing high. At that time, the poet was in the remote Kuizhou, with a home and no way to return, and his heart was extremely miserable. Therefore, when he heard the cry of the black ape at sunset, he couldn't help but burst into tears. From the scenery in front of him, the poet thought of the frost-covered scenery in his hometown and the white wild geese coming south, and his homesickness became more intense. The last couplet concludes with the theme of missing relatives during the festive season, integrating my own feelings of displacement and grief, making it unique and unconventional. The sentence "Where are the depression of the younger brothers and sisters?" expresses the poet's longing for the younger brothers and sisters; the sentence "wars and decline are urging each other" laments the predicament of being in troubled times and being old and sick. While the poet was thinking about his relatives in his hometown, he was worried about the situation of wars. At the same time, he was also very worried about his physical condition. He was afraid that he would not be able to wait until the day when the war subsided and his relatives could get together! This is a direct expression of the poet's longing for his hometown and concern for his country and people.