Echoes of Defeat: Du Fu's Verses Amidst the Tang Dynasty's War-Torn Desolation
More than a thousand years after his death, Du Fu is still admired as one of China’s greatest poets. His early and middle years coincided with the pinnacle of the Tang Dynasty's prosperity. However, in his 40s, he witnessed the catastrophic An Lushan Rebellion. An Lushan, a regional military commander in the northern part of the then Tang Dynasty, initiated this uprising at the end of 755 AD. This rebellion precipitated an eight-year civil war within the Tang Dynasty, marked by severe famine, substantial population loss, societal disarray, and a consequential weakening of the dynasty. Du Fu penned many poems reflecting on the impact of the An Lushan rebellion and the subsequent Tibetan invasion, shedding light on its repercussions for himself, his family, and others. In this article, we have translated three of these poems.
春望 Spring View 国破山河在 nation ruined mountain river exist 城春草木深 city springtime grass tree deep 感时花溅泪 feel time flower splash tear 恨别鸟惊心 hate goodbye bird startle heart 烽火连三月 beacon fire last three months 家书抵万金 home letter worth 10000 gold 白头搔更短 white hair scratch more short 浑欲不胜簪 hardly can hold hairpin
Translation: Our nation is defeated; the mountains and rivers remain. In spring, the city lies deep in grass and trees. Feeling the times, I cry at the sight of flowers. Grieving over separation, my heart is startled by birds. The signal fires have burned for three months now, And a letter from home is worth a thousand pieces of gold. I scratch my thinning white hair. It can barely hold a hairpin anymore.
Translation Notes:
This is one of the most famous of the Tang dynasty poems, and perhaps the most widely translated. Our translation differs from many others in two significant ways. In the first line, we say that the nation is “defeated” while most of the translations we’ve seen have described China as “ruined” or “broken.” We prefer “defeated” because the words guo po in the original are generally used to refer to military defeat, and we try to be as true to the original as possible. We also just like the word better. “Ruined” has been described as more poetic, but we believe that the specificity of a military defeat rather than the amorphous “ruined” is the stronger image and more in keeping with the Tang poets’ use of clear, concrete terms.
We have also seen a number of translations that have the flowers crying and the birds being startled. We think these translations may have come about through a misunderstanding of the grammatical structure of the poems. Poets frequently wrote in the first person, omitting the word “I” which the readers were expected to understand. Because most lines follow a subject/verb format, “feel time” is best understood as “I, feeling the time,” followed by what I do (cry at the sight of flowers). Similarly, “hate goodbye” is best understood as the subject “I, hating goodbye,” also followed by what I do (feel startled by birds). The result of the more grammatically correct translation is a poem that describes a man so undone by grief that even the sight of flowers and birds causes him pain. The alternate translations yields the awkward images of weeping flowers and birds who don’t like saying goodbye.
Du Fu wrote this poem in the late spring of 757 AD during the An Lushan Rebellion. As we've indicated in the introduction, An Lushan rebelled against the Tang Dynasty at the end of 755. In July of 756, An’s rebel forces captured Chang’an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty. The city was looted and burned by the rebel forces, and its citizens were massacred. Du Fu arranged for his wife to stay at the Lu Province, a place north of Chang’an, while Du Fu himself continued his journey north to Ling Wu to join the new emperor Su Zong. However, he was caught by the rebel forces during his journey north, and was taken back to Chang’an as a prisoner. It is said that Du Fu wrote this poem while he was a prisoner of the rebel forces.
佳人 A Beautiful Woman 绝代有佳人,absolutely/by all means generation have beautiful person 幽居在空谷。tranquil reside at empty valley 自云良家子,herself say good family daughter 零落依草木。remnant fall lean on grass trees 关中昔丧乱,strategic pass middle past mourning chaos 兄弟遭杀戮。elder brother younger brother suffer kill slay 官高何足论,official rank high how sufficient talk 不得收骨肉。no be able to collect bone fleshes 世情恶衰歇,world feeling evil decline come to an end 万事随转烛。ten thousand things follow rotate candles 夫婿轻薄儿,husband look down upon thin person 新人美如玉。new person beautiful similar to jade 合昏尚知时,close dusk still know time 鸳鸯不独宿。mandarin duck no alone sleep 但见新人笑,only see new person smile 那闻旧人哭。how (question word) hear old person cry 在山泉水清,exist mountain spring water clean 出山泉水浊。go out mountain spring water turbid/muddy 侍婢卖珠回,serve female slave sell jewel return 牵萝补茅屋。lead along rattan repair thatched cottage 摘花不插发,pick flower no insert hair 采柏动盈掬。pick cypress leaf move (here means usually) full bunch 天寒翠袖薄,sky cold green sleeve thin/flimsy 日暮倚修竹. sun sunset lean on tall bamboo
Translation: The most beautiful woman of our time, Lives alone in a deserted valley. She told me about her noble birth. Driven into the wilderness, she had no support but the grass and trees. When Chang An was invaded, Both her older and younger brothers were slaughtered. Their high rank could not protect them. No one could retrieve their flesh and their bones. And her whole world fell into ruins. All of life is as unsubstantial as a flickering candle flame. Her husband began to despise his fallen wife, And found a new woman as beautiful as jade. Even the flowers know to close their petals at dusk, And the mandarin ducks will not sleep alone. But her husband can only see his new love smiling. How can he hear his old wife cry? Spring water is clean when it’s in the mountain, It gets muddy when it runs downhill. When the maid returned from selling her lady’s jewels, She found the lady using straw to repair the cottage. The flowers she gathers are not for her hair. Her arms are filled with cypress leaves. The sky is cold, and her fine blue gown is flimsy. The sun sets, and she leans on the tall bamboo.
Translation notes:
This poem is a portrait of a beautiful upper class woman whose birth family was destroyed during the An Lushan rebellion. After the downfall of her family, she was also despised and discarded by her husband, and was driven out to live in the mountain/wilderness. During the Tang Dynasty, it was usually not easy for an upper class man to divorce a wife who belonged to the same social rank. Therefore, what was described in Du Fu’s poem was a reflection of a complete destruction of social order during the An Lushan rebellion.
The poem is not easy to translate, and we had to take a couple liberties. The fourth line, if translated literally, will be something along the line of “lost and fallen, she could only lean on the grass and trees”. Some other translations have translated this line more literally. We felt that the literal translation could be confusing to American readers, and therefore chose to translate it as “she has no support but the grass and trees”. The geographical location in the fifth line, if translated literally, will be “the middle of the strategic pass”. Here, since Du Fu is referring to the capital region, we chose to translate it directly as “Chang An”.
倦夜 A Weary Night 竹凉侵卧内,bamboo cold invade bedchamber inside 野月满庭隅。wild moon fill yard corner 重露成涓滴,heavy dew become tiny stream drop 稀星乍有无。sparse star suddenly exist no 暗飞萤自照,dark fly firefly itself shine 水宿鸟相呼。water lodge bird each other cry 万事干戈里,ten thousand affairs shield dagger-ax inside 空悲清夜徂。in vain sorrow clear night fade away
Translation: Cold air from the bamboo grove invaded the bedchamber, And the moon, shining from the wilderness, flooded the whole yard. The dew grew heavy and began to drip, A few stars appeared, then disappeared, came back again. Flying in darkness, lightning bugs flickered. Resting by the water, birds called to one another. Dagger-axes and shields are at the heart of everything. Hopelessly, I grieved as the clear night ended.
Translation Notes:
It is believed that Du Fu wrote this poem right after the An Lushan rebellion ended. The Au Lushan rebellion, which lasted for almost eight years, essentially left the Tang Dynasty devastated, making its western border vulnerable to the Tibetan forces. In 763 AD, immediately after the An Lushan rebellion ended, the Tibetan forces invaded the Tang Empire and briefly captured Chang’an, the capital of the Empire. Du Fu was living in Cheng Du at that time, faraway from the center of the warfare. However, he was very sympathetic towards the sufferings of commoners during the war. The first three couplets describe the natural scenery at night around his residence, implying that he stayed up awake all night. The last couplet of the poem explains the reason for his sorrow — he was worried about the warfare but he couldn’t do anything to mitigate the sufferings of the people. To get a better understanding of the historical background of the poem, we recommend the readers to take a look at the BBC documentary "Du Fu: China's Greatest Poet" (2020), which offers insights into Du Fu's life during and after the An Lushan rebellion.
Our translation of Weary Night is not very different from the other translations we’ve seen. We chose to use “invade” in the first line because it was more in keeping with a poem about dagger-axes and shields and because it was more literal. We chose to use “hopelessly” in the final line because the word felt more immediate and personal to use than “in vain.”