Invisible Fragrance: Plum Blossoms in Ancient Chinese Poetry

In ancient China, poets often used certain plants or flowers to symbolize people's virtues. For instance, the plum blossom was highly regarded in ancient Chinese culture and considered a symbol of virtue, purity, and courage. In this article, we translated three poems, all written during the Song dynasty, about the plum blossom.

Plum Blossom in a Mountain Garden (山园小梅）

作者：林逋 （Author:  Lin Bu,  10th century)

众芳摇落独暄妍   many fragrant sway fall alone warm beautiful
占尽风情向小园   occupy exhaust wind feeling toward small garden
疏影横斜水清浅   sparse shadow horizontal slanting water clear shallow
暗香浮动月黄昏   dim fragrant float move moon yellow dusk
霜禽欲下先偷眼   frost (white) bird about to go down first steal eye
粉蝶如知合断魂   pink butterfly if know should break soul
幸有微吟可相狎   luckily have tiny chant can each other intimate
不须檀板共金樽   not need hard wood clapper together gold goblet

Translation: 
This is the flower that shows us springtime beauty,
When the others have wobbled and fallen.
Capturing all the charm, it blooms in this small garden.  
   
Its thin shadows slant across the clear, shallow water
Its hidden fragrance floats beneath the yellow moon.
   
A snow-white bird steals a look before landing.
If the pink butterflies knew it was here, their hearts should break.

Luckily, I can make these flowers my friends by softly chanting poems.
There’s no need for a golden chalice or a singing girl’s wooden clapper.

梅花  Plum Blossom

王安石   (Author: Wang An Shi, 11th century)

墙角数枝梅， wall corner several branches plum
凌寒独自开。 risk/facing coldness along themselves open
遥知不是雪， faraway know not is snow
为有暗香来     because of have hidden fragrance come

 Translation:
 In the corner, a few plum branches.
 Braving the cold, they bloom alone.
 From a distance, I know they’re not snow.
 Their fragrance gives them away.

雪梅  Snow and Plum Blossoms

卢梅坡  (Author: Lu Mei Po, Song Dynasty)

梅雪争春未肯降，plum blossoms snow compete spring not be willing to surrender
骚人搁笔费评章。poet person put down pen cost comment article
梅须逊雪三分白，plum blossom should inferior snow three points white
雪却输梅一段香.   snow however lose plum blossom one piece fragrance

Translation:
Plum blossoms and snow vie for spring, neither willing to yield.
Poets lay down their pens because they can’t decide.
Plum blossoms should concede to snow in terms of whiteness,
Yet snow loses to plum blossoms for their sweet perfume.

Translation notes:

The first poem was written by Lin Bu, a famous recluse in the northern Song dynasty. Lin Bu lived a quiet life in a mountain by the West Lake during his later years. He was very fond of plums and cranes, and spent much time admiring them. Since he never married, he earned the reputation of “considering plums his wife and cranes his children,” which was not a compliment in a Confucian society, despite the fact that Lin Bu was a much admired poet. Lin Bu was highly admired in Japan where he came to be regarded as one of the poetic immortals. A famous Japanese painting of Bu hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art today.

Plum blossoms were very highly regarded in ancient Chinese culture and considered to be symbols of purity, courage, hope, longevity, and many other virtues, in part because they bloom very early in the year, often when there is still frost or snow on the ground. We have included many color words in our translation, but it would be possible not to do so. “Yellow moon” frequently refers to dusk and could be translated as such. The “white” which describes a bird literally translates as frosty. The word for pink may also be a shortened version of a word for rouge. Some translations of this poem do not use the colors; we have chosen to use them both because we thought they painted a vivid image in a poem that takes place in a garden and because we suspect that Lin Bu deliberately chose to use yellow, gold, white, and pink since they are the colors of plum blossoms. As with so many translation choices, however, some of the original nuances have been lost. Our translation does not have dusk, frostiness, or a reference to such feminine allurements as rouge, all of which are hinted at in the original.

The second stanza of the poem is said to have originated from poetry first written by Jiang Wei, a poet living in an era slightly before Lin Bu. The poetic lines written by Jiang Wei are as follows (translated version): The bamboo’s shadows slant across the clear, shallow water; the cassia’s fragrance floats beneath the yellow moon. The first word in each of the two lines, namely, “bamboo” and “cassia” in the original was changed by Lin Bu into “sparse” and “hidden”. Lin Bu only changed two words in this stanza, both from noun to adjective, and he was able to demonstrate the beauty and fragrance of the plums. Today we could no longer find the complete version of Jiang Wei’s poem and only that couplet remains.

The second poem was written by Wang An Shi, a renowned poet and political reformer of the Northern Song dynasty. In this poem, the plum blossom is personified to symbolize human purity, courage, and strength. The cold weather represents harsh living conditions or political environments, yet the plum blossom continues to bloom despite these adversities. The last line is challenging to translate. While Wang describes the fragrance of the plum blossom as ‘hidden’, it can be detected from a distance, indicating it is ‘invisible but strong’. We translated it as ‘their fragrance gives them away.’ An alternative translation could be ‘Their fragrance bursts forth to perfume the air,’ which highlights the nobility of the plum blossom and strongly conveys its fragrance. However, this alternative does not capture the quiet resilience of the plum blossom in the face of harsh conditions.

The third poem compares the qualities of snow and the plum blossom. In both the second and third poems, the plum blossom is white and blooms in a season when other flowers do not. Both poems highlight the unique quality of the plum blossom: its fragrance, which can be smelled from a distance.