River Snow, Liu Zhongyuan
River Snow 江雪 (Jiāng Xuě)
A poem by Liu Zhongyuan (Liǔ Zōngyuán 柳宗元).
A frozen landscape among a thousand mountains, so cold all the birds have left and along ten thousand trails not a single footprint can be found. And yet, in this wintry scene, alone on the river a fisherman, clad in traditional straw cape and hat, is fishing.
Twenty Chinese characters convey the coldness and loneliness of life.
Is the poet the Confucianistic third party observer, or is he the fisherman himself in a Buddhist trance? A third point of view is Taoist, Liu’s attempt to live in harmony with the Way, no matter how harsh circumstances may be.
Exiled to faraway Guangxi, Liu succumbs to life’s vicissitudes at 46.
River Snow
In a thousand mountains (千山) the birds have flown and gone
On ten thousand trails there is no human trace
But one old man on a boat in straw cape and bamboo hat
Fishes alone in the cold river and snow.Fleuve Neige
Dans mille montagnes les oiseaux ont volé
Sur dix mille sentiers, il n’y a pas trace humaine
Mais un vieillard seul dans un bateau en paille cape et bambou chapeau
Pêche dans la rivière et neige.Fluss Schnee
In tausend Berge haben die Vögel geflogen
Auf zehntausend Pfade gibt es keine menschliche Spur
Aber ein alter Mann auf einem Boot im Stroh Umhang und Bambushut
Im kalten Fluss und Schnee allein angeln.
江雪 |
Jiāng Xuě |
|---|---|
| 千山鳥飛絕 萬徑人蹤滅 孤舟簑笠翁 獨釣寒江雪 |
Qiān shān niǎo fēi jué Wàn jìng rén zōng miè Gū zhōu suō lì wēng Dú diào hán jiāng xuě |
Notes.
For the sake of convenience, I repeat the traditional title. River Snow. The title seems ambiguous unless one interprets the two characters
江雪
as, on the river in snow. This makes sense in that the poet/philosopher is on the river, his fortunes faded and now, sad and lonely, he finds himself ill-equipped to stay warm.
Alternate title could be – On the River in the Snow, a wordier, but more accurate description of the scene. Or, the slightly less wordy, River in Snow. Some have chosen to translate the title as River Winter, but this makes less sense to me, giving the impression of time rather than emotion.
Line 1. 千山, literally one thousand mountains. The idea of a journey of one thousand miles beginning with a single step is often associated with Confucius. 千里之行，始於足下, literally, a trip of a (千里) a thousand li (里, li, a Chinese mile, about 500 meters) begins with the next step. Laozi, founder of Taoism is the actual author of the line.
Line 2. 萬徑, ten thousand paths or ways, Liu’s nod to Taoism.
Line 3. 孤舟, a solitary boat, or, alone in his boat, a Buddhist point of view. The fisherman/poet is wearing a traditional cape and bamboo hat.
Line 4. The cold lonely fisherman. Liu himself was banished from the royal court. Here, Liu gives us a double entendre, 寒江 literally the cold river, and a place name for a tributary of the Yangtze, in Shaanxi, where Liu is from.
Twenty Chinese characters convey the coldness and loneliness of life.
