𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗲𝗺 ⸙༉

9. Night Snow- Bai Juyi

I was surprised my quilt and pillow were cold,
I see that now the window's bright again.
Deep in the night, I know the snow is thick,
I sometimes hear the sound as bamboo snaps.

*Note: Poet description in previous chapter.

Original Chinese and Pinyin

夜 雪

已 讶 衾 枕 冰

复 见 窗 户 明

夜 深 知 雪 重

时 闻 折 竹 声

Ye Xue

Yi ya qin zhen bing

Fu jian chuang hu ming.

Ye shen zhi xue chong

Shi wen she zhu sheng.

Making sense of Night Snow

What are we to make of this short poem?

It conveys the sense of a moment when suddenly (讶, surprised) our poet is awoken from sleep and, finding his covers cold and the room bright, realizes that a deep snow has come in the night because he hears the bamboo crack (竹 声, the sound of bamboo) under the weight of the snow.

Stuffier poets like Du Mu (803-852) criticized Bai Juyi's simple sensual style, observing that the common people write them on walls as graffiti, and mothers and fathers teach them to their children.

Bai Juyi's style greatly influenced Japanese poetry, especially 17th century poet Matsuo Bashō. Indeed, the poem of reminiscent of Basho's "The Sound of Water".

The old pond;
A frog jumps in -
The sound of the water.

(Source: 100tangpoems.wordpress.com)