Poem of the Week – Quiet Night Thought by Li Bai

Li Bai (701-762 AD) is one of China’s most celebrated poets. He lived during the reign of the Tang Dynasty, a time often considered a golden age in the history of Chinese literature. Bai distinguished himself from his accomplished contemporaries with his unfiltered sentimentality, original use of romantic imagery and pioneering development of traditional forms.

A Confuscian scholar and imperial administrator, like all young men employed by the emperor, Li Bai was often obliged to leave home for protracted periods. Themes like homesickness and nostalgia invariably pervade classical Chinese poems, partially because the need for imperial employment compelled many aspiring poets to leave home for months on end.

As a result of the wide acclaim he received in his own lifetime, around a thousand poems of Li Bai’s have survived (or are at least attributed to him). This week’s poem is entitled “Quiet Night Thought”.

It is concerned with the aforementioned theme of a person pining for home and romantically opens with the resplendence of a bright moon.

Lunar cycles play an important part in the Chinese calendar, and Chinese New Year is marked on the second new moon after the Winter Solstice – the likely setting for this week’s selection given the mention of frost and the emphasis put upon the moon’s exquisite radiance.

The translation below is a Qing-era version of this verse and is traditionally taught to school children early in China and Taiwan. We hope you enjoy this week’s choice as much as we did.

Quiet Night Thought by Li Bai

Before my bed there’s a pool of light
I wonder if it’s frost on the ground
Looking up, I find the moon bright
Then bowing my head, I think of home.