This poem will cheer you up | Spring Morning by Meng Haoran

today's contemplation of chirping birds and Fallen flowers will reveal the deepest secrets of the universe and we may even learn a little Chinese along the way so buckle up we're about to get seriously poetic the first character is chun meaning spring and the second character is mian which means to sleep or even hibernate in poetry the first two characters go together and then the last three characters go together this is a rule of Tang Dynasty poetry so these first two characters mean spring sleep this could be understood as simply sleeping for a night during spring or perhaps there is a deeper meaning as spring signifies new life and birth while winter is old age and death we want to mental note that the three characters that come next are bu which means not jue which means to know xiao which means Daybreak or early morning so bu jue xiao literally means not no morning or to put it another way it means without realizing it it is already morning which poses the question why would the author not realize it's morning was he in a really deep sleep or does this signify something else we'll get back to this so the first line is chun mian bu jue xiao or I awake from a deep spring sleep without realizing it is already morning this poem is called chun xiao which means spring morning it was written by Meng Hao Ran now he was not in the Royal Court and therefore not a paid official poet I know what you're thinking that is so cool to be a paid poet just chilling in the Royal Palace yes I am sure that it was but unfortunately he did not have that luxury he lived all by himself earning the name Meng Shan Ren or Meng the mountain man this hermit had deep insights he gained through observations of nature many philosophers especially Taoist thinkers understood the human body to be a small universe and nature is a reflection of the universe by understanding the natural world we can understand not only everything in the universe but more specifically everything within ourselves Meng was known for expounding on deep insights with simple Concepts from the natural world that everyone could easily understand Chu Chu Wen Ti Niao the second line begins with one character said twice Chu Chu so Chu alone means place while putting two of the same characters together would often make it plural or in this instance Chu Chu means all over the place or everywhere the last three characters of the second line read Wen to hear Ti chirping and Niao birds when simply means the chirping of birds so the entire second line means I hear birds chirping everywhere since there are four lines in the poem the first two lines come together to form a larger concept and the lines often mirror each other the first two characters of the first line give us a time spring the first two characters of the second line give us a place everywhere this is considered mirroring and complimenting all at the same time so we see a specific time sleeping during spring and then a general Place everywhere this is a yin and yang manifestation commonly seen in Chinese poetry what do these lines mean I awake from a deep spring sleep without realizing it is already morning and I hear birds chirping everywhere now there's no wrong way to understand this and like many poems there are multiple levels of meaning on the surface Meng is expressing an appreciation for spring and admiring how it's snuck up on him without realizing it but from a deeper view he could be talking about how the hibernation of winter is over and life beginning a new during spring principle could be applied to ourselves one chapter of Our Lives is over while another chapter begins before we even realize it or it could go even deeper and be discussing reincarnation as Buddhism was popular during the Tang Dynasty the hibernation during winter represents death while after a period of time one is then reborn losing our memory and not knowing where we are but hearing life all around us the first two characters of the third line are Ye Lai or night comes but more specifically it would be past tense so the night that came or simply last night the last three characters of the third line are Feng wind Yu rain and Sheng sound or simply the sound of wind and rain so this entire line means last night I heard the sound of wind and rain this is a typical Tang Dynasty four-line poem with each line having five Chinese characters the last character of the first second and fourth lines rhyme while the last character of the third line intentionally does not rhyme so basically it's an a AABA structure so if we look back to the end of the first two lines we see the characters Xiao and Niao which rhyme therefore the last character of the third line cannot rhyme and in this case it is Sheng which does not rhyme with [Music] and the first two characters of the last line are Hua Luo or the flowers fall the last three characters of the last line are Zhi Duo Shao to know how many or simply who knows how many so the last line means who knows how many flowers have fallen or basically countless flowers have fallen to read the last two lines together we get: last night I heard the sound of wind and rain and who knows how many flowers have fallen this appears to be alluding to something other than simply flowers have fallen due to a heavy storm the night before now let's look at the entire poem I awake from a deep spring sleep without realizing it is already morning and I hear birds chirping everywhere last night I heard the sound of wind and rain and who knows how many flowers have fallen on the surface this is talking about a scene in Spring going a little deeper we see how the poet begins with a positive outlook on Spring waking up and enjoying the chirping birds but then it takes a turn as there was a storm the night before and countless flowers fell to the ground so what is the lesson well perhaps one understanding would be that even when times are good there will be something negative that brings an end to it so enjoy the chirping birds while you are high on life and in a good mood because once you realize that all the beautiful flowers have been destroyed all you will have left is your memories of the good times kind of a Bittersweet poem Tang Dynasty is considered the peak of Chinese culture Chinese parents understand that through learning these poems their children will be imbued with the knowledge of the Ancients embodying the essence of Chinese culture giving them Direction in life and Beyond so whether you are learning Chinese or just want to gain some Enlightenment from ancient wisdom please be sure to like this video And subscribe to the channel and check out our playlist on Chinese poetry until next time Zai Jian [Music]