Cui Hao’s Yellow Crane Pavilion
Introduction
We launched the Poetry Pavilion in 2022 with two poems by Li Bo: Thoughts on a quiet night and Reply to ordinary people from among the mountains. This year we have one more famous poem from Li Bo (701-762) and one by his close contemporary, Cui Hao (?704-754). Both poets were officials who served the Tang court. The two poems are written in seven-character regulated verse and they share many cultural, linguistic, and stylistic features.
Background to Cui Hao’s Yellow Crane Pavilion
Cui Hao was born in the north at Bianzhou, later known as Kaifeng, in present-day Henan, and served the Tang court as an official in the south. His Yellow Crane Pavilion is so close in form, image, and meaning to Li Bo’s that it invites speculation on whether the two poets were reading each other’s work. Cui Hao has set his poem in a scenic spot in Hanyang, at the confluence of the Han River and the Yangzi, where the city of Wuhan is today. The Yellow Crane Pavilion, a building of several stories, was the site of pilgrimage for the highly literate scholar-officials who served the court and governed the regions. Cui Hao’s poem also looks back to the distant past, but in this case, he takes us entirely into the realm of myth, with an ancient sage riding off into the sky on a yellow crane. His treatment of the natural world is similar to Li Bo’s, and all the images here are positive. They include the drifting white clouds, the clear streams, the woodland, and the fragrant grasses that grow on Parrot Island. But the poem concludes on a note of sadness. Standing in the Yellow Crane Pavilion amid an abundance of natural beauty, as the suns sets, the poet realizes that he does not know the way home. Like Li Bo’s poem, Cui Hao ends his poem with an image, not of joy and celebration of the natural world and human achievement, but of grief and melancholy.
Cui Hao’s Yellow Crane Pavilion
黃 鶴 樓 崔顥 | Huáng hè lóu Cuī Hào | Yellow Crane Tower Cui Hao |
昔人已乘黃鶴去， | Xīrén yǐ chéng huáng hè qù. | An ancient sage once departed on a yellow crane. |
此地空餘黃鶴樓。 | Cǐ dì kōng yú huáng hè lóu. | Here in the emptiness Yellow Crane Tower remains. |
黃鶴一去不復返， | Huáng hè yī qù bú fù fǎn, | When the yellow crane has gone, it never returns. |
白雲千載空悠悠。 | Bái yùn qiān zài kōng yōuyōu. | For a thousand years, white clouds drift in the emptiness |
晴川歷歷漢陽樹， | Qīng quán lìlì Hànyáng shù. | Clear streams flow through the trees of Hanyang. |
芳草萋萋鹦鵡洲 | Fāngcǎo qīqī yīngwǔ zhōu. | Fragrant grasses grow luxuriant on Parrot Island. |
日暮鄉關何處是， | Rìmù xiāngguān hé chǔ shì, | As the sun sets, which way is home? |
煙波江上使人愁。 | Yānbō jiāng shàng shǐ rén chóu. | Waves of mist on the river make people grieve. |
Yellow Crane Tower Xia Yong, Yuan Dynasty , Met Museum
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