JENNA WADE

Chinese Poems Project

Spring Dawn by Meng Haoran

春眠不觉晓处处闻啼茑夜来风雨声花落知多少

Pin Yin Version

Chun mian bu jue xiao

Chu chu wen ti niao Ye lai feng yu shengHua luo zhi duo shao

Inspiration Lifetime

Wrote about his lackadaisical life and activities with friends

Wrote of his hometown Hubei, China

Was influential to Japanese poetry

Born: 691 ADDied: 740 AD

About Meng Haoran

Era Meng Haoran

Major poet during the Tang Dynasty

Setting of Spring Dawn

Meaning for Line 1

春 : spring

眠 : sleep

不 : not

觉 : to feel, wake up

晓 : dawn

Meaning for Lien 2

处 : place

处 : place

闻 : hear

啼 : cry

茑 : bird

Meaning for Line 3

夜 : night

来 : come

风 : wind

雨 : rain

声 : sound

Meaning for Line 4

花 : flower

落 : fall

知 : know

多 : how many

少 : missing

Background Story

A young women had fallen asleep covered with deep

sorrow that was lifted by the birds singing when she

awoke one spring morning. She had slept thorough

the dawn along with forgetting the memories of her

sorrow. When night came with a storm sheremembered what happened and wondered

howmany things had been broken.

English Translation

Spring sleep not wake dawnEverywhere hear cry bird

Night come wind rain soundFlower fall know how many

I slumbered this spring morning, and missed the dawn,

From everywhere I heard the cry of birds.That night the sound of wind and rain had come,

Who knows how many petals then had fallen?

Sources

• http://www.chinese-poems.com/meng.html• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meng_Haoran