Changan Traveller

長干行 (崔顥)
君家何處住
妾住在橫塘
停船暫借問
或恐是同鄉

Long - To Concern - Travel (Cui Hao)
Gentleman - Home - Where - Place - To Reside
Maiden - To Reside - At - Harsh - Pond
To Stop - Boat - Temporary - To Borrow - To Ask
Maybe - To Fear - Is - Same - Village

Changan Traveler (Cui Hao)
Where do you live sir
I live in Hengtang
Stop the boat a moment so I may ask
Perhaps we are from the same village

長干: Changan is an ancient capital of ten dynasties.

君: polite address for a gentleman

妾: deprecatory self-reference for a woman

橫塘: the name of a city

借問: This means, "May I ask?".

或恐: This means, "perhaps". 恐 did not have the negative connotation that it now has.

同鄉: same village

This poem is about a woman asking a passing traveler in a boat on the river if they are perhaps from the same village.

Sending Off Zhu Da As He Leaves for Qin

送朱大入秦 (孟浩然)
遊人五陵去
寶劍值千金
分手脫相贈
平生一片心

To Send Off - Zhu - Big - To Enter - Qin (Meng Hao Ran)
To Travel - Person - Five - Mound - To Go
Precious - Sword - Worth - Thousand - Gold
Ti Divide - Hand - To Take Off - Each Other - To Gift
Flat - Born - One - Piece - Heart

Sending Off Zhu Da As He Leaves for Qin (Meng Hao Ran)
A tourist travels to Wuling Hills
A double-edged sword worth a lot of money
Upon parting I remove it and present it to you as a gift
To keep with your whole life a piece of my heart

朱大: Zhu Da. A person's name.

遊人: tourist

寶劍: double-edged sword

千金: invaluable

分手: to split up

平生: all one's life

This poem is about sending off a friend with a parting gift of a valuable sword.

Bamboo House

竹里館 (王維)
獨坐幽篁裏
彈琴復長嘯
深林人不知
明月來相照

Bamboo - Home - House (Wang Wei)
Alone - Sit - Remote - Bamboo Grove - Inside
Pluck - Instrument - Again - Long - Whistle
Deep - Forest - Person - Not - Know
Bright - Moon - Arrive - Each Other - Shine

Bamboo House (Wang Wei)
Sitting alone in a remote bamboo grove
Plucking my lute again and crooning
Deep in the forest no one is aware
The bright moon arrives and we shine on each other

竹里館: Bamboo House is the name the poet has given to a house he has built.

琴: This is just a general term for instrument, but because of '彈' it has to be a stringed instrument.

長嘯: to sing or croon

Sending Off Zhao Zong At Night

Sending Off Zhao Zong At Night (Yang Jiong)

夜送趙縱 (楊炯)
趙氏連城璧
由來天下傳
送君還舊府
明月滿前川

Night - Send Off - Zhao - Zong (Yang Jiong)
Zhao - Clan Name - Join - City - Jade Annulus
Reason - Return - Sky - Below - Historical Narrative
Send Off - Gentleman - Return - Old - Home
Bright - Moon - Full - Front - River

Sending Off Zhao Zong At Night (Yang Jiong)
Mr. Zhao and the Jade Disc of Liancheng
Originally known throughout China
Sending off a gentlemen as he returns to his old home
The bright moon fills the river ahead

趙縱: the person's name

連城: Liancheng city

連城璧: the famous jade disc of Liancheng city

由來: origin

天下: This refers to China as the kingdom under heaven.

傳: historical narrative that should be widely known

This poem is about a minister who was to deliver the jade disc to a neighboring kingdom and his return trip.

On the Topic of Mr. Yuan's Villa

題袁氏別業 (賀知章)
主人不相識
偶坐為林泉
莫謾愁沽酒
囊中自有錢

Topic - Yuan - Clan Name - Other - Business (He Zhi Zhang)
Owner - Person - Not - Each Other - Know
Accidental - Sit - Because - Woods - Fountain
Not - Neglect - Worry - Buy - Wine
Purse - Middle - Self - Have - Money

On the Topic of Mr. Yuan's Villa (He Zhi Zhang)
The owner is not an acquaintance
I stop to sit here because of the trees and fountain
Do not worry about buying the wine
I have money in my coin purse

氏: equivalent of Mr. or Mrs., but is placed after the surname

別業: villa

相識: acquaintance

莫謾: do not

囊: This refers to the coin purse that people carried under their clothes.

This poem is about the poet stopping at someone's estates and offering to share a bottle of wine.

Thinking About My Lord's Favor

思君恩 (令狐楚)
小苑鶯歌歇
長門蝶舞多
眼看春又去
翠輦不曾過

Think - Lord - Favor (Ling Hu Chu)
Small - Park - Oriole - Song - Stop
Long - Door - Butterfly - Dance - Many
Eye - Look - Spring - Also - Go
Kingfisher - Emperor's Carriage - Not - Already - Pass

Thinking About My Lord's Favor (Ling Hu Chu)
In my small courtyard the orioles have stopped singing
At the gate many butterflies dance
Soon spring will once again go
Your kingfisher feather covered carriage never passes

長門: This refers to the large door that leads into the courtyard.

眼看: soon

蝴蝶: Butterfly is almost always written with these two characters together.

翠: Although this can mean "jade" or "bluish-green" or "kingfisher", the emperor's carriage was festooned in the bluish-green feathers of the kingfisher.

This poem is about one of the emperor's wives who has fallen out of favor and is no longer visited by him.

Pear Blossoms of the East Wing

左掖梨花 (丘為)
冷艷全欺雪
餘香乍入衣
春風且莫定
吹向玉階飛

East - Thrust in Between - Pear - Blossom (Qiu Wei)
Cold - Glamorous - All - Beat - Snow
Surplus - Fragrant - Suddenly - Enter - Clothes
Spring - Wind - Just - Not - Decide
Blow - Toward - Jade - Step - Fly

Pear Blossoms of the East Wing (Qiu Wei)
Its cool elegance beats even the snow
Its fragrance suddenly permeates clothing
Spring wind just don't stop
Blow towards the jade steps

左掖: This refers to government offices in the east wing of the palace.

冷艷: cool, elegant, and magnificent

玉階: Apparently the palace steps were made of jade.

Spring Complaint

春怨 (蓋嘉運)
打起黃鶯兒
莫教枝上啼
啼時驚妾夢
不得到遼西

Spring - Complaint (Ge Jia Yun)
Hit - Initiate - Yellow - Oriole - Children
Not - Teach - Branch - Up - Cry
Cry - Time - Startle - Wife - Dream
Not - Ought - Arrive - Liao - West

Spring Complaint (Ge Jia Yun)
Scare away the black-naped orioles
Don't let them cry in the branches
Their crying startles my (the wife addressing herself) dreams
I may not arrive in Liaoshi

教: Although this means, "to teach", it is being used here as a more forceful means of not wanting the birds to cry in the branches.

妾: This means, "wife" when the wife is addressing herself. Otherwise, it means, "concubine".

不得: may not / must not

遼西: an area west of Liaoning

Watching Princess Yung Le Leaves For Foreign Lands

觀永樂公主入蕃 (孫逖)
邊地鶯花少
年來未覺新
美人天上落
龍塞始應春

Observe - Forever - Happy - Public - Lord - Enter - Foreign (Sun Ti)
Border - Land - Oriole - Flower - Few
Year - Arrive - Not - Feel - New
Beautiful - Person - Sky - Up - Fall
Dragon - Pass - Begin - Ought - Spring

Watching Princess Yung Le Leaves For Foreign Lands (Sun Ti)
On the frontier orioles and flowers are rare
After a year nothing feels new
Spring shall not come to Dragon Pass
Until a beauty falls from heaven

永樂: Yung Le. The name of a princess from 717 A.D. Can be translated as, "paradise". She had an arranged marriage with a "barbarian" chief to secure an alliance.

公主: princess

蕃: any foreign land; same as 番

邊地: borderland or frontier

龍塞: Dragon Pass

始: Indicates that something shall not happen until something else does. In this case, the arrival of spring is preceded by the arrival of the princess.

Climbing Stork Magpie Tower

登鸛鵲樓 (王之渙)
白日依山盡
黃河入海流
欲窮千里目
更上一層樓

Climb - Stork - Magpie - Tower (Wang Zhi Huan)
White - Sun - Near - Mountain - Finished
Yellow - River - Enter - Sea - Flow
Desire - Poor - Thousand - Kilometer - Eye
Again - Up - One - Story - Tower

Climbing Stork Magpie Tower (Wang Zhi Huan)
The noonday sun has disappeared behind the mountains
The Yellow River flows into the sea
Desiring to see more of the distant landscape
I climb another story

鸛鵲樓: name of a famous tower

白日: noonday sun

千: In this context,  it does not have to literally mean, "thousand".

盡: The presence of this character indicates an action that has already occurred. In the case of the sun's proximity to a mountain, it can be inferred that it has gone behind the mountain.

欲窮千里目更上一層樓: This is a Chinese proverb that means, "In order to achieve yet another goal, you have to put forth more effort".