鹅,鹅,鹅, É, é, é,
Ganders, ganders, ganders,
曲项向天歌。 Qū xiànɡ xiànɡ tiān ɡē.
Sing to the sky with necks curved.
白毛浮绿水, Bái máo fú lǜ shuǐ,
White feathers afloat on verdant waters,
红掌拨清波。 Hónɡ zhǎnɡ bō qīng bō.
Orange webbed feet push the clear water.
About the Poem
When the author wrote the poem, he was just seven years old, so the poem vividly describes the ganders from a child's perspective. When reading it, you feel as if there really are ganders before you. You can hear their singing and see their beautiful feathers and the waves created by their movements. These simple sentences not only create a beautiful image of the ganders afloat on the water, but also show the author's pleasant disposition.
Author Brief The author, 骆宾王(Luò Bīnwáng) Luo Bingwang(640-684), a famous poet in the Tang Dynasty, wrote this poem when he was just seven years old. He was widely regarded as the one of four distinguished poets of the early Tang Dynasty.
生词(shēngcí) Vocabulary:
咏(yǒnɡ): v to admire something
项(xiànɡ): n the back of the neck
掌(zhǎnɡ): n the paw of the gander
拨(bō): v to push aside
清波(qīngbō): v the clear wave