304. Qingping Melody (Third of Three) | Li Bai
Text
English translation
Original Chinese text
名花倾国两相欢，常得君王带笑看。
English translation
The famous flower and the city-toppling beauty delight in each other; always the sovereign looks on with a smile.
The famous flower is the peony; Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and Yang Guifei admired the peonies at the Chenxiang Pavilion, and Li Bai composed this lyric at imperial command. City-toppling draws on the song of Li Yannian in the time of Emperor Wu of Han—one glance topples a city, a second topples a realm—meaning a beauty beyond compare, here Yang Guifei. Delight in each other means flower and beauty set each other off. Looks on with a smile shows the sovereign's pleasure. (The Gutenberg base text reads always; the chinese-poetry dataset has a variant reading of the same sense; I follow the common reading.)
Original Chinese text
解释春风无限恨，沉香亭北倚阑干。
English translation
Dissolving the boundless grief of the spring wind; north of the Chenxiang Pavilion she leans on the railing.
To dissolve means to dispel, to do away with, not the modern sense of explaining. The boundless grief of the spring wind means the groundless sadness the spring breeze stirs. The Chenxiang Pavilion was a pavilion built of agarwood within the Xingqing Palace of Tang Chang'an; the form with a variant first character is an old spelling, and simplified texts normally write Chenxiang. She leans on the railing shows her standing at the rail, her grace setting off the famous flowers. (The chinese-poetry dataset reads dispel the boundless grief of the spring wind, a near sense.)
赏析 · Commentary
花与美人相得益彰 · Flower and Beauty Set Each Other Off
前两句把牡丹和杨贵妃并写：花是“名花”，人是“倾国”，两者互相增色，看得君王含笑。诗人没有把重心全放在人身上，而是让花与人并列，既颂美，也颂盛世风光。
The opening couplet writes the peony and Yang Guifei side by side: the flower is famous, the woman city-toppling, each sets off the other, and the sovereign smiles as he watches. The poet does not put all the weight on the woman but lets flower and person stand together, praising both the beauty and the glory of a prosperous age.
“解释”二字怎么解 · How to Read the Word Dissolve
“解释春风无限恨”历来容易误读，此处的“解释”是消解、排遣，不是解释说明。春风吹动，本易生愁；美人在前，愁绪便消。末句落到沉香亭北倚栏的一个人影上，三首诗至此收住，余味悠然。
The line about dissolving the spring wind's boundless grief is easily misread: here to dissolve means to dispel, to clear away, not to explain. The spring wind blows and would stir sadness; with the beauty before him, the sadness clears. The last line settles on a single figure leaning at the rail north of the Chenxiang Pavilion, and there the three lyrics come to rest, with a lingering aftertaste.