Analysis of Shui Tiao Ko Tou

Su Tung-po 1037 (Meishan, Sichuan) – 1101 (Huizong of Song)



Will a moon so bright ever arise again?
Drink a cupful of wine and ask of the sky.
I don't know where the palace gate of heaven is,
Or even the year in which tonight slips by.
I want to return riding the whirl-wind! But I
Feel afraid that this heaven of jasper and jade
Lets in the cold, its palaces rear so high.
I shall get up and dance with my own shadow.
From life endured among men how far a cry!

Round the red pavilion
Slanting through the lattices
Onto every wakeful eye,
Moon, why should you bear a grudge, O why
Insist in time of separation so th fill the sky?
Men know joy and sorow, parting and reunion;
The moon lacks lustre, brightly shines; is al, is less.
Perfection was never easily come by.
Though miles apart, could men but live for ever
Dreaming they shared this moonlight endlessly!


Scheme XABAAXAXA CBAAACXAXX
Poetic Form
Metre 10111100101 1011101101 111101011101 11001010111 111011001111 101111011001 10011100111 1111011111 11010111101 101010 10101 1010011 111110111 01011010111101 11101100010 011101011111 01011010011 11011111110 101111100
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 792
Words 155
Sentences 12
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 9, 10
Lines Amount 19
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 313
Words per stanza (avg) 77
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

46 sec read
54

Su Tung-po

Su Shi, courtesy name Zizhan (Chinese: 子瞻), art name Dongpo (Chinese: 東坡), was a Chinese calligrapher, gastronome, painter, pharmacologist, poet, politician, and writer of the Song dynasty. more…

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