The Midautumn Festival

The Midautumn Festival

Tune: “Prelude to Water Melody”

Su Shi, translated by Xu Yuanchong

How long will the full moon appear? 

Wine cup in hand, I ask the sky.

I do not know what time of the year

’It would be tonight in the palace on high.

Riding the wind, there I would fly,

Yet I’m afraid the crystalline palace would be 

Too high and cold for me.

Dancing to my shadow

Is analogous to our human world?

The moon goes round the mansions red 

Through gauze-draped window soft to shed 

Her light upon the sleepless bed.

Why then when people part, is the oft full and bright?

Men have sorrow and joy; they part or meet again; 

The moon is bright or dim and she may wax or wane. 

There has been nothing perfect since the olden days. 

So let us wish that man 

Will live long as he can! 

Though miles apart, we’ll share the beauty she displays.

Comment:

First I want to explain that the title of this poem is ‘The Midautumn Festival’,

while ‘Prelude to Water Melody’ is the tune. This poem belongs to a specific

form of poetry in ancient China, which is ‘song ci’. Many song ci share the same

tune. It is called tune because songci can be sung. Each specific tune has its own

melody. 

Sushi, a famous Chinese writer in the Song Dynasty, who lived around one

thousand years ago, wrote this poem after drinking at one night of the Midautumn

Festival.

With a wine cup in hand, Sushi asked the sky how long would the full moon appear

and what time of the year was in the moon palace. He wanted to know how life

was on the moon, and he also desired flying to the sky. At the same time, he was

worried that the moon palace could be too high and cold. By asking and imagining

life on the moon, he was actually comparing life on the moon and real life. The

first stanza elicits a feeling that the writer was walking back and forth between

the moon and the earth, the unreality, and the reality.

The second stanza continued the comparison between the moon and the real world.

The most famous part of this stanza are the fifth to seventh lines. By observing

that the moon can be bright or dim, and may wax or wane, the writer pointed out

that men have sorrow and joy, and would part and meet. From this comparison, I

gain a sense of the writer’s philosophical idea about nature and human beings. It

seems he accepted that life is imperfect, just like the moon can not always be

round. I get the impression that his attitude towards life was optimistic. The

last sentence is also very famous, which expressed his wish for all the people

in the world. 

We should also pay attention to the background of Sushi when we analyze this

poem. Sushi was talented, and when he was young, he had already gained much

reputation. He was not only a poet but also an officer. However, he experienced

exile in the remaining years of his life. Due to this experience, he was facing the

choice of whether to live far away from the city by himself or still to contribute

to society. We can see his hesitation when he compared life on the moon and

reality. Considering that he continued working for local people even though he

was exiled to remote places, and his love of real-life even though he realized

that life was imperfect in this poem, we can learn that he is optimistic and

open-minded. So this poem relates closely to Sushi’s personal background. At

the same time,  because many people will experience highs and lows during their

life, this poem helps us learn that life cannot always be perfect and we should

have an optimistic attitude towards life. Hence, this poem has a power that

surpasses the specific time and space.

Sources:

1. A basic introduction about song ci, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ci_(poetry).

2. General introduction about Su Shi’s background, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Su_Shi. More information and evaluation of Sushi, see Lin Yutang: The Biography of Su Dongpo.