Home › Poems › A Question for Liu the Nineteenth
Wèn Liú Shí JiǔA Question for Liu the Nineteenth 问刘十九
Bai Juyi's invitation for a snowy evening.
Original Chinese text with pinyin
绿蚁新醅酒
lǜ yǐ xīn pēi jiǔ
红泥小火炉
hóng ní xiǎo huǒ lú
晚来天欲雪
wǎn lái tiān yù xuě
能饮一杯无
néng yǐn yī bēi wú
Simplified characters; traditional title: 問劉十九.
English translation
Green ants of new-brewed wine;
A little stove of red clay.
Evening comes; the sky would snow—
Can you drink a cup with me?
Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.
Line by line
Meaning and imagery
A complete invitation in twenty characters: the drink, the warmth, the weather and the question. The colors — green foam, red clay, the coming white of snow — make the scene glow. The ending in a question leaves the friend, and the reader, free to imagine saying yes.
Background
Liu the Nineteenth was a friend of Bai Juyi in Jiangzhou; the number refers to his rank among his cousins.
Key words
- 绿蚁 lǜ yǐ
- "green ants," the foam on unfiltered wine
- 醅 pēi
- unfiltered wine
- 无 wú
- a question particle here: "or not?"
About the poet: Bai Juyi
Bai Juyi (also romanized Po Chü-i; courtesy name Letian) wrote in a famously plain style — legend says he read drafts to an old woman and revised anything she could not understand. An outspoken official, he was exiled to Jiangzhou and later governed Hangzhou and Suzhou. His poems were hugely popular in Heian Japan.
Lifetime: 772–846. Other famous works: On the Night of the Fifteenth of the Eighth Month, on Duty in the Palace, Thinking of Yuan Zhen (八月十五日夜禁中独直对月忆元九); A Question for Liu the Nineteenth (问刘十九); A New Mountain Cottage Below Incense Burner Peak, Written on the East Wall (香炉峰下新卜山居草堂初成偶题东壁); Grass on the Ancient Plain: A Farewell (赋得古原草送别); Song of Everlasting Sorrow (长恨歌); The Song of the Lute (琵琶行); The Old Charcoal Seller (卖炭翁).
More by Bai Juyi
- A New Mountain Cottage Below Incense Burner Peak, Written on the East Wall香炉峰下新卜山居草堂初成偶题东壁
- Song of Everlasting Sorrow长恨歌
- Grass on the Ancient Plain: A Farewell赋得古原草送别
- On the Night of the Fifteenth of the Eighth Month, on Duty in the Palace, Thinking of Yuan Zhen八月十五日夜禁中独直对月忆元九