Literary hottie Xu Zhimo was everything you want in a romantic poet: he was in love with being in love, treated women like crap under the guise of romantic free-spiritedness, was at times outrageously depressed, and he died tragically in a plane crash.
He also spent time in England and studied at King’s College, Cambridge in 1921–22, and the experience had a profound emotional and artistic impact on him. He was deeply influenced by English Romantic poetry, the beauty of the River Cam, and the intellectual atmosphere of the university. The poem became one of the most beloved works in modern Chinese literature and is taught widely in Chinese schools, in part because it helped popularize modern free verse poetry in Chinese, blending Eastern feelings with Western Romantic imagery.
At King’s College, Cambridge, a memorial stone engraved with lines from the poem still stands by the River Cam as a tribute to Xu Zhimo’s connection to the city.
Some language stuff
The piece feels like floating in a dream. It’s wistful, sad, and ethereal. Luckily, though, unlike China’s ancient poetic styles which are often hyper-condensed and stripped of grammatical guideposts, this modern poem spoils us with full-fledged sentences and recognizable grammar.
I didn’t do the English translation for this piece. It’s well-known enough in English-speaking lit circles that there are lots of English versions out there, I chose my favorite, which I picked up here, but I did update the translation a smidge where I thought it was not quite right.
《再别康桥》
轻轻的我走了，
正如我轻轻的来；
我轻轻的招手，
作别西天的云彩。
那河畔的金柳，
是夕阳中的新娘；
波光里的艳影，
在我的心头荡漾。
软泥上的青荇，
油油的在水底招摇；
在康河的柔波里，
我甘心做一条水草！
那榆荫下的一潭，
不是清泉，是天上虹；
揉碎在浮藻间，
沉淀着彩虹似的梦。
寻梦？撑一支长篙，
向青草更青处漫溯；
满载一船星辉，
在星辉斑斓里放歌。
但我不能放歌，
悄悄是别离的笙箫；
夏虫也为我沉默，
沉默是今晚的康桥！
悄悄的我走了，
正如我悄悄的来；
我挥一挥衣袖，
不带走一片云彩。
Just as softly I came;
I softly wave my hand,
Bidding farewell to the clouds in the western sky.
The golden willows by the riverbank
Are brides in the setting sun;
Their shimmering reflections in the ripples
Stir gently in my heart.
The green duckweed on the soft mud
Sways freely beneath the water;
In the gentle waves of the Cam River,
I am willing to be a waterweed myself.
That pool beneath the elm shade—
Not a clear spring, but a rainbow from the sky;
Crushed among the floating algae,
It settles into rainbow-colored dreams.
To seek those dreams? I would pole a long oar,
Drifting upstream where the grass is greener still;
With a boat full of starlight,
Singing aloud amid its sparkling glow.
But I cannot sing aloud—
Quietness is the music of parting;
Even the summer insects fall silent for me,
Silence is Cambridge tonight!
Softly I am leaving,
Just as softly I came;
I wave my sleeve gently,
Taking with me not a single cloud.
