Mooring by Maple Bridge at Night
The moon sets; crows call in a sky full of frost.
River maples and fishing lights face a sleepless, troubled traveler.
Beyond the city of Gusu stands Hanshan Temple;
At midnight its bell reaches the passenger boat.
Notes
Maple Bridge: a bridge in the Suzhou area. Mooring: stopping a boat for the night. Crows calling: one common reading of 乌啼; another takes it as a place name. River maples: usually read as maples by the river, though another interpretation connects the words to bridge names. Fishing lights: lights on boats, in a common reading. Gusu: an old name for Suzhou. Hanshan Temple: the temple named in the poem. Passenger boat: the boat in which the traveler stays.
Meaning
A traveler cannot sleep on a boat while the moon sets, crows call and lights appear on the river. From Hanshan Temple outside Gusu, a midnight bell reaches the boat.
Appreciation
The poem brings together sights and sounds from a night on the water: the setting moon, birds, fishing lights and a temple bell. The last line lets the bell travel across the darkness to the boat, leaving the reader with the traveler’s quiet mood.
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The first line brings together the setting moon and the crows’ calls. “A sky full of frost” evokes the cold of the night; it is a poetic image, not a report of frost literally filling the sky.
The second line turns toward the river. Maple trees and fishing lights make a distant scene while the word 愁 suggests the traveler’s unease. Readers may imagine different reasons for that feeling, but the poem does not name one.
The final two lines move beyond the city to Hanshan Temple. Rather than describing the temple in detail, the poem lets the sound of its bell cross the night and reach the boat. That sound gives the still scene a sense of distance.
To read together, notice the change from what can be seen to what can be heard. A parent might ask: which image would you draw, and what sound would you add?
About the poet
Zhang Ji, courtesy name Yisun, was a Tang poet from Xiangzhou, in the area of present-day Xiangyang, Hubei. His birth and death years are uncertain. His best-known poem is Mooring by Maple Bridge at Night.
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Life and work: Zhang Ji passed the imperial examination in 753. Later sources record an official post in Hongzhou, in the area of present-day Nanchang. Accounts differ on the precise office he held.
His poems: Alongside his famous night at Maple Bridge, his surviving work includes poems about travel, farewells and social life, such as阊门即事 (At Changmen) and送邹判官往陈留 (Seeing Judge Zou off to Chenliu).
The surviving record is limited. Biographies offer different estimates of his dates, so this page leaves them open.
Sources
Poem and reading reference: Shicile · Collection reference · poems-db · Hanshan Temple reference · Poet biography reference
English translation and explanations by Poetry Buds; review ongoing.