Tang Dynasty
Late Spring
Han Yu
草树知春不久归，百般红紫斗芳菲。
杨花榆荚无才思，惟解漫天作雪飞。
Translation
Grasses and trees know that spring will soon return no more. So they bring out every kind of red and purple, competing in fragrance and beauty. Willow catkins and elm pods seem to have no poetic talent or clever thought. They only know how to fill the whole sky, flying like snow.
Analysis
'Late Spring' describes the end of spring, but Han Yu does not treat it as a purely sad season. Instead, he makes it lively, competitive, and even humorous. The first couplet personifies plants and trees. They seem to know that spring will soon depart, so they rush to display their colors. 'Every kind of red and purple' suggests the richness of late-spring blossoms, and the verb 'compete' gives the scene energy. Flowers are not quietly blooming; they are racing to show their beauty before the season ends. The second couplet shifts to willow catkins and elm pods. Unlike brilliant flowers, they have no strong color or elegant floral form. Han Yu jokingly says they have 'no talent or thought.' But this is not harsh criticism. It is playful. Their method is different: they fill the sky like flying snow. They cannot compete in red and purple, so they create another spectacle through movement and abundance. In Han Yu's imagination, even humble catkins and elm pods become performers in spring's final scene. The poem's emotional center is not sorrow but vitality. Spring is almost gone, yet everything is still trying to participate. Flowers compete in color; catkins and pods fly like snow. The result is a late-spring world full of motion, humor, and life.
About the Author
Han Yu, courtesy name Tuizhi, was a major Tang dynasty writer, thinker, and poet from Heyang, with ancestral associations to Changli; he is often called Han Changli. He is traditionally ranked first among the Eight Great Prose Masters of the Tang and Song and was a central advocate of the Classical Prose Movement, opposing ornate parallel prose and promoting the prose ideals of the pre-Qin and Han traditions. His poetry is known for force, unusual imagination, rugged diction, and intellectual energy, though he could also write lively and playful short poems. 'Late Spring' shows his talent for renewing ordinary seasonal imagery through personification and wit.