Wang Zhihuan / On the Stork Tower, opening line
Bai Ri Yi Shan Jin: Word-by-Word Worksheet
Use this page to slow down the five characters in 白日依山尽 before choosing a smooth English line.
白日依山尽
Bright sun / follows the mountain / reaches its end.
How much of 依 and 尽 should remain visible in natural English?
Character and phrase check
| Text | Pinyin | Working sense | Reading check |
|---|---|---|---|
| 白日 | bái rì | bright sun / white sun | Read as the visible sun, not simply daytime. |
| 依 | yī | lean on / follow along | The verb places the sun against or along the mountain line. |
| 山 | shān | mountain | It supplies the visible boundary of the first line. |
| 尽 | jìn | come to an end / be exhausted | It marks completion more strongly than a neutral 'sets'. |
Build the line in three passes
First keep the Chinese order. Second identify what 依 contributes beyond location. Third decide whether “sets,” “sinks behind,” or “reaches its end along the mountains” best fits the translation job.
The worksheet does not replace the poem. The next line brings in the Yellow River, and the final couplet changes the view from description to ascent.
Source and next reading
Chinese Text Project provides the public Chinese text used for line checking. English wording here is a transparent working gloss, not a claim that one translation is final.
Return to the full poem, pinyin, translation, and commentary