Quick Answer: Where Should You Start with Xu Zhimo?
Xu Zhimo (徐志摩, Xú Zhì Mó; 1897–1931) was a modern Chinese poet and prose writer. His poems invite attention to the movement of a speaking voice: a quiet farewell, a fleeting meeting, an imagined flight and a dream that keeps returning to uncertainty.
- For a first poem: Begin with the farewell to Cambridge.
- For contrast: Compare a brief encounter with a snowflake’s chosen direction.
- For sound: Listen to how repeated phrases sustain or change a feeling.
His life and literary friendships supply context. A poem’s imagined situation still needs to be read before connecting it to a particular event or relationship.
Xu’s memorable images often carry an action: a reflection disappears, a snowflake chooses where to fly, or a speaker imagines singing and then falls silent. Follow those actions to hear more than a general mood of romance.
Place Xu Zhimo and Choose Four Poems
Born in Haining, Zhejiang, Xu studied abroad and became involved in the movement for new Chinese poetry. He helped establish the Crescent Moon Society (新月社, Xīn Yuè Shè) and worked alongside poets concerned with the form and musical possibilities of modern verse, including Wen Yiduo. His career ended with his death in an air crash in 1931. [1]
His time at King’s College, Cambridge, in 1921–22 contributed to his encounter with English literary culture. [2] The modern Chinese literature guide places such exchanges within a wider literary history.
| Poem | A useful reading focus |
|---|---|
| Second Farewell to Cambridge (再别康桥, Zài Bié Kāng Qiáo) | A desired song gives way to a silent departure. [3] |
| By Chance (偶然, Ǒu Rán) | A moment of contact is followed by separate directions. [4] |
| The Joy of a Snowflake (雪花的快乐, Xuě Huā De Kuài Lè) | An imagined flight moves toward closeness and dissolution. [5] |
| I Don’t Know Which Way the Wind Blows (我不知道风是在那一个方向吹, Wǒ Bù Zhī Dào Fēng Shì Zài Nǎ Yí Gè Fāng Xiàng Chuī) | A recurring dream holds changing feelings inside a repeated pattern. [6] |
These four works also appear in the contents of the English selection translated by Mary M. Y. Fung and David Lunde. [7] They offer different situations for a first reading, rather than a complete account of Xu’s output.
Follow the Cambridge Farewell into Silence
Second Farewell to Cambridge dates from 1928, after Xu’s earlier period of study. Its riverside willows become brides in evening light; water plants invite the speaker’s identification, and a pool holds a rainbow-like dream. The imagined scene then expands into a boat filled with starlight and song. [3]
The turn comes when the speaker cannot sing. Insects fall silent, and the final departure is quiet, leaving the clouds behind. Read that withdrawal beside the preceding wish for fullness and song: the farewell unfolds through a wish to sing followed by the refusal of song. [3]
An English version may emphasize gentleness, quietness or rhythm differently. Keep the Chinese title beside the translation when comparing versions of this poem. The friendship and farewell poetry guide offers other departures for comparison.
Compare Encounter, Direction and Dream
By Chance begins with a cloud briefly reflected in water, then shifts to two figures meeting at sea and continuing in different directions. The speaker allows remembrance but prefers forgetting; the closing image nevertheless retains the light exchanged in the meeting. [4]
That ending gives the meeting value without promising permanence. Notice the tension between the impulse to let the moment disappear and the brightness the poem preserves. The Chinese love poems guide supplies further comparisons of attachment and parting. [4]
The Joy of a Snowflake opens with a hypothetical transformation. As a snowflake, the speaker insists on a chosen direction, rejects other places and imagines approaching a woman in a garden. The refrain of flying eventually changes to dissolution as the snowflake reaches the closeness it seeks. [5]
Read the repeated movement with that final change in mind. The imagined freedom has a destination, and arrival alters the snowflake’s form. This is a created poetic situation, rather than evidence that the poem records a particular event in Xu’s life. [5]
I Don’t Know Which Way the Wind Blows presents a contrasting relation to direction. Its six stanzas return to not knowing where the wind blows and to being within a dream. The feeling inside that pattern moves from tenderness and sweetness toward betrayal, sorrow and dimness. [6]
Here the repeated frame persists while the emotional content changes. Set that uncertainty beside the snowflake’s repeated assurance: similar insistence in the sound can carry very different states of mind. [6]
Across these poems, the natural imagery does particular work. Follow what each cloud, current or snowflake allows the voice to imagine, rather than assigning it one meaning for all the poems.
Choose an English Selection with Its Scope in View
Selected Poems by Xu Zhimo, edited by Mary M. Y. Fung and translated by Fung and David Lunde, offers the four poems discussed here. Its published contents also range across other works and include prefaces to several of Xu’s collections. [7]
Stuart Lyons’s Xu Zhimo in Cambridge: Life and Poetry provides another route, combining a biographical introduction with twenty-four poems presented in Chinese, pinyin and English verse translation. Its Cambridge focus makes the place and literary friendships part of the reading context. [8]
Choose according to the task: following several poems across a selection, or reading them with a focused Cambridge context. Check the contents rather than assuming that a selected volume contains the entire body of work.
When comparing translations, listen for repeated words and changes of pace as well as comparing individual images. The Chinese classic books and translations guide gives further questions about notes, selection and edition scope.
FAQs About Xu Zhimo
Which Xu Zhimo poem should I read first?
Start with Second Farewell to Cambridge. Its movement from riverside images through imagined song to quiet departure offers a compact introduction to his handling of voice.
Did Xu Zhimo write only love poems?
No. His poetry also addresses places, parting, dreams and wider human concerns. Read the situation of each work before reducing it to a biographical love story.
Are the English books mentioned here complete collections?
They are selections. Check their contents and stated scope, especially when looking for a particular poem or comparing work from different original collections.
Sources
[1] Hong Kong Baptist University Library. Xu Zhimo: Writer’s Biography
[2] Cam Rivers Publishing. Xu Zhimo
[3] Xu Zhimo, via Wikisource. Second Farewell to Cambridge
[4] Xu Zhimo, via Wikisource. By Chance
[5] Xu Zhimo, via Wikisource. The Joy of a Snowflake
[6] Xu Zhimo, via Wikisource. I Don’t Know Which Way the Wind Blows
[7] Chinese University of Hong Kong, Research Centre for Translation. Selected Poems by Xu Zhimo: Contents and Credits
[8] King’s College Cambridge, The Shop at King’s. Xu Zhimo in Cambridge: Life and Poetry