After Lunch
After lunch--one short nap:On waking up--two cups of tea.Raising my head, I see the sun’s lightOnce again slanting to the south-west.Those who are happy regret the shortness of the day;Those who are sad tire of the year’s sloth.But those whose hearts are devoid of joy or sadnessJust go on living, regardless of “short” or “long.”
Words in this poem
- sadness n.
- Heaviness; firmness.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
After Lunch is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #42290, the Arthur Waley translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Various, After Lunch, in A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #42290, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/waley-chinese/after-lunch.html, id L18849.
Form and metre
After Lunch is 8 lines in a single verse paragraph. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. 85% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| After lunch--one short nap: | 6 | ······ |
| On waking up--two cups of tea. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Raising my head, I see the sun’s light | 9 | /˘······· |
| Once again slanting to the south-west. | 9 | ·˘//˘···· |
| Those who are happy regret the shortness of the day; | 13 | ···/˘˘/·/˘··· |
| Those who are sad tire of the year’s sloth. | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| But those whose hearts are devoid of joy or sadness | 12 | ·····˘/···/˘ |
| Just go on living, regardless of “short” or “long.” | 12 | ···/˘˘/˘···· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.