Oaths of Friendship
If you were riding in a coachAnd I were wearing a “li,”And one day we met in the road,You would get down and bow.If you were carrying a “tēng”And I were riding on a horse,And one day we met in the roadI would get down for you.
Shang Ya!I want to be your friendFor ever and ever without break or decay.When the hills are all flatAnd the rivers are all dry,When it lightens and thunders in winter,When it rains and snows in summer,When Heaven and Earth mingle--Not till then will I part from you.
About this text
Oaths of Friendship 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, Oaths of Friendship, in A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #42290, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/waley-chinese/oaths-of-friendship.html, id L18753.
Form and metre
Oaths of Friendship is 17 lines in 2 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 73%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.3 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 24% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 --A---A- coach · li · roadA · bow · — · horse · roadA · you
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. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| If you were riding in a coach | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And I were wearing a “li,” | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| And one day we met in the road, | 8 | ········ |
| You would get down and bow. | 6 | ······ |
| If you were carrying a “tēng” | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| And I were riding on a horse, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And one day we met in the road | 8 | ········ |
| I would get down for you. | 6 | ······ |
| Shang Ya! | 2 | ·· |
| I want to be your friend | 6 | ······ |
| For ever and ever without break or decay. | 12 | ·/˘·/˘····˘/ |
| When the hills are all flat | 6 | ······ |
| And the rivers are all dry, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| When it lightens and thunders in winter, | 10 | ··/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| When it rains and snows in summer, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| When Heaven and Earth mingle-- | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Not till then will I part from you. | 8 | ········ |
Notes from the edition 2
Arthur Waley's notes to A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems (1918; Project Gutenberg #42290).
- Stanza 1, line 2 A peasant’s coat made of straw.
- Stanza 1, line 5 An umbrella under which a cheap-jack sells his wares. (2) Shang Ya! I want to be your friend For ever and ever without break or decay. When the hills are all flat And the rivers are all dry, When it lightens and thunders in winter, When it rains and snows in summer, When Heaven and Earth mingle-- Not till then will I part from you.
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.