Major Heat

The watery country is already deep in oppressive summer heat, and the summer days remain long. Beside the house, where one fishes, gusts sweep quickly across the pond. Deep within the bamboo, insects cry in a confusion of sound, while beside the still lotus pond a pair of egrets stands motionless. The fan in my hand cannot stop, yet even as I wave it, sweat pours out as though overflowing.

Kong Pingzhong uses realistic brushwork to depict both the severe heat and the vitality of Major Heat. “泽国已炎暑，夏天仍永日” establishes the intensity of the heat and the length of the summer day; the character “仍” conveys a sense of helplessness before daylight that still seems endlessly long. “屋头垂钓处，池面风来急” shows the poet attempting to escape the heat through fishing and the breeze over the pond, yet the word “急” suggests that even a strong wind cannot truly dispel the heat. “竹深虫乱鸣” writes the noisy chorus of insects from deep within the bamboo, while “荷静鹭双立” depicts the quiet serenity of two egrets standing by the lotus pond. Noise and stillness together create a complex soundscape of Major Heat. The final couplet, “把扇不能休，挥之汗如溢”, is the focal point of the poem: the fan never stops moving, yet sweat still pours forth like a spring. This exaggerated image of sweating as though in rain renders the oppressive heat of Major Heat with complete vividness. Even within the extreme heat, however, the poem retains an attentive appreciation of natural life—the cries of insects and the standing egrets.