惊起一滩鸥鹭

驚起一灘鷗鷺
jīngqǐyītānōulù
phrase

Meanings

  1. 1 startling up a whole beach of gulls and egrets
  2. 2 (fig.) a sudden burst of motion in stillness — a vivid image of disturbance scattering tranquility
  3. 3 (lit.) startle — rise — one — beach — gulls-egrets

Examples

Xiǎo chuán chuǎngrù hétáng, jīng qǐ yī tān ōu lù.
The little boat broke into the lotus pond, startling up a whole beach of gulls and egrets.
Nà jù jīng qǐ yī tān ōu lù, huàmiàn gǎn jí qiáng.
The line 'startling up a whole beach of gulls and egrets' is wonderfully visual.

Tips

history
Closing line of 李清照·》 (Li Qingzhao, Song, late 11th c.): 沉醉不知深处 (Often I recall the creek-side pavilion at dusk, drunk past knowing the way home. Joy spent, rowed back late, blundered deep into the lotus blooms. Row through! Row through! — and startled up a whole beach of gulls and egrets). The ci closes with sudden movement and sound after stillness — one of the most quoted kinetic images in Song ci.
usage
here = 'beach / shoal,' used as a quasi-measure word for the flock. (gulls and egrets) is a standard poetic binomial for white water birds; treat it as a single lexical unit.

Stroke Order

jīng
tān
ōu