碧海青天夜夜心

bì hǎi qīng tiān yè yè xīn
quotation

Meanings

  1. 1 blue sea, green sky - her heart ached night after night
  2. 2 eternal loneliness and regret, set against a cold cosmic backdrop
  3. 3 (lit.) emerald sea, azure sky, night-night heart

Examples

HSK 7-9
Tā dúzì yī rén shēnghuó duōnián, pō yǒu bì hǎi qīng tiān yè yè xīn de gūjì.
Living alone for many years, she had something of the loneliness of 'blue sea, green sky - night after night, the heart.'
HSK 7-9
Shīrén gǎntàn Cháng'é yīng huǐ tōu língyào, bì hǎi qīng tiān yè yè xīn.
The poet laments: 'Chang'e must regret stealing the elixir - blue sea, green sky, her heart aching night by night.'

Tips

history
From 李商隐嫦娥》(Li Shangyin, 'Chang'e,' late Tang, 9th c.): 云母屏风烛影深长河渐落晓星沉嫦娥应悔偷灵药碧海青天夜夜心 (Mica screen, candle-shadows deep; the Silver River sinks, dawn stars fade. Chang'e must regret stealing the elixir - blue sea, green sky, her heart aching night after night). Li Shangyin re-tells the moon-goddess myth as eternal female loneliness; the final line is one of Tang poetry's most quoted images of cosmic solitude.
usage
Always quoted as the closing of the full couplet 嫦娥应悔偷灵药碧海青天夜夜心. 碧海青天 alone has become a set phrase for the vast, remote, indifferent cosmos. Used in song lyrics, film titles, and poetry.

Stroke Order

hǎi
qīng
tiān
xīn