構思 立意 念頭 = CONCEPT?

[82riceballs]

I came across the following sentence in a packet about tang poets.

雖然李白見到好山好水時一向都喜歡題詩，但是這次他覺得自己的構思和立意都沒有超過崔顥，只說了聲：「眼前有景道不得，崔顥題詩在上頭‧」於是放棄了題詩的念頭，便離去了‧

I looked up the definitions for the three highlighted words, but all of them came to definitions like "concept" or "conception." What's the difference between these three?

Thanks in advance!

[studentyoung]

I looked up the definitions for the three highlighted words, but all of them came to definitions like "concept" or "conception." What's the difference between these three?

That depends on the conditions.

雖然李白見到好山好水時一向都喜歡題詩，但是這次他覺得自己的構思和立意都沒有超過崔顥，

In Chinese, when we talk about the 構思 and 立意 in an article, a poem, an essay or thing like that, 構思 means the main structure or layout and 立意 means the main idea or deep meaning the writer or poet want to express.

於是放棄了題詩的念頭

念頭 here means “intention”.

雖然李白見到好山好水時一向都喜歡題詩，但是這次他覺得自己的構思和立意都沒有超過崔顥，只說了聲：「眼前有景道不得，崔顥題詩在上頭‧」於是放棄了題詩的念頭，便離去了‧

Thought Li Bai liked to write a poem when he met beautiful landscapes, he thought his poem’s structure and deep meaning couldn’t surpass Cui Hao’s at this time. Therefore, he simply left a word, “the landscape in front of me is beyond words, which Cui Hao has left his verse already”, and walked away, giving up his intention to make a poem at that time.

(没想到啊，李白也有这么酸的时候。)

Cheers!

Edited February 20, 2009 at 02:17 AM by studentyoung

[roddy]

Sounds like you need a better dictionary, to be honest. Which are you using?