ChineseStudy

4. Drinking Alone Under the Moon | Li Bai

Contents

Text

English translation

Among the flowers, one jug of wine; drinking alone, with no one close by.

The opening is all subtraction: there are flowers, there is wine, and there is nothing else. “One jug”, “alone”, “none” press down one after another, setting the loneliness out in full so that the fancy that follows has room to take off.

I raise my cup to invite the bright moon; with my shadow, we become three.

Counting the moon and the shadow as companions. But of the three, two cannot speak. The liveliness is of his own making, and the loneliness is not one bit less.

The moon after all does not understand drinking, and the shadow only follows my body for nothing.

“After all” and “for nothing” are two deflating words, and the three of the previous line at once shrink back to one. Li Bai does not hide this; he punctures the illusion himself first.

For the time being I keep company with the moon and the shadow; pleasure must be taken while it is spring.

“With” joins the moon to the shadow. Having punctured the illusion he does not break it off; instead he downgrades the appointment to “for the time being” — knowing it will not last, he still wants to hold it. The poem turns here.

I sing, and the moon wanders to and fro; I dance, and the shadow is thrown into disorder.

Both lines begin with “I”, and the pace quickens. The moon and the shadow really do move now, but they move because he moves. The liveliness and the loneliness are two sides of the same thing.

While sober we share the joy; after getting drunk we scatter each his own way.

One line writes union, one writes parting, and between the two lies the boundary of this night. The poet knows the terms clearly: this companionship holds only during the time he is sober.

I would forever join with them in a feelingless wandering, and meet them far away in the Milky Way.

“Feelingless” is not heartlessness: it says the moon and the shadow have no feelings, and precisely for that reason they will not change their minds. Fellowship among people disperses; this appointment will not. The poem opens on one “no” and ends on another.

赏析 · Commentary

三人 · Three

「举杯邀明月，对影成三人」：一个人喝酒，把月亮邀下来，加上自己的影子，凑成三个。热闹是凭空造出来的，而且造得快——上句还在「独酌无相亲」，下句就已是三人。李白不掩饰这个热闹是假的，后面几节他一层层把它说出来。

"I raise the cup and invite the bright moon; facing my shadow, we become three." One man drinking, the moon invited down, his own shadow added in, three in total. The liveliness is manufactured out of nothing, and manufactured fast — the previous line still said he was drinking alone with no one close, and by the next line there are three of them. Li Bai makes no attempt to hide that the company is invented. The sections that follow are him saying so, layer by layer.

不解饮与徒随身 · The Moon Cannot Drink

「月既不解饮，影徒随我身」把破绽自己说了出来：月亮根本不会喝，影子只是跟着我动。接下来是「暂伴月将影，行乐须及春」——既然如此，就暂且凑合着，趁春天还在。从造出三人，到承认三人之中有两个不作数，再到「且将就」，四句里转了三道。李白一边把热闹造起来，一边自己往下拆。

"The moon, of course, does not know how to drink; my shadow only follows my body." He names the flaw himself. The moon cannot drink, and the shadow does nothing but trail along. The answer comes in the next two lines: then let it be for now, let's enjoy ourselves while spring lasts. From inventing three companions, to admitting that two of the three do not count, to settling for that — four lines, three turns. Li Bai keeps the liveliness going and takes it apart underneath at the same time.

醉醒之间 · Sober and Drunk

「我歌月徘徊，我舞影零乱」写的是动起来的样子：唱歌时月亮好像在徘徊，起舞时影子跟着散乱。紧接着「醒时同交欢，醉后各分散」——清醒时还能一起欢聚，醉了以后各散各的。前面邀来的伴，到醉时连形式都没有了。独酌这件事绕了一圈，还是独酌。

"I sing, and the moon lingers; I dance, and my shadow scatters." These lines show things in motion. Then comes: "sober, we share our pleasure; drunk, each of us goes his own way." While he is still sober the company holds; once drunk, even the form of it falls apart. The companions he invited are gone by the time the drinking has done its work. The poem has circled all the way around and arrived back where it started: a man drinking alone.

无情游 · A Meeting Without Feeling

「永结无情游，相期邈云汉」把约会定在银河之外。「无情」不是没有感情，是脱开了世俗往来里带着目的的那一种——月与影不会负心，也不会应酬，所以这场游可以一直结下去。全诗从「独酌无相亲」起，到这里给出另一种解法：不必去找人，把约期开给不会赴约的对象，等于把约期开在时间之外。

"Let us bind a lasting meeting without feeling, and appoint our tryst far off, beyond the Milky Way." "Without feeling" does not mean without affection. It means without the kind of involvement that carries an aim — the moon and the shadow will not betray him, and they will not make small talk, so the meeting can be bound indefinitely. The poem opened with a man drinking alone; here it offers a different way out. There is no need to find a person. You can set the appointment with something that will never keep it, which is to say, outside any time in which it could be kept.

Feedback