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70. Hard Is the Road | Li Bai

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English translation

Clear wine in a golden cup, a gallon worth ten thousand coins; rare dishes on a jade plate worth ten thousand more.

Both lines quote a price. The dearer the food and drink, the more weight the later cannot eat will carry.

He sets down the cup, throws down the chopsticks, cannot eat; he draws his sword and looks around, his heart a blank.

Four actions in a row — set down, throw, draw, look — all force directed outward, with nowhere to land.

He would cross the Yellow River, but ice chokes the stream; he would climb Taihang, but snow fills the mountain.

Both directions are blocked. Both lines begin with would — the man is still trying to move, only he cannot.

At leisure he fishes on the green stream, then suddenly dreams again of a boat passing the sun.

Two allusions: Jiang Taigong fishing at Panxi, and Yi Yin dreaming of the sun. One is waiting, one is being summoned — both look like a turn for the better.

Hard is the road, hard is the road; so many forked ways — where is the one now?

The phrase hard is the road repeats twice, as the yuefu title runs; where is the one now pulls the question down to this very moment.

There will be a time to ride the long wind and break the waves; then I will hoist the cloud sail straight and cross the blue sea.

The close turns suddenly bright. Four lines have been blocked; this one opens everything, with no transition — the drop that Li Bai favors.

赏析 · Commentary

从「不能食」到「济沧海」的落差 · The Drop from Cannot Eat to Cross the Blue Sea

全诗六句，前四句一直在堵：不能吃、没有方向、黄河结冰、太行满雪。第五句还在问「今安在」。到第六句，「长风破浪会有时」忽然全开。这个转弯没有铺垫，前一句还在歧路里，后一句已经挂帆出海。李白常用这种落差，好处是让最后的亮不显得轻——前面压得越实，最后一句才越有力。但也要留意，他并没有说什么时候，只说「会有时」，这个「会」是相信，不是知道。全诗的力量也就落在这个相信上，而不是落在任何一件具体的事上。

Six lines in all: the first four keep blocking — cannot eat, no direction, ice on the Yellow River, snow on Taihang. The fifth still asks where is the one now. Then in the sixth, there will be a time to ride the long wind and break the waves opens everything. The turn has no preparation; one line is still in the forked ways, the next has hoisted sail for open water. Li Bai uses this drop often, and its advantage is that it keeps the closing brightness from feeling light — the more solidly the front is pressed down, the more force the last line has. Note too that he does not say when, only that there will be a time. That word is belief, not knowledge. The poem's strength rests on the belief, not on any particular thing.

四个动作连在一起写「吃不下」 · Four Actions in a Row to Write Being Unable to Eat

「停杯投箸不能食，拔剑四顾心茫然」，写的是同一件事：坐不住。李白不写心里的感受，只写手和身体的动作——放杯子、扔筷子、拔剑、回头看。四个动作之间不加连接词，读起来像一气做完，实际上每一动作都没有下文：放下了没有喝，扔掉了没有吃，拔出剑没有砍谁，回头看没有看见什么。四个动作都是空的，最后才落到「茫然」两个字上。先做后说，比先说自己心情茫然要有力。

He sets down the cup, throws down the chopsticks, cannot eat; he draws his sword and looks around, his heart a blank writes one thing: he cannot sit still. Li Bai does not write the feeling; he writes the hands and the body — set the cup down, throw the chopsticks, draw the sword, turn to look. No connectives join the four actions, so it reads as done in one breath, and in fact none of them leads anywhere: the cup is set down and not drunk from, the chopsticks thrown and nothing eaten, the sword drawn and no one struck, the look taken and nothing seen. All four are empty, and only at the end does the line land on blank. Doing first and saying after is stronger than announcing a blank heart at the start.

两个典故：一个在等，一个被召 · Two Allusions: One Waiting, One Summoned

「闲来垂钓碧溪上，忽复乘舟梦日边」，一句装一个典故。上句是姜太公在磻溪钓鱼，八十岁遇到周文王；下句是伊尹梦见自己乘船经过太阳旁边，后来被商汤起用。两个人都是先没出路、后得重用。李白把这两件事并在一起，用的是「闲来」和「忽复」——一个主动等，一个被动来。他自己当时的处境是被赐金放还，正处在「等」的位置上。典故放在这里，既是自比，也是自我安慰，接下来的「多歧路」立刻把安慰又收回去。

At leisure he fishes on the green stream, then suddenly dreams again of a boat passing the sun holds one allusion per line. The first is Jiang Taigong fishing at Panxi, who met King Wen of Zhou at eighty; the second is Yi Yin, who dreamed of a boat passing beside the sun and was later raised up by Tang of Shang. Both men had no way forward and then were given weight. Li Bai sets the two together using at leisure and then suddenly — one waits on his own initiative, one is summoned. His own position at the time, sent home with a gift of gold, put him in the waiting seat. The allusions are both self-comparison and self-comfort, and the very next line, so many forked ways, takes the comfort back again.

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