ChineseStudy

139. Lodging on a Journey | Du Mu

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English translation

"Gathered feeling" is emotion held still; "quietly" is a noiseless sorrow. The opening gives the situation, the second the state, and neither names a specific event.

By the cold lamp I think of old things; the cry of a lone goose that has lost its flock startles me from my sorrowful sleep.

'Broken goose' means a goose that has lost its flock; 'startles' means waking one with a shock. The lamp and the goose, one still and one moving, are both companions in solitude.

"Toward dawn" is the hour before light; "a year apart" gives how hard letters travel. The first half is the short comfort of dream, the second the long reality.

The last couplet turns suddenly to an imagined retirement. The boat tied at the door means he could leave at any time — and he is still in the inn.

赏析 · Commentary

写羁旅，用一夜装下一生 · One Night Holds a Whole Life

四联的时间跨度很大：第一联是当下的凝坐，第二联是夜里被雁声惊醒，第三联是从梦到天亮、从今年到隔年，末联跳到想象中归隐的日子。杜牧用一夜把散在各处的时间收在一处。羁旅诗的常规写法是写具体的一天，这首诗写的是时间感本身——夜里的人容易把一切拉长。

The four couplets span a great deal of time: sitting still in the present, waking in the night to a goose's cry, then from dream to dawn and from this year to next, and finally a leap to an imagined retirement. Du Mu gathers scattered times into one night. Lodging poems usually describe a particular day; this one describes the sense of time itself — a man awake at night stretches everything.

中间两联的对照 · The Contrast in the Middle Couplets

第二联写眼前的物，第三联写不可及的事。「远梦归侵晓」是短暂的满足，「家书到隔年」是长期的空等。两句之间有一个不易察觉的落差：梦里已经到家了，醒了信还没到。杜牧没有写这个落差的感受，只把两件事并列，落差自己就出来了。

The second couplet writes what is present, the third what is out of reach. "The homeward dream reaches dawn" is brief satisfaction; "a letter a year away" is a long empty wait. A gap sits between them that is easy to miss: in the dream he is already home, and awake the letter has not come. Du Mu does not write the feeling of that gap, only places the two facts together, and the gap appears.

末联为什么转到钓鱼船 · Why the Last Couplet Turns to a Fishing Boat

「门系钓鱼船」这句收得远。前一秒还在旅馆里想家书，后一秒已经在想象一个门口系船的家。这一跳不是跑题，是羁旅诗常用的出口：现实的困顿说完了，总要给一个可以想的去处。杜牧的船并没有动，只是「系」着——连想象里的归隐都还是静止的，这一点很妙。

"A fishing boat tied at the door" ends at a distance. One moment he is in an inn thinking of a letter; the next he is imagining a house with a boat at its gate. The leap is no digression but the usual exit of a lodging poem: with the hardship told, some place to think about must be offered. Du Mu's boat has not moved — it is tied fast. Even the imagined retirement stands still, and that is the fine touch.

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