ChineseStudy

90. Mooring at Ox Island in the Night, Recalling the Past | Li Bai

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English translation

At Ox Island, a night on the western river; the blue sky has not a wisp of cloud.

Ox Island is a rocky headland on the Yangtze. The cloudless blue sky gives the emptiness of a moonlit night and sets the ground for looking at the moon and recalling the past.

I climb the boat and gaze at the autumn moon, and idly recall General Xie.

General Xie is Xie Shang of the Eastern Jin, said to have been boating at Ox Island on a moonlit night when he heard Yuan Hong reciting poetry and admired him so greatly that Yuan Hong's rise began there. In recalling it Li Bai mourns the rarity of a true hearer.

I too can chant aloud — but such a man cannot be heard of now.

I too can chant aloud is Li Bai's sort of confidence: my talent yields nothing to Yuan Hong's. The turn on such a man cannot be heard of now brings it back to loneliness — not that I cannot write, but that no one listens.

Tomorrow at dawn I shall hoist sail; the maple leaves fall, one upon another.

The last line closes on scenery: the maple leaves falling are the autumn, and something like a state of mind. The meditation on the past reaches no conclusion but is left to a single falling leaf to close.

赏析 · Commentary

怀古诗怎么写「自己」 · How a Poem on the Past Writes the Self

怀古诗容易写成对古人的复述，这首的分量在于第三联：「余亦能高咏」把自己放进了谢尚与袁宏的故事里。这就从「讲一个古事」变成了「我遇到的正是这个故事的反面」——古时有谢尚识袁宏，如今谢尚那样的人没有，我的高咏也就无人可听。怀古落到实处，是因为它接到了当下的处境。若不接自己，古事讲得再热闹也只是知识。

Poems on the past easily become a retelling of ancients, and this one's weight lies in the third couplet: I too can chant aloud puts the speaker inside the story of Xie Shang and Yuan Hong. It turns telling an old tale into I stand at the exact reverse of that tale — then there was a Xie Shang to know a Yuan Hong, now there is no such man, and my chanting has no ear. The past becomes real because it meets the present condition. Without the turn to the self, the old story is only information, however lively.

牛渚与「知音」的主题 · Ox Island and the Theme of the True Hearer

牛渚这个地点在唐诗里几乎和「知音」绑定，因为谢尚识袁宏的故事就发生在这里。后来的诗人经过牛渚，常会想起这件事。李白这首是其中最有名的一首。把地点本身的典故意义用足，是唐诗的常见技巧：同一处山水，因为有一个故事，就不再只是风景。读这首诗若能知道谢尚的典故，第三联的自负与失落才读得出层次。

The place Ox Island is nearly bound to the theme of the true hearer in Tang poetry, for the story of Xie Shang recognizing Yuan Hong happened there. Poets passing later often recalled it, and Li Bai's is the most famous of such poems. To use the allusive meaning of a place itself is a common Tang technique: the same hills and water, because of one story, cease to be mere scenery. Only a reader who knows the Xie Shang story can hear the layers of confidence and loss in the third couplet.

末句为什么不发议论 · Why the Ending Offers No Reflection

怀古诗到了最后，作者常要站出来说一句感慨，比如「古今多少事」。李白没有。他把感慨停在「枫叶落纷纷」这个画面上，让读者自己去接。原因也许是：第三联已经把该说的话说完了——「余亦能高咏，斯人不可闻」，孤独已经点明，再发议论反而重复。以景结情的好处是把情绪延长，读者合上诗，画面还在。

At the end of a poem on the past the author often steps forward with a sigh, something like how many things are past and present. Li Bai does not. He leaves the feeling on the image of maple leaves falling and lets the reader take it up. The reason may be that the third couplet has already said what needed saying — I too can chant, but such a man cannot be heard of now. The loneliness is named; reflection would only repeat it. Closing on scenery draws the feeling out: the reader shuts the poem and the picture stays.

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