Li Bai was deeply influenced by the thoughts of Huang Lao Lie Zhuang, and his “Li Taibai Collection” was handed down to the world. Most of his poems were written when he was drunk. His representative works include “Wanglu Mountain Waterfall”, “Difficulties in Traveling”, “Difficulties in Shu Road”, “Jiang Entering Wine”, and “Mingtang” “Fu”, “Early Delivery of Baidi City” and many other poems.

 

行路难

(三首其一)

金樽清酒斗十千[1],

玉盘珍羞[2]直[3]万钱。

停杯投箸[4]不能食,

拔剑四顾心茫然。

欲渡黄河冰塞川,

将登太行雪满山。

闲来垂钓碧溪上,

忽复乘舟梦日边[5]。

行路难,

行路难,

多歧路,

今安在?

长风破浪[6]会有时,

直挂云帆[7]济沧海。

《行路难》共三首,大约是李白第一次离开长安时写的,这是其中的第一首。如果说《蜀道难》是借山川险阻来写人生道路的艰难,那么《行路难》就是借历史人物的遭遇来抒发宣泄自己的苦闷。开头两句引用了曹植的“美酒斗十千”,说明自己是用黄金买醉,一如曹植的郁郁不得志。接着两句引用了鲍照《拟行路难》的“对案不能食,拔剑击柱长叹息”,反映自己内心的矛盾,这是第一层波澜。接下去又从地理上写到大河冰冻、太行雪封,寸步难行,诗人不得不做退隐的打算,于是又引用了姜尚80岁钓鱼的典故,这是第二层波澜。下一句再引用伊尹梦见乘舟绕过日边,后来成了商代丞相的故事,自己的情绪也转为高昂,这是第三层波澜。最后,诗人摆脱了歧路彷徨的苦闷,发出了乘长风破万里浪,横渡沧海到达理想的彼岸的呼声。这样一波三折,表现了李白浪漫主义的乐观精神。

注释:

[1]斗十千:一斗值十千钱(即万钱),形容美酒价格昂贵。

[2]珍羞:珍稀的菜肴。羞,同“馐”,美食。

[3]直:通“值”,价值。

[4]箸(zhù):筷子。

[5]闲来垂钓碧溪上,忽复乘舟梦日边:表示诗人自己仍对从政抱有期待。这两句暗用典故:姜太公吕尚曾在渭水的磻溪上钓鱼,得遇周文王,助周灭商;伊尹曾梦见自己乘船从日月旁边经过,后被商汤聘请,助商灭夏。

[6]长风破浪:引喻为实现政治理想。

[7云帆:高悬的船帆。船在海里航行,天水相接,船帆好似在云雾之中忽隐忽现。

Hard Is the Way of the World

(I)

Pure wine in golden cup costs ten thousand coppers,good!

Choice dish in a jade plate is worth as much,nice food!

Pushing aside my cup and chopsticks,I can’t eat;

Drawing my sword and looking round,I stamp my feet.

I can’t cross Yellow River:ice has stopped its flow;

I can’t climb Mount Taihang:the sky is blind with snow.

I can but poise a fishing pole beside a stream

Or set sail for the sun like a sage in a dream.

Hard is the way,

Hard is the way.

Don’t go astray!

Whither today?

A time will come to ride the wind and cleave the waves,

I’ll set my cloud-white sail and cross the sea which raves.

 

In Li Bai’s poems, imagination, exaggeration, metaphors, and personification are often combined to create magical, magnificent, and moving artistic conceptions. This is why Li Bai’s romantic poems are bold, unrestrained, and elegant.