Li Bai was a physically-impressive man of supreme intelligence, passion and sheer love of life, whose poems were known in China to high and low alike, and whose capacity for drinking was legendary.

 

访戴天山[1]道士不遇

犬吠[2]水声中,

桃花带露浓[3]。

树深时[4]见鹿,

溪午不闻钟。

野竹分青霭[5],

飞泉挂碧峰。

无人知所去,

愁倚[6]两三松。

戴天山位于今四川省江油市西北,是李白青少年时期生活的地方,李白作此诗时大概还不满20岁。本诗题目虽为访人不遇,然前三联均写途中所见自然景色,最后一联才点明主旨,但细细品来,前面却又埋有“不遇”的伏笔,如“时见鹿”反衬不见人,“不闻钟”暗示道观无人。王夫之评此诗说:“全不添入情事,只拈死‘不遇’二字作,愈死愈活。”(《唐诗评选》)而清代吴大受则说:“无一字说道士,无一字说不遇,却句句是不遇,句句是访道士不遇。”(《诗筏》)

注释:

[1]戴天山:位于今四川省江油市西北,青年李白曾在该山中的大明寺读书。

[2]吠:狗叫。

[3]带露浓:挂满了露珠。

[4]时:有时、偶尔。

[5]青霭:紫色的云气。

[6]倚:靠着。

Calling on a Taoist Recluse in Daitian Mountain[1]without Meeting Him

Dogs’barks are muffled by the rippling brook,

Peach blossoms tinged by dew much redder look.

In the thick woods a deer is seen at times;

Along the stream I hear no noonday chimes.

In the blue haze which wild bamboos divide,

Tumbling cascades hang on green mountainside.

Where has the Taoist gone?No one can tell me.

Saddened,I lean on this or that pine tree.

注释:

[1]In present-day Sichuan Province.