Original text of "Jiangxia Farewell to Song Zhiti":
The Chu water is as clear as the sky, and the blue sea leads to it in the distance. People thousands of miles apart are happy in a cup. The valley bird sings in the sunny day, and the river ape whistles in the evening wind. I have never shed tears in my life, but I will cry endlessly here. Translation and annotations of "Jiangxia Farewell to Song Dynasty"
Translation The water in Chudi is crystal clear and seems to be empty, directly connected to the sea in the distance. You and I will be thousands of miles apart, but our interests will be the same in the glass of wine in front of us. The valley bird keeps chirping when the weather is fine, but the apes on the river bank wail late into the night. I have never cried in my life, but now I can't stop crying.
Notes 1 Jiangxia: present-day Wuchang, Wuhan, Hubei. Song Zhiti: The younger brother of Song Zhiwen, a famous poet in the early Tang Dynasty, and a friend of Li Bai. 2Chu River: refers to the section of Yangtze River water after the Han River merges into it. 3 will: with. 4. Valley bird: a bird in the mountains or in the water. Appreciation of Jiang Xia Farewell to Song Dynasty
The first couplet "The Chu water is as clear as the sky, and it connects to the blue sea in the distance" means that the clear river water in front of you is connected to the blue sea in the distance. If it is empty, it expresses the clarity of Chu water. Li Bai also wrote "The moonlight on the river is still empty" (the first of two poems "Wang Lu Mountain Waterfall"), and "the jade pot of wine is as clear as the sky" ("There is a bottle of wine in front of me"), which also means the same. The place where Song Zhidi was demoted was close to the sea, so the next sentence hints at where he will go.
The couplet "People are separated thousands of miles away, but they are happy in a cup." This topic brings back the place where the other party went back to the place where they parted. The difference of thousands of miles is originally sad. Instead of saying "sadness", we use "happiness" here, and use "cup" to contrast with "thousands of miles", which not only shows the bold and free style, but also contains the emotion of helplessness. These two sentences are similar to Yu Bao's words in the early Tang Dynasty, "My sorrow is thousands of miles away, and my hatred is in a cup" ("Farewell to Cai Joining the Army"), and Gao Shi in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, "His fame is thousands of miles away, but his thoughts are in a cup" ("Sending Li Shiyu to Anxi"). They are roughly the same but have different tastes. Yu Bao's sentences are deep, Gao Shi's sentences are thick, and Li Bai's sentences are elegant, which is so-called similar but mysterious. It is not allowed to follow the example, nor to judge the good or bad, because the poet's thinking may be similar by accident, but it cannot but be deviant. People are thousands of miles away, but the friendship is in this shallow glass of wine. There is less wine, but the friendship is not light at all. What is consumed is not only the wine, but also the deep friendship for someone. Li Bai's poems express these vividly, which can be said to be full of flavor and quite chewable.
The neck couplet "The valley bird sings in the sunny day, the river ape whistles in the evening breeze", the last sentence points out the weather at the time of farewell. The weather is sunny, but the author is not happy at all. The beautiful scenery brings out the author's inner sadness, which can move readers even more. The next sentence writes about the roar of the river ape. The cry of the river monkey is very sad to begin with, and when the author was parting from his friends, hearing this sound was even more heartbreaking. The author perfectly expresses his inner reluctance for his friends through the description of the scenery. The two couplets of the head and chin, first from near to far, and then from far to near, are both wide open and wide closed. The neck couplet depicts the foreground, from "sunny day" to "evening breeze", using changes in scenery to imply the passage of time, also opening and closing. The feeling of farewell is self-evident. This is the so-called accident. The previous sentence describes a happy scene, which echoes the word "Xing" in the chin couplet. The next sentence writes a sad scene to trigger the lyricism of the last couplet.
The last couplet "I will never shed tears in my life, but I will weep endlessly here." The true feelings burst out, rising and falling suddenly, leaving readers with a lot of room for imagination. The poet is so emotional, probably out of sympathy for Song Zhidi who was banished to Jiaozhi in his twilight years. The "singing of birds" and "howling of apes" in the neck couplet seem to contain metaphors for the Song family's prosperous career and sad old age. Although the poet was still young, he had experienced some ups and downs in life. Song's experiences may have caused him to lament that his ambitions were unfulfilled.
An important feature of the artistic conception of this poem is its great leap, which can be clearly seen from the transition between the upper and lower sentences of the first three couplets. From the perspective of the mood of the poem, the first three couplets are flowing and powerful, and the tone is heroic; the last couplet is abrupt, its mood is pathos, and its tone is heavy. It is this kind of jumping ups and downs that makes this poem unpredictable and endlessly entertaining. Background of the creation of "Jiangxia Farewell to Song Zhiti"
This poem was dated to the 20th year of Kaiyuan of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty (734). Yu Xianhao once wrote this poem "A Question about the Year", which proved that Song Zhiti was the younger brother of Song Zhiwen and the father of Song Ruosi. Based on Song Zhiti's life story, he determined that this poem was written around the 20th year of Kaiyuan. During the Kaiyuan period, Song Zhiti successively held important positions such as General You Yulin, Governor Shi of Yi, Jiedushi of Jiannan, and Yin of Taiyuan. Later, he was demoted to Jiaozhi (now Hanoi, Vietnam) due to his affairs. Li Bai had a close friendship with Song Zhiti. Later, his son Song Ruosi escaped from Li Bai's prison in Xunyang and overthrew Qingxue for him. This may also have something to do with Shiyi. This poem may have been written by Li Bai separately from him in Jiangxia (now Wuchang, Wuhan City) before Song Dynasty was demoted to Jiaozhi.
Poetry works: Jiangxia Farewell Song Dynasty Poetry author: Li Bai, Tang Dynasty Poetry classification: Farewell, writing about water, friendship