It means: I want to cross the water but I can't find a boat or an oar. Living idle in the Ming Dynasty is really shameful.
From: Looking at Dongting Lake as a Gift to Prime Minister Zhang
Author: Meng Haoran
Dynasty: Tang
Original text:
August Lake is horizontal, the culvert is empty and the water is too clear.
The clouds are steaming over Mengze, and the waves are shaking Yueyang City.
If you want to save money without a boat, you will live in shameful sage.
Sitting and watching the fishermen only envy the fish.
Translation:
In August, the water in Dongting Lake swells to the level of the shore, and the water and sky are blurred and connected to the sky.
The water vapor in Yunmeng'erze is steaming white, and the rough waves seem to shake Yueyang City.
I want to cross the water but I can’t find a boat or an oar. It’s really shameful to live idle in the Ming Dynasty.
Sit back and watch others working hard to fish in the river, and you can only envy others for their success in fishing.
Extended information:
Prime Minister Zhang, Zhang Jiuling, is also a famous poet. He was an upright person when he was an official in Zhongshu Ling. Meng Haoran wants to enter politics and realize his ideals, and hopes someone can give him a recommendation. He wrote this poem to Zhang Jiuling before entering Beijing to take the exam, which contains this meaning.
The first four sentences of the poem describe the magnificent scene and majestic momentum of Dongting Lake, and the last four sentences are used to express his political enthusiasm and hope.
The first two sentences describe time and the vast lake. The lake and the sky are integrated into one, and the scene is vast. "Han" means inclusion. "Void" refers to high altitude. The high sky is contained by water, that is, the sky is reflected in the water. "Tai Qing" refers to the sky. "Hun Tai Qing" means water and sky meet. These two sentences are about standing by the lake and overlooking the scenery of the lake.
The three or four sentences continue to write about the vastness of the lake, but the gaze moves from far to near, from the lake surface to the scenery reflected in the lake: the water vapor covering the lake is transpiration, swallowing up the clouds and Meng Erze "Yunze and Meng" are the names of two lakes in ancient times. It is said that Yunze is in the north of the Yangtze River and Mengze is in the south of the Yangtze River. Later, most of them were silted into land. "Shake", shake (verb, vivid image). "Yueyang City" is located on the northeastern shore of Dongting Lake, which is now Yueyang City, Hunan Province.
When the southwest wind blows, the waves surge toward the northeastern shore, as if they are about to shake Yueyang City. "Steaming clouds and dreamy lakes shake the city of Yueyang" (some versions call it "steaming clouds and dreamy lakes"). When reading this, it is natural to think of Wang Wei's poem: "The county town of Fuqianpu, the waves move far and wide." null". The entire city is floating on the water, the breeze is making waves, and the distant sky is swaying in the water. They really have the same purpose but different approaches.
Baidu Encyclopedia - Looking at Dongting Lake as a gift to Prime Minister Zhang