"Gift to Wang Lun" by Li Bai of Tang Dynasty
Li Bai was about to leave in a boat when he suddenly heard singing on the shore.
The water in Peach Blossom Pond is a thousand feet deep, not as deep as Wang Lun’s love for me.
Translation
Li Bai got on the boat and was about to leave when he suddenly heard a farewell song coming from the shore.
Even if the water of Peach Blossom Pond is as deep as a thousand feet, it cannot be as deep as Wang Lun's farewell to me.
Brief Analysis
When Li Bai visited Taohuatan in Jing County, he often visited villager Wang Lun's house. Before leaving, Wang Lun came to see him off, so Li Bai wrote this poem to say goodbye. The poem expresses Li Bai's deep affection for Wang Lun, an ordinary villager.
The first two sentences of the narrative: "Li Bai was about to leave in a boat, and suddenly he heard singing on the shore." Li Bai was about to leave in a boat, and Wang Lun came with a group of villagers to see him off. They held hands and walked while , while singing. "Desire" and "sudden hearing" correspond to each other, writing the poet's surprise mood. "Jian Yu" means that the boat is about to set off; "Suddenly hears" means that it is unexpected. Maybe Wang Lun had held a family dinner to say goodbye last night, indicating that he had something to do the next day and couldn't send it again. But now he is not only here, but also brought a group of villagers to see him off. Why doesn't the poet get extremely excited? In what language? Peach Blossom Pond was nearby, so the poet took it at his fingertips and compared the depth of the water in Peach Blossom Pond with Wang Lun's deep love for him. "The water in Peach Blossom Pond is a thousand feet deep, not as deep as Wang Lun's love for me." Shen Deqian of the Qing Dynasty commented: "If you say that Wang Lun's love is as deep as the water a thousand feet deep in the pond, it is an ordinary statement. The wonderful scene only changes in a moment." ( "Tang Shi Bie Cai") Indeed, the beauty of these two sentences is that the word "not as good as" connects two unrelated things. With the "thousand-foot-deep" Peach Blossom Pond as a reference, the invisible Friendship becomes tangible, vivid and thought-provoking.
The pool is "thousand feet deep", so how deep is Wang Lun's friendship?