The autumn water of Nanhu Lake is smokeless at night, and you can ride the current straight up to the sky.
From "Five Poems on a Tour of Dongting Lake, Part 2" by Li Bai of the Tang Dynasty
The autumn water of Nanhu Lake is smokeless at night, and one can ride the current straight up to the sky.
Let’s borrow the moonlight in Dongting and buy wine on the boat beside the white clouds. Full text appreciation
People have described for us the scene of boating on a moonlit night: the moon is bright and the lake is long. The autumn water in Dongting is clear and smokeless, and the water and moon reflect each other, making it clear and pleasant.
The poet and his friend (here, we might as well consider his uncle as a friend) were boating on the lake, accompanied by the clear breeze and bright moon, and could not help but have the idea of ??"going to heaven" to be independent from the world and become immortal. But riding the current to heaven was ultimately unavailable, so the poet had no choice but to put away his unruly imagination and borrow some moonlight from Dongting Lake for the time being, enjoying the moonlight and drinking happily.
The first sentence describes the scene and at the same time points out the autumn trip to Dongting. "South Lake Autumn Water is Smokeless at Night", at first reading, is unremarkable. It seems to be blurted out without any effort, but in fact it is very expressive: when boating on a moonlit night, the water of Dongting Lake is not at all like the vast smoke waves and steaming water vapor during the day. Calm and clear as a picture. The clearer the smokeless water, the clearer the water and the brighter the moon. The moonlight dissolves in water, and the moon shines brightly on the lake. This kind of scene, this kind of meaning, cannot be obtained without being in it, and it cannot be obtained without freehand brushwork. Although the poet did not paint with exquisite detail, a beautiful picture of water and sky will emerge in the readers' minds. Full text translation and annotations
Full text translation
The water on the South Lake in the autumn night is clear and smokeless, (I can’t help but have the thought of being independent from the world and becoming an immortal), but how can it be possible? What about riding a stream to heaven? Let's borrow some moonlight from Dongting Lake and enjoy the moonlight and drink happily.
Comments
① Naike: How can it be possible?
②Credit: Credit. About the author
Li Bai (701-762), also known as Taibai and Qinglian Jushi, was a romantic poet of the Tang Dynasty and was hailed as the "Immortal of Poetry" by later generations. His ancestral home is Longxi Chengji (to be tested). He was born in Suiye City in the Western Regions. He moved with his father to Mianzhou, Jiannan Road when he was 4 years old. Li Bai has more than a thousand poems and essays in existence, and the "Collection of Li Taibai" has been handed down to the world. He died of illness in 762 at the age of 61. His tomb is in Dangtu, Anhui today, and there are memorial halls in Jiangyou, Sichuan, and Anlu, Hubei.