“I was fishing in the Bixi River when I was free, and suddenly I was riding a boat and dreaming about the sun.” Two allusions are quoted. One is Jiang Shang, who met King Wen when he was fishing in Fenxi River at the age of eighty; the other is Yi Yin, before being hired by Tang, dreamed that he was riding around the sun and the moon in a boat. Thinking of the experiences of these two historical figures gave the poet more confidence.
Extended information
"Three Poems on a Difficult Journey" is a collection of poems by the great poet Li Bai of the Tang Dynasty. These three poems express the poet's emotions after encountering difficulties on the political road, reflecting the ideological contradiction of the poet who is neither willing to join the others nor to stand alone. It is the emotional waves stirred by this irresolvable contradiction that make the poem extraordinary. The ups and downs of emotions, leaping thinking, and high momentum in the poem give the work a unique artistic charm, and it has become an eternal masterpiece that has been widely recited by future generations.
Reference: Baidu Encyclopedia - Three Songs on the Difficult Journey