An Impromptu Verse After Being Drunk on Tongguan Mountain
- Poetry of Li Bai (Li Po)
《铜官山醉后绝句》
English Translation
I love the joy of Mount Tongguan so deep
That I won’t go home in a thousand years.
I’d like to turn my sleeves while dancing a leap
And sweep the five peaks clean with my song sincere.
Composed in 754 CE during Li Bai's travels to Tongguan Mountain in southern Xuancheng, this quatrain was written exactly a decade after his dismissal from court. Now in his fifties with ambitions unfulfilled, the poet channeled his disappointment into a passionate embrace of nature, creating this crystallized expression of finding spiritual solace in landscape—a transformation of worldly frustration into transcendent devotion.
中文原文( Chinese )
我爱铜官乐，千年未拟还。
应须回舞袖，拂尽五松山。
- Why Chinese poems is so special?
- The most distinctive features of Chinese poetry are: concision- many poems are only four lines, and few are much longer than eight; ambiguity- number, tense and parts of speech are often undetermined, creating particularly rich interpretative possibilities; and structure- most poems follow quite strict formal patterns which have beauty in themselves as well as highlighting meaningful contrasts.
- How to read a Chinese poem?
- Like an English poem, but more so. Everything is there for a reason, so try to find that reason. Think about all the possible connotations, and be aware of the different possibilities of number and tense. Look for contrasts: within lines, between the lines of each couplet and between successive couplets. Above all, don't worry about what the poet meant- find your meaning.