The Trader’s Joy
- Poetry of Li Bai (Li Po)
《估客乐》
English Translation
The trader’s boat goes with the fair wind;
He’ll sail afar to earn his bread.
He is like a bird in the cloud,
Leaving no more traces overhead.
Composed during Li Bai's travels in the Wu-Yue region, this poem adopts a Southern Dynasties folk-song tradition. During the Tang Dynasty, unprecedented commercial prosperity gave rise to an active merchant class navigating rivers and seas. Li Bai, observing their lifestyle, created more than a mere depiction of mercantile life—this work is a profound reflection where the poet's own sense of life's transience ("life as sojourning") merges with the merchants' fate, portraying a deep spiritual connection between the traveler-poet and the traveling merchant.
中文原文( Chinese )
海客乘天风，将船远行役。
譬如云中鸟，一去无踪迹。
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- 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.