BOOKMARK

At Xie Tiao's Tower in Xuanzhou, Taking Leave of Collator Shu Yun

By Li Bai Tang Dynasty

English Poetic Translation

Those hours that cast me off and fled cannot be recalled,
Those days that roil my anxious heart bring endless grief and care.
A vast wind ten thousand miles away escorting autumn geese,
Before such sights we climb this high pavilion to drink deep.
Penglai's writings still retain the sturdy Jian'an bone,
And here once more young Xie emerges pure and soaring bright.
Together our untamed spirits lift on heroic, soaring wings,
We long to climb the azure sky and grasp the sun and moon.
Draw a sword to slash the stream, the rushing waters only flow faster;
Raise a cup to drown our sorrow, and the sorrow wells up deeper.
Since human life in this world so rarely bends to our desire,
Tomorrow I shall loose my hair and drift in a lone boat.

Classical Chinese & Pinyin

棄我去者昨日之日不可留，亂我心者今日之日多煩憂。
長風萬裏送秋雁，對此可以酣高樓。
蓬萊文章建安骨，中間小謝又清發。
俱懷逸興壯思飛，欲上青天覽日月。
抽刀斷水水更流，舉杯銷愁愁更愁。
人生在世不稱意，明朝散髮弄扁舟。

qì wǒ qù zhě zuó rì zhī rì bù kě liú, luàn wǒ xīn zhě jīn rì zhī rì duō fán yōu.
cháng fēng wàn lǐ sòng qiū yàn, duì cǐ kě yǐ hān gāo lóu.
péng lái wén zhāng jiàn ān gǔ, zhōng jiān xiǎo xiè yòu qīng fā.
jù huái yì xīng zhuàng sī fēi, yù shàng qīng tiān lǎn rì yuè.
chōu dāo duàn shuǐ shuǐ gèng liú, jǔ bēi xiāo chóu chóu gèng chóu.
rén shēng zài shì bù chēng yì, míng zhāo sàn fà nòng piān zhōu.

Philological Direct Translation

Discarding me those who went yesterday's days cannot be stayed,
Disordering my heart those who come today's days have many vexations.
Long wind ten-thousand miles sends autumn geese,
Facing this one may carouse in the tall pavilion.
Penglai literature possesses Jian'an bone,
Amidst them little Xie is again clear and spirited.
Together we harbor soaring interests and heroic thoughts flying,
Wishing to ascend the blue sky to grasp the sun and moon.
Draw the blade to cut water the water flows all the more,
Raise the cup to dissolve sorrow sorrow is sorrow all the more.
Life existing in the world not satisfying the will,
Tomorrow morning loosening hair to sport in a flat boat.

Scholarly Exegesis & Cultural Commentary

I. Formal Poetic Architecture & Meter

This masterpiece is composed in the heptasyllabic ancient verse form known as gushi, which grants the poet absolute freedom from the rigid tonal constraints and strict parallelism required in regulated verse of the Tang era. Li Bai utilizes an expansive, shifting rhyme scheme that modulates in tandem with the dramatic fluctuations of his psychological state. The poem opens with balanced, parallel lamentations in the initial couplet, then breaks into sweeping descriptive vistas before transitioning into jagged, psychological paradoxes marked by enjambment and abrupt syntactical shifts.

II. Historical Chronology & Existential Impulse

The poem was written around 743 during Li Bai's brief, turbulent stay at the Hanlin Academy in Chang'an, shortly before political intrigue orchestrated by jealous court rivals and imperial concubines forced his honorable dismissal and polite expulsion from the capital. Stationed temporarily in Xuanzhou while wandering through the southeastern provinces, Li Bai was overwhelmed by a sense of profound alienation and unfulfilled statecraft ambitions. The historical backdrop is defined by the glittering yet treacherous high-Tang imperial court, where brilliant scholars were frequently patronized as mere court entertainers rather than trusted statesmen.

III. Line-by-Line Exegesis & Allusion Decoding

[The poem traces an emotional trajectory from deep existential suffocation to ecstatic inspiration, followed by a sudden plunge into existential despair and a final Daoist transcendence.]

Lines 1-2 (Opening Couplet): Line 1 ("Discarding me those who went yesterday's days cannot be stayed") and Line 2 establish an immediate tone of acute temporal alienation, contrasting the irrevocable past with an overwhelming present of bureaucratic vexations.
Lines 3-4 (First Antithetical Turn): Line 3 ("A vast wind ten thousand miles away escorting autumn geese") opens the visual field to boundless cosmic space, allowing the poets in Line 4 to seek refuge in wine atop the famous pavilion built by Xie Tiao.
Lines 5-6 (Second Antithetical Turn / Climax): Line 5 invokes the robust literary aesthetic of the Jian'an period alongside Xie Tiao, celebrating poetic genius, while Line 6 ("Together our untamed spirits lift on heroic, soaring wings") reaches the absolute emotional zenith of creative exaltation.
Closing Lines (Resolving Couplet): Line 9 ("Draw a sword to slash the stream, the rushing waters only flow faster") creates one of the most famous metaphors in Chinese literature for inescapable psychological torment, resolved ultimately in the final couplet by abandoning society entirely for a solitary skiff.

IV. Cultural Symbolism & Key Metaphors

To fully appreciate this work, Western readers must understand several crucial cultural tokens embedded in the imagery without relying on modern frameworks:

Xie Tiao's Tower: Named after the beloved Southern Qi dynasty poet whom Li Bai deeply idolized for his pure landscape aesthetics, serving here as a sacred shrine to poetic integrity.
Jian'an Bone: Refers to the robust, masculine, and unyielding literary style of the late Eastern Han dynasty, symbolizing moral backbone and vigor in statecraft.

V. Philosophical Core & Global Resonance

The poem brilliantly dramatizes the perpetual tension between Confucian statecraft ambition—the desire to assist the sovereign and grasp the sun and moon—and Daoist transcendence, the ultimate retreat into nature via a small flat boat. When imperial service proves intolerable, Li Bai sheds the heavy robes of bureaucratic duty to embrace absolute spiritual freedom. This profound oscillation between heroic engagement and radical withdrawal speaks to the universal human condition, capturing the courage required to confront despair through art and nature.