BOOKMARK

Hardships of the Road: Part II

By Li Bai Tang Dynasty

English Poetic Translation

The great highway stretches like the azure sky,
Yet I alone am barred from passing through.
I scorn to chase the youths of Chang'an's streets,
Gambling with red cocks and white hounds for pears and chestnuts.
I strike my sword and sing a song of bitterness,
To drag my robes at noble gates offends my soul.
The marketplace of Huaiyin once mocked Han Xin,
While Han high ministers eyed Jia Sheng with dread.
Have you not seen how ancient Yan once honored Guo Kui,
Sweeping the ground and bowing low without a trace of doubt?
Ju Xin and Yue Yi repaid their patron's grace,
Pouring out heart and gall to serve with brilliant worth.
Now King Zhao's white bones are tangled in wild weeds,
And who remains to sweep the Golden Terrace clean?
Hard are the ways of the world, difficult the road—
Better to return, better to go home.

Classical Chinese & Pinyin

大道如青天，我獨不得出。
羞逐長安社中兒，赤雞白狗賭梨慄。
彈劒作歌奏苦聲，曳裾王門不稱情。
淮陰市井笑韓信，漢朝公卿忌賈生。
君不見昔時燕家重郭隗，擁篲折腰無嫌猜。
劇辛樂毅感恩分，輸肝剖膽效英才。
昭王白骨縈蔓草，誰人更掃黃金臺。
行路難，歸去來。

dà dào rú qīng tiān, wǒ dú bù dé chū.
xiū zhú cháng ān shè zhōng ér, chì jī bái gǒu dǔ lí lì.
dàn jiàn zuò gē zòu kǔ shēng, yè jū wáng mén bù chēng qíng.
huài yīn shì jǐng xiào hán xìn, hàn cháo gōng qīng jì jiǎ shēng.
jūn bù jiàn xī shí yàn jiā zhòng guō kuí, yōng huì zhé yāo wú xián cāi.
jù xīn lè yì gǎn ēn fēn, shū gān pǒu dǎn xiào yīng cái.
zhao wáng bái gǔ yíng màn cǎo, shuí rén gèng sǎo huáng jīn tái.
xíng lù nán, guī qù lái.

Philological Direct Translation

Great Way is like blue sky, I alone cannot get out.
Ashamed to chase Chang'an social youths, red rooster white dog gambling pears chestnuts.
Plucking sword making song playing bitter sounds, dragging robes at noble gates does not suit feelings.
Huaiyin market place laughed at Han Xin, Han dynasty high ministers feared Jia Sheng.
Do not you see former Yan family valued Guo Kui, holding broom bending waist without suspicion.
Ju Xin Yue Yi felt gratitude share, spilling liver cleaving gall rendering heroic talent.
King Zhao's white bones twine creeping weeds, who person more sweeps Golden Terrace.
Traveling roads is hard, return and go.

Scholarly Exegesis & Cultural Commentary

I. Formal Poetic Architecture & Meter

This masterpiece belongs to the ancient music bureau ballad tradition known as Music Bureau Verse, specifically the irregular heptasyllabic song style. Unlike tightly constrained regulated verse, this genre allows for wild shifts in meter, abrupt enjambment, and dynamic emotional surges. The rhyme scheme shifts fluidly, capturing the erratic rhythms of frustration and soaring ambition characteristic of Li Bai's unmatched lyrical genius.

II. Historical Chronology & Existential Impulse

Composed during Li Bai's tumultuous tenure at the imperial court in Chang'an under Emperor Xuanzong, the poem reflects the poet's bitter disillusionment with court politics. Frustrated by the petty intrigues of corrupt aristocrats and eunuchs who sidelined him from substantive statecraft, Li Bai channels his existential displacement through classic historical archetypes of rejected genius, ultimately choosing voluntary departure over degrading compromise.

III. Line-by-Line Exegesis & Allusion Decoding

The poem unfolds through a brilliant progression from cosmic obstruction to historical lament and psychological withdrawal.

Lines 1-2 (Opening Couplet): The speaker contrasts the boundless expanse of the cosmic Way with his immediate confinement, scorning the vulgar diversions of dissolute urban youth in the capital.
Lines 3-4 (First Antithetical Turn): Li Bai expresses his profound alienation from patronage culture, invoking historical exemplars of marginalized greatness such as Han Xin and Jia Sheng.
Lines 5-6 (Second Antithetical Turn / Climax): The poem widens its historical lens to invoke King Zhao of Yan and his total trust in worthy ministers, lamenting the decay of true imperial patronage.
Closing Lines (Resolving Couplet): The initial despair over impassable roads resolves into the timeless Daoist gesture of retreat, echoing Tao Yuanming's call to return home.

IV. Cultural Symbolism & Key Metaphors

The poem deploys dense historical and mythological allusions to anchor the poet's personal grievances within a grand cultural tradition.

The Golden Terrace: Symbolizes the ultimate ideal of enlightened monarchical patronage, where rulers actively sought out and honored men of talent.
The Sword and Song: Represents the unyielding martial and scholarly integrity of the scholar-official, vibrating with frustration against an unresponsive world.

V. Philosophical Core & Global Resonance

The philosophical backbone of the poem is a tension between Confucian civic duty—the burning desire to advise the ruler and pacify the realm—and Daoist transcendence, which counsels withdrawal when virtue is unappreciated. Li Bai's refusal to compromise his integrity elevates this ancient political frustration into a universal meditation on artistic independence and human dignity.