BOOKMARK

Seeing Off a Friend Beyond Jingmen Gorge

By Li Bai Tang Dynasty

English Poetic Translation

I cross afar beyond the Jingmen gate,
And wander forth into the realm of Chu.
Mountains give way where level plains dilate,
And mighty rivers plunge the vastness through.

A mirror flies across the lunar height,
While ocean towers crown the vaporous cloud;
Yet through these waters, linked by old delight,
My homeward stream attends my vessel proud.

Classical Chinese & Pinyin

渡遠荊門外，來從楚國遊。
山隨平野盡，江入大荒流。
月下飛天鏡，雲生結海樓。
仍連故鄉水，萬裏送行舟。

dù yuǎn jīng mén wài, lái cóng chǔ guó yóu.
shān suí píng yě jìn, jiāng rù dà huāng liú.
yuè xià fēi tiān jìng, yún shēng jié hǎi lóu.
réng lián gù xiāng shuǐ, wàn lǐ sòng xíng zhōu.

Philological Direct Translation

Crossing far beyond Jingmen Gorge, I come from the Chu state to travel.
Mountains follow the level plain ending, the river enters the great wilderness flowing.
Beneath the moon flies a heavenly mirror, clouds rising form sea towers.
Still connected to my hometown water, ten-thousand miles escorting my traveling boat.

Scholarly Exegesis & Cultural Commentary

I. Formal Poetic Architecture & Meter

This masterpiece is composed in the rigorous form of Five-Character Regulated Verse, exhibiting exquisite tonal counterpoint and strict parallel couplets in the central sections. The rhyme scheme adheres to the ancient Level Tone category utilizing the rhyme character corresponding to flow, wilderness, towers, and boat. The structural pivot relies upon the dramatic expansion of perspective from narrow mountain gorges into boundless horizontal wilderness, reflecting the poet's psychological transition from sheltered youth to the vast arena of the world.

II. Historical Chronology & Existential Impulse

Authored around the year 725, this poem captures Li Bai's first major departure from his native Sichuan home across the treacherous Three Gorges into the middle Yangtze river basin. Leaving behind the familiar mountains of his upbringing, the young poet embarked on an ambitious journey to seek fame, patronage, and adventure throughout the cultural heartland of the empire during the vibrant height of the Tang Dynasty. The underlying existential impulse oscillates between youthful exhilaration at the boundless cosmos and poignant nostalgia for his native soil.

III. Line-by-Line Exegesis & Allusion Decoding

The poem progresses gracefully from external geographic crossing to an intimate internal emotional bonding with the landscape.

Lines 1-2 (Opening Couplet): Line 1 ("Crossing far beyond Jingmen Gorge") establishes the physical departure from Sichuan, while Line 2 ("I come from the Chu state to travel") introduces the historical geographical terminology of ancient Chu, framing the journey as a heroic endeavor.
Lines 3-4 (First Antithetical Turn): Line 3 ("Mountains follow the level plain ending") and Line 4 ("The river enters the great wilderness flowing") deploy brilliant dynamic verbs where stationary mountains appear to march alongside the traveler until terrain dissolves into infinite space.
Lines 5-6 (Second Antithetical Turn / Climax): Line 5 ("Beneath the moon flies a heavenly mirror") transforms the bright moon into an airborne divine looking-glass, while Line 6 ("Clouds rising form sea towers") evokes magnificent mirages of magical oceanic pavilions along the river horizon.
Closing Lines (Resolving Couplet): Line 7 ("Still connected to my hometown water") and Line 8 ("Ten-thousand miles escorting my traveling boat") resolve the vast spatial dispersion by personalizing the river itself into a faithful companion bridging distance and home.

IV. Cultural Symbolism & Key Metaphors

The poem relies upon archetypal motifs deeply embedded in classical Chinese aesthetic consciousness without requiring modern explanation:

Mirror (Jing): Symbolizes unblemished clarity, self-reflection, and the luminous vastness of the cosmic order mirroring the human mind.
Hometown Water: Represents the affective continuum of emotional attachment, asserting that physical separation cannot sever the hydrological and spiritual bond connecting the traveler to his origins.

V. Philosophical Core & Global Resonance

The philosophical underpinning synthesizes Daoist appreciation for natural spontaneity with the Confucian imperative of embarking upon active societal engagement. The vast scale of the natural universe does not diminish the traveler; rather, it elevates his consciousness, harmonizing human vulnerability with majestic cosmic rhythms. This timeless dialectic between leaving home and facing the infinite unknown continues to resonate with readers across global cultures.