All poems

唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

宣州谢朓楼饯别

A Farewell Banquet at Xie Tiao's Pavilion in Xuanzhou

李白

Li Bai

送别Farewell 愁思sorrow 怀古History 哲理Philosophy

弃我去者昨日之日不可留，乱我心者今日之日多烦忧。
长风万里送秋雁，对此可以酣高楼。
蓬莱文章建安骨，中间小谢又清发。
俱怀逸兴壮思飞，欲上青天览日月。
抽刀断水水更流，举杯销愁愁更愁。
人生在世不称意，明朝散发弄扁舟。

The days that are gone from me can never be kept;
The days that trouble my heart are many and full of care.
The wind of ten thousand li sends off the autumn geese —
Facing this, one may drink deep in the high pavilion.
Your writings are the immortal records of Penglai, with the bones of Jian'an,
And between them, young Xie's fresh and lucid voice.
We both hold soaring fancies, strong thoughts that fly —
We would climb the blue sky and pluck the sun and moon.
Draw a sword to cut the water, and the water flows the more;
Raise a cup to drown the sorrow, and the sorrow sorrows more.
Since in this life we cannot have things as we wish,
Tomorrow, with hair unbound, I shall drift on a little boat.

Listen

Meaning

A great farewell poem of Li Bai, written at Xie Tiao's Pavilion in Xuanzhou, where he parted from his uncle Li Yun (the Collator). The opening laments the irretrievable past and the troublous present; the wind of ten thousand li sends off the autumn geese, and facing such a scene one drinks deep in the high pavilion. Li Bai praises his uncle's writing as immortal Penglai prose with the bone of Jian'an, and recalls young Xie Tiao's fresh lucidity — then the two of them share soaring fancies and strong thoughts, wanting to climb the blue sky and pluck the sun and moon. But the wish cannot hold: drawing a sword to cut the water makes it flow the more; raising a cup to drown the sorrow makes it sorrow the more. The poem ends with the famous surrender — since life does not go as we wish, tomorrow he will let his hair down and drift on a little boat.

弃我而去的昨天已经不可挽留，扰乱我心的今天又平添多少烦忧。万里长风送走南飞的秋雁，面对这开阔的景色，正可畅饮于高楼之上。你的文章如蓬莱仙宫之作，又具建安风骨；其中还见小谢那种清新秀发的格调。我们共同怀着高远的兴致、飞动的壮思，真想飞上青天去摘取日月。抽出刀来想斩断流水，水却流得更急；举起杯来想销去愁绪，愁反而更愁。人生在世既然不能称心如意，不如明天披散头发，驾一叶扁舟，自在远游。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The days that left me cannot be kept; the days that trouble me are many. The wind of ten thousand li sends off the autumn geese — facing this, one can drink deep in the high tower. Your writing is the Penglai style with the Jian'an bone, and in between young Xie's fresh clear voice; we both hold soaring thoughts that fly, wanting to climb the blue sky and seize the sun and moon. Drawing a sword to cut water, the water flows more; raising a cup to drown sorrow, the sorrow sorrows more. Since in this life things never go as we wish, tomorrow, with loose hair, I will drift on a small boat. [Structure and Thought] The poem moves in three waves: the elegiac opening on time, the soaring middle of shared ambition and praise, and the falling close of frustration and release. Each wave is marked by one of the poem's three great couplets — the ten-thousand-li wind, the sword and the water, the loose hair and the boat. [Key Technique] The poem is built on the alternation of soaring and falling. The famous couplet 'Draw a sword to cut the water, and the water flows the more; / Raise a cup to drown the sorrow, and the sorrow sorrows more' converts the two great attempts of the drunkard and the swordsman into the two defeats of the poem's mood: neither violence nor intoxication can master time or grief. [Emotional Tone] Proud, soaring, and finally resigned with a magnificent carelessness: the poem's greatness is the speed with which it moves from the cosmic to the personal, from plucking the sun and moon to drifting on a little boat.

【白话串讲】李白在宣州谢朓楼送别：“弃我去者昨日之日不可留，乱我心者今日之日多烦忧”。“长风万里送秋雁，对此可以酣高楼”——“抽刀断水水更流，举杯销愁愁更愁”——“人生在世不称意，明朝散发弄扁舟”——他写烦忧与豪放。【意象与手法】全诗以行云流水的歌行体写饯别，情感大起大落：由烦忧而豪壮，由豪壮而悲慨，终归于旷达。抽刀断水、举杯销愁之喻奇崛而贴切，为千古名喻；蓬莱文章、建安骨、小谢等典故层层铺写，赞人兼自许；长风秋雁、青天日月等意象开阔劲健，尽显太白本色。【情感与主旨】诗作于李白赐金放还后的漫游时期，怀才不遇而壮心未已。饯别之际将离愁与身世之感合而写之：既叹光阴不可留，又见逸兴欲飞，终以扁舟江湖寻求解脱，豪放中深藏悲慨，是盛唐文人失意而不失其志的典型心曲。【名句点睛】常考「抽刀断水水更流，举杯销愁愁更愁」比喻之妙与愁情之深，以及「欲上青天览日月」的浪漫想象、「长风万里送秋雁」的开阔境界。

Background

This poem was written by Li Bai in the autumn of 753, at Xuanzhou (present-day Xuancheng, Anhui), where he was seeing off his uncle Li Yun, the Collator of the imperial library, at the pavilion built in memory of Xie Tiao, the great Southern Qi poet who had governed the region. Li Bai, then over fifty, had left Chang'an and the imperial service years before and was wandering in the southeast; his mood mixed the pride of the unacknowledged genius with the bitterness of the wasted career. The pavilion, the autumn geese, the wine, and the presence of his kinsman and fellow poet produced one of the greatest farewell poems in the language.

此诗约作于天宝十二载（753）秋，李白游宣城时，于谢朓楼为族叔李云饯别而作，诗题一作《陪侍御叔华登楼歌》，历代学者考订题旨，主流认为是饯别李云之作。谢朓楼又称北楼、谢公楼，为南齐诗人谢朓任宣城太守时所建，李白对谢朓心折不已，曾有「解道澄江净如练，令人长忆谢玄晖」之句，一生低首谢宣城。李白于天宝元年应诏入京，供奉翰林，本欲「奋其智能，愿为辅弼」，却遭权贵谗毁，天宝三载被赐金放还，此后十年漫游梁宋齐鲁，再南下金陵、宣城，其间虽有纵酒行乐之豪，实怀功业未就之痛。诗开篇「弃我去者昨日之日不可留，乱我心者今日之日多烦忧」正是这段蹭蹬岁月的内心写照：光阴白白流逝，抱负无从施展。而「长风万里送秋雁」「欲上青天览日月」又见其天才横溢、壮心未已的本色。盛唐昂扬的时代气概与诗人个人的失意际遇交织，遂成此篇悲而能壮、壮而复悲的绝唱。此诗为李白七言歌行的代表作，与《将进酒》《行路难》同一精神血脉，写尽一代天才在理想与现实间的挣扎。

Art

The poem's art is the art of the great alternation. The opening is elegiac: 'The days that are gone from me can never be kept' — time stated as a loss. The second couplet opens the scene: the wind of ten thousand li, the autumn geese, the high pavilion, the deep drink. The middle celebrates the company: the uncle's Penglai prose with the Jian'an bone, young Xie's fresh voice, and the shared soaring fancy that would climb the sky and pluck the sun and moon. Then the poem falls: the sword cannot cut the water, the cup cannot drown the sorrow. And it ends in the magnificent surrender: tomorrow, loose hair, a little boat. The structure is the movement of Li Bai's own temperament — the sudden ascents and descents, the pride and the release — made into form.

此诗艺术上最动人处在章法的大开大合与情感的三次转折。全诗十二句，四句一层：首层写昨日不可留、今日多烦忧，以两个「之日」的排宕句式制造时光奔逝的紧迫感，一开篇即抑；二层长风送雁、高楼酣饮，境界陡然开阔，由抑转扬；三层蓬莱建安、小谢清发，赞李云文章兼自许才调，逸兴壮思欲上青天揽日月，豪情推向顶点；四层抽刀断水、举杯销愁，奇喻一出，豪情骤折为深愁；末层人生不称意而散发扁舟，愁极转旷，以超脱收束。三次转折如浪峰迭起，悲与壮相激相生，是李白歌行情感结构的典型。修辞上，抽刀断水、举杯销愁以无理而有情之喻写愁之不可断绝，成为千古名喻；叠字「水更流」「愁更愁」以流水与愁情互喻，层层加码。用典方面，蓬莱、建安、小谢环环相扣，赞人而自许，见盛唐人「舍我其谁」的气魄。意象上，长风、秋雁、青天、日月皆劲健开阔，与高楼酣饮的豪举相配，笔墨酣畅淋漓，正是「笔落惊风雨，诗成泣鬼神」的风神。

Allusions

'The bones of Jian'an' (Jian'an gu) is the strong, vigorous style of the Jian'an poets at the end of the Han, the admired standard of Tang criticism; 'young Xie' (Xiao Xie) is Xie Tiao, the fresh lucid poet of the Southern Qi, the greatest of the Xie family poets and the one Li Bai most admired; 'Penglai' here is the imperial library — the Penglai Pavilion of the Tang court — so that praising the uncle's writing as 'Penglai prose' is praising it as worthy of the highest literary office. 'Letting down the hair and drifting on a little boat' (sanfa nong bianzhou) is the gesture of the recluse — the ancient image, from the 'Fisherman' of the Songs of Chu onward, of the man who abandons the world for the boat.

此诗用典密集而自然，须逐层解会。其一是蓬莱文章：蓬莱为传说中仙山，仙人藏书之所，汉代学者亦称当时著述汇聚之地为「蓬莱」，此处喻李云文章有仙家之气、超凡脱俗。其二是建安骨：建安为汉末年号，曹操父子与邺下文人诗风刚健遒劲、慷慨任气，被后世称为「建安风骨」，此处赞李云文章骨力遒健，直承汉魏正声。其三是小谢：谢朓为南齐诗人，与谢灵运并称大小谢，李白独爱其「清发」（清新秀发）一格，此处既赞李云兼有谢朓清丽，亦暗含自比之意——李白一生「低首谢宣城」，登楼怀人、以谢自许，身世之感全在个中。其四是青天览日月：览通揽，写飞升揽月摘日的浪漫幻想，承屈原《离骚》「吾令羲和弭节」的上天传统，李白诗中「欲上青天揽明月」屡见，是其仙才本色。其五是散发弄扁舟：散发指披散头发、不拘礼法，为隐者之态；扁舟用范蠡助越灭吴后功成身退、泛舟五湖之典，兼采《楚辞·渔父》「鼓枻而去」的超然，以江湖之逸化解庙堂之悲。典与情相生，读来如数家珍而浑然天成。

Commentary

This poem is one of Li Bai's supreme achievements and one of the most famous poems in the language. The three great couplets — the wind of ten thousand li sending off the autumn geese, the sword that cannot cut the flowing water, the loose hair and the little boat — are quoted in every anthology of Chinese poetry, and the poem as a whole is read as the perfect expression of Li Bai's soaring genius and his magnificent carelessness about the world's approval. Critics have praised above all the speed of its emotional movement, from the cosmic ambition of plucking the sun and moon to the quiet drift of the boat.

此诗是李白歌行的代表作，历代评价极高。清人方东树《昭昧詹言》评其「豪放俊逸，别有天地」；沈德潜《唐诗别裁》谓「此种格调，太白从胸臆中流出，故不可学」；严羽《沧浪诗话》以李白为「天才豪逸」，此诗正是其天才之证的极致。全篇以饯别起，却并不拘于离情，而将光阴之叹、身世之感、江湖之志熔铸一炉，境界远超一般送别诗。艺术上的最大贡献在于愁情的具象化：抽刀断水、举杯销愁二句，把抽象的愁写得可触可感，愁之不可销、不可断，如流水奔涌，千百年来被反复征引，成为汉语中写愁的经典范式。情感结构上，悲与壮的反复激荡，开苏轼「人生如梦」的旷达与辛弃疾「却道天凉好个秋」的沉郁之先声，可见李白对后世豪放一路的深远影响。在传播史上，此诗入选历代选本与今日教材，是认识李白「亦狂亦侠亦温文」的绝佳入口，也是盛唐气象与个体失意并存的时代证词。

Prosody

Form Seven-character ancient verse (qiyan gexing), the free and soaring 'song' form七言古诗（歌行体）

Rhyme The poem rhymes in the ancient manner with free shifts: liu, you, lou, gu, yue, chou, zhou — the rhyme changes marking the three waves of the poem's emotion.全诗十二句，转韵三次，声情随情感起伏。首四句「留」「忧」押平声尤韵；次四句「骨」「发」「月」转入声六月韵，仄声促节，写壮思飞举之态；末四句「流」「愁」「舟」复归平声尤韵，音节舒缓，收超脱之致。尤韵宽和悠长，正合长风高楼的开阔气象；入声月韵短促激越，恰配壮思飞举的峻急节奏，韵随情转，一唱三叹。

Tone pattern The long, free seven-character lines allow the great alternations of the poem's mood; the opening is slow and elegiac, the middle soars with the ten-thousand-li wind, the sword couplet strikes with force, and the closing drifts into the long, easy cadence of the little boat.七言歌行不拘近体平仄，以气驭声、以意遣词。全篇以七言为主，间以「弃我去者」「乱我心者」式的四字领起与「者」「之」虚字穿插，语势跌宕生姿，破板滞而见流转。节奏上多用四三顿挫，前四后三，如长风送雁、青天揽月，音节开阔响亮；至「抽刀断水」「举杯销愁」则句内复沓，如急鼓促弦，声情并茂。

Reading note This is a seven-character ancient verse, one of Li Bai's most famous poems of the farewell banquet. The opening cries out against the days that cannot be kept and the days that trouble the heart; the autumn geese of the ten thousand-li wind, the immortal records of Penglai and the bones of Jian'an, the soaring fancies that would climb the sky — all rise to the famous couplet of the drawn sword and the raised cup, the water flowing more and the sorrow sorrowing more; and the close resolves in the unbound hair and the little boat. The poem's unruly, soaring form matches its unruly, soaring spirit.此诗为七言歌行，体制上承汉魏乐府与鲍照、谢朓的歌行传统，而归于太白式的自由奔放。歌行体不拘近体诗的平仄对仗，押韵相对自由，允许转韵换韵，正宜抒写大开大合的情感。本诗用韵以平声尤韵为主，尤韵宽和悠长，最宜写长风高楼的开阔境界与江湖扁舟的悠远情致；中段转入声六月韵，入声短促决绝，恰合壮思飞举、欲上青天的峻急气势，韵部转换与情感的三次转折严丝合缝，可见李白粗犷外表下的精审。句法上，开篇「弃我去者昨日之日不可留」连用两个「者」字、「之」字，散文化的长句造成时光奔逝的语感，是歌行破律的典型；中段「蓬莱文章建安骨」七字连用四个名词，意象密集如珠，节奏铿锵。全篇以气运声，音节随情感起伏，朗朗上口而声情兼备，故能「笔落惊风雨」，为后人歌行提供了「以情驭韵、以气行文」的典范。

Line by line

弃我去者昨日之日不可留，乱我心者今日之日多烦忧。

The days that are gone from me can never be kept; the days that trouble my heart are many and full of care.

抛弃我离去的昨天，那样的日子已不可挽留；扰乱我心的今天，这样的日子又平添许多烦忧。

What abandons me and goes - yesterday's day - cannot be held back; what troubles my heart - today's day - is heavy with vexation.

开篇两句劈空而来，不写饯别之景，先写胸中块垒，是全诗情感的基调与总起。句式上用两个「者」「之」的连环反复，如波浪层层推进，把时光的无情与内心的烦乱写得斩截有力：昨日既去而不可留，是逝者如斯的无奈；今日方来而多烦忧，是当下难堪的煎熬。一弃一乱，主语是「我」，客体是「日」，主客对峙中见出诗人对命运的清醒与不甘。十四个字中两用「之日」，语势跌宕如歌，正是歌行体的本色。此二句直承汉乐府「逝者如斯夫」的时间之叹，却以更急迫的节奏写出，把李白被赐金放还后十年蹭蹬的积郁一泄而出，为后文的逸兴壮思与散发扁舟蓄足了势，也定下了全诗悲慨的底色。

The opening two lines burst from nowhere; writing no farewell scene, first the block in the breast, the poem's emotional keynote and total start. In syntax, the chained repetition of two者 and之, like waves advancing layer upon layer, writes time's ruthlessness and the heart's vexation decisively: yesterday gone and cannot be held back is the helplessness of the flowing; today arrived yet full of sorrow is the present's torment. One abandons, one disturbs; the subject is I, the object is the day - between subject and object's confrontation, the poet's clear-eyed unwillingness toward fate. In fourteen characters, day of appears twice; the cadence rises and falls like song, precisely the song form's nature. These two lines directly continue the Han yuefu sigh on time's flowing, yet written in a more urgent rhythm, pouring out the accumulated gloom of Li Bai's ten years of drifting after being sent home with gold; storing full force for the soaring thoughts and the drifting boat below, and setting the poem's grievous ground.

长风万里送秋雁，对此可以酣高楼。

The wind of ten thousand li sends off the autumn geese — facing this, one may drink deep in the high pavilion.

万里长风送走南飞的秋雁，面对这开阔壮美的景色，正可在这高楼上开怀畅饮。

The long wind ten thousand li escorts the autumn geese; facing this, we can feast in the high tower.

此二句笔锋陡转，由烦忧一变为豪壮，境界豁然开朗，是情感的第一次转折。长风万里、秋雁南飞，是典型的高秋壮景，一个「送」字把风写得有情，仿佛天地在为远行之人送行，暗合饯别之意而毫无萧瑟之悲；一个「酣」字写尽豪饮之态，高楼之上、长风之中，举杯畅饮，何其快意。二句以景开情，境界阔大，一扫前两句的郁结之气，见出李白「以酒浇愁、以景壮怀」的惯用路数。秋雁本是秋思的传统意象，此处却被点化为豪兴的陪衬，正见盛唐人点铁成金的手段。此二句与末句「散发弄扁舟」遥相呼应：高楼酣饮是现实的豪纵，扁舟江湖是理想的归宿，一显一隐，构成本诗的骨架。

These two lines' brush turns abruptly, from vexation to grandeur, the realm suddenly open - the first emotional turn. Long wind ten thousand li and autumn geese southward are typical high-autumn grand scenery; one sends writes the wind as feeling, as if heaven and earth seeing off the traveler, secretly fitting the farewell without a trace of desolation. One drink deep exhausts the grand drinking: in the high tower, in the long wind, raising the cup and drinking - what exhilaration. The two lines open feeling through scenery, the realm vast, sweeping away the previous two's gloom, showing Li Bai's habitual method of drowning sorrow in wine and strengthening the heart through scenery. The autumn goose, traditionally an autumn-thought image, is here transfigured into a foil for grand impulse - showing the High-Tang power of turning iron to gold. These two lines echo the closing's loose hair and small boat: drinking deep in the high tower is present grandeur; drifting on the lakes is ideal home - one manifest one hidden, composing the poem's skeleton.

蓬莱文章建安骨，中间小谢又清发。

Your writings are the immortal records of Penglai, with the bones of Jian'an; and between them, young Xie's fresh and lucid voice.

你的文章如蓬莱仙家之作，又具建安风骨的遒劲；其中还兼有谢朓清新秀发的格调。

Your essays have the Penglai style and Jian'an bone; between them, little Xie's fresh brilliance too.

此二句转入对李云文章的赞美，是饯别诗应有的题中之义，却写得气势不凡。蓬莱文章赞其文格之高，如仙家著述、超凡脱俗；建安骨赞其骨力之健，直追汉魏风骨；中间小谢又清发，则以谢朓的清新秀发赞其情韵之美。三层赞美层层递进，由仙而健而清，把李云的文章推到极高的位置。更深一层，李白写此绝非单纯恭维，而是以建安、小谢自许——李白一生「低首谢宣城」，登谢朓楼而思谢朓，赞人亦是自况，把自己置于与李云并肩的才士之列，故沈德潜谓其「以谢朓自比」。此二句用典精当而不堆砌，兼有知人论世之诚与旷代才人之傲，是饯别诗中的上乘笔墨。

These two lines turn to praise Li Yun's essays, the proper content of a farewell poem, yet written with unusual momentum. Penglai essays praise the high literary style, like immortal writing, transcendent. Jian'an bone praises the strength of bone, reaching straight to Han-Wei vigor. Between them, little Xie's fresh brilliance praises the beauty of its rhythm. Three layers of praise advancing layer upon layer - from immortal to vigorous to fresh - pushing Li Yun's essays to a high position. Deeper: Li Bai writes this not mere flattery, but holding himself to Jian'an and little Xie - Li Bai's whole life bowed to Xie of Xuancheng; climbing Xie Tiao's tower and thinking of Xie Tiao, praising another is also self-description, placing himself among the scholars shoulder to shoulder with Li Yun; hence Shen Deqian said he compares himself to Xie Tiao. The allusions are apt without piling, holding both the sincerity of knowing a man and the pride of a peerless talent - the finest brush of farewell poetry.

俱怀逸兴壮思飞，欲上青天览日月。

We both hold soaring fancies, strong thoughts that fly — we would climb the blue sky and pluck the sun and moon.

我们共同怀着高远的兴致与飞动的壮思，真想飞上青天，去摘取那日月。

Both of us hold soaring fancies and bold thoughts, wishing to climb the blue sky and pluck sun and moon.

此二句是全文豪情的高潮，把饯别写成了凌云之约。「俱怀」二字把李云与李白并置，壮思由赞美转入共勉；「逸兴壮思飞」五字一气流转，逸兴是超逸的兴致，壮思是雄壮的思绪，一个「飞」字总摄二者，让抽象的怀抱化作飞动之姿，仿佛就要乘风而起。「欲上青天览日月」以「览」（揽）字写摘取日月，想象奇崛，气魄之大，直欲吞吐天地，承屈原《离骚》上天入地的传统，而更见盛唐人的狂放自信。此二句与开篇的「烦忧」形成强烈对照：愈是失意，愈要飞举，这是李白精神中最动人之处。青天日月的高远意象也为此后的「抽刀断水」埋下伏笔——飞得愈高，跌得愈重，豪情愈盛，愁绪愈深。

These two lines are the essay's heroic climax, turning the farewell into a sky-soaring covenant. Both of us places Li Yun and Li Bai side by side, the bold thought turning from praise to shared encouragement. Soaring fancies and bold thoughts flow in one breath: soaring fancy the unworldly impulse, bold thought the grand musing; one fly gathers both, converting abstract aspiration into a flying posture, as if about to ride the wind. Wishing to climb the blue sky and pluck sun and moon uses pluck (grasp) to write seizing the sun and moon; imagination strange, spirit vast, as if swallowing heaven and earth, continuing Qu Yuan's Li Sao tradition of heaven and earth, yet showing the High-Tang's wild confidence. These two lines contrast sharply with the opening's vexation: the more disappointed, the more he must soar - the most moving point of Li Bai's spirit. The blue sky's high sun and moon also plant the伏笔 for drawing the knife below - the higher the flight, the harder the fall; the grander the heroism, the deeper the sorrow.

抽刀断水水更流，举杯销愁愁更愁。

Draw a sword to cut the water, and the water flows the more; raise a cup to drown the sorrow, and the sorrow sorrows more.

抽出刀来想斩断流水，水却流得更急；举起杯来想销去愁绪，愁反而更加深重。

Drawing the knife to cut the water, it flows the faster; raising the cup to drown sorrow, sorrow grows the deeper.

此二句为千古名句，以两个无理而有情的比喻写愁之不可断绝，是情感的第二次转折，由极豪转入极悲。抽刀断水，刀利而水不断，反而愈流愈急；举杯销愁，酒多而愁不销，反而愈饮愈愁。两个「更」字如锤击鼓，层层加码，把徒劳与绝望写得斩钉截铁。妙处在以可感的物象写不可感的愁绪：流水之不断，正喻愁绪之无边；酒力之无功，正见愁根之深固。此二句的哲理意味亦深：企图以强力截断自然（水）、以麻醉逃避情感（愁），皆属徒劳，隐含着对人生困境的清醒认识。后人多以为此联写愁之极致，实则愁中仍有壮气——敢于抽刀断水，本是非常之举，悲壮而不颓唐，正是李白的愁法。

These two lines are the age-famous couplet, using two unreasonable yet feeling metaphors to write sorrow's unbreakability, the second emotional turn - from extreme heroism to extreme grief. Drawing the knife to cut the water: the knife sharp yet the water uncut, flowing the faster. Raising the cup to drown sorrow: wine abundant yet sorrow undrowned, drinking the more, grieving the more. Two more like hammer-strokes, adding weight layer by layer, writing futility and despair decisively. The art lies in writing the insensible sorrow through sensible objects: the water's unceasing is precisely sorrow's boundlessness; wine's failure precisely sorrow's deep-rootedness. The couplet's philosophical meaning is deep: attempting to forcibly cut nature (water) and escape emotion through anesthesia (sorrow) are both futile, holding the clear recognition of life's predicament. Later readers often take this couplet as sorrow's extreme; yet within the sorrow there is still heroic air - daring to draw the knife against water is no ordinary act; tragic, not dejected - precisely Li Bai's way of sorrow.

人生在世不称意，明朝散发弄扁舟。

Since in this life we cannot have things as we wish, tomorrow, with hair unbound, I shall drift on a little boat.

人生在世既然不能称心如意，不如明天就披散头发，驾一叶扁舟，自在逍遥地远游江湖。

Since life in the world is not as I wish, tomorrow I will loose my hair and wander in a little boat.

收束二句以超脱化解悲愁，是情感的第三次转折，由极悲归于旷达。人生在世不称意，是点破题旨的总结——不称意三字，把仕途失意、时光流逝、愁绪难销的种种不如意一笔收拢；明朝散发弄扁舟，则是给出的答案：披散头发，不拘礼法，驾一叶扁舟，浪迹江湖。散发是隐者姿态，扁舟是江湖之象，用范蠡泛舟五湖之典，以潇洒出尘之姿结束全篇。这并非消极逃避，而是盛唐人特有的精神胜利：现实既不可为，便以个体生命的自由对抗之，把悲剧化为飘逸。全诗由烦忧起，经豪壮、悲慨，终归超脱，情感完成了从郁结到释放的闭环，如江流入海，波澜壮阔而归于浩渺。此二句与开篇的「不可留」「多烦忧」首尾呼应，见出李白「诗仙」之号的真义——仙不在天上，而在扁舟江湖的自在之中。

The closing two lines resolve grief through transcendence, the third emotional turn - from extreme grief to openness. Since life in the world is not as I wish is the summing-up that names the theme: not as I wish gathers official disappointment, time's flight, and sorrow's un-drownable in one phrase. Tomorrow I will loose my hair and wander in a little boat is the answer: loose the hair, unbound by ritual, take a small boat, wander the rivers and lakes. Loose hair is the recluse's posture, small boat the rivers and lakes' image, adapting Fan Li's drifting on the five lakes, closing the poem in an unworldly, free posture. This is not passive escape, but the High-Tang's spiritual victory: since reality cannot be acted upon, confront it with the freedom of the individual life, converting tragedy into lightness. The poem opens in vexation, passes through grandeur and grief, ends in transcendence; emotion completes the closed loop from knot to release, like a river entering the sea, magnificent yet vast. These two lines echo the opening's cannot be held back and full of sorrow, showing the true meaning of the Poet-Immortal: the immortal is not in heaven, but in the freedom of drifting boats on rivers and lakes.

Study

Word focus

乱 'To trouble, to disorder' — the days that disorder the heart, the restless present. 「乱我心者今日之日多烦忧」之「乱」字，与上句「弃」字相对，是开篇的情感支点。弃写昨日的无情，是客观的流逝；乱写今日的纷扰，是主观的煎熬。一个乱字把心绪的纷繁杂乱写得如在目前：往事不可追，前程不可期，功业未就，知己难逢，种种愁烦齐集心头，如乱麻般搅作一团。此字之妙有三：一是以动写静，心本无形，乱字赋之以纷扰的动态；二是与弃相对，弃是外物的决绝，乱是内心的溃散，一外一内，交相逼仄；三是为全篇定调，唯其心乱，才有后文的酣高楼、上青天以求排遣，也才有最终散发扁舟的解脱。若作「忧」「恼」等字，便失却了纷杂无序的动感；一个乱字，写尽失意文人进退失据的处境，是李白炼字的力作。

飞 'To fly' — the soaring thoughts that would climb the blue sky, the poem's grand impulse. 「俱怀逸兴壮思飞」之「飞」字，是全诗由悲转豪的关键，也是李白浪漫想象力的凝缩。逸兴壮思本是抽象的精神状态，一个飞字却赋予其羽翼，让怀抱如鹏鸟般振翅腾空，为下句「欲上青天览日月」蓄足了势。此字之妙在于：一是化虚为实，把不可见的情怀写得可感可见，如见其翼；二是动感强烈，飞字一落，全句顿生凌云之势，境界由地面升入天空；三是与愁字相对——前文烦忧如磐石压心，此处壮思如飞鸟出笼，一沉一扬，正是李白情感的辩证法。后文「览日月」「弄扁舟」的飞动意象皆由此字引出。若用「生」「起」等字，则只写情怀之产生，不见其腾跃之姿；一个飞字，写尽盛唐人高视阔步、志在青云的精神气象。

愁 'Sorrow' — the sorrow that sorrows more, the close of the famous couplet. 「举杯销愁愁更愁」一句三用「愁」字，是全诗的题眼，也是汉语中写愁的经典范式。首愁是举杯所要销去的愁，是既有的愁；次愁是酒醒之后更深的愁，是加倍的愁；三愁是总结性的愁，点明愁之不可销、不可逃。三愁递进，如浪打浪，把「销愁」的努力与「愁更愁」的结果写得淋漓尽致。此字之妙在循环往复的语势：销愁之举本为求解脱，结果却坠入更深的愁中，这种求摆脱而愈沉溺的悖论，正是人类面对愁苦的共同困境。与上句「抽刀断水水更流」对举，流水与愁绪互喻，刀不能断水，酒不能销愁，两重徒劳相叠，愁的分量便被推到极致。此句一出，后世写愁者无不退避三舍，愁字之炼，至此而极。