We can easily discover that different poets have different perceptions of different scenery by reading classical poetry. Just as Su Shi loved to write landscapes and express emotions by the West Lake, and Du Fu’s Tang poetry often featured images of the Yangtze River, Li Bai also had a unique reflection and appreciation of the magnificent mountains and rivers of his motherland. Interested readers and history encyclopedia editors, let’s take a look together!
For example, the waterfall in his works, “Flying straight down three thousand feet, it is suspected that the Milky Way falls into the nine heavens.” For example, the difficulty of the Shu Road in his works, “Even the peaks go to the sky without a foot, and the withered pine hangs upside down against the cliff,” are all wonderful sayings. And when Li Bai arrived at Dongting Lake, where Meng Haoran said ‘the clouds and dreams are steaming, the waves shake Yueyang City’, he even wrote about the beautiful scenery of water and sky blending together, making us yearn for it.
The autumn water of Nanhu Lake is smoke-free at night, and it can ride the flow straight up to the sky.
Let’s borrow the moonlight from Dongting Lake and buy wine by the white clouds.
The title of this ancient poem is “Five Poems on Dongting Lake, Part 2”. “Five Poems on Dongting Lake” is a group of poems written by Li Bai after he arrived at Dongting Lake, including a total of five poems. Today, we will appreciate the second poem. By carefully reading this ancient poem, we will find that the third and fourth lines are very eye-catching.
The poet blends “Dongting Lake” and “moonlight” into one, even going as far as to sail a small boat on Dongting Lake to “buy wine” by the white clouds, fully unleashing the poet’s imagination. Imagine what a wonderful scene it is! The lake shimmers with rippling water, perfectly blending with the moonlight on the horizon, and combined with human imagination. A very exciting picture unfolded even more.
At the beginning of this ancient poem, the poet points out the season at that time and also writes about the overall impression of the lake surface at that time. In the autumn of this year, we have arrived at Nanhu Lake in the middle of Dongting Lake, where the autumn breeze is gentle and the water waves are calm. The flat area behind it is like a mirror, without any smoke covering it. The crisp autumn air brings with it the calmness of the water surface that is even more evident in the middle.
The following poem is Li Bai’s imagination. As the saying goes, ‘Can you ride the current straight to the sky?’ Previously, the surface of Dongting Lake was often shrouded in smoke, and this little bit of smoke was the basis for the poet’s reasonable imagination. However, it seems that people can use smoke to reach the sky and achieve a journey in the sky.
Since there is no fog, it’s better to stay on the lake and go boating for a night cruise honestly. But the moonlight on my face is just too beautiful. There is no wind, no smoke, the moonlight is like water, all presented in the lake surface. It’s like moonlight completely dissolving in the lake, or it’s like the surface of the lake is purely a gift brought by the moonlight like water to this ordinary world.
The poet’s imagination is further elevated, to the “white cloud edge” and “buying wine”. Only by getting drunk on this beautiful night can one truly live up to the beauty of the scenery and moonlight.
Among the five ancient poems describing the beauty of the moon over Dongting Lake, this one is the most brilliant. After all, Li Bai’s imagination was fully utilized in it, and the Tang poetry realm and beautiful imagery depicted in it make us yearn for it.
