An old fisherman spent the night here, under the western cliff;
He dipped up water from the pure Hsiang and made a bamboo fire;
And then, at sunrise, he went his way through the cloven mist,
With only the creak of his paddle left, in the greenness of mountain and river.
...I turn and see the waves moving as from heaven,
And clouds above the cliffs coming idly, one by one.
Original Poem:
「渔翁」
柳宗元
渔翁夜傍西岩宿， 晓汲清湘燃楚烛。
烟销日出不见人， 欸乃一声山水绿。
回看天际下中流， 岩上无心云相逐。
Interpretation:
This is a lyrical poem, like a miniature painting, which takes several shots of the fisherman's life and expresses the poet's own longing for idleness.
The first and second lines: the fisherman stops his boat at night to rest against the western mountain, and in the morning he draws the clear Xiang water and uses bamboo as firewood for cooking.
The first two lines are about the life of a fisherman, who wakes up early to make water for the fire, draws water from the Xiang River, and uses dead bamboo as fuel. These two lines are written at dawn, and the reader knows that there is a fisherman under the western rock from the sound of drawing water and the light of the bamboo fire.
The third and fourth sentences: the sun rises, the clouds and fogs disperse around the silence, the sound of the fisherman sculling from the turquoise landscape.
According to reason at this time the characters should meet with the reader, but instead of “not see people”, the original people do not see, but in the landscape. These two lines can convey a sense of surprise, and with the green mountains and water in the middle of the sculling paddle sound is particularly pleasant to the ear, the landscape also seems to be more lovely for the green. The author through such curiosity, wrote a few mysterious realm, vaguely conveys his state of mind that is both lonely and lonely.
The last two lines: Turning back to look, he had already driven his boat to the mid-stream of the sky, and on the top of the mountain rocks, there were only mindless white clouds chasing each other.
After sunrise, the picture of the poem is more open. At this time, the fishing boat has entered the mid-stream, and looking back, only to see the mountain tops are floating pieces of white clouds, seemingly mindlessly chasing each other back and forth, the poem is extremely relaxed and tranquil. These two lines are full of interesting scenery to show the mood of light and easy, rather than more exposed in the back of a hot and restless heart. This is the passionate yearning, is the eager pursuit.
The whole poem not only shows the beauty of Yongzhou's mountains and landscapes, but also expresses the author's longing for such a free and leisurely life. In this poem, the “fisherman” who sings to himself in the green mountains and water and goes alone contains the meaning of the author's self-reporting.
Poem translator:
Kiang Kanghu
About the poet:
Liu Zongyuan (柳宗元), 773-819 A.D., a native of Yongji, Shanxi, was a progressive thinker, brilliant writer, and revolutionary statesman of the Tang Dynasty. Nineteen years before he was born, the An Shi Rebellion broke out, which dramatically changed the Tang Dynasty from prosperity to decline. The subsequent failure of the Yongzhen Reform was a historical tragedy that cut short Liu Zongyuan's political future, but made him one of the leading thinkers and literary figures of the Tang Dynasty.
