Du Mu: To Celebrate the New Year at Huzhou

To Celebrate the New Year at Huzhou with Scholar Li Ying
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Du Mu (803-853 Tang Dynasty)
Merry-making needs a right time and the time is now too late,
Drinking should be accompanied with songs and songs fail us.

A thousand peaks of dusky mountains are shrouded in green shades,
One brook of ice-cold water is visibly deep and limpid.

The people who have transcended the mundane are busy with getting drunk,
Nothing in this floating world can achieve a fame as solid as making poems.

It can be seen that the sprouts of duckweeds are sure to bloom soon,
Isn’t the visit better than walking when it is done by a snow-covered rowboat?

Note:
　　The place "Lake South" (Hunan) should be Huzhou (Lake Prefecture) in Zhejiang, where Li Ying also wrote about in a poem. Li Ying's poem recorded the time of their meeting as the Winter Solstice (December 21, 22 or 23), therefore in this poem the Chinese New Year (at least in late January) meeting is rendered in the future tense. Another place name in the poem is "white duckweed," which may also refer to the White Duckweed Bar or White Duckweed Pavilion. Du Mu used this as a pun. Du was a cousin of another great Late Tang poet Li Shangyin, while Li Shangyin had also written a poem about Li Ying’s going to Suzhou.
按：
　　标题中的湖南应当是浙江的湖州，李郢自己也曾写到了这件事，只是和这首诗中所说的时间稍有出入。李郢所记的时间是冬至，因此将这首诗的“招”翻译成一种将来的状态。这里的白苹当指白苹洲或者白苹洲上的白苹亭，然而杜牧用了个双关。杜牧是李商隐的表哥，李商隐与这位李郢的关系显然很不错，这反映在他写的《汴上送李郢之苏州》中。

Original Chinese poem by Du Mu:

　　湖南正初招李郢秀才
　　　　　　　　杜牧
行乐及时时已晚，对酒当歌歌不成。
千里暮山重叠翠，一溪寒水浅深清。
高人以饮为忙事，浮世除诗尽强名。
看著白苹芽欲吐，雪舟相访胜闲行。

Word-to-word Exegesis:

湖lake南south正January初first招treat李郢Li Ying秀才county-level exam passer
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　杜Du牧Mu
行make　乐merry　及seize　时time　时time　已already　晚late
对in front of　酒wine　当should　歌sing　歌sing　不not　成accomplish
千thousand里li (half a km)　暮dusk　山mountain　重double　叠multiple　翠green
一one　溪brook　寒cold　水water　浅shallow　深deep　清clear
高high　人man　以take…饮drinking　为as　忙busy　事thing
浮floating　世world　除except　诗poetry　尽all　强forced　名fame
看著look at　白white　苹duckweed　芽sprout　欲about to　吐shoot
雪snow　舟boat　相访to meet　胜better　闲idle　行walk

Pronunciation:

　湖hu2南nan2正zheng4初chu1招zhao1李li3郢ying3秀xiu4才cai
　　　　　　杜牧
行xing2 乐le4 及ji1 时shi2 时shi2 已yi3 晚wan3
对dui4 酒jiu3 当dang1 歌ge1 歌ge1 不bu1 成cheng2
千qian1 里li3 暮mu4 山shan1 重chong2 叠die2 翠cui4
一yi1 溪xi1 寒han2 水shui3 浅qian3 深shen1 清qing1
高gao1 人ren2 以yi3 饮yin3 为wei4 忙mang2 事shi4
浮fu2 世shi 除chu2 诗shi1 尽jin4 强qiang2 名ming2
看kan4 著zhe 白bai2 苹ping2 芽ya2 欲yu4 吐tu3
雪xue3 舟zhou1 相xiang1 访fang3 胜sheng4 闲xian2 行xing2

　　Some points to make about this poem. The opening couplet contains the repetition of one word (one sound) that brings a rhythmic pause to each line. The pause obviously achieves its purpose. The last three words of the following two lines are not usual in that they are three individual characters juxtaposed. Therefore, they are alos read slowlier than the usual 1+2 or 2+1 phrasal structure. The fifth and sixth lines reflect the poet's state of mind and his socio-political context. Part of the reason for the ingenuity and exquisiteness in Late Tang poetry may be because by that time poets did not enjoy the status of social advocate. Therefore, the last two lines appear to be a desire to escape from the society.

　　喜欢这首诗的原因有技术上的也有主题上的。首联中的叠字造成了一种哽噎般的声音效果，显然从声音到意思上都比较到位。颔联两行的最后三个字都是单个字的并置，这与通常的1+2或者2+1的组合不一样，读法上也要求一个字一个字地嘣出来。因此，重叠翠和浅深清便从字面上很形象地表现了词义。颈联反映的不仅是诗人本身的心态，而且也反映出晚唐的社会政治风貌，因此晚唐诗歌的精致凄美实在也是因为诗人们本身无法救世、社会抱负与理想难以实现的结果（行乐时已晚）。尾联无论是白苹的双关还是雪舟相访的用典都暗示了一种逃避。

Back-translation into Contemporary Chinese 当代汉语回译：

　　将在湖州与学者李郢共度新年

寻欢作乐需要合适的时间，而现在为时已晚，
喝酒应当有歌声相伴，而我们无法唱出。

暮色苍茫的群山千座山峰都被不同的绿色笼罩，
一溪冰寒的水有清晰可见的深与清澈。

那些超越了俗常的人们正忙于喝醉，
这浮世别无什么能够像做诗一样取得实在的名声。

可以看出白苹的芽儿不久定会开花，
难道乘着被雪覆盖的小船拜访你不比步行更好？