Du Fu Poem: Songs of Eight Immortal Drinkers – 杜甫《饮中八仙歌》

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饮中八仙歌

杜甫

知章骑马似乘船,

眼花落井水底眠。

汝阳三斗始朝天,

道逢麯车[1]口流涎,

恨不移封向酒泉[2]

左相日兴费万钱,

饮如长鲸吸百川,

衔杯乐圣称避贤。

宗之潇洒美少年,

举觞[3]白眼望青天,

皎如玉树临风前。

苏晋长斋绣佛前,

醉中往往爱逃禅。

李白斗酒诗百篇,

长安市上酒家眠。

天子呼来不上船,

自称臣是酒中仙。

张旭三杯草圣传,

脱帽露顶王公前,

挥毫落纸如云烟。

焦遂五斗方卓然[4]

高谈雄辩惊四筵。

注释:

[1] 麯车:酒车

[2] 酒泉:今属甘肃,相传那里“城下有金泉,泉味如酒,故名酒泉”(见《三秦记》)。

[3] 觞(shānɡ):古代酒器。

[4] 卓然:超然;卓越。

Songs of Eight Immortal Drinkers

Du Fu

Zhizhang feels dizzy on his horse as in a boat.

Should he fall into the well, asleep there he should float.

Prince Lian would go to court after drinking three jars;

His mouth would water, seeing wine-transporting cars.

He would have as his fief the Spring of Wine in dreams.

Left Minister buys wine with thousand coins by day,

He would drink like a whale a hundred streams,

Dismissed now, he would drink impure wine as he may.

Without restraint, Zongzhi is a gallant young guy.

Like one of the jade trees standing in vernal breeze.

The Buddhist Su Jin should neither drink nor eat the meat,

But drunk, to run away from Buddha he is fleet.

Li Bai would turn sweet nectar into verses fine.

Drunk in the capital, he’d lie in shops of wine.

Even imperial summons proudly he’d decline,

Saying immortals could leave the drink divine.

In cursive writing Zhang Xu’s worthy of his fame.

After three drinks he bares his head before lord and dame,

And splashes cloud and mist on paper as with flame.

Jiao Sui is sober after drinking jar on jar;

His eloquence astonishes guests near and far.

The poet describes eight drinkers: He Zhizhang who writes Home-Coming. Prince Lian, the Left Minister, Zuo Zongzhi for whom Li Bai writes Farewell to a Friend, a Buddhist who worships wine more than Buddha, Li Bai who could turn wine into verse, Zhang Xu who paints better when drinks, and Jiao Sui more eloquent after drinking.

《饮中八仙歌》是唐代诗人杜甫的诗作。此诗将当时号称“酒中八仙人”的李白、贺知章、李适之、李琎、崔宗之、苏晋、张旭、焦遂八人从“饮酒”这个角度联系在一起,用追叙的方式,洗炼的语言,人物速写的笔法,构成一幅栩栩如生的群像图。全诗句句押韵,一韵到底;前不用起,后不用收;并列地分写八人,句数多少不齐,但首、尾、中腰,各用两句,前后或三或四,变化中仍有条理:在体裁上是一个创格。八人中,贺知章资格最老,所以放在第一位。其他按官爵,从王公宰相一直说到布衣。作者写八人醉态各有特点,纯用漫画素描的手法,写他们的平生醉趣,充分表现了他们嗜酒如命、放浪不羁的性格,生动地再现了盛唐时代文人士大夫乐观、放达的精神风貌。

“Songs of Eight Immortal Drinkers” is a poem written by Du Fu, a poet of the Tang Dynasty. The poem links the eight “Eight Immortals of Wine”, Li Bai, He Zhizhang, Li Shizhi, Li Last Night, Cui Zongzhi, Su Jin, Zhang Xu and Jiao Sui, from the perspective of “drinking wine”, and uses a narrative style, refined language and sketches of characters to form a vivid group portrait. The poem is a lifelike group portrait. The whole poem rhymes in one line, and there is no need to start at the beginning and close at the end; the poem is divided into eight people side by side, and the number of lines varies, but two lines are used at the beginning, at the end, and in the middle, and three or four at the front and back. Among the eight, He Zhizhang is the oldest, so he is placed first. The rest of them, according to their official titles, range from princes and chancellors to the clothiers. The author writes about the drunkenness of each of the eight men, using a purely cartoonish sketching technique to write about their drunkenness, fully expressing their alcoholic and unrestrained personalities, and vividly reproducing the optimistic and liberal spirit of the literati and scholars of the Tang Dynasty.

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