Li Bai, feeling anxious about his ideals, creating poetical perfection

        宣州谢朓楼饯别校书叔云
　　李白

　　
　　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，欲上青天揽日月。
　　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。


EXPLANATION OF THE POEM

1.The first lines of the poem writes about whiling away time, and also the suffering involved in working whilst having no home to call one's own.

2. The second section of the poem eulogizes the herioc and carefree writing style of both himself and his of Xie Tiao 谢眺 (brief biography : 464～499, living in the time of Nan Bei Chao 南北朝, finally unjustlessly accused and dying in prison).

3. The final part of the poem mentions the drowning of ones sorrows and the frustration of this life.



        弃我去者，昨日之日不可留；
　　乱我心者，今日之日多烦忧。

The poet is in a dejected mood and immediately unburdens himself of his innermost feeling of discontent. Li Bai had wanted to belong to the élite of imperial secretaries taken from the academic school Han Lin, but he hadn't been valued in these circles, and had even been slandered by certain high-ranking officials. He soon abandoned his post and floated into a loafers lifestyle. Ten years of toil and living away from his home region, he pours his dejection and melancholy into the poem.

        长风万里送秋雁，对此可以酣高楼。

The landscape evokes and describes an emotion (in chinese this is called 借景抒情), the migrating wild geese elates the author. The atmosphere is of crisp autumn air (秋高气爽) creating a mood of ease and carefree, aloowing him to drink without restraint.
 　　
　    蓬莱文章建安骨，中间小谢又清发。

蓬莱, the mythical Peng Lai mountain
建安骨 is a compliment to the Han style in the poetry of Li Yun
中间小谢 refers to poet Xie Tiao of the Southern Dynasty period


        俱怀逸兴壮思飞，欲上青天览明月。

In this line Li Bai expresses his confidence in his own ambition as a poet, comparing his talents to those of Xie Tiao. Li Bai creates an elated effect with the tones.

        抽刀断水水更流，举杯销愁愁更愁。

In this line he comes back to his original mood of inescapable anxiety. Just as water runs faster when you cut it with a knife, anxiety deepens when you try to relieve it with alcohol.

　   人生在世不称意，明朝散发弄扁舟。

Al though LiBai doesn't have escapism as his original intention, his aloofness from certain political and material circles and his attachment to esthetic idealism produces a state of anxiety upon return from his elation back to the real world. He thus chooses escapism in the final line.

OVERVIEW OF POETICAL STYLE : SEMANTICS AND TONES

Living in the mortal world, troubles and worries plague us continually. When the poet finds his ideal existance coming up against the shadowy reality, he has no way of relieving himself of the tension and pain produced. Interestingly, although the writer finds his spirit weighed upon by misery, he does not for this reason relinquish his search for his ideals. The entire poem is pervaded with fervent mood, displaying the inner herioc nature of the poet despite his personal pain in life. The ups and downs that take place "大起大落，一波三折" is the most notable feature of the poem; just where the musicality of the tones become sorrowful, an elated and optimist beat takes over, to be later superseded by a return to reality and a desire to escape it.

The tones in Chinese can be combined with semantic meaning to create a final piece similar to a musical composition.

HOW TO GET FAMILIAR WITH THE POEM

AGAIN... INTERNET KILLED THE VERSION I LIKED, BUT THIS ONE IS OK:

http://my.tv.sohu.com/u/vw/27663656