by jaybob

Created on: June 28, 2008   Last Updated: December 09, 2009

Li Bai's "Drinking Alone by Moonligh"t: Poetic Interplay of Rice Wine and Taoist Symbolism

To English readers, the virtue of Chinese poetry is not always found in the translation itself, but in the freedom of its unrestrained interpretation. The complete dissimilarities between the two languages create an intellectual barrier that few translators can competently traverse. This, and the incredible depth of Eastern poetry, commonly a dynamic of philosophy, spirituality, symbolism, and culture, combines to create an artistic phenomenon that, though few can fully understand, all Western readers can avidly enjoy. Sixth Century Taoist poet, Li Bai's (701 762, Tang Dynasty) "Drinking Alone by Moonlight" is a perfect example of Taoism expressed through poetic medium. Its popularity carrying over into Western readership has seen numerous, and very different, translations of the text. This apparent failure to reach a consensus on a single true translation leaves Li Bai's poem in a sort of analytical "Limbo," where all are free to take from the text any meaning they so wish. This natural evolution of post-structuralism, though obscuring Li Bai's original meaning, has come to engender a legacy of intellectual heirs that even the Emperor of China himself would be envious of.

Most translations of Li Bai's "Drinking Alone by Moonlight" are, in fact, only educated interpretations themselves. What few English readers understand is that Chinese is an ancient and ritual saturated language where many different meanings can be shared by a single mono-syllable word. A Westerner attempting to even speak the language often falls victim to stresses of the vowels, where even the slightest variation of the word "Ma" means the literal difference between "horse," "a numb leg," and "your mother." These words are also put to silk in a system of writing where, though thousands of individual symbols exist, there may still be multiple meanings for a singles character. Even the title of Li Bai's poem, "Yu Xi D Zhu," literally translates into "moon, under, alone, pour wine" just as easily as it translates into "month, later, only, consider." In this context, a translator is just as likely to write a title of "Pouring Wine under the Moon" as they are "Only to Consider a Month Later."

As a cultural construct, Chinese poetry is exceedingly profound. Though deceptively effortless in design, its genius is often found in that very simplicity; the reader having to decipher a complex multifaceted

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