Listen to this article萧劳 行书：李白《夜泊牛渚怀古》
【释文】牛渚西江夜，青天无片云。登舟望秋月，空忆谢将军。余亦能高咏，斯人不可闻。明朝挂帆席，枫叶落纷纷。
【款识】李太白夜泊牛渚怀古，癸丑夏中迂叟写。
【注释】牛渚：牛渚山，在今安徽省当涂县西北。谢将军：谢尚，东晋人，镇守牛渚时，秋夜泛舟赏月，听到袁宏在船上吟哦自己的作品，大力赞赏。袁从此名声大振，后官至东阳太守。
【简析】
牛渚，是安徽当涂西北紧靠长江的一座山，北端突入江中，即着名的采石矶。诗题下有原注说：“此地即谢尚闻袁宏咏史处。”据《晋书·文苑传》记载：袁宏少时孤贫，以运租为业。镇西将军谢尚镇守牛渚，秋夜乘月泛江，听到袁宏在运租船上讽咏他自己的咏史诗，非常赞赏，于是邀宏过船谈论，直到天明。袁宏得到谢尚的赞誉，从此声名大着。题中所谓“怀古”，就是指这件事。
从南京以西到江西境内的一段长江，古代称西江。首句开门见山，点明“牛渚夜泊”。次句写牛渚夜景，大处落墨，展现出一片碧海青天、万里无云的境界。寥廓空明的天宇，和苍茫浩渺的西江，在夜色中溶为一体，越显出境界的空阔渺远，而诗人置身其间时那种悠然神远的感受也就自然融合在里面了。
三、四句由牛渚“望月”过渡到“怀古”。谢尚牛渚乘月泛江遇见袁宏月下朗吟这一富于诗意的故事，和诗人眼前所在之地（牛渚西江）、所接之景（青天朗月）的巧合，固然是使诗人由“望月”而“怀古”的主要凭藉，但之所以如此，还由于这种空阔渺远的境界本身就很容易触发对于古今的联想。空间的无垠和时间的永恒之间，在人们的意念活动中往往可以相互引发和转化，陈子昂登幽州台，面对北国苍莽辽阔的大地而涌起“前不见古人，后不见来者”之感，便是显例。而今古长存的明月，更常常成为由今溯古的桥梁，“月下沉吟久不归，古来相接眼中稀”（《金陵城西月下吟》），正可说明这一点。因此，“望”、“忆”之间，虽有很大跳跃，读来却感到非常自然合理。“望”字当中就含有诗人由今及古的联想和没有明言的意念活动。“空忆”的“空”字，暗逗下文。
如果所谓“怀古”，只是对几百年前发生在此地的“谢尚闻袁宏咏史”情事的泛泛追忆，诗意便不免平庸而落套。诗人别有会心，从这桩历史陈迹中发现了一种令人向往追慕的美好关系—贵贱的悬隔，丝毫没有妨碍心灵的相通；对文学的爱好和对才能的尊重，可以打破身份地位的壁障。而这，正是诗人在当时现实中求之而不可的得。诗人的思绪，由眼前的牛渚秋夜景色联想到往古，又由往古回到现实，情不自禁地发出“余亦能高咏，斯人不可闻”的感慨。尽管自己也象当年的袁宏那样，富于文学才华，而象谢尚那样的人物却不可复遇了。“不可闻”回应“空忆”，寓含着世无知音的深沉感喟。
“明朝挂帆席，枫叶落纷纷。”末联宕开写景，想象明朝挂帆离去的情景。在飒飒秋风中，片帆高挂，客舟即将离开江渚；枫叶纷纷飘落，象是无言地送着寂寞离去的行舟。秋色秋声，进一步烘托出因不遇知音而引起的寂寞凄清情怀。 诗意明朗而单纯，并没有什么深刻复杂的内容，但却具有一种令人神远的韵味。清代主神韵的王士禛甚至把这首诗和孟浩然的《晚泊浔阳望香炉峰》作为“不着一字，尽得风流”的典型，认为“诗至于此，色相俱空，正如羚羊挂角，无迹可求，画家所谓逸品是也。”这说法不免有些玄虚。其实，神韵的形成，离不开具体的文字语言和特定的表现手法，并非无迹可求。象这首诗，写景的疏朗有致，不主刻画，迹近写意；写情的含蓄不露，不道破说尽；用语的自然清新，虚涵概括，力避雕琢；以及寓情于景，以景结情的手法等等，都有助于造成一种悠然不尽的神韵。
李白的五律，不以锤炼凝重见长，而以自然明丽为主要特色。本篇“无一句属对，而调则无一字不律”（王琦注引赵宧光评），行云流水，纯任天然。这本身就构成一种萧散自然、风流自赏的意趣，适合表现抒情主人公那种飘逸不群的性格。诗的富于情韵，与这一点也不无关系。
【Simple Translation】
Niuzhu is a mountain in the northwest of Dangtu, Anhui Province, adjacent to the Yangtze River, with its northern end jutting into the river, namely the famous Caishiji. The original note under the title of the poem says: “This is the place where Xie Shangwen Yuan Hong chants history.” According to “The Book of Jin – Biography of Wenyuan”, Yuan Hong was poor and alone when he was young, and he used to transport rent as his business. When Xie Shang, the general of Zhenxi, was guarding Niuzhu, he heard Yuan Hong sings his own poem about history on the rent boat in the autumn night and appreciated it so much that he invited him to talk about it on the boat until dawn. Yuan Hong received Xie Shang’s praise and became famous from then on. The so-called “wistful antiquity” in the title refers to this incident.
The section of Yangtze River from Nanjing to Jiangxi is called Xijiang in ancient times. The first line opens the door, pointing out “the night berth of Niuzhu”. The next line is about the night scene of Niuzhu, with a big drop of ink, showing a realm of blue sea and blue sky with no clouds. The vast and empty sky, and the vast and majestic West River, in the night as one, the more obvious the realm of the vast and remote, and the poet was in the middle of it when the kind of leisurely and distant feelings are naturally integrated in it.
The third and fourth lines transition from “looking at the moon” to “reminiscing about the past”. The poetic story of Xie Shang Niuzhu taking the moon to flood the river and meeting Yuan Hong under the moon, and the coincidence of the poet’s immediate location (Niuzhu Xijiang) and the scenery (blue sky and moon), is certainly the main reason for the poet to “look at the moon” and “reminisce about the past”, but the reason This is also due to the fact that this vast and remote realm itself easily triggers associations with the past and the present. Between the boundlessness of space and the eternity of time, people’s thoughts can often trigger and transform each other, such as Chen Zi’ang’s climbing to the Youzhou Terrace, facing the reckless and vast land in the north and feeling “no one has seen the past and no one has seen the future”. The moon, which has been around for a long time, is often a bridge from the present to the past, as illustrated by the phrase, “The moon is a long time in my mind, and the eyes of the ancient world are rare” (“Under the Moon in the West of Jinling”). Therefore, although there is a big jump between “look” and “remember”, it feels very natural and reasonable to read. The word “hope” contains the poet’s association from the present to the past and his unspoken thoughts. The word “empty” in “empty memories” implies the following.
If the so-called “nostalgia for the past” is just a general reminiscence of the incident of “Xie Shangwen Yuan Hong singing history” that happened here hundreds of years ago, the poetic meaning will be banal and clichéd. The poet, with a special mind, finds in this historical relic a beautiful relationship that one can aspire to and admire – the separation of nobility and lowliness does not in any way hinder the connection of the heart; the love of literature and respect for talent can break the barrier of status. This is what the poet sought but could not get in the reality at that time. The poet’s thoughts, from the autumn night scene of Niuzhu in front of him to the past, and from the past back to reality, could not help but express the sentiment of “I can also sing, but I can’t hear the people”. Although he is also as rich in literary talent as Yuan Hong was back then, characters like Xie Shang cannot be met again. The words “unheard” echo “empty memories”, implying the deep sorrow that there is no soulmate in the world.
”Tomorrow, when the sails are hanging, the maple leaves are falling.” The last couplet opens up the scene, imagining the departure of the sails in the morning. In the soughing autumn wind, the sails are hanging high, the passenger boat is about to leave the river islet; the maple leaves are falling, as if they are sending the lonely boat away without words. The autumn colors and sounds further emphasize the loneliness and desolation caused by not meeting a soulmate. The poem is clear and simple, without any deep and complicated content, but with a kind of distant rhythm. Wang Shizhen, the master of rhyme in the Qing Dynasty, even took this poem and Meng Haoran’s “Evening at Xunyang Looking at the Fragrant Furnace Peak” as typical of “not a word, but all the style”, saying that “the poem is empty of color and phase, just as the antelope hangs from the corner, without trace, and the painter’s so-called escape product is also.” This statement is a bit vague. In fact, the formation of divine charm is inseparable from the specific language and specific expression techniques, not without trace. Like this poem, the sparseness of the writing of the scenery, not the main painting, signs of near writing; writing the emotions of the subtle, not to reveal, not to say all; natural and fresh language, false connotation of the general, to avoid carving; as well as the emotions in the scenery, to the scenery of the technique, etc., all help to create a kind of leisurely and inexhaustible charm.
Li Bai’s five lines are not distinguished by their refinement and gravity, but by their naturalness and clarity. In this piece, “there is not a single phrase that belongs to a pair, and there is not a single word that is not in rhythm” (Wang Qi’s note quoted Zhao Jiguang’s comment), which is purely natural. This in itself constitutes a kind of natural and self-appreciative interest, which is suitable for expressing the character of the main character. The poem’s richness in rhythm is not unrelated to this point.
