By Li Bai (Tang Dynasty)
Seafarers speak of Penglai Isle –
Amid misty waves, faint and far, truly hard to find.
But the people of Yue tell of Mount Tianmu –
Its peaks gleam through shifting clouds, sometimes visible.
Mount Tianmu stretches to the sky, across heaven’s vault;
Its might outsoars the Five Great Peaks, eclipsing Red City Peak.
Even Mount Tiantai, forty-eight thousand feet high,
Leans southeastward in awe before it.
Inspired, I dream of Wu and Yue –
In one night, I fly beneath the moon over Mirror Lake.
The lake moon casts my shadow,
Guiding me to Shanyin Creek.
Lord Xie’s old lodging still stands;
Clear water ripples, gibbons cry pure and clear.
I wear Lord Xie’s clogs,
And climb the azure-cloud ladder.
Halfway up, I glimpse the sun rising from the sea;
High above, I hear the celestial cock crow.
Through countless cliffs and winding paths – no fixed route –
Bewitched by blossoms, leaning on rocks, suddenly dusk falls.
Bears roar, dragons bellow – the rock springs tremble;
Deep forests shiver, towering peaks quake.
Dark clouds gather – rain is coming;
Waters ripple, mist rises.
Lightning cracks! Thunder roars!
Hills and cliffs collapse!
Stone gates to the grotto-heaven
Swing open with a thunderous crash!
Vast and deep is the emerald void – no bottom in sight;
Sun and moon shine on golden-silver terraces.
Rainbows as robes, wind as steeds –
The Cloud Lords descend in throngs.
Tigers strum zithers; phoenix-drawn carriages turn;
Immortals gather thick as hemp stalks.
Suddenly, my soul trembles, my spirit shakes –
I start awake with a long sigh.
Only pillow and mat remain –
All those rosy clouds and mists are gone.
So too is worldly joy: fleeting as this dream.
Since ancient times, all things flow east like river water.
Farewell, friends – when shall I return?
For now, I’ll tether my white deer by green cliffs.
When I must go, I’ll ride it to famed mountains.
How could I bow and bend to serve the mighty,
And lose the joy upon my face?
Note
Li Bai (701–762 CE), also known as Li Bo or Li Taibai, was one of China’s greatest romantic poets and a central figure of the Tang Dynasty’s golden age of poetry. Nicknamed the “Banished Immortal” (Zhe Xian), he was famed for his free-spirited nature, love of wine, Daoist mysticism, and vivid imagination. His poetry blends exuberant fantasy with profound emotion, often celebrating nature, freedom, and transcendence.
He wrote “Dreaming a Journey to Mount Tianmu” around 745 CE, after being dismissed from the imperial court in Chang’an. Though briefly appointed as a scholar at court due to his fame, Li Bai’s unorthodox behavior and refusal to flatter powerful officials led to his expulsion. Disillusioned but defiant, he wandered eastern China, visiting sacred mountains and reclusive friends.
This poem was composed as a farewell to friends in Shandong before he headed south toward Mount Tianmu in Zhejiang – a legendary Daoist site believed to be a gateway to the immortal realm. The poem is both a fantastical dream-vision and a declaration of spiritual independence: rejecting servitude to power in favor of wandering freely among nature and immortals.
Historical Figures, Cultural Facts in the Poem
Penglai (Yingzhou)
– One of the mythical Three Immortal Isles in the Eastern Sea (with Fangzhang and Penglai), sought by Qin Shi Huang and Han emperors. Symbolizes unattainable paradise. In Journey to the West, when Sun Wukong destroys the Ginseng Fruit Tree in Wuzhuang Temple, the Monkey King decides to travel to the immortal islands in the sea for a miraculous cure.
Mount Tianmu
– A real mountain in modern Zhejiang, revered in Daoist tradition as a grotto-heaven (dongtian) – a hidden portal to the immortal world. Its grandeur is exaggerated poetically to surpass even China’s holiest peaks.
The Five Great Peaks (Wuyue)
– Sacred mountains in Chinese cosmology: Tai, Hua, Heng (Shanxi), Heng (Hunan), and Song. Their overshadowing shows Tianmu’s spiritual supremacy.
Mount Tiantai
– Another famous Buddhist and Daoist mountain nearby, used here for scale – yet still “bows” to Tianmu.
Lord Xie (Xie Lingyun, 385–433 CE)
– A celebrated poet of the Southern Dynasties, known for landscape poetry and inventing special wooden clogs (Xie Gong ji) for mountain climbing. Li Bai venerates him as a poetic and spiritual predecessor.
Shanyin Creek (Shan River)
– In eastern Zhejiang, associated with recluses and poets like Wang Xizhi and Xie Lingyun.
Celestial Cock (Tianji)
– In Chinese myth, a rooster in the heavens that crows at dawn to awaken the world – symbolizing the boundary between mortal and immortal realms.
Grotto-Heaven (Dongtian)
– A core Daoist concept: hidden sacred mountains containing paradisiacal realms accessible only to the worthy. The “stone gate” opening marks entry into this divine space. For example, in the novel Journey to the West, Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, leaped through the waterfall and found a magic stone cave with a stone gate. It is also called the Blessed Land and Grotto-Heaven.
Cloud Lords (Yun zhi jun)
– Refers to immortals descending in splendor – common imagery in Daoist hagiographies and Chu Ci (Songs of the South) poetry.
Tigers playing zithers, phoenixes drawing carriages
– Mythical inversion: wild beasts serve music, noble birds pull vehicles – showing the harmony and wonder of the immortal realm.
White Deer
– A traditional mount of Daoist immortals and recluses (e.g., associated with Laozi). Symbolizes purity, longevity, and spiritual travel. For example, in the novel Journey to the West, the white deer is the South Pole Star Elder’s mount.
“Bowing and bending to serve the mighty”
– A direct rejection of bureaucratic servility. Echoes Tao Yuanming‘s refusal to “bow for five pecks of rice,” affirming the Confucian-Daoist ideal of moral integrity over careerism.
《梦游天姥吟留别》唐·李白
海客谈瀛洲，烟涛微茫信难求。越人语天姥，云霞明灭或可睹。天姥连天向天横，势拔五岳掩赤城。天台四万八千丈，对此欲倒东南倾。我欲因之梦吴越，一夜飞度镜湖月。湖月照我影，送我至剡溪。谢公宿处今尚在，渌水荡漾清猿啼。脚著谢公屐，身登青云梯。半壁见海日，空中闻天鸡。千岩万转路不定，迷花倚石忽已暝。熊咆龙吟殷岩泉，栗深林兮惊层巅。云青青兮欲雨，水澹澹兮生烟。列缺霹雳，丘峦崩摧。洞天石扉，訇然中开。青冥浩荡不见底，日月照耀金银台。霓为衣兮风为马，云之君兮纷纷而来下。虎鼓瑟兮鸾回车，仙之人兮列如麻。忽魂悸以魄动，恍惊起而长嗟。惟觉时之枕席，失向来之烟霞。世间行乐亦如此，古来万事东流水。别君去兮何时还？且放白鹿青崖间。须行即骑访名山。安能摧眉折腰事权贵，使我不得开心颜！
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