section_path: Themes/Rapt with wine and moon
section_name: Rapt with wine and moon
paragraph_text: Rapt with wine and moon
  
  John C. H. Wu observed that "while some may have drunk more wine than Li, no-one has written more poems about wine." Classical Chinese poets were often associated with drinking wine, and Li Bai was part of the group of Chinese scholars in Chang'an his fellow poet Du Fu called the " Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup." The Chinese generally did not find the moderate use of alcohol to be immoral or unhealthy. James J. Y Liu comments that zui in poetry "does not mean quite the same thing as 'drunk', 'intoxicated', or 'inebriated', but rather means being mentally carried away from one's normal preoccupations..." Liu translates zui as "rapt with wine". The "Eight Immortals", however, drank to an unusual degree, though they still were viewed as pleasant eccentrics. Burton Watson concluded that "early all Chinese poets celebrate the joys of wine, but none so tirelessly and with such a note of genuine conviction as Li ".
  
  The following two poems, "Rising Drunk on a Spring Day, Telling My Intent" and "Drinking Alone by Moonlight", are among Li Bai's most famous and demonstrate different aspects of his use of wine and drunkenness.
  
  We are lodged in this world as in a great dream; Then why cause our lives so much stress? This is my reason to spend the day drunk And collapse, sprawled against the front pillar. When I wake, I peer out in the yard Where a bird is singing among the flowers. Now tell me, what season is this?— The spring breeze speaks with orioles warbling. I am so touched that I almost sigh, I turn to the wine, pour myself more, Then sing wildly, waiting for the moon, When the tune is done, I no longer care.
  
  處世若大夢, 胡爲勞其生. 所以終日醉, 頹然臥前楹. 覺來盼庭前, 一鳥花間鳴. 借問此何時, 春風語流鶯. 感之欲嘆息, 對酒還自傾. 浩歌待明月, 曲盡已忘情.
  
  Here among flowers one flask of wine, With no close friends, I pour it alone. I lift cup to bright moon, beg its company, Then facing my shadow, we become three. The moon has never known how to drink; My shadow does nothing but follow me. But with moon and shadow as companions the while, This joy I find must catch spring while it's here. I sing, and the moon just lingers on; I dance, and my shadow flails wildly. When still sober we share friendship and pleasure, Then, utterly drunk, each goes his own way— Let us join to roam beyond human cares And plan to meet far in the river of stars.
  
  花間一壺酒。 獨酌無相親。 舉杯邀明月。 對影成三人。 月既不解飲。 影徒隨我身。 暫伴月將影。 行樂須及春。 我歌月徘徊。 我舞影零亂。 醒時同交歡。 醉後各分散。 永結無情遊。 相期邈雲漢。
  
  — "Drinking Alone by Moonlight" (Yuèxià dúzhuó 月下獨酌), translated by Stephen Owen