巴山楚水凄凉地，二十三年弃置身。
怀旧空吟闻笛赋，到乡翻似烂柯人。
沉舟侧畔千帆过，病树前头万木春。
今日听君歌一曲，暂凭杯酒长精神。

译文及注释

译文
被贬谪到巴山楚水这些荒凉的地区，度过了二十三年沦落的光阴。
怀念故去旧友徒然吟诵闻笛小赋，久谪归来感到已非旧时光景。
翻覆的船只旁仍有千千万万的帆船经过；枯萎树木的前面也有万千林木欣欣向荣。
今天听了你为我吟诵的诗篇，暂且借这一杯美酒振奋精神。

注释
酬：答谢，酬答，这里是指以诗相答的意思。用诗歌赠答。
乐天：指白居易，字乐天。
见赠：送给（我）。
巴山楚水：指四川、湖南、湖北一带。古时四川东部属于巴国，湖南北部和湖北等地属于楚国。刘禹锡被贬后，迁徙于朗州、连州、夔州、和州等边远地区，这里用“巴山楚水”泛指这些地方。
二十三年：从唐顺宗永贞元年（805年）刘禹锡被贬为连州刺史，至宝历二年（826）冬应召，约22年。因贬地离京遥远，实际上到第二年才能回到京城，所以说23年。
弃置身：指遭受贬谪的诗人自己。置：放置。弃置：贬谪（zhé）。
怀旧：怀念故友。
吟：吟唱。
闻笛赋：指西晋向秀的《思旧赋》。三国曹魏末年，向秀的朋友嵇康 、吕安因不满司马氏篡权而被杀害。后来，向秀经过嵇康、吕安的旧居，听到邻人吹笛，不禁悲从中来，于是作《思旧赋》。 序文中说：自己经过嵇康旧居，因写此赋追念他。刘禹锡借用这个典故怀念已死去的王叔文、柳宗元等人。
到：到达。
翻似：倒好像。翻：副词，反而。
烂柯人：指晋人王质。相传晋人王质上山砍柴，看见两个童子下棋，就停下观看。等棋局终了，手中的斧柄（柯）已经朽烂。回到村里，才知道已过了一百年。同代人都已经亡故。作者以此典故表达自己遭贬23年的感慨。刘禹锡也借这个故事表达世事沧桑，人事全非，暮年返乡恍如隔世的心情。
沉舟：这是诗人以沉舟、病树自比。
侧畔：旁边。
歌一曲：指白居易的《醉赠刘二十八使君》。
长（zhǎng）精神：振作精神。长：增长，振作。▲

创作背景

　　此诗作于唐敬宗宝历二年（公元826年），刘禹锡罢和州刺史返回洛阳，同时白居易从苏州返洛阳，二人在扬州初逢时，白居易在宴席上作诗赠与刘禹锡，刘禹锡写此诗作答。

　　刘禹锡从小爱下围棋，与专教唐德宗太子下棋的棋待诏王叔文很要好。太子当上皇帝后，他的教师王叔文组阁执政，就提拔棋友刘禹锡当监察御史。后来王叔文集团政治改革失败后，刘禹锡被贬到外地做官，宝历二年（公元826年）应召回京。冬天途经扬州，与同样被贬的白居易相遇。白居易在筵席上写了一首诗《醉赠刘二十八使君》相赠：“为我引杯添酒饮，与君把箸击盘歌。诗称国手徒为尔，命压人头不奈何。举眼风光长寂寞，满朝官职独蹉跎。亦知合被才名折，二十三年折太多。”在诗中，白居易对刘禹锡被贬谪的遭遇，表示了同情和不平。于是刘禹锡写了这首《酬乐天扬州初逢席上见赠》回赠白居易。▲

赏析

　　《酬乐天扬州初逢席上见赠》是显示自己对世事变迁和仕宦升沉的豁达襟怀，表现了诗人的坚定信念和乐观精神，同时又暗含哲理，表明新事物必将取代旧事物。

　　诗的首联，便表现出作者不同凡响的抒情才能。刘禹锡因积极参加顺宗朝王叔文领导的政治革新运动而遭受迫害。在宦官和藩镇的联合反扑下，顺宗让位给宪宗，王叔文被杀，刘禹锡等被贬。他先贬到朗州（今湖南常德），再贬连州（今广东连县），调夔州（今重庆奉节）、和州（今安徽和县），未离谪籍。朗州在战国时是楚地，夔州在秦、汉时属巴郡，楚地多水，巴郡多山，“巴山楚水”，泛指贬地。刘禹锡没有直率倾诉自己无罪而长期遭贬的强烈不平，而是通过“凄凉地”和“弃置身”这些富有感情色彩的字句的渲染，让读者在了解和同情作者长期谪居的痛苦经历中，感觉到诗人抑制已久的愤激心情，具有较强的艺术感染力。

　　诗的颔联，刘禹锡运用了两个典故。一是“闻笛赋”，指曹魏后期向秀的《思旧赋》。向秀与嵇康、吕安是好友，嵇康、吕安为司马氏杀害，向秀经过两人旧居时，听到邻人吹笛子，其声“慷慨”激昂，向秀感音而叹，写了《思旧赋》来表示对嵇康、吕安的怀念。另一是“烂柯人”，据《述异记》所载，晋人王质入山砍柴，见二童子对弈，他观棋至终局，发现手中的“柯”（斧头的木柄）已经朽烂了。王质下山，回到村里，才知道已经一百年过去了，同时代的人都已死尽。“怀旧”句表达了诗人对受害的战友王叔文等的悼念，“到乡”句抒发了诗人对岁月流逝，人事变迁的感叹。用典贴切，感情深沉。“乡”指洛阳。一本作“郡”，郡指扬州。扬州是当时淮南节度使的治所，而和州是隶属于淮南道的。

　　白居易的赠诗中有“举眼风光长寂寞，满朝官职独蹉跎”这样两句，意思是说同辈的人都升迁了，只有你在荒凉的地方寂寞地虚度了年华，颇为刘禹锡抱不平。对此，刘禹锡在酬诗中写道：“沉舟侧畔千帆过，病树前头万木春。”刘禹锡以沉舟、病树比喻自己，固然感到惆怅，却又相当达观。沉舟侧畔，有千帆竞发；病树前头，正万木皆春。他从白诗中翻出这二句，反而劝慰白居易不必为自己的寂寞、蹉跎而忧伤，对世事的变迁和仕宦的升沉，表现出豁达的襟怀。这两句诗意又和白诗“命压人头不奈何”、“亦知合被才名折”相呼应，但其思想境界要比白诗高，意义也深刻得多了。二十三年的贬谪生活，并没有使他消沉颓唐。正像他在另外的诗里所写的：“莫道桑榆晚，为霞犹满天。”他这棵病树仍然要重添精神，迎上春光。因为这两句诗形象生动，至今仍常常被人引用，并赋予它以新的意义，说明新事物必将取代旧事物。

　　正因为“沉舟”这一联诗突然振起，一变前面伤感低沉的情调，尾联便顺势而下，写道：“今日听君歌一曲，暂凭杯酒长精神。”点明了酬答白居易的题意。诗人也没有一味消沉下去，他笔锋一转，又相互劝慰，相互鼓励了。他对生活并未完全丧失信心。诗中虽然感慨很深，但读来给人的感受并不是消沉，相反却是振奋。

　　刘禹锡在这首诗中运用了层层递进的手法。首联，诗的第一层，先写自己无罪而长期被贬的遭遇，为全诗定下了愤激的基调。颔联，诗的第二层，通过对受害战友的悼念，以及自己回到故乡竟然恍如隔世的情景，使愤激之情进一步深化。颈联，诗的第三层，推开一步，对比了自己的沉沦与新贵的得势，诗人的愤激之情达到了顶点。尾联，诗的第四层，急转直下，表示并不消极气馁，要抖擞振奋，积极进取，重新投入生活，以自勉自励结束。层层深入，言简意深。愤激而不浅露，感慨而不低沉，惆怅而不颓废，堪称刘禹锡的代表作品。刘禹锡在这首诗中所表现的身经危难，百折不回的坚强毅力，给后人以莫大的启迪和鼓舞，所以古今传诵，交口称赞。▲

评析
　　这首诗是唐代诗人刘禹锡于敬宗宝历二年(826)冬，罢和州刺史后，回归洛阳，途经扬州，与罢苏州刺史后也回归洛阳的白居易相会时所作。“沉舟”这一联诗突然振起，一变前面伤感低沉的情调，尾联便顺势而下，写道：“今日听君歌一曲，暂凭杯酒长精神。”点明了酬答白居易的题意。意思是说，今天听了你的诗歌不胜感慨，暂且借酒来振奋精神吧！刘禹锡在朋友的热情关怀下，表示要振作起来，重新投入到生活中去。表现出坚韧不拔的意志。诗情起伏跌宕，沉郁中见豪放，是酬赠诗中优秀之作。

参考资料汇总：
梁守中．刘禹锡诗文选译．成都：巴蜀书社，1990：132-134
梁守中．刘禹锡诗文选译．成都：巴蜀书社，1990：132-134
中华活页文选(初三年级), Zhonghua Loose-leaf Collection, 2013年03期
郭锐. 《酬乐天扬州初逢席上见赠》赏析[J]. 现代家教 1995年05期
骆玉明. 纵然挫败 不失豪爽——谈刘禹锡《酬乐天扬州初逢席上见赠》[J]. 中学生阅读(初中版) 2007年06期
袁由启. 为霞尚满天——《酬乐天扬州初逢席上见赠》赏析[J]. 初中生必读 2005年10期
初中生必读, Required Reading for Junior Middle School Students, 2005年10期

Translation and notes
translation
He was relegated to these desolate areas of Bashan and chushui, and spent 23 years of degradation.
I miss my old friends and recite the ode of Wendi in vain. When I come back from exile for a long time, I feel that it is not the old time.
Thousands of sailboats still pass by the overturned ships; In front of the withered trees, thousands of trees are thriving.
After listening to the poems you recited for me today, I’d like to take this glass of wine to cheer me up.
notes
Reward: Thank you, reward. It means to answer with poems. Give a poem as a gift.
Rakuten: refers to Bai Juyi, the word Rakuten.
See gift: to (me).
Bashan chushui: refers to Sichuan, Hunan and Hubei. In ancient times, Eastern Sichuan belonged to Ba state, while northern Hunan and Hubei belonged to Chu state. After Liu Yuxi was demoted, he moved to Langzhou, Lianzhou, Kuizhou, Hezhou and other remote areas, where “Bashan chushui” is used to refer to these places.
Twenty three years: from 805, Liu Yuxi was demoted as the governor of Lianzhou, to 826, dongyingzhao. Because the demoted land is far away from Beijing, in fact, it will take 23 years to return to the capital.
Abandonment: refers to the relegated poet himself. Place: place. Abandonment: relegation (zh) é）。
Nostalgia: remembering old friends.
Chant: chant.
Wen Di Fu: refers to Xiangxiu’s “Ode to the past” in the Western Jin Dynasty. At the end of the Three Kingdoms period, Xiang Xiu’s friends Ji Kang and Lu an were killed because they were dissatisfied with Sima’s usurpation of power. Later, when Xiang Xiu passed through Ji Kang’s and Lu an’s old houses, he heard his neighbors playing the flute. He could not help but feel sad, so he wrote “Ode to the past”. The preface says: I passed through Ji Kang’s old house, because I wrote this Fu to remember him. Liu Yuxi used this allusion to remember the dead Wang Shuwen, Liu Zongyuan and others.
To: arrive.
It’s like: it’s like. Adverb, on the contrary.
Ranke people: refers to the Jin people Wang Zhi. It is said that Wang Zhi, a man of Jin Dynasty, went up the mountain to cut firewood. When he saw two boys playing chess, he stopped to watch. When the game is over, the handle of the axe is rotten. When I returned to the village, I realized that it had been 100 years. My contemporaries are dead. The author expresses his feelings about being demoted for 23 years. Liu Yuxi also uses this story to express the vicissitudes of the world, human affairs are not, and returning home in his old age feels like a world apart.
Sinking boat: This is the poet’s comparison between sinking boat and sick tree.
Flank: by the side.
Song one: refers to Bai Juyi’s “drunken gift to the twenty eighth envoy of Liu”.
Length (zh) ǎ Spirit: cheer up. Chang: grow and cheer up. ▲

Creative background
This poem was written in 826 A.D. in the second year of Baoli reign of emperor Jingzong of Tang Dynasty. Liu Yuxi and the governor of Zhou returned to Luoyang. At the same time, Bai Juyi returned to Luoyang from Suzhou. When they were in Yangzhou, Bai Juyi wrote a poem for Liu Yuxi at a banquet. Liu Yuxi wrote this poem in reply.
Liu Yuxi loved to play go when he was young, and he was very close to Wang Shuwen, who taught the prince of Tang Dezong to play chess. After the crown prince became emperor, his teacher Wang Shuwen formed a cabinet to take power, and promoted his chess friend Liu Yuxi to be the censor. Later, after the failure of Wang Shuwen group’s political reform, Liu Yuxi was demoted to other places and returned to Beijing in 826. In winter, he passed through Yangzhou and met Bai Juyi, who was also demoted. At the banquet, Bai Juyi wrote a poem “drunken gift to the twenty eighth envoy of Liu” as a gift: “lead me a cup of wine and drink, and beat the dish song with you. The poem says that the national hand is you, but you can’t help it. The scenery is long and lonely, and the official posts of Manchu Dynasty are wasted. I also know that it’s only when he is called a discount. There are too many discounts in 23 years. “ In the poem, Bai Juyi expresses sympathy and injustice for Liu Yuxi’s relegation. So Liu Yuxi wrote this song “reward happy days, meet at the banquet at the beginning of Yangzhou” as a gift to Bai Juyi. ▲

appreciation
It shows his open mind to the changes of the world and the rise and fall of the official career. It shows the poet’s firm belief and optimistic spirit. At the same time, it also implies philosophy that new things will replace old things.
The first couplet of the poem shows the author’s extraordinary lyrical ability. Liu Yuxi was persecuted for his active participation in the political reform movement led by Wang Shuwen in Shunzong Dynasty. Under the joint counterattack of eunuch and vassal, Shunzong abdicated to Xianzong, Wang Shuwen was killed and Liu Yuxi was demoted. He was demoted to Langzhou (now Changde, Hunan), Lianzhou (now Lianxian, Guangdong), Kuizhou (now Fengjie, Chongqing) and Hezhou (now Hexian, Anhui). Langzhou was the land of Chu in the Warring States period, while Kuizhou belonged to Bajun in the Qin and Han Dynasties. The land of Chu was rich in water, and Bajun was rich in mountains. “Bashan chushui” generally refers to demoted land. Liu Yuxi didn’t tell the strong injustice of his innocence and being demoted for a long time. Instead, he made readers feel the poet’s long suppressed indignation and strong artistic appeal through the rendering of emotional words like “desolate place” and “abandoning oneself”.
Liu Yuxi used two allusions in the couplet of the poem. One is “Wen Di Fu”, which refers to Xiang Xiu’s “Si Jiu Fu” in the later period of Cao Wei. Xiang Xiu, Ji Kang and Lu’an are good friends. Ji Kang and Lu’an were killed by Sima’s family. When Xiang Xiu passed by their old house, he heard his neighbor playing the flute. His voice was “generous” and excited. Xiang Xiu sighed and wrote “Ode to the past” to express his nostalgia for Ji Kang and Lu’an. According to Shuyi Ji, Wang Zhi of Jin Dynasty went into the mountain to cut firewood and saw two boys playing chess. When he watched the game, he found that the “Ke” (the wooden handle of the axe) in his hand was rotten. When Wang Zhi went down the mountain and returned to the village, he realized that a hundred years had passed and that all the people of his time had died“ The sentence “nostalgia” expresses the poet’s mourning for his comrades in arms, such as Wang Shuwen, and the sentence “going to the countryside” expresses the poet’s sigh for the passage of time and the change of personnel. The allusion is appropriate and the emotion is deep“ “Xiang” refers to Luoyang. One is “county”, which refers to Yangzhou. Yangzhou was the seat of Huainan Jiedushi at that time, while Hezhou was subordinate to Huainan road.
In Bai Juyi’s poem, there are two sentences: “the scenery is long and lonely, and the official position of the Manchu Dynasty is wasted”. It means that all the people of the same generation have been promoted, and only you have wasted your time in a desolate place, which is quite unfair to Liu Yuxi. In this regard, Liu Yuxi wrote in his poem: “thousands of sails have sailed by the side of the sunken boat, and thousands of spring trees are in front of the diseased trees.” Liu Yuxi compared himself with sinking boat and sick tree. Although he felt melancholy, he was quite optimistic. On the side of the sunken boat, there are thousands of sails; In front of the diseased tree, all trees are in spring. On the contrary, he comforted Bai Juyi that he did not have to worry about his loneliness and delay. He showed an open-minded mind about the changes of the world and the rise and fall of official life. These two verses echo with Bai’s poem “life is too heavy to do anything” and “only when one knows how to get along with others” but their ideological level is higher than that of Bai’s poem and their significance is much more profound. Twenty three years of relegation did not make him depressed. As he wrote in another poem: “Mo Dao sang Yu late, for the Xia still full of the sky.” His sick tree still needs to rejuvenate and welcome the spring. Because these two poems are vivid, they are still often quoted and endowed with new meaning, indicating that new things will replace old things.
It is because the poem “sinking boat” suddenly vibrates, a change in front of the sentimental mood, the end of the couplet will follow the trend, wrote: “today to listen to your song, temporarily with a cup of wine long spirit.” This paper points out the meaning of answering Bai Juyi’s question. The poet didn’t go down in depression either. As soon as he changed his writing style, he comforted and encouraged each other. He didn’t completely lose faith in life. Although the feeling in the poem is deep, the feeling is not depressed, on the contrary, it is exciting.
In this poem, Liu Yuxi used a progressive technique. The first couplet, the first layer of the poem, first describes the experience of being innocent and being demoted for a long time, which sets the tone of indignation for the whole poem. Hanlian, the second layer of the poem, further deepens the indignation by mourning the injured comrades in arms and feeling as if he had gone back to his hometown. The neck couplet, the third layer of the poem, compares his downfall with the upsurge of the new rich, and the poet’s indignation reaches its climax. The final couplet, the fourth level of the poem, turns sharply, indicating that it is not passive and discouraged. It is necessary to be energetic and enterprising, rejoin life, and end with self encouragement. In depth, simple and profound. Liu Yuxi’s representative works are indignation but not shallow, emotion but not low, melancholy but not decadent. In this poem, Liu Yuxi’s life is in danger, and his indomitable perseverance gives great inspiration and encouragement to later generations, so he has been recited and praised from ancient to modern times. ▲

Reference summary:
Liang Shouzhong. Selected translations of Liu Yuxi’s poems and essays. Chengdu: Bashu publishing house, 1990:132-134
Liang Shouzhong. Selected translations of Liu Yuxi’s poems and essays. Chengdu: Bashu publishing house, 1990:132-134
Selected Chinese loose leaf articles (grade 3 of junior high school), Zhonghua loose leaf collection, No. 03, 2013
Guo Rui. Appreciation and analysis of “reward for happy days, first meeting at banquet in Yangzhou” [J]. Modern family education, 1995, issue 05
Luo Yuming. Be bold and forthright even if you are defeated – on Liu Yuxi’s “happy birthday, see you at the banquet at the beginning of Yangzhou” [J]. Reading for middle school students (junior high school edition), issue 06, 2007
Yuan Youqi. Appreciation of “the first time I see you at the banquet in Yangzhou” for the rosy clouds and the sky. Required reading for junior high school students, issue 10, 2005
Required reading for junior middle school students, issue 10, 2005