Li Bai (701-December 762), whose name was Taibai, was named Qinglianjushi, also known as “The Immortal”. A great romantic poet in the Tang Dynasty, he was hailed as “The Immortal of Poetry” by future generations, and he was called “The Immortal of Poetry” together with Du Fu.
子夜吴歌
（秋歌）
长安一片月，
万户捣衣声。
秋风吹不尽，
总是玉关[1]情。
何日平胡虏[2]？
良人[3]罢远征！
这首写的是妻子对边防士兵的怀念，开拓了吴歌的境界。诗从客观的写景入手，首先展现出月下万户捣衣的情景。捣衣是将衣料放在石砧上用木杵捶打，使之柔软，便于裁缝，制成衣服可以寄去边关。诗人听到风吹捣衣之声，仿佛是捣衣女对驻守玉门关外的丈夫的思念之情。西风吹不尽，思念之情也就不尽。最后，诗人设身处地为捣衣女着想，希望早日战胜边境的敌人，罢战之后，丈夫可以回到家乡。这样剥茧抽丝，先景后情，由远及近，由外到内，丝越抽越细，情越转越深，无怪乎王夫之说“前四句是天壤间生成好句，被太白拾得”了。
注释：
[1]玉关：玉门关，故址在今甘肃省敦煌市西北，此处代指良人戍边之地。
[2]平胡虏：平定侵扰边境的敌人。
[3]良人：古时妇女称呼丈夫“良人”。
Ballads of Four Seasons
(Autumn)
Moonlight is spread all o’er the capital,
The sound of beating clothes far and near
Is brought by autumn wind which can’t blow all
The longings away for far-off frontier.
When can we vanquish the barbarian foe
So that our men no longer into battle go?
This poem is about the wife’s nostalgia for the border soldiers, which has opened up the realm of Wu Ge. The poem starts with an objective description of the scene, first showing the scene of thousands of households pounding clothes under the moon. Pounding clothes means putting clothes on a stone anvil and beating them with a wooden pestle to make them soft and easy to sew. The clothes can be sent to the border. The poet heard the sound of the wind blowing the clothes, as if it was the pounding woman’s longing for her husband stationed outside Yumen Pass. The west wind will not blow away, and the longing will not end. Finally, the poet puts himself in the shoes of the pounding woman, hoping to defeat the enemy on the border as soon as possible, and after the war, her husband can return home. In this way, the cocoon is peeled off and the silk is drawn, first the scene and then the emotion, from far to near, from outside to inside, the silk is drawn thinner and thinner, and the emotion is deeper and deeper. No wonder Wang Fuzhi said, “The first four sentences are good sentences generated between heaven and earth, and were picked up by Taibai.”
