早发[1]白帝城
朝辞白帝彩云间[2]，
千里江陵[3]一日还。
两岸猿声啼不住，
轻舟已过万重山[4]。
公元758年，李白因为支持永王而被流放夜郎，船在长江逆流而上，几乎走了一年。他到白帝城时，忽然遇赦返回江陵，喜出望外，写了这首快诗：一是船快，二是心情愉快。“朝辞白帝”是和白帝城告别，也是和过去告别，心情舒畅；“彩云间”既写城高，又写心情好，看云也美，白帝城成了“仙居”。“千里江陵一日还”用空间之远和时间之短对比，显得船行“神速”。猿鹤本是“仙侣”，原为沉船哀啼，李白遇赦听来，却似乎是在和过去告别。最后一句的“轻舟”暗示卸下心头重担，“万重山”一过，前途就是“天路”般的康庄大道了。“仙居”“神速”“仙侣”“天路”，使这首七言绝句成了仙气洋溢的“谪仙诗”。
注释：
[1]发：启程。
[2]彩云间：因白帝城在白帝山上，地势高耸，从山下江中仰望，仿佛耸入云间。
[3]江陵：今湖北荆州市。
[4]万重山：层层叠叠的山；万重：形容数目之多。
Leaving the White Emperor Town[1]for Jiangling[2]
Leaving at dawn the White Emperor crowned with cloud,
I’ve sailed a thousand li through Canyons in a day.
With monkeys’sad adieux the riverbanks are loud;
My skiff has left ten thousand mountains far away.
Notes：
[1]In present-day Sichuan Province.
[2]In present-day Hubei Province.
In 758 AD, Li Bai was exiled to Yelang for supporting Prince Yong. The boat sailed upstream on the Yangtze River for almost a year. When he arrived at Baidi City, he was suddenly pardoned and returned to Jiangling. He was overjoyed and wrote this fast poem: first, the boat was fast, and second, he was in a good mood. “Leaving Baidi in the morning” is a farewell to Baidi City, and also a farewell to the past, and the mood is relaxed; “Among the colorful clouds” not only describes the height of the city, but also describes the good mood and the beauty of the clouds. Baidi City has become a “fairy residence”. “A thousand miles to Jiangling in one day” uses the contrast of distance and short time to make the boat move “fast”. Monkeys and cranes are originally “fairy companions”. They originally cried for the sinking ship, but when Li Bai was pardoned, it seemed to be saying goodbye to the past. The “light boat” in the last sentence implies that the burden is unloaded. Once the “ten thousand mountains” are passed, the future will be a broad road like the “heavenly road”. “Fairy residence”, “fast”, “fairy companion” and “heavenly road” make this seven-character quatrain a fairy-like “exiled immortal poem”.
