Song Dynasty
Gathering Mulberries · A Painted Boat Carries Wine
Ouyang Xiu
画船载酒西湖好，急管繁弦。
玉盏催传，稳泛平波任醉眠。
行云却在行舟下，空水澄鲜。
俯仰留连，疑是湖中别有天。
Translation
A painted boat carries wine — West Lake is lovely. Quick pipes and dense strings fill the air. Jade cups are passed again and again, urging us to drink; the boat floats steadily on level waves, letting us sleep in drunken ease. Moving clouds appear beneath the moving boat; sky and water are clear and bright. Looking down, looking up, I linger and cannot leave; it seems as if within the lake there is another heaven.
Analysis
This lyric describes a banquet excursion on West Lake. Compared with Ouyang Xiu's 'A light boat with short oars,' this poem is more festive: there is a painted boat, wine, music, passing cups, and drunken ease. Yet the poem does not remain in mere entertainment. In the second half, it rises into a clear and almost dreamlike vision of sky reflected in water. The first stanza presents the pleasure of boating with wine and music. 'Painted boat' suggests elegance and ornament; 'quick pipes and dense strings' gives the scene sound and movement. The passing jade cups suggest a lively gathering, with people urging one another to drink. 'Floating steadily on level waves, letting us sleep in drunken ease' gives the pleasure a relaxed tone. The second stanza shifts dramatically from human entertainment to visual wonder. 'Moving clouds appear beneath the moving boat' is the key image. Clouds should be above, yet their reflection in the clear lake makes them appear below. The world is inverted, and the boat seems to travel between sky and water. 'Sky and water are clear and bright' describes a state in which boundaries dissolve. Looking up, one sees sky; looking down, one also sees sky. This produces the final feeling: perhaps there is another heaven within the lake. The poem's structure is elegant: it begins with pleasure, wine, and music, then passes into stillness, reflection, and wonder. Ouyang Xiu turns a social outing into a moment of clarity and spaciousness.
About the Author
Ouyang Xiu, courtesy name Yongshu, literary name Zuiweng and later Liuyi Jushi, was a major writer, historian, and statesman of the Northern Song dynasty. Born in Yongfeng, Jizhou, he is one of the 'Eight Great Prose Masters of the Tang and Song' and a leading figure in the Northern Song classical prose movement. His prose is known for clarity and naturalness, while his ci poetry is graceful, fresh, and restrained. In his later years, he lived in Yingzhou and wrote a series of 'Cai Sang Zi' lyrics celebrating West Lake, capturing both the pleasures of leisure and the clear expansiveness of water and sky.