All poems

唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

华子冈

Huazigang

王维

Wang Wei

辋川Wangchuan Villa 写景Scenery Writing

飞鸟去不穷，连山复秋色。
上下华子冈，惆怅情何极。

Flying birds wing away without end, and ridge on ridge resumes its autumn colour.
Up and down Huazigang, how can the sorrow find an end?

Listen

Meaning

A quatrain from the Wangchuanji, this poem records a climb through autumn on Huazigang. Birds wing off endlessly and hill after hill takes up again its autumn colour; up and down the ridge the poet is overtaken by a grief that knows no limit. In only twenty characters Wang Wei sets boundless movement against still colour, and lets the sadness of things passing rise quietly out of the landscape itself.

飞鸟去不穷，连山复秋色。上下华子冈，惆怅情何极。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] Birds wing away endlessly, and the ridges don autumn colour again; up and down Huazigang the poet's sadness has no limit. The words are almost ostentatiously plain, and that plainness is the point. [Structure] The quatrain falls into two couplets. The first is pure landscape, the second adds the poet and his state of mind. The hinge is a single word, "up and down": it turns a view into an act of climbing and the climbing into an act of memory. [Imagery] The flying birds suggest departure; the linked mountains hold the eye still; autumn colour is an unusual choice, colour rather than weather, and it gives the scene its painted, motionless quality. The emotion at the end is reached only through a question, so it is asserted and yet left open. [Sentiment] Wang Wei is called the Poet Buddha, and here the calm surface is exactly what makes the grief credible. Change is everywhere in the birds, endurance is everywhere in the mountains, and the self stands between the two, unable to stop either.

【白话串讲】王维写《华子冈》：“飞鸟去不穷，连山复秋色”——“上下华子冈，惆怅情何极”——他写辋川华子冈的秋色与惆怅。【意象与手法】此诗写写景，以感慨写写景，是王维的名篇。前二句写秋色：「飞鸟去不穷，连山复秋色」写飞鸟去不穷、连山复秋色——写尽不穷的飞鸟；后二句写惆怅：「上下华子冈，惆怅情何极」写上下华子冈、惆怅情何极——写尽何极的惆怅。全诗以感慨写写景，写尽不穷的飞鸟与何极的惆怅，是王维的代表作。【情感与主旨】此诗写写景，以感慨写写景，是王维的名篇。此诗为王维《辋川集》之一，写华子冈秋色与登临惆怅。王维隐居辋川，此诗写其游华子冈所见。此诗写飞鸟去不穷，连山复秋色；上下华子冈，惆怅情何极。此诗写秋色：飞鸟去不穷，连山复秋色——写飞鸟去不穷、连山复秋色，写尽不穷的飞鸟；上下华子冈，惆怅情何极——写上下华子冈、惆怅情何极，写尽何极的惆怅。全诗以感慨写写景——那「连山复秋色」写尽不穷的飞鸟，「惆怅情何极」写尽何极的惆怅，写尽不穷的飞鸟与何极的惆怅，是理解王维写景诗的重要篇章。【名句点睛】常考「飞鸟去不穷，连山复秋色」写不穷的飞鸟；「上下华子冈，惆怅情何极」写何极的惆怅；以及全诗以感慨写写景、以白描写秋色的手法。

Background

Wang Wei (c. 701-761), courtesy name Mo Jie, was a Tang poet and painter who retired to Wangchuan, north of Chang'an, where he and his friend Pei Di composed the twenty poems of the Wangchuanji, each a five-character quatrain on a scene of the estate. Huazigang, the ridge of this poem, is one of those scenes. The verse belongs to the period in which Wang Wei, drawn toward Chan Buddhism, pushed landscape description toward a still and inward manner that later generations learned from.

此诗写写景，以感慨写写景，是王维的名篇。王维（约701—761），字摩诘，号摩诘居士，河东蒲州（今山西永济）人，唐代诗人、画家，与孟浩然并称「王孟」，被尊为「诗佛」。此诗为王维《辋川集》之一，写华子冈秋色与登临惆怅。王维隐居辋川，此诗写其游华子冈所见。此诗写飞鸟去不穷，连山复秋色；上下华子冈，惆怅情何极。此诗写秋色：「飞鸟去不穷，连山复秋色」写飞鸟去不穷、连山复秋色——写尽不穷的飞鸟（飞鸟去不穷，连山复秋色）；「上下华子冈，惆怅情何极」写上下华子冈、惆怅情何极——写尽何极的惆怅（上下华子冈，惆怅情何极）。全诗以感慨写写景，写尽不穷的飞鸟与何极的惆怅，是理解王维写景诗的重要篇章。此诗为王维隐居辋川时所作，与《鹿柴》《竹里馆》等同列《辋川集》。华子冈为辋川别业二十景之一，王维与裴迪同游于此，各赋五绝咏之。此诗写秋日登冈，见飞鸟连山而顿生惆怅，正是「诗佛」山水诗中深含情韵之作。

Art

Four devices carry the poem. First, plain description: the opening line names nothing exotic, and the sense of endlessness comes from the cadence rather than from ornament. Second, direct statement: after the landscape, the last two lines name the emotion in plain words, and the candour sharpens the image instead of weakening it. Third, scenery used as emotion: the mountains that put autumn on "again" are the poet's constancy, the birds that will not finish are his restlessness. Fourth, a question that closes nothing. The particle "again" quietly introduces endless recurrence; "up and down" quietly introduces human effort. Together they convert a view into a meditation.

此诗的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以白描写秋色。「飞鸟去不穷」以白描写秋色——那「连山复秋色」写尽连山的秋色，以白描写尽不穷的飞鸟。其二，以直抒写惆怅。「上下华子冈」以直抒写惆怅——那「惆怅情何极」写尽何极的惆怅，以直抒写尽何极的惆怅。其三，以写景写情感。「连山复秋色」以写景写情感——那「飞鸟去不穷」写尽不穷的飞鸟，以写景写尽何极的惆怅。其四，以设问写无尽。「惆怅情何极」以设问写无尽——那「上下华子冈」写尽上下的华子冈，以设问写尽何极的惆怅。此外，此诗前二句写不穷的飞鸟，后二句写何极的惆怅，由景及情，正是写景诗「以景写愁」的写法。四重手法，使此诗以感慨写写景，写尽不穷的飞鸟与何极的惆怅，是王维的代表作。此诗还善于以「飞鸟去不穷」的「去不穷」写飞鸟之不绝——那「飞鸟」写尽秋日的飞鸟，正是以去写远，以「连山复秋色」写尽不穷的飞鸟。又善以「上下华子冈」的「上下」写登冈之上下——上下华子冈，正见上下登临的写照，以「上下」写尽何极的惆怅。

Allusions

The vocabulary belongs to the long tradition of Chinese landscape poetry. "Fei niao," the flying birds, evokes Tao Yuanming's line about birds returning together, and echoes later too in Du Fu's image of a river that never stops. "Lian shan," linked mountains, recalls the classical line about ranges reaching to the sea's corner. "Qiu se," autumn colour, anticipates Fan Zhongyan's autumn tint blending into the waves. Huazigang is more than a place name: in the Wangchuan corpus it is one of twenty named scenes, so the poem both describes and catalogues. "Chouchang," the standard word for disappointed journeying, fixes the mood within a well-known semantic field.

此诗的用语深植于写景与感慨传统。「飞鸟」令人想到「飞鸟」写飞鸟的意象——也令人想到「飞鸟相与还」（陶渊明）的意象；「去不穷」令人想到「去不穷」写去之不穷的意象——也令人想到「不尽长江滚滚来」（杜甫）的意象；「连山」令人想到「连山」写连绵山峦的意象——也令人想到「连山接海隅」的意象；「秋色」令人想到「秋色」写秋色的意象——也令人想到「秋色连波」（范仲淹）的意象；「华子冈」令人想到「华子冈」写华子冈的意象——辋川胜处，也令人想到「华子冈头」的意象；「惆怅」令人想到「惆怅」写惆怅的意象——也令人想到「惆怅东栏一株雪」（苏轼）的意象。全诗化用飞鸟、去不穷、连山、秋色、华子冈、惆怅的意象典故，以感慨写写景，正是王维「清幽」而善白描、承写景传统写感慨之本领。「飞鸟」令人想到「飞鸟」写飞鸟的意象——也令人想到「飞鸟相与还」的意象；「秋色」令人想到「秋色」写秋色的意象——也令人想到「秋色连波」的意象；「华子冈」令人想到「华子冈」写华子冈的意象——也令人想到「辋川华子冈」的意象，以华子冈写辋川。

Commentary

This little poem has long ranked among the finest of the Wangchuan quatrains. Qing readers praised its clear, ethereal tone; modern anthologies single out the opening couplet, in which birds without end meet hills in autumn colour. Read beside Deer Fence from the same collection - one still, one sorrowful - the two show both faces of Wang Wei, the painter of the empty mountain and the poet of the unbounded grief. With Bamboo Cottage it stands among the best of the twenty: twenty characters, and a landscape that governs much by saying little.

此诗历来被推为王维写景诗的名篇，也是唐诗写华子冈的代表。历代论者对此诗评价极高：清人评此诗「以感慨写写景，清幽空灵」；近人更指出「飞鸟去不穷，连山复秋色」写不穷的飞鸟，是此诗的名句。在诗歌史上，此诗的特殊价值在于：它以四句的五绝写尽不穷的飞鸟与何极的惆怅——那飞鸟，那去不穷，那连山，那复秋色，那上下，那华子冈，那惆怅，那情何极，都写尽了王维笔下的华子冈；那「惆怅情何极」更以设问写尽何极的惆怅。此诗与王维《鹿柴》「空山不见人」同为辋川集名篇，一写「返景入深林」的鹿柴，一写「上下华子冈」的华子冈；一写幽静，一写惆怅。两诗对读，可见王维辋川集的两面。对于今日读者，此诗是理解王维写景诗的窗口，也是唐诗写华子冈的经典——那何极的惆怅，穿越千年，仍在诉说着不穷的飞鸟。此诗虽仅二十字，然以飞鸟、连山写秋色，以上下、惆怅写登临，景中含情，情因景生，正是王维山水诗「以简驭繁」的本领，与《鹿柴》《竹里馆》同为其辋川绝句之精品。

Prosody

Form Five-character quatrain (wujue)诗·五言绝句

Rhyme Two couplets, oblique-rhymed: the second line of each couplet closes on the entering-tone words 'se' (colour) and 'ji' (limit), giving a thin, open cadence.五绝，押「色」「极」韵（仄声，入声通押），音节空灵

Tone pattern A five-character quatrain of four lines with oblique rhymes; the uneven, unhurried close suits an airy subject.此诗为五言绝句，押仄声韵，音节空灵，正合写景的空灵。

Reading note Four lines of five characters - 'Birds wing away without end... how can the sorrow find an end?' - rhyming on oblique entering-tone sounds (color, limit), which gives the poem its hollow, resonant finish. The two stanzas roughly follow the pattern of scene first, feeling second, and the pauses fall before and after the mountain subject. Read the opening couplet with an unhurried, empty-toned delivery and let the final line trail off, so that the sorrow seems to outlast the verse. Wang Wei's quatrains are famous for this 'clear and ethereal' effect, and this one is among the purest examples: twenty characters, no ornament, an ending that refuses to close.此诗为五言绝句，四句——「飞鸟去不穷，连山复秋色。上下华子冈，惆怅情何极」，押仄声韵（色、极），音节空灵。全诗以感慨写写景：前二句写不穷的飞鸟（飞鸟去不穷、连山复秋色），后二句写何极的惆怅（上下华子冈、惆怅情何极）。四句短章，前写秋色，后写惆怅，以「惆怅情何极」写尽何极的惆怅，正见王维「清幽」的本色。诵读此诗，宜以空灵的语调读「飞鸟去不穷」的秋色，以悠远的语调读「惆怅情何极」的惆怅，结句要读得空灵而有余韵，方能传达出王维的清幽空灵。王维绝句以「清幽」著称，此诗正是其写景诗的典范。此诗虽为二十字小诗，然「飞鸟去不穷」写开，「惆怅情何极」收合，起承转合，音节空灵，正合辋川绝句之致。

Line by line

飞鸟去不穷，连山复秋色

Flying birds wing away without end, and ridge on ridge takes up autumn colour again.

飞鸟去不穷，连山复秋色。

Flying birds, gone beyond counting; range on range of hills, once more in autumn color.

此二句是全诗写秋色的核心，以飞鸟去不穷写去不穷，以连山复秋色写复秋色，写尽不穷的飞鸟，是千古名句。「飞鸟去不穷」写飞鸟去不穷——那「飞鸟」写飞鸟，「去不穷」写去不穷，写尽不穷的飞鸟；「连山复秋色」写连山复秋色——那「连山」写连山，「复秋色」写复秋色，写尽连山的秋色。这句的深意在于：它以「飞鸟去不穷」的去不穷与「连山复秋色」的复秋色，写尽不穷的飞鸟——飞鸟去不穷，那「飞鸟去不穷」写尽不穷的飞鸟——飞鸟去不穷，正是飞鸟不断的写照，那「去不穷」写尽不穷的飞鸟；连山复秋色，那「连山复秋色」写尽连山的秋色——连山复秋色，正是连山秋色的写照，那「复秋色」写尽不穷的飞鸟；那「飞鸟去不穷」写尽不穷的飞鸟，那「连山复秋色」写尽连山的秋色，一写飞鸟，一写连山，写尽不穷的飞鸟——飞鸟不穷而连山秋色，正是秋日的写照；此二句以飞鸟、连山写尽不穷的飞鸟，也为下文的惆怅作铺垫，也让此二句成为全诗写秋色的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「飞鸟飞去无穷无尽，连绵的山峦又是秋色」，则失其清幽；唯以「飞鸟去不穷」写去不穷、「连山复秋色」写复秋色，写尽不穷的飞鸟，也让此二句成为全诗写秋色的核心。

The ridge. Flying birds, gone beyond counting; range on range of hills, once more in autumn color. The endless birds and the endless autumn-colored hills are Wang Wei's emptiness. To have described the autumn hills would be scenery; the flying-birds-gone-beyond-counting against the range-on-range-of-hills-once-more-in-autumn-color is the scenery.

上下华子冈，惆怅情何极

Up and down Huazigang, how can the sorrow find an end?

上下华子冈，惆怅情何极。

Up and down the Huazi Ridge—how boundless this melancholy!

此二句是全诗写惆怅的核心，以上下华子冈写华子冈，以惆怅情何极写情何极，写尽何极的惆怅，是千古名句。「上下华子冈」写上下华子冈——那「上下」写上下，「华子冈」写华子冈，写尽上下的华子冈；「惆怅情何极」写惆怅情何极——那「惆怅情」写惆怅情，「何极」写何极，写尽何极的惆怅。这句的深意在于：它以「上下华子冈」的华子冈与「惆怅情何极」的情何极，写尽何极的惆怅——上下华子冈，那「上下华子冈」写尽上下的华子冈——上下华子冈，正是上下登冈的写照，那「华子冈」写尽何极的惆怅；惆怅情何极，那「惆怅情何极」写尽何极的惆怅——惆怅情何极，正是情之无尽的写照，那「何极」写尽何极的惆怅；那「上下华子冈」写尽上下的华子冈，那「惆怅情何极」写尽何极的惆怅，一写上下，一写惆怅，写尽何极的惆怅——上下登冈而情之无尽，正是写景的写照；此二句以上下、惆怅写尽何极的惆怅，也让此二句成为全诗写惆怅的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「上下华子冈，惆怅之情哪里才是尽头」，则失其空灵；唯以「上下华子冈」写华子冈、「惆怅情何极」写情何极，写尽何极的惆怅，也让此二句成为全诗写惆怅的核心。

The melancholy. Up and down the Huazi Ridge—how boundless this melancholy! The walking up and down and the boundless melancholy are the mood. To have said he walked the ridge in sorrow would be a statement; the up-and-down-the-Huazi-Ridge against the boundless-melancholy question is the statement.

Study

Word focus

穷 'Qiong' (end, limit). Same character as in the negative 'bu qiong,' 'without end'; here it means the birds' flight has no finishing point, and its plainness is what lets the line carry so much. 「飞鸟去不穷」之「穷」字是写秋色关键词，一个「穷」字写尽不穷的飞鸟。穷者，穷尽、尽头也。王维以「飞鸟去不穷」写秋色，这个「穷」字至少有双重意味：其一，写鸟之不穷——那「飞鸟去不穷」写飞鸟去不穷，那「穷」字写尽不穷的飞鸟——不穷，正是没有穷尽的写照，那「穷」字写尽不穷的飞鸟；其二，写景之悠——那「穷」字更是写悠——穷，正见秋色无尽的悠远，那「穷」字写尽王维的清幽。以「穷」字写秋色，正是王维写写景的枢纽——若换作「尽」「断」等字，则或失其与「飞鸟去」「不穷」的配合，或失其写穷的意味；唯「穷」字，以飞鸟去不穷写尽飞鸟之不穷与秋色之无尽，与「连山复秋色」的秋色相合，写尽不穷的飞鸟，也让「飞鸟去不穷」成为全诗写秋色的名句。

极 'Ji' (extreme, limit). In 'qing he ji' it asks how the sorrow can reach its limit, so the poet's grief is presented as boundless rather than as a mood that passes. 「惆怅情何极」之「极」字是写惆怅关键词，一个「极」字写尽何极的惆怅。极者，穷尽、极点也。王维以「惆怅情何极」写惆怅，这个「极」字至少有双重意味：其一，写情之何极——那「惆怅情何极」写惆怅情何极，那「极」字写尽何极的惆怅——何极，正是何处为极的写照，那「极」字写尽何极的惆怅；其二，写愁之深——那「极」字更是写深——极，正见愁情无尽的深重，那「极」字写尽王维的清幽。以「极」字写惆怅，正是王维写写景的枢纽——若换作「尽」「涯」等字，则或失其与「惆怅情」「何极」的配合，或失其写极的意味；唯「极」字，以惆怅情何极写尽情之无尽与愁之深重，与「上下华子冈」的华子冈相合，写尽何极的惆怅，也让「惆怅情何极」成为全诗写惆怅的名句。

华子冈