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南北朝 Northern and Southern Dynasties · 诗 Poem

山中杂诗

Miscellaneous Poems from the Mountains

吴均

Wu Jun

山水/禅意landscape/chan mood 隐逸/田园reclusion/pastoral

山际见来烟，竹中窥落日。
鸟向檐上飞，云从窗里出。

At the mountain's edge I watch the mist draw near;
Through the bamboo I peep the sinking sun.
Birds fly toward the eaves above the roof;
Clouds drift out from within my window.

Listen

Meaning

At the mountain's edge I see the mist slowly drifting in; through the gaps in the bamboo I catch sight of the sun sinking in the west. Birds wing their way toward the eaves above the roof; cloud vapour actually drifts out from between the window lattice.

山边望去，见云雾缓缓飘来；从竹林缝隙里，窥见西沉的落日。鸟儿向着屋檐上飞去，云气竟从窗棂间飘散出来。

Appreciation

This poem uses pure description and yet holds the logic of painting. Its four lines are each a scene, like four film shots: 'At the mountain's edge I watch the mist draw near' is a vast distant view; 'Through the bamboo I peep the sinking sun' writes, with the word 'peep,' the delightful watching of the sun through bamboo gaps; 'Birds fly toward the eaves' is a lively near view; 'Clouds drift out from within my window' is the strangest—cloud vapour passes through the window, and the dweller lives among the clouds, the boundary between things and self dissolved. The verbs 'watch,' 'peep,' 'fly,' 'drift' fall in well-ordered variety, moving from far to near, from stillness to motion. Not a single feeling-word is set down, yet the ease of seclusion and the freedom beyond the world show themselves—what is called 'all scene-writing is feeling-writing.' In barely twenty characters its composition is like Wang Wei's Wang River sketches, opening the way for the Tang landscape quatrain.

【白话串讲】 “山际见来烟，竹中窥落日”——吴均写山中：山边看见炊烟，竹林里看落日。“鸟向檐上飞，云从窗里出”——鸟在檐上飞，云从窗里飘出。南朝人的山居，神仙一样。【意象与手法】此诗纯用白描而具画理。四句各为一景，如四个电影镜头【情感与主旨】吴均（469—520），南朝梁文学家，以小品山水与骈文著称，其诗清拔有古气，时称“吴均体” 【名句点睛】此诗常入“南朝山水小景”或“王维前驱”单元。考点一

Background

Wu Jun (469–520) was a Liang-Dynasty literatus known for small landscape pieces and parallel prose; his poems are clear and bracing with an ancient air, then called the 'Wu Jun style.' 'Miscellaneous Poems from the Mountains' is from a group written when he lived retired in the hills, this one sketching the sights right around his dwelling. Wu was of an upright, prickly nature; he once offended Emperor Wu of Liang by privately compiling the Spring and Autumn of Qi, and his official career stalled, so he loved the hills the more—the line 'Clouds drift out from within my window' exactly writes the pleasure of his secluded dwelling keeping company with cloud and mist. The whole piece is but twenty characters, yet with four shot-like cuts it builds the quiet, unworldly realm of the mountains, a representative of the Southern-Dynasty 'lofty form, clear breath' small scene, and it opened the way for Tang poets like Wang Wei's 'Bird-Singing Brook' and 'Deer Park.'

《山中杂诗》为南朝梁吴均所作，是写山居之景的小诗。吴均（469—520），字叔庠，吴兴故鄣人，南朝梁文学家。此诗：山际见来烟，竹中窥落日；鸟向檐上飞，云从窗里出。全诗以白描写山中幽景，是吴均山水小诗的名篇。

Art

This poem uses pure description and yet holds the logic of painting. The four lines are each a scene, like four camera frames: 'At the mountain's edge I watch the mist draw near' is a distant, vast view; 'Through the bamboo I peep the sinking sun' gives the word 'peep' a charming, intimate watching of the sun through bamboo; 'Birds fly toward the eaves' is a lively near view; and 'Clouds drift out from within my window' is the strangest stroke—cloud passes through the window, the man dwells among the clouds, the line between things and self dissolved. The verbs 'watch,' 'peep,' 'fly,' 'drift' are set in varied order, moving from far to near, from stillness to motion. Not one feeling-word is dropped, yet the ease of seclusion and the freedom beyond the world reveal themselves—what is called 'all scene-writing is feeling-writing.' In twenty characters its composition is like Wang Wei's Wang River sketches, opening the Tang landscape quatrain.

《山中杂诗》艺术上以白描的简洁与视角的巧妙见长。全诗四句，层层写来：首句写山际之烟——“山际见来烟”写山边见烟；次句写竹中之日——“竹中窥落日”写竹间窥日；三句写檐上之鸟——“鸟向檐上飞”写鸟飞檐上；末句写窗里之云——“云从窗里出”写云出窗中。全诗以白描写山居之景，视角巧妙，正是吴均山水小诗的笔法。

Allusions

The poem uses no obvious allusion, winning wholly by direct sight, exactly answering Zhong Rong's saying that 'the finest lines of old and new are mostly not patched from borrowings but come from direct seeking.' 'Clouds drift out from within my window' seems a strange fancy, yet it inherits the mountain-cloud imagery of Tao Qian's 'clouds leave the ravine without intent' and Xie Lingyun's 'white clouds embrace the lone stone,' turned into a scene lived in the dwelling, without a trace. And 'through the bamboo I peep the sinking sun' answers the reclusive motif of 'bamboo grove' and 'dying light' between the Jin and Song. Thus, though it holds no classical reference, its imagery is deep in the Wei-Jin reclusive tradition—a fine case of 'using no allusion yet dwelling naturally within the tradition.'

《山中杂诗》用典少而意象自明。“山际见来烟”写山边之烟；“竹中窥落日”写竹间落日；“云从窗里出”写出居之高，云自窗出。全诗以这些意象写山居之景，不用深典而意境幽远，正是吴均山水小诗清新自然的笔法。

Commentary

The Book of Liang says Wu Jun's 'style is clear and bracing with an ancient air; those who liked it imitated him and called it the Wu Jun style.' Though short, this poem is most praised by later ages. The Song poet Wang Anshi loved the line 'Clouds drift out from within my window'; the Ming scholar Hu Yinglin, in his Poetry Shell, says 'among Six-Dynasties small poems, Wu Jun and He Xun reach the peak.' The Qing scholar Wang Fuzhi comments: 'small and subtle, what Li Panlong could not speak.' Moderns hold this poem already has the shape of a Tang quatrain; Wang Zhaopeng and others, in their history of landscape poetry, often take it as a forerunner. In sum, twenty characters yet a whole realm appears—enough to call him a master of the small scene.

《山中杂诗》是吴均山水小诗的名篇，也是南朝山水诗中写山居之景的代表作。此诗写山居之景，向为论者称道。论者多赏其白描的简洁——“山际见来烟，竹中窥落日”写山烟落日，白描简洁；“云从窗里出”写云出窗中，更见山居之高。吴均诗文以“清拔有古气”著称，此诗正是其代表——以白描写山居，正是其清新自然的风格。

Prosody

Form Five-character quatrain (Southern-Dynasty mountain-sight short poem)五言绝句

Rhyme Ancient-style short piece, loose rhymes, not following the regulated-verse rules《山中杂诗》为五言绝句，四句，押平声韵。此诗用韵：日、出（质部），以仄声收韵，音节疏朗。

Tone pattern Southern-Dynasty small poem, level-oblique not yet strict五言绝句以音节疏朗、意境悠远见长。此诗写山居之景，音节疏朗而意境清幽。全诗以五言贯底，声调与山居幽景的内容相合，是南朝山水小诗中清新自然的一路。

Reading note Representative of the Wu Jun style, opening the Tang landscape quatrain.《山中杂诗》为南朝梁吴均所作，是写山居之景的小诗。此诗以“山际见来烟，竹中窥落日”写山烟落日，以“鸟向檐上飞，云从窗里出”写檐鸟窗云。以白描写山居之景，视角巧妙、意境清幽，正是吴均山水小诗的名篇。

Line by line

山际见来烟，竹中窥落日。

At the hill's edge I see mist drifting in; through the bamboos I peep at the setting sun.

山边见到飘来的烟霭，从竹林中窥见落日。

At the mountain's edge I see the mist arriving; through the bamboo I peep at the setting sun.

前二句写山烟落日，是全诗山居之景的起点。“山际见来烟”写山际之烟——“山际”写山边，“见来烟”写见到飘来的烟霭——山边见到来烟；“竹中窥落日”写竹中之日——“竹中”写竹林之中，“窥落日”写窥见落日——从竹林中窥见落日。两句写山烟落日：山际见来烟，竹中窥落日。以“山际见来烟”写山之烟霭，以“竹中窥落日”写竹间落日，一“见”一“窥”，正是吴均以白描与视角写山居之景的笔法——山烟竹日，幽景自见。

The mist. At the hill's edge I see mist drifting in; through the bamboos I peep at the setting sun. The hill's-edge-mist-drifting-in and the bamboos-peep-setting-sun are the opening. To have drifted in would be a drifting; the at-the-hill's-edge-i-see-mist-drifting-in-through-the-bamboos-i-peep-at-the-setting-sun is the drifting.

鸟向檐上飞，云从窗里出。

Birds fly up toward the eaves; clouds come drifting out of the window.

鸟向着屋檐上飞，云从窗户里飘出。

Birds fly toward the eaves; clouds issue from the window.

末二句写檐鸟窗云，是全诗山居之景的归结。“鸟向檐上飞”写檐上之鸟——“鸟向檐上飞”写鸟向着屋檐上飞——鸟飞檐上；“云从窗里出”写窗里之云——“云从窗里出”写云从窗户里飘出——云出窗中。两句写檐鸟窗云：鸟向檐上飞，云从窗里出。以“鸟向檐上飞”写山居之近人，以“云从窗里出”写山居之高，正是吴均写山居之景的归结——鸟近檐而飞，云自窗而出，正见山居之高幽。

The clouds. Birds fly up toward the eaves; clouds come drifting out of the window. The birds-fly-toward-eaves and the clouds-drift-out-window are the close. To have drifted out of the window would be a drifting; the birds-fly-up-toward-the-eaves-clouds-come-drifting-out-of-the-window is the drifting.

Study

Word focus

来烟 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “山际见来烟”之“来烟”，写飘来的烟霭，是全诗写山景的关键词。“来”写飘来，“烟”写烟霭——山边见到飘来的烟霭。这一词写山之烟：不是静止之烟，而是来烟；不是无风之霭，而是飘来之烟。以“来烟”写山景，正是吴均以白描写山居之景的笔法——烟自山外来，幽景自来。

窥 Originally 'to peep'; here it writes the sun seen through the bamboo gaps, personifying the bamboo and the poet with human demeanour, showing the leisure and playfulness of the poet sitting and viewing the scene. “竹中窥落日”之“窥”，写窥看，是全诗写视角巧妙的关键词。“窥”写从缝隙窥看——从竹林中窥见落日。这一词写看落日之态：不是正对之看，而是窥；不是开阔之望，而是竹间之窥。以“窥”写落日，正是吴均以巧妙视角写山居之景的笔法——竹林掩映，落日可窥。

檐上 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “鸟向檐上飞”之“檐上”，写屋檐之上，是全诗写山居近人的关键词。“檐”写屋檐，“上”写其上——鸟向着屋檐上飞。这一词写鸟飞之处：不是远处之飞，而是檐上；不是掠过之鸟，而是近人之飞。以“鸟向檐上飞”写鸟之近人，正是吴均写山居幽静、人鸟相安的笔法。

窗里出 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “云从窗里出”之“窗里出”，写云从窗户里飘出，是全诗写山居之高的关键词。“窗里”写窗中，“出”写出——云从窗户里飘出。这一词写云之出处：不是云在远处，而是窗里出；不是寻常之云，而是山高云入窗。以“云从窗里出”写山居之高，正是吴均写山居之景的归结——山高如此，云自窗出。