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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

南垞

Nan Cha (the South Shoal)

王维

Wang Wei

辋川Wangchuan 写景Scenery writing

轻舟南垞去，北垞淼难即。
隔浦望人家，遥遥不相识。

A light boat goes south to Nan Cha;bei Cha is vast and hard to reach.
From the far bank I look toward the houses there — far, far off, and I do not know them.

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Meaning

The poet rows south toward the south shoal, and from the water he sees the other side: the northern shoal, wide water that cannot be crossed, and the houses on the far bank, distant and not known to him. The poem stays on that single situation — a boat going one way, a shore the eye can reach but the body cannot — and closes with the far houses that are not recognized. Nothing else happens; the whole of the poem is a distance being measured by looking.

轻舟南垞去，北垞淼难即。隔浦望人家，遥遥不相识。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] Two couplets, one movement each. The first is travel: a light boat going south, and the other shoal too wide to touch. The second is looking: houses across the water, far off, unfamiliar. [Structure] A five-character quatrain. The first couplet moves, the second stops; the poem's whole shape is a change from going to looking. [Imagery] The boat is light and the water is not — the two weights in the first couplet make the distance. In the second the only objects are the houses on the far bank and the fact of not knowing them, so a human detail is set at the end of a wide stretch of water. [Emotion] The feeling is an odd one, and the poem is honest about it: the far shore is not unattractive, it is simply other, and the poet names that as not knowing. There is no loneliness spoken and no longing, only the measured distance of a place one can see but not enter. This is the Wangchuan manner at its coolest — the poet present in the landscape but not in it.

【白话串讲】王维写《南垞》：“轻舟南垞去，北垞淼难即”——“隔浦望人家，遥遥不相识”——他写辋川的南垞——隔着水浦望人家，遥遥不相识。【意象与手法】此诗写山水，以遥望写山水，是王维的名篇。前二句写舟行：「轻舟南垞去，北垞淼难即」写轻舟南垞去、北垞淼难即——写尽南垞的舟行；后二句写遥望：「隔浦望人家，遥遥不相识」写隔浦望人家、遥遥不相识——写尽隔浦的遥望。全诗以遥望写山水，写尽南垞的舟行与隔浦的遥望，是王维的代表作。【情感与主旨】此诗写山水，以遥望写山水，是王维的名篇。此诗为王维《辋川集》之一，写泛舟南垞而遥望北垞的情景。南垞、北垞为辋川两处小洲，隔水相望。王维乘轻舟前往南垞，望北垞烟波浩渺、对岸人家遥遥不可及，正是山水画般的构图。此诗写舟行：轻舟南垞去，北垞淼难即——写轻舟南垞去、北垞淼难即，写尽南垞的舟行；隔浦望人家，遥遥不相识——写隔浦望人家、遥遥不相识，写尽隔浦的遥望。全诗以遥望写山水——那「北垞淼难即」写尽南垞的舟行，「遥遥不相识」写尽隔浦的遥望，写尽南垞的舟行与隔浦的遥望，是理解王维辋川诗的重要篇章。【名句点睛】常考「轻舟南垞去，北垞淼难即」写南垞的舟行；「隔浦望人家，遥遥不相识」写隔浦的遥望；以及全诗以遥望写山水、以白描写烟波的手法。

Background

Wang Wei (701-761) built his villa among the twenty spots of Wangchuan in Lantian, and the Wangchuan Collection of twenty quatrains was written with his friend Pei Di. Nan Cha and Bei Cha are two of the shoals and sandbars in the Wang river itself, lying opposite one another across the water. The poem records a boat crossing that could not quite be finished, or a crossing that was never begun. Wang Wei had left office in his later years and spent his time here, in a place where the boundary between garden and country was deliberately vague; the poem belongs to that habit of staying at the edge of a view.

此诗写山水，以遥望写山水，是王维的名篇。王维（701—761），字摩诘，号摩诘居士，蒲州（今山西永济）人，唐代诗人，与孟浩然并称「王孟」，为山水田园诗派代表，苏轼评其「诗中有画，画中有诗」。此诗为王维《辋川集》之一，写泛舟南垞而遥望北垞的情景。南垞、北垞为辋川两处小洲，隔水相望。王维乘轻舟前往南垞，望北垞烟波浩渺、对岸人家遥遥不可及，正是山水画般的构图。此诗写舟行：「轻舟南垞去，北垞淼难即」写轻舟南垞去、北垞淼难即——写尽南垞的舟行（轻舟南垞去，北垞淼难即）；「隔浦望人家，遥遥不相识」写隔浦望人家、遥遥不相识——写尽隔浦的遥望（隔浦望人家，遥遥不相识）。全诗以遥望写山水，写尽南垞的舟行与隔浦的遥望，是理解王维辋川诗的重要篇章。辋川别业在陕西蓝田县南的辋谷中，山水环绕，王维在此营建多处景点，南垞、北垞即其中的两处水中沙洲（垞），隔水相望。王维《辋川集》二十首分咏各景点，此首写泛舟南垞时遥望北垞的情景。唐人写景多重「隔」，此诗正是以「隔浦望人家」写可望不可即的疏离美。

Art

The poem's only device is to make distance the subject. In the first couplet the boat is light, which the water is not, and the north shoal is described by two things — vastness and the impossibility of arriving. In the second couplet the eye crosses what the boat cannot, and finds only houses that it does not know. The shift from qu (to go) to wang (to look) inside the first two lines is the whole structure of the poem in two characters: the movement turns into its opposite at the moment the far bank appears. Then the closing pair duplicates the distance — 'far, far off' (yao yao) repeats the sound of looking at something small and distant, and 'I do not know them' makes the remote houses into strangers. The effect is a scene with no intermediate stage: no ferry, no boatman, no road, only water and houses and a gaze.

此诗的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以白描写舟行。「轻舟南垞去」以白描写舟行——那「轻舟」「南垞去」写尽轻舟的南行，以白描写尽南垞的舟行。其二，以烟波写难即。「北垞淼难即」以烟波写难即——那「淼难即」写尽烟波的浩渺，以烟波写尽北垞的难即。其三，以遥望写人家。「隔浦望人家」以遥望写人家——那「隔浦望」写尽隔浦的遥望，以遥望写尽人间的烟火。其四，以疏离写意境。「遥遥不相识」以疏离写意境——那「遥遥不相识」写尽遥遥的疏离，以疏离写尽山水的意境。此外，此诗前二句写南垞的舟行，后二句写隔浦的遥望，由行及望，正是辋川诗「以望写景」的写法。四重手法，使此诗以遥望写山水，写尽南垞的舟行与隔浦的遥望，是王维的代表作。此诗还善于以「南垞去」「北垞难即」的对举写两岸的呼应——那「南垞去」写舟向南行，「北垞难即」写北垞难到，一南一北，正是辋川水景的对称构图。又善以「淼难即」与「遥遥不相识」的两重写远——先写水面之远（淼难即），再写人情之远（不相识），由物及人，层层写尽疏离。

Allusions

The poem sits in the tradition of the far water that cannot be reached, from the Book of Odes 'going upstream after him, he seems to stand mid-stream' — the image of a person or place visible and not obtainable, which the poem takes up without explaining. The light boat carries the memory of Li Bai's boat past a thousand mountains, and more broadly the boat of the water-outing at Wangchuan. 'Cha' is a place-name of this one estate, and the collection contains a separate poem for the north shoal, so the two are meant to be read as facing each other; reading them together gives the poem its frame. 'From the far bank' continues the Wangchuan habit of writing the other side of the water, as in the white stone beach on the same river.

此诗的用语深植于山水与辋川传统。「轻舟」令人想到「轻舟」写轻舟的意象——也令人想到「轻舟已过万重山」（李白）的意象；「南垞」「北垞」令人想到「垞」写小洲的意象——辋川别业的景点名，也令人想到「南垞北垞」的意象；「淼」令人想到「淼」写烟波浩渺的意象——也令人想到「烟波江上使人愁」（崔颢）的意象；「隔浦」令人想到「隔浦」写隔水的意象——也令人想到「隔浦人家」的意象；「遥遥」令人想到「遥遥」写遥远无期的意象——也令人想到「迢迢牵牛星」的意象。全诗化用轻舟、南垞、北垞、淼、隔浦、遥遥的意象，以遥望写山水，正是王维「冲淡」而善白描、承辋川传统写烟波之本领。「垞」为辋川地名，《辋川集》中另有《北垞》一首（「北垞湖水北，杂树映朱栏」），与此首《南垞》对望成篇；「隔浦」令人想到王维《白石滩》「清浅白石滩，绿蒲向堪把」的辋川水景意象，又令人想到汉乐府「江南可采莲」的浦上人家之意。又「淼难即」令人想到《诗经·秦风·蒹葭》「溯游从之，宛在水中央」的可望难即之意，正是以水之隔写心之远的传统；「遥遥不相识」令人想到陶渊明《饮酒》「山气日夕佳，飞鸟相与还」的相忘于自然之意，以不识写人与景的疏离之美。

Commentary

The quatrain is a standard of the Wangchuan Collection and one of the quietest poems in the Tang. Qing readers called it distant and empty; modern readers single out the last two characters as the poem's whole, because 'I do not know them' turns an expanse of water into a slight distance between people. It is usually read beside Lu Zhai and Mu Lan Chai for the same poet's restraint, and beside Liu Zongyuan's 'River Snow' for the same habit of putting a single figure at the far end of water. The poem's reputation rests on its refusal to explain itself: it says where the boat is and what is farther off, and leaves the reader to decide whether the poem is about a place or about the gap between two places.

此诗历来被推为王维辋川诗的名篇，也是《辋川集》二十首中写水景的代表。历代论者对此诗评价极高：清人评此诗「以遥望写山水，淡远空灵」；近人更指出「隔浦望人家，遥遥不相识」写隔浦的遥望，是此诗的名句。在诗歌史上，此诗的特殊价值在于：它以四句的绝句写尽南垞的舟行与隔浦的遥望——那轻舟，那南垞去，那北垞，那淼难即，那隔浦，那望人家，那遥遥，那不相识，都写尽了王维笔下的南垞；那「遥遥不相识」更以疏离写尽山水的意境。此诗与王维《辋川集》中《栾家濑》《白石滩》等同为水景名篇，又与《汉江临泛》（「江流天地外」）同为水景名篇，一写「山色有无中」的汉江（汉江临泛），一写「北垞淼难即」的南垞（南垞）；又与柳宗元「孤舟蓑笠翁」的山水传统一脉相承，可见中国诗写烟波的传统。对于今日读者，此诗是理解王维辋川诗的窗口，也是中国诗写遥望的经典——那遥遥的人家，穿越千年，仍在诉说着南垞的烟波。此诗与《辋川集》中的《北垞》一南一北、遥相呼应，可见王维以对偶结构经营组诗的用心。后世论者以此诗与王维《终南别业》（「行到水穷处，坐看云起时」）合观，可见其山水诗「空灵」一路的风格。今人读此诗，尤能体会「隔」与「望」的意境——那遥遥相望却不即不离的人家，正是王维诗中「可远观而不可亵玩」的山水画境。

Prosody

Form Poem — five-character quatrain (wu Yan jue ju)诗·五言绝句

Rhyme Five-character quatrain; rhymes on ji, shi (entering tone, the thirteenth 'Zhi' rhyme), one rhyme carried through五绝，押「即」「识」韵（入声十三职），一韵到底，音节空灵

Tone pattern Entering tone throughout, a short and checked sound; the poem's whole feeling of distance is carried by lines that stop in the throat rather than ring.此诗为五言绝句，押仄声韵（入声），一韵到底，音节空灵，正合水景的空灵。

Reading note Four lines of five characters, rhyming on ji and shi in the entering tone. Entering-tone rhymes end on a stopped consonant, so nothing in the poem sounds out; combined with the meaning of stopping and not knowing, this gives the verse the cool, closed quality the poem is praised for. There is no antithesis, no movement word in the second couplet, and the closing line ends on a verb of not recognizing. Read the first couplet with a forward tension and the last two lines flat, so the poem finishes as still as it began. This is Wang Wei's Wangchuan quatrain at its most impersonal.此诗为五言绝句，四句——「轻舟南垞去，北垞淼难即。隔浦望人家，遥遥不相识」，押入声「职」韵（即、识），一韵到底，音节空灵。全诗以遥望写山水：前二句写南垞的舟行（轻舟南垞去、北垞淼难即），后二句写隔浦的遥望（隔浦望人家、遥遥不相识）。四句短章，前写舟行，后写遥望，以「遥遥不相识」写尽隔浦的遥望，正见王维「冲淡」的本色。诵读此诗，宜以空灵的语调读「北垞淼难即」的烟波，以疏淡的语调读「遥遥不相识」的遥望，结句要读得空灵而有余韵，方能传达出王维的淡远空灵。王维绝句以「冲淡」著称，此诗正是其辋川绝句的典范。

Line by line

隔浦望人家，遥遥不相识

From the far bank I look toward the houses there — far, far off, and I do not know them

隔浦望人家，遥遥不相识。

Across the water I gaze at a dwelling, far off and unknown.

此二句是全诗写遥望的核心，以隔浦望人家写望人家，以遥遥不相识写不相识，写尽隔浦的遥望，是千古名句。「隔浦望人家」写隔浦望人家——那「隔浦」写隔浦，「望人家」写望人家，写尽隔浦的遥望；「遥遥不相识」写遥遥不相识——那「遥遥」写遥遥，「不相识」写不相识，写尽遥遥的疏离。这句的深意在于：它以「隔浦望人家」的望人家与「遥遥不相识」的不相识，写尽隔浦的遥望——隔浦望人家，那「隔浦望人家」写尽隔浦的遥望——隔浦望人家，正是隔水相望的写照，那「望人家」写尽人间的烟火；遥遥不相识，那「遥遥不相识」写尽遥遥的疏离——遥遥不相识，正是可望不可即的写照，那「不相识」写尽隔浦的遥望；那「隔浦望人家」写尽隔浦的遥望，那「遥遥不相识」写尽遥遥的疏离，一写望，一写不识，写尽隔浦的遥望——隔浦相望而遥遥不识，正是山水远人世的写照；此二句以望人家、不相识写尽隔浦的遥望，也让此二句成为全诗写遥望的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「对岸有人家，但很远」，则失其意境；唯以「隔浦望人家」写望人家、「遥遥不相识」写不相识，写尽隔浦的遥望，也让此二句成为全诗写遥望的核心。

The dwelling. Across the water I gaze at a dwelling, far off and unknown. The across-water-gaze-dwelling and the far-off-unknown are the opening. To have gazed across the water would be a gazing; the across-the-water-i-gaze-at-a-dwelling-far-off-and-unknown is the gazing.

轻舟南垞去，北垞淼难即

A light boat goes south to Nan Cha; Bei Cha is vast and hard to reach

轻舟南垞去，北垞淼难即。

My light boat heads for the southern shoal; the northern shoal stretches vast, hard to reach.

此二句是全诗写舟行的核心，以轻舟南垞去写南垞去，以北垞淼难即写淼难即，写尽南垞的舟行，是千古名句。「轻舟南垞去」写轻舟南垞去——那「轻舟」写轻舟，「南垞去」写南垞去，写尽轻舟的南行；「北垞淼难即」写北垞淼难即——那「北垞」写北垞，「淼难即」写淼难即，写尽北垞的难即。这句的深意在于：它以「轻舟南垞去」的南垞去与「北垞淼难即」的淼难即，写尽南垞的舟行——轻舟南垞去，那「轻舟南垞去」写尽轻舟的南行——轻舟南垞去，正是泛舟南垞的写照，那「南垞去」写尽南垞的舟行；北垞淼难即，那「北垞淼难即」写尽北垞的难即——北垞淼难即，正是烟波浩渺的写照，那「淼难即」写尽北垞的难即；那「轻舟南垞去」写尽轻舟的南行，那「北垞淼难即」写尽北垞的难即，一写南去，一写难即，写尽南垞的舟行——轻舟南去而北垞难即，正是舟行辋川的写照；此二句以南垞去、淼难即写尽南垞的舟行，也为下文的遥望作铺垫，也让此二句成为全诗写舟行的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「坐船去南垞，北垞太远去不了」，则失其画面；唯以「轻舟南垞去」写南垞去、「北垞淼难即」写淼难即，写尽南垞的舟行，也让此二句成为全诗写舟行的核心。

The boat. My light boat heads for the southern shoal; the northern shoal stretches vast, hard to reach. The light-boat-heads-southern-shoal and the northern-shoal-vast-hard-reach are the close. To have headed for the shoal would be a heading; the my-light-boat-heads-for-the-southern-shoal-the-northern-shoal-stretches-vast-hard-to-reach is the heading.

Study

Word focus

淼 In 'Bei Cha is vast and hard to reach,' miao describes water stretching far and wide. It is the poem's only measurement of the distance, and because it names the water rather than the far shore, it makes the gap something the boat feels; the following line then turns the same gap into a human one. 「北垞淼难即」之「淼」字是写烟波的关键词，一个「淼」字写尽烟波的浩渺。淼者，水势浩大也。王维以「北垞淼难即」写烟波，这个「淼」字至少有双重意味：其一，写水之淼——那「北垞淼难即」写北垞淼难即，那「淼」字写尽烟波的浩渺——北垞淼，正是烟波浩渺的写照，那「淼」字写尽北垞的难即；其二，写望之遥——那「淼」字更是写遥——淼，正见隔水的遥远，那「淼」字写尽隔浦的遥望。以「淼」字写烟波，正是王维写辋川的枢纽——若换作「远」「深」等字，则或失其与「北垞」「难即」的配合，或失其写淼的意味；唯「淼」字，以北垞淼难即写尽烟波的浩渺与隔水的遥远，与「遥遥不相识」的遥遥相合，写尽北垞的难即，也让「北垞淼难即」成为全诗写烟波的名句。

遥 In 'far, far off, and I do not know them,' yao is far, distant. Doubled, it does more than repeat: the repeated sound makes the eye travel across a long stretch, and the word finally carries the poem's turn from space to strangeness, since what is far is also, here, not known. 「遥遥不相识」之「遥」字是写疏离的关键词，一个「遥」字写尽遥遥的疏离。遥者，遥远、长远也。王维以「遥遥不相识」写疏离，这个「遥」字至少有双重意味：其一，写距之遥——那「遥遥不相识」写遥遥不相识，那「遥」字写尽相隔的遥远——遥遥不相识，正是可望不可即的写照，那「遥」字写尽隔浦的遥望；其二，写情之淡——那「遥」字更是写淡——遥，正见意境的疏离，那「遥」字写尽王维的冲淡。以「遥」字写疏离，正是王维写辋川的枢纽——若换作「远」「渺」等字，则或失其与「遥」「不相识」的配合，或失其写遥的意味；唯「遥」字，以遥遥不相识写尽相隔的遥远与意境的疏离，与「北垞淼难即」的淼难即相合，写尽隔浦的遥望，也让「遥遥不相识」成为全诗写疏离的名句。

南垞