南涧中题

Meaning

Liu Zongyuan walks alone in a ravine on an autumn midday, and the poem moves from the scene to what the walk does to him. At first he arrives and seems to gain something, and going deeper he forgets his fatigue. But the ravine is full of its own echoes of exile — a caged bird crying in the valley, cold plants turning in the water — and these give him his own state back to him. He says plainly that since he left the capital his spirit has been adrift, that he cries for friends he cannot reach, that a lone life is easily moved to feeling, and that on a wrong road almost nothing fits. The close pushes the whole thing forward to someone who will come after and understand him, which is as close as he can come to being understood now.

秋气集南涧，独游亭午时。回风一萧瑟，林影久参差。始至若有得，稍深遂忘疲。羁禽响幽谷，寒藻舞沦漪。去国魂已游，怀人泪空垂。孤生易为感，失路少所宜。索寞竟何事，徘徊只自知。谁为后来者，当与此心期。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The poem records a walk and the feeling it leaves. The first half is the ravine: autumn air gathered, a wind that returns, shadow that will not settle, and then two small living things, a caged bird and cold plants turning in the water. The second half is the poet, and it is entirely plain statement. [Structure] A five-character ancient poem of sixteen lines. The first six lines are the walk; the last ten are the poet's account of himself, ending with a wish addressed to the future. [Imagery] The two images in the middle — the caged bird in the valley and the cold water plants dancing in the ripple — are the poet's own position given to the creatures: one is held where it would not be, the other is only caught in the movement of the water. They are placed exactly where the poem turns from looking to feeling. [Emotion] The emotion is what the poem says in the plainest lines, and there is no ornament on them: the soul already wandering, tears falling in vain, a lone life made to feel too readily, a wrong road that suits nothing. The close is the most moving part, because it hands the poet's own heart to a reader who has not yet been born.

【白话串讲】 柳宗元写《南涧中题》：“秋气集南涧，独游亭午时”——“回风一萧瑟，林影久参差”——“羁禽响幽谷，寒藻舞沦漪”——“去国魂已游，怀人泪空垂”——“孤生易为感，失路少所宜”——他独游南涧，写贬谪的孤独。 【意象与手法】 此诗写迁谪，以感怀写迁谪，是柳宗元的名篇。前段写独游：「秋气集南涧，独游亭午时。回风一萧瑟，林影久参差。始至若有得，稍深遂忘疲」写秋气集南涧、独游亭午时——写尽稍深遂忘的一疲；中段写所见：「羁禽响幽谷，寒藻舞沦漪。去国魂已游，怀人泪空垂」写羁禽响幽谷、寒藻舞沦漪——写尽怀人泪空的垂；后段写感怀：「孤生易为感，失路少所宜。索寞竟何事，徘徊只自知。谁为后来者，当与此心期」写孤生易为感、失路少所宜——写尽当与此心的一期。全诗以感怀写迁谪，写尽稍深遂忘的一疲与当与此心的一期，是柳宗元的代表作。 【情感与主旨】 此诗写迁谪，以感怀写迁谪，是柳宗元的名篇。此诗为柳宗元在永州之作，写其独游南涧的迁谪之感。柳宗元此诗写其秋日独游南涧。此诗写秋气集南涧，独游亭午时；回风一萧瑟，林影久参差；始至若有得，稍深遂忘疲；羁禽响幽谷，寒藻舞沦漪；去国魂已游，怀人泪空垂；孤生易为感，失路少所宜；索寞竟何事，徘徊只自知；谁为后来者，当与此心期。此诗写独游：秋气集南涧，独游亭午时——写秋气集南涧、独游亭午时，写尽独游亭午的一时；回风一萧瑟，林影久参差——写回风一萧瑟、林影久参差，写尽林影久的参差；始至若有得，稍深遂忘疲——写始至若有得、稍深遂忘疲，写尽稍深遂忘的一疲；羁禽响幽谷，寒藻舞沦漪——写羁禽响幽谷、寒藻舞沦漪，写尽寒藻舞沦的沦漪；去国魂已游，怀人泪空垂——写去国魂已游、怀人泪空垂，写尽怀人泪空的垂；孤生易为感，失路少所宜——写孤生易为感、失路少所宜，写尽失路少所的一宜；索寞竟何事，徘徊只自知——写索寞竟何事、徘徊只自知，写尽徘徊只知的一自；谁为后来者，当与此心期——写谁为后来者、当与此心期，写尽当与此心的一期。全诗以感怀写迁谪——那「稍深遂忘疲」写尽稍深遂忘的一疲，「当与此心期」写尽当与此心的一期，写尽稍深遂忘的一疲与当与此心的一期，是理解柳宗元迁谪诗的重要篇章。 【名句点睛】 常考「秋气集南涧，独游亭午时」写独游亭午的一时；「去国魂已游，怀人泪空垂」写怀人泪空的垂；以及全诗以感怀写迁谪、以白描+直抒写感怀的手法。

Allusions

The images are not from stories but from the inherited vocabulary of exile. 'Caged bird' comes to Chinese poetry through Tao Yuanming's caged bird longing for its old woods, and 'the wrong road' through the standard phrase for having taken the wrong path in life, which is what banishment means. The water-plants turning in the ripple return to the Book of Odes line about the river being clear and rippling. 'Having left the capital' is the phrase used for banishment from the court wherever it appears. 'A lone life is easily moved to feeling' and 'wandering back and forth' carry the inherited mood of the poet-banished-man, and 'heart's appointment' is the old word for a mutual understanding between two people. The poem therefore speaks with no erudition and yet sounds as though it knows every previous banished poet.

此诗的用语深植于迁谪与感怀传统。「秋气」令人想到「秋气」写秋气的意象——也令人想到「秋气萧森」的意象；「南涧」令人想到「南涧」写南涧的意象——也令人想到「南涧之滨」的意象；「独游」令人想到「独游」写独游的意象——也令人想到「独游山水间」的意象；「亭午」令人想到「亭午」写正午的意象——也令人想到「亭午时」的意象；「回风」令人想到「回风」写回旋风的意象——也令人想到「回风舞雪」的意象；「萧瑟」令人想到「萧瑟」写萧瑟的意象——也令人想到「秋风萧瑟天气凉」（曹丕）的意象；「参差」令人想到「参差」写参差的意象——也令人想到「参差荇菜」（《诗经》）的意象；「若有所得」令人想到「若有所得」写有得的意象——也令人想到「欣然有得」的意象；「忘疲」令人想到「忘疲」写忘疲的意象——也令人想到「乐而忘疲」的意象；「羁禽」令人想到「羁禽」写羁鸟的意象——也令人想到「羁鸟恋旧林」（陶渊明）的意象；「幽谷」令人想到「幽谷」写幽谷的意象——也令人想到「出自幽谷，迁于乔木」（《诗经》）的意象；「寒藻」令人想到「寒藻」写寒藻的意象——也令人想到「寒藻浮波」的意象；「沦漪」令人想到「沦漪」写水纹的意象——也令人想到「河水清且沦漪」（《诗经》）的意象；「去国」令人想到「去国」写离京的意象——也令人想到「去国怀乡」的意象；「魂已游」令人想到「魂已游」写魂游的意象——也令人想到「魂魄已逝」的意象；「怀人」令人想到「怀人」写怀人的意象——也令人想到「怀人泪空垂」的意象；「泪空垂」令人想到「泪空垂」写垂泪的意象——也令人想到「双泪垂」的意象；「孤生」令人想到「孤生」写孤生的意象——也令人想到「孤生易为感」的意象；「失路」令人想到「失路」写失路的意象——也令人想到「失路之人」（王勃）的意象；「索寞」令人想到「索寞」写索寞的意象——也令人想到「索寞无欢」的意象；「徘徊」令人想到「徘徊」写徘徊的意象——也令人想到「徘徊将何见」（阮籍）的意象；「后来者」令人想到「后来者」写后人的意象——也令人想到「后来居上」的意象；「心期」令人想到「心期」写心期的意象——也令人想到「心期共证」的意象。全诗化用秋气、南涧、独游、亭午、回风、萧瑟、参差、若有所得、忘疲、羁禽、幽谷、寒藻、沦漪、去国、魂已游、怀人、泪空垂、孤生、失路、索寞、徘徊、后来者、心期的意象，以感怀写迁谪，正是柳宗元「简淡」而善白描、承谢灵运山水传统写感怀之本领。

Commentary

The poem is one of Liu Zongyuan's most quoted exile pieces and the one Su Shi called wonderful in both sorrow and ease. Qing readers valued its plainness and its depth; modern readers point to the two middle images as the place where the landscape becomes the poet. It is usually read beside 'Ascending the Tower at Liuzhou,' where the same poet writes of the tower joining a waste of land and the sea and sky as one vast sorrow, and beside Xie Lingyun's 'Climbing the Pool Terrace' for the same habit of walking out and returning converted into feeling. What keeps the poem modern is its last line: the poet makes his solitude an offer to a stranger who has not yet been born, and that offer is what makes the loneliness bearable and the poem permanent.

此诗历来被推为柳宗元迁谪诗的名篇，也是唐诗写独游感怀的代表。历代论者对此诗评价极高：苏轼评此诗「柳仪曹诗忧中有乐，乐中有忧，绝妙古今」，清人更评此诗「以感怀写迁谪，简淡深婉」；近人指出「秋气集南涧，独游亭午时」写独游亭午的一时，是此诗的名句。在诗歌史上，此诗的特殊价值在于：它以五古写尽稍深遂忘的一疲与当与此心的一期——那秋气，那集南涧，那独游，那亭午时，那回风，那一萧瑟，那林影，那久参差，那始至，那若有得，那稍深，那遂忘疲，那羁禽，那响幽谷，那寒藻，那舞沦漪，那去国，那魂已游，那怀人，那泪空垂，那孤生，那易为感，那失路，那少所宜，那索寞，那竟何事，那徘徊，那只自知，那谁为，那后来者，那当与，那此心期，都写尽了柳宗元笔下的南涧中题；那「去国魂已游，怀人泪空垂」更以直抒写尽怀人泪空的垂。此诗与柳宗元《登柳州城楼寄漳汀封连四州》「城上高楼接大荒」同为迁谪名篇，一写「海天愁思正茫茫」的登柳州城楼，一写「索寞竟何事」的南涧中题；一写登楼，一写独游。两诗对读，可见柳宗元迁谪诗的两面。对于今日读者，此诗是理解柳宗元迁谪诗的窗口，也是唐诗写独游感怀的经典——那当与此心的一期，穿越千年，仍在诉说着稍深遂忘的一疲。

Prosody

Line by line

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