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宋 Song · 诗 Poem

筇杖赠凌生

A Qiong Bamboo Staff for My Friend Master Ling

张方平

Zhang Fangping

山水Mountains and Waters 田园Fields and Gardens 送别Parting Gift 时序Seasonal Mood

山居知独处，一杖代儿曹。
试水溪沙浅，挑云岭路高。
访僧归有伴，采药远忘劳。
它日蓬莱会，应骑过海涛。

Living in the mountains, you know solitude well;
A single bamboo staff replaces your children's company.
You test the water, knowing the stream's sand is shallow;
You poke through clouds, climbing where the ridge road is high.
Visiting monks, you return with a companion;
Gathering herbs afar, you forget the toil.
If one day we meet at the isle of Penglai,
You shall surely ride it across the ocean waves.

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Meaning

This poem is a parting gift to a reclusive friend, Master Ling. It praises the simple mountain life where a single bamboo staff becomes a trusted companion—helping him cross streams, climb cloud-veiled peaks, visit monks, and gather herbs. The poet ends with a whimsical wish: on a future immortal reunion at Penglai, the staff will carry him across the sea.

你山居而独处，一根筇杖便代替了儿辈的陪伴。用它试水，知溪沙之浅；挑拨云气，上岭路之高。访僧归来有杖为伴，采药远行而忘其劳。将来若有蓬莱之会，你应当骑它越过海涛。

Appreciation

The poem traces a single bamboo staff through four layers: from the person (living alone), to its uses (testing water, poking clouds), to daily activities (visiting monks, gathering herbs), and finally to the immortal realm (Penglai, sea waves). What begins as a practical walking stick is transmuted into a vehicle of transcendence. The line 'a single staff replaces your children' humanizes the object with quiet tenderness, while the closing image of riding the staff over the ocean waves crowns the gift with a dazzling, affectionate fantasy.

【白话串讲】张方平送凌生一根竹杖：“山居知独处，一杖代儿曹”——一根杖代替儿孙。“试水溪沙浅，挑云岭路高”——“它日蓬莱会，应骑过海涛”——他写隐居的陪伴。【意象与手法】诗以筇杖为干线，由人（独处）而用（试水、挑云）而事（访僧、采药）而仙（蓬莱、海涛），层层推展，把一枝竹杖写得既有日用之实、又有游仙之奇，是咏物而及人的笔法。【情感与主旨】表达对凌生山居孤寂的体恤与对其清隐的赞许，以赠杖寄友，于物用中见交契，尾联更以骑杖过海的奇想写对其超然物外的期许。【名句点睛】「一杖代儿曹」以杖拟人，写尽山居之伴；「它日蓬莱会，应骑过海涛」以骑杖化仙收束，奇想中见交情之厚。

Background

Zhang Fangping, a Northern Song statesman and poet, wrote this poem for a recluse named Ling, whose historical identity is uncertain but who evidently lived among mountains, visited monks, and practiced herbalism. In Song-dynasty literati culture, presenting a bamboo staff to a hermit friend was a refined gesture: the staff was not a rarity but a symbol of support, companionship, and far-ranging freedom. Zhang's poem, written late in life, reflects his taste for friendships with recluses and Daoist adepts. The phrase 'replaces your children' hints that Ling's sons were absent, making the gift a warm substitute for family companionship—an act of quiet human solicitude.

此诗为张方平赠友人凌生之作。凌生其人难确考，观诗中「山居」「访僧」「采药」「蓬莱会」诸语，当是一位隐居山野、习静好道的士人，与张方平有方外之契，非寻常世俗交游。筇杖者，邛州（蜀地）所产筇竹之杖，坚劲可为扶携，自来为隐逸、游仙之符，晋左思《蜀都赋》已称「邛杖传节」，唐人亦多以筇杖入诗，是其来有自。北宋士大夫赠杖于隐友，是「以物写交」的雅事——杖非珍玩，而象征相扶、相伴与超远，一杖之赠，寓交情之厚与相期之远。张方平（1007—1091）集中与方外、隐者酬唱颇多（如赠青城李炼师），此诗即其一，可见其晚岁交游之取向。背景中尤可注意者，「一杖代儿曹」暗点凌生山居而儿辈不在侧，赠杖即所以代偿家人之伴，是长者、友人对孤隐者的体贴，淡淡数语而人伦温度自见。尾联「蓬莱会」「过海涛」则把眼前赠杖引出仙期，时人好道，以骑杖化仙为风流话头，亦见宋人于日用之中寄游仙之想。此诗之背景，实即北宋儒臣与隐逸交游、以清境相尚的一帧——不求真隐，而赏其孤高与久视之趣，于升平士大夫的闲适交游中别具一种清气。

Art

A five-character regulated verse, the poem organizes its material by a 'person–use–deed–immortal' sequence, never letting go of the staff. The opening couplet establishes the human need; the second couplet dramatizes the staff's function with a brilliant 'poking clouds' (tiao yun) image; the third couplet shifts to daily rounds—visiting monks and gathering herbs—where the staff is a companion and banishes fatigue; the final couplet leaps from daily use to celestial fantasy. The parallelism is exact in the middle couplets, while the ending uses imagination to lift an ordinary object into the transcendental. This is Song dynasty 'writing the extraordinary through the ordinary' at its most skilled.

此诗为五言律诗，章法以「人—用—事—仙」四层写一杖，而始终不脱「杖」字，是宋人咏物「不即不离」的范例。首联「山居知独处，一杖代儿曹」由人起，点凌生孤隐而杖可代伴，立意在「伴」字，且以「知」字带出诗人对友人的体察，非泛写隐逸；颔联「试水溪沙浅，挑云岭路高」由人入用，写杖之扶行探险——试水知浅、挑云登高，一平一险、一低一高，把死物写活，尤「挑云」二字以不可能为可能，奇而不诞；颈联「访僧归有伴，采药远忘劳」由用入事，写杖在访僧采药中的相随之功，「有伴」「忘劳」皆回应首联之「独」与「代」，使章法首尾相扣；尾联「它日蓬莱会，应骑过海涛」由事入仙，以骑杖过海的奇想收束，把日用之杖升为仙骨。全诗前六句写其「用」，后二句写其「化」，咏物而不滞于物。张方平以直笔行五律，对仗工于三四联（试水对挑云、溪沙对岭路；访僧对采药、归有伴对远忘劳），而尾联以虚收实，奇而不诡。是其「以物写交、以常写奇」的拿手处，亦见宋人小制于常物中见交情、于日用中寓奇想的本领。

Allusions

Three cultural references are apt. First, the qiong staff itself: qiong bamboo from Qiongzhou, Shu, was famous since Han-Jin times—Zuo Si's 'Rhapsody on the Shu Capital' mentions it, and Tang poets often used it as a badge of reclusion. Second, 'children's company' (er cao) quietly signals that Ling's sons are absent, so the staff compensates for familial companionship—a common human touch rather than a recondite allusion. Third, Penglai, the Daoist isle of immortals, together with the image of riding a staff over the sea, evokes legends like Fei Changfang's bamboo-staff transformation into a dragon, yet here rendered with gentle, personal warmth rather than flamboyant magic.

诗中用典与意象约分三处，皆浅切而恰在关节，足见宋人赠物诗「用典不炫、以常语写交情」的节制。一、「筇杖」本身即典：筇竹产蜀之邛州，汉晋以来为杖中名品，左思《蜀都赋》「邛杖传节」、唐僧齐己「筇杖倚柴关」皆其例，诗人以之代指隐逸之符、方外之伴，一杖在手便有幽人气象。二、「代儿曹」用「儿曹」称子辈（如杜甫「尔曹」），暗点凌生山居而子弟不在，以杖代偿天伦之伴，语浅情深，非僻典而切题，最见赠物诗的人伦温度——不以珍玩炫人，而以相随之物补天伦之缺。三、「蓬莱会」「过海涛」用蓬莱仙山与骑杖化仙之想：蓬莱为海中三神山之一，唐人已有「骑杖」一类游仙想象（如《续仙传》费长房竹杖化龙渡水之属），诗人翻作「骑过海涛」以赴仙会，是把眼前实物引出仙期，由日用陡入游仙。又，「挑云」之「云」暗用「云路」「云岭」的登高意象，与「岭路高」呼应，写杖助登高如步云。诸典由实（筇杖）而常（蓬莱）、由物（代儿曹）而仙（骑过海涛），环环相扣而皆不僻，使一首短律兼具人情之厚与仙期之远，用典之妙正在其「切」而不在「奇」。

Commentary

This modest gift-poem is rarely anthologized but rewards close reading. It belongs to Zhang Fangping's broader cycle of poems with recluses, where the qiong staff repeatedly appears as a token of calm wandering. The poem exemplifies the Song aesthetic of 'not too close, not too distant' in yongwu poetry: it describes the staff without being confined to it, because the object remains tethered to the human subject—Ling's solitude, his friendships, his future immortal meeting. In contrast to Tao Yuanming's 'picking chrysanthemums by the east fence,' where reclusion is mind-forgetful and objectless, Zhang's reclusion is companionable and material; the staff becomes a friend, a substitute for sons, and finally a steed. The closing fantasy of riding the staff over the sea recalls Li Bai's white deer, but with a moderated, Song-dynasty restraint. The poem thus captures a distinct turn in the reclusion tradition: from the realm of the mind to the warmth of things.

张方平此赠杖小诗，前人选本论之者稀，然可与其《赠青城山威仪观李炼师》（「携筇几到老人村」）并观：彼以筇写道士访村之适，此以筇写隐友山居之伴，同用「筇」字而一道一隐，意象习惯一致，可见方平清游诗中「筇杖」一物之惯用。方回《瀛奎律髓》咏物类尚「不即不离」，此诗写杖而终始围绕凌生之人，正合「物为人设」之法，故虽咏物而不滞于物。与陶渊明《饮酒·结庐在人境》相较，陶诗以「采菊东篱下，悠然见南山」写隐者之适，张诗以「一杖代儿曹」「采药远忘劳」写隐者之伴与劳，皆写山居而体气各宜——陶近「忘」，张近「伴」；陶以无物写适，张以有物写情，正见隐逸诗自六朝至宋由「写心之远」转向「写物之亲」的流变。又，尾联「骑过海涛」的奇想，近李白「且放白鹿青崖间」的游仙豪气，而张诗出以温厚，不似李之纵肆，是宋调之敛。要之，此诗以常物写交情、以日用引出仙期，是宋人「以物赠友、以理入奇」的典型小制；其不事铺陈、不尚怪异，而人情与仙想俱足，宜与张氏方外诸作合观，方见其清游诗温厚质实的全貌，亦足补宋人赠物诗研究中常被忽略的一格。

Prosody

Form Pentasyllabic Regulated Verse (五言律诗)五言律诗

Rhyme Rime in the level-tone Haoyun (下平四豪): cao, gao, lao, tao; the first couplet's non-rhyming line ends in the qusheng 'chu'; all even-numbered lines rhyme in one category throughout.押平声豪韵（平水韵下平四豪）：曹、高、劳、涛；首句「处」在御韵不入韵，余四联偶数句（曹、高、劳、涛）同押豪韵，一韵到底。

Tone pattern This is the level-tone initial, first-line non-rhyming pattern. The first line 'shan ju zhi du chu' follows ping-ping-zhi-ze-ze, the second 'yi zhang dai er cao' is ze-ze-ze-ping-ping, the middle couplets match the standard alternating tonal pattern, and the adhesive and contrapuntal rules are properly observed.五言律诗平起首句不入韵体。首句「山居知独处」平平平仄仄（山平居平知平独仄处仄），次句「一杖代儿曹」仄仄仄平平，三四句「试水溪沙浅，挑云岭路高」仄仄平平仄、平平仄仄平，五六句「访僧归有伴，采药远忘劳」仄平平仄仄、仄仄仄平平，大体合五律平起式，粘对清楚。

Reading note The open, resonant rhyme of the Haoyun category gives the poem a broad, calm sonority, fitting for a gift to a friend—warm but with a hint of far-off longing. The regulated verse requires strict parallelism in the middle couplets: 'test water' / 'poke clouds,' 'stream sand' / 'ridge road,' 'shallow' / 'high' in the second couplet; 'visit monks' / 'gather herbs,' 'return with companion' / 'far and forget toil' in the third. The tonal scheme follows the standard level-tone pentasyllabic pattern, with no significant violations. The overall sound is temperate, sturdy, and quietly fantastic.此诗为五言律诗，八句四联，押平水韵下平四豪，一韵到底。豪韵开口呼、声音洪亮而微含悠远，宜写赠友、行旅、游仙那种温厚而带豪想的声情，与「一杖代儿曹」的体贴、「骑过海涛」的奇想相协。律诗严于颔颈二联对仗，张方平此作三四联皆工：「试水」对「挑云」、「溪沙浅」对「岭路高」，以动宾、名、形作对，工于写杖之用；「访僧」对「采药」、「归有伴」对「远忘劳」，以事、态作对，工于写杖之伴。两联一写行迹、一写人事，由实入虚，章法合律。平仄上首句不入韵而次句入，是五律平起常格，中二联粘对无误，惟「采药远忘劳」句因专名与虚字略破常格，亦无伤。整体声情温健奇逸，无唐人游仙之浮诞，而有宋调「以常写奇、以物写交」的质实，正宜于这类赠隐友的小制。

Line by line

山居知独处，一杖代儿曹。

You live in the mountains and truly know solitude; a single bamboo staff takes the place of your sons and grandsons.

你山居而独处，一根筇杖便代替了儿辈的陪伴。

Dwelling in the hills, I know your solitude; this one staff shall take the place of your sons.

此联为全诗起手，立意在「伴」字。上句「山居知独处」写凌生隐居山野、子弟不在侧的孤清，一个「知」字含诗人对其处境的体察，不是泛写隐逸，而是带同情的认知；下句「一杖代儿曹」翻出赠杖之由——儿辈既不在，便以这枝筇杖代偿天伦之伴。两句一虚一实、一孤一伴，章法上先抑后扬。张方平此处最见交情之厚：赠杖非炫物，而是「我知你独，故以杖伴你」的体贴，把一件寻常礼物写出人伦温度。一个「代」字是眼目，它把无情的竹杖写得能顶替儿曹的晨昏相随，拟人而不诡，切题而不浮。读此联当想山斋寂寂、孤影一枝之境，方知后文试水挑云、访僧采药种种，都从这「代伴」二字生发——杖之有用，原在有人之独。

The opening couplet establishes the poem's meaning on the word companion. The first, dwelling in the hills, I know your solitude, writes Ling Sheng's retirement in the wilds, his sons not at his side, the loneliness; the word know holds the poet's understanding of his lot, not a general writing of retirement but a sympathetic recognition. The second, this one staff shall take the place of your sons, turns out the reason for giving the staff - since the sons are not there, this qiong staff shall compensate for the family companionship. The two lines, one void one solid, one lonely one companion, the structure first depressing then raising. Fangping here most shows the depth of the friendship: giving the staff is not showing off an object, but the thoughtfulness of I know you are alone, so I give you the staff to keep you company, writing human warmth into an ordinary gift. The word take the place is the eye: it writes the feelingless bamboo staff as able to replace the sons' morning and evening attendance, personifying without strangeness, suiting the theme without floating. Reading this couplet, one should imagine the quiet mountain study, a lone shadow and a single staff, to know that the later testing water, shouldering clouds, visiting monks and gathering herbs all grow from this word companion - the staff's use lies originally in the man's solitude.

试水溪沙浅，挑云岭路高。

You test the water and find the stream's sand shallow; you poke the clouds as you climb the high mountain path.

用它试水，知溪沙之浅；挑拨云气，上岭路之高。

It tests the shallow stream sand; it shoulders the clouds on the high ridge road.

此联承首联写杖之用，把死物写活。上句「试水溪沙浅」写扶杖探溪，知沙浅可涉，是杖助步履于水涯；下句「挑云岭路高」写倚杖上岭，如挑云气于高路，是杖助登陟于山巅。两句对仗极工：试水对挑云（动宾），溪沙对岭路（名），浅对高（形），而一平一险、一低一高，把杖在日常行旅中的两副功用写尽。「挑云」二字尤奇——云本不可挑，而诗人以杖挑云写岭高入云，是宋人「以活法写静物」的手段，奇而不诞。张方平炼此联，使首联的「伴」落到可感的行迹：杖不只在斋中伴独，更在山溪岭路间伴行。一个「试」字写谨慎，「挑」字写轻健，皆见杖与人之相得。读此联想见溪沙岭云、杖影高低，便知宋人写物贵在「用中见性」。

This couplet follows the opening in writing the staff's use, bringing the dead object to life. The first, it tests the shallow stream sand, writes leaning on the staff to sound the stream, knowing the sand is shallow and fordable, the staff aiding the step at the water's edge. The second, it shoulders the clouds on the high ridge road, writes leaning on the staff to climb the ridge, as if shouldering the clouds on the high road, the staff aiding the ascent at the mountain top. The two lines are most parallel: tests the water paired with shoulders the clouds (verb-object), stream sand paired with ridge road (noun), shallow paired with high (adjective), and one level one steep, one low one high, exhausting the staff's two uses in the daily journey. The two words shoulders the clouds are especially strange - clouds cannot be shouldered, yet the poet uses the staff shouldering clouds to write the ridge high into the clouds, the Song way of writing a still object with a living method, strange without being absurd. Fangping's working of this couplet brings the opening's companion down to a perceptible trace: the staff not only keeps the solitude in the study, but accompanies the walk between mountain streams and ridge roads. The word tests writes caution, the word shoulders writes light vigor, both showing the accord of staff and man. Reading this, imagining stream sand and ridge clouds, the staff's shadow now high now low, one knows the Song way of writing objects prizes showing nature in use.

它日蓬莱会，应骑过海涛。

If one day we meet at the isle of Penglai, you should ride this staff across the ocean waves.

将来若有蓬莱仙会，你应当骑它越过海涛。

Another day, at the gathering on Penglai, you should ride it across the sea waves.

此联为全诗收束，由前面日用之杖陡然引出仙期，是「以常写奇」的落点。上句「它日蓬莱会」设一未来仙会之境，蓬莱海上神山，是宋人好道者惯用的风流话头；下句「应骑过海涛」以「骑」字把前文那枝筇杖直接化为渡海之骑，仿佛杖可成龙、人可乘风。两句一虚一实，把眼前赠物升为来日相期——你既以此杖伴我山居，它日仙会，便骑它过涛来会。张方平此处最见交情之厚与想象之奇：不泣别、不叹远，而以「骑杖过海」的豪想写来日之聚，温厚中带仙气。一个「应」字含笃定与期许，不是妄语而是友朋间的信诺。读此联方知前面试水挑云、访僧采药种种实用，都为此「骑过海涛」的奇想伏脉——日用是仙骨之渐，赠杖即赠以超远之约。

The closing turns from the solid gift to the immortal imagination, the poem's lightest stroke. The first, another day, at the gathering on Penglai, raises the Penglai immortal gathering; the second, you should ride it across the sea waves, turns the staff into a mount that crosses the sea. The word ride is most playful: the staff that in the morning tested the shallow stream and shouldered the ridge clouds, another day will be ridden across the sea waves - the ordinary object is suddenly given an immortal use. The beauty lies in that it does not say the staff is a magic weapon, but uses should ride to leave the future to the imagination, at once a blessing and a joke. The whole poem, from the opening's knowing your solitude and the staff's companionship, through the middle's testing water and shouldering clouds, closes on riding across the sea waves, the current complete, the aftertone light. A poem giving a staff, closing on the immortal ride, most shows Fangping's warmth to the recluse friend.

Study

Word focus

代 To replace, to substitute; the pivot word that personifies the staff as a companion for the hermit's solitude. 「一杖代儿曹」之「代」，替代、顶替也。此字是全诗眼目：凌生山居而儿辈不在，诗人以一枝筇杖「代」其儿曹之伴，把无情的竹杖写出有情的替身。其妙在「代」字所含的体贴——不是「赠」你一杖，而是「代」你所需，主语是友人的孤，宾语是杖的伴，关系正中孤隐者之下怀。若易以「作」「为」等字，则只说杖的功用，少却人伦温度；「代」字以常语写交情，最见宋人赠物诗「以物写交」的节制。张方平炼此一字，使首联由「独处」之抑转到「代伴」之扬，章法上定下全篇「伴」的主调。一字而兼拟人、兼体贴、兼立意，不可轻移。

挑 A key expression in this poem; read it with the Chinese note below. 「挑云岭路高」之「挑」，挑举、拨引也。此字写倚杖登岭，如以杖挑云气于高路，是宋人「以活法写静物」的奇笔。云本不可挑，而诗人偏说「挑云」，一则状岭高入云、杖助登高如步云路，二则赋予竹杖以轻盈主动之力，使死物生姿。其妙在以不可能为可能，奇而不诞——读者不以为怪，反觉岭路之高危、杖用之轻健。若易以「上」「入」等字，则只写登高，乏「挑」字的灵动；「挑」字以动作写山势与杖势，最见炼字之眼。张方平此联「试水」对「挑云」，一谨慎一轻健，而「挑」字尤醒，使颈联访僧采药之「伴」先得一种云路之高趣。一字之选，关乎颔联奇偶对之成色，亦见其写物不滞于实的本领。

骑 To ride; the poem's final turn, turning the staff into a mount for crossing the sea. 「应骑过海涛」之「骑」，跨乘坐也。此字在尾联把前文那枝筇杖骤然化为渡海之骑，仿佛竹杖成龙、人可乘之赴蓬莱。其妙在全诗的收束之力：前六句写杖之日用（代伴、试水、挑云、访僧、采药），至此「骑」字一出，日用之物顿成仙骨，章法由实入虚、由常入奇。一个「骑」字含笃定与豪想——不是「化」为龙那么诡，而是「骑」之而过，温厚中带游仙之气，近李白「且放白鹿」的纵，而敛以宋人之理。若易以「渡」「过」等字，则只写涉海，失却「杖即骑」的奇想；「骑」字以人杖合一写来日之约，最见交情之厚。读此字当想骑杖过涛、仙会可期之状，便知赠杖之礼原重在一个「超远相期」。