唐 Tang · 诗 Poem
春泛若耶溪
Spring Boating on the Ruoye Stream
幽意无断绝，此去随所偶。
晚风吹行舟，花路入溪口。
际夜转西壑，隔山望南斗。
潭烟飞溶溶，林月低向后。
生事且弥漫，愿为持竿叟。
The evening wind blows my gliding boat; a flowery path leads into the stream's mouth.
At nightfall I turn into the western gorge; across the hills I gaze at the Southern Dipper.
Mist above the pool drifts, broad and melting; the forest moon sinks low and falls behind.
Worldly affairs are as vague as drifting mist; I would be an old man with a fishing rod.
Meaning
The poem records a spring-night boat journey down the Ruoye Stream, drifting with the current through mist and moonlight. It ends by voicing the poet's wish to leave the world's confusions behind and live as a fishing hermit.
幽居的意兴从未断绝，此番出游任随所遇。晚风轻吹行舟，花间水路引入溪口。入夜转过西边山谷，隔山遥望南斗星。潭上水烟溶溶飞动，林间月色低低退后。世事且如烟雾弥漫，我愿做个持竿垂钓的老翁。
Appreciation
The poem follows a boat through a spring night on the Ruoye Stream, its time and space flowing with the craft from evening wind to nightfall in the western gorge. Images of the flowery path, pool mist, and forest moon paint an ethereal picture of the stream and hills, where motion and stillness intertwine. The phrase sinks low and falls behind captures the moon moving with the boat, a keen observation of nature. The closing couplet turns from scene to reclusion, naturally voicing a wish to withdraw from the world. Leisurely and intoxicated with the landscape, it is a fine example of the High-Tang official-recluse mood.
【白话串讲】 綦毋潜春夜泛舟若耶溪：“幽意无断绝，此去随所偶”——他随兴漂流。“晚风吹行舟，花路入溪口”——“潭烟飞溶溶，林月低向后”——“生事且弥漫，愿为持竿叟”——他愿做个钓鱼翁。 【意象与手法】 “花路”“潭烟”“林月”构成清幽的夜泛画卷，动静相生；“低向后”写月随舟移，体物精细。 【情感与主旨】 写泛舟的闲适与对山水的沉醉，末联直抒隐逸之志，是盛唐山水诗中“吏隐”之趣的代表。 【名句点睛】 “生事且弥漫，愿为持竿叟”——由溪山清景悟世事如烟，甘作钓叟，淡泊之思自然流出。
Background
Qi Wuqian was a High-Tang landscape poet who left office as a compiler and returned to seclusion. This poem describes a spring-night boating on the Ruoye Stream (in present-day Shaoxing, Zhejiang), written around the time of his retirement.
《春泛若耶溪》为唐代綦毋潜所作，是写春夜泛舟若耶溪、归隐之意的诗。綦毋潜（约692—约749），字孝通，虔州南康人，唐代诗人。此诗：幽意无断绝，此去随所偶。晚风吹行舟，花路入溪口。际夜转西壑，隔山望南斗。潭烟飞溶溶，林月低向后。生事且弥漫，愿为持竿叟。全诗写春夜泛舟若耶溪、归隐之意，是綦毋潜诗的名篇。
Art
A five-character ancient poem, it unfolds what the boat reveals in sequence, like drifting clouds and flowing water. The diction is finely wrought (as in sinks low and falls behind), and the closing couplet moves from scene to reason, naturally leading to the wish for reclusion.
《春泛若耶溪》艺术上以春夜溪景的描摹与归隐之意的幽远见长。全诗十句，层层写来：首写幽意此去——“幽意无断绝，此去随所偶”写幽意无断绝、此去随所偶；中写春夜溪景——“晚风吹行舟，花路入溪口”写晚风吹行舟、花路入溪口，“际夜转西壑，隔山望南斗”写际夜转西壑、隔山望南斗，“潭烟飞溶溶，林月低向后”写潭烟飞溶溶、林月低向后；末写归隐之意——“生事且弥漫，愿为持竿叟”写生事且弥漫、愿为持竿叟。全诗以春夜溪景写归隐之意，正是綦毋潜诗幽远的笔法。
Allusions
The old man with a fishing rod uses the tale of Yan Ziling's fishing perch, a symbol of retirement from office. The Southern Dipper is the Dipper constellation, marking direction. The Ruoye Stream is a famous stream in the Yue region, rich in reclusive associations.
《春泛若耶溪》用典在“若耶溪”“南斗”“持竿叟”。“若耶溪”写若耶溪（越地溪，西施浣纱处）；“南斗”写南斗星（斗宿）；“持竿叟”用严光垂钓之典写钓叟。全诗以这些意象写春泛若耶溪、归隐之意，用典自然而幽远自见，正是綦毋潜诗的笔法。
Commentary
The Tang Poetry Selection calls it clear, circling, deep, and steady. The Heyue Yingling Ji includes Qi Wuqian's poems and praises his pure landscape voice.
《春泛若耶溪》是綦毋潜诗的名篇，也是盛唐山水诗中写泛舟归隐的代表作。此诗写春夜泛舟若耶溪、归隐之意，向为论者称道。论者多赏其春夜溪景的描摹与归隐之意的幽远——“幽意无断绝，此去随所偶”写幽意无断绝、此去随所偶，幽远之极；“晚风吹行舟，花路入溪口”写晚风吹行舟、花路入溪口，更见其幽；“潭烟飞溶溶，林月低向后”写潭烟飞溶溶、林月低向后，尤见其静；“生事且弥漫，愿为持竿叟”用持竿叟之典写愿为钓叟，尤见其意。綦毋潜与王维交游，其诗以幽远著称，此诗正是其代表——以春夜溪景写归隐之意，正是其诗风。
Prosody
Line by line
幽意无断绝，此去随所偶。
My secluded mood knows no break; this going, I follow whatever it meets.
幽意无断绝，此去随所偶。
The secluded mood knows no ending; on this journey I go where chance leads.
首写幽意无断绝、此去随所偶，是全诗写泛舟之意的起点。“幽意无断绝”写幽意无断绝——“幽意无断绝”写幽雅之意绵绵不绝——幽意无断绝；“此去随所偶”写此去随所偶——“此去随所偶”写此行随遇而安——此去随所偶。二句写幽意无断绝、此去随所偶：幽意无断绝，此去随所偶。以“幽意无断绝”写幽意绵绵、无有断绝，以“此去随所偶”写此去随缘、任其所之，正是綦毋潜诗写泛舟之意的起点——幽意绵绵，随遇而泛。
The opening writes the secluded mood knows no break; this going, I follow whatever it meets, the starting point of the whole's writing the boating mood. The secluded mood knows no break writes the lingering, unbroken sequestered feeling. This going, I follow whatever it meets writes adapting to circumstances. The two lines write the sequestered mood's continuity and the going's following chance, exactly Qiwu Qian's starting point of writing the boating - the lingering secluded mood, drifting wherever the moment leads.
晚风吹行舟，花路入溪口。际夜转西壑，隔山望南斗。
The evening wind blows my boat; the flowered path enters the creek's mouth. At night I turn to the western gorge; beyond the hills I gaze at the Southern Dipper.
晚风吹行舟，花路入溪口。际夜转西壑，隔山望南斗。
The evening wind blows the traveling boat; the flowered path leads into the creek's mouth. As night falls I turn into the western gorge; across the hills I gaze at the Southern Dipper.
中写晚风吹行舟、隔山望南斗，是全诗写春夜溪景的深化。“晚风吹行舟，花路入溪口”写晚风吹行舟、花路入溪口——“晚风吹行舟”写晚风吹动行舟，“花路入溪口”写花径入溪口——晚风吹舟，花路溪口；“际夜转西壑，隔山望南斗”用南斗之典写际夜转西壑、隔山望南斗——“际夜转西壑”写入夜转到西边山壑，“隔山望南斗”用南斗星之典写隔山遥望南斗——际夜西壑，隔山望南斗。四句写晚风吹行舟、隔山望南斗：晚风吹行舟，花路入溪口。际夜转西壑，隔山望南斗。以“晚风吹行舟”写晚风送舟、行舟缓缓，以“花路入溪口”写花径入溪、幽意随舟，以“际夜转西壑”写入夜转壑、舟行西向，以“隔山望南斗”用南斗之典写隔山望斗、夜行天象，正是綦毋潜诗写春夜溪景的深化——晚风花路，夜壑南斗。
The middle writes the evening wind blows my boat; beyond the hills I gaze at the Southern Dipper, the deepening of the whole's writing the spring night creek. The evening wind blows my boat, the flowered path enters the creek's mouth writes the evening wind moving the boat and the flowered path at the creek. At night I turn to the western gorge, beyond the hills I gaze at the Southern Dipper uses the Southern Dipper allusion. The four lines write the evening wind's slow boat, the flowered path entering the creek, the night's turning to the western gorge, and the Southern Dipper seen across the hills, exactly the deepening of the spring night creek scene - evening wind and flowered path, night gorge and Southern Dipper.
潭烟飞溶溶，林月低向后。生事且弥漫，愿为持竿叟。
The pool's mist drifts, soft and floating; the forest moon sinks low behind. Let worldly affairs be vague as vapor; I would be the old man with a fishing rod.
潭烟飞溶溶，林月低向后。生事且弥漫，愿为持竿叟。
The mist above the pool drifts in soft folds; the moon through the trees sinks low behind. Let life's affairs be veiled in mist; I would be the old fisherman with his rod.
末写潭烟飞溶溶、愿为持竿叟，是全诗写归隐之意的归结。“潭烟飞溶溶，林月低向后”写潭烟飞溶溶、林月低向后——“潭烟飞溶溶”写潭上烟雾溶溶飘飞，“林月低向后”写林间月色低低后移——潭烟溶溶，林月低后；“生事且弥漫，愿为持竿叟”用持竿叟之典写生事且弥漫、愿为持竿叟——“生事且弥漫”写人生世事渺茫弥漫，“愿为持竿叟”用严光垂钓之典写愿为垂钓老叟——生事弥漫，愿为钓叟。四句写潭烟飞溶溶、愿为持竿叟：潭烟飞溶溶，林月低向后。生事且弥漫，愿为持竿叟。以“潭烟飞溶溶”写潭烟溶溶、迷离飘飞，以“林月低向后”写林月低垂、舟行月后，以“生事且弥漫”写生事渺茫、弥漫无际，以“愿为持竿叟”用严光垂钓之典写愿为钓叟、归隐之意，正是綦毋潜诗写归隐之意的归结——潭烟林月，愿为钓叟。
The close writes the pool's mist drifts, soft and floating; I would be the old man with a fishing rod, the landing of the whole's writing reclusion. The pool's mist drifts, soft and floating writes the vapor over the pool; the forest moon sinks low behind writes the moon's low receding as the boat moves. Let worldly affairs be vague as vapor; I would be the old man with a fishing rod uses the allusion to Yan Guang fishing, writing the wish to be the angler. The four lines write the floating pool mist, the low forest moon, the vague worldly affairs, and the wish to be the angler, exactly the landing of the recluse will - pool mist and forest moon, the wish to be the fisherman.
Study
Word focus
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