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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

归雁

The Returning Goose

钱起

Qian Qi

咏物object song 羁旅travel 清怨melancholy

潇湘何事等闲回，水碧沙明两岸苔。
二十五弦弹夜月，不胜清怨却飞来。

O wild goose, why leave Xiao and Xiang so lightly?
The waters are blue, the sands bright, moss on both banks.
A twenty-five-stringed zither plucked beneath the night moon,
Unable to bear its pure lament, you have flown back.

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Meaning

The poem asks a returning wild goose why it fled the lovely south, and answers with a fanciful tale of a goddess's zither—a surface song about geese that hides the poet's own restless, homeless heart.

大雁啊，潇湘之地有什么不好，你为何轻易就飞回北方？那里水色碧绿、沙滩明净，两岸还长着青苔。想必是湘水女神在月夜下弹奏二十五弦的瑟，那清冷幽怨的乐声实在难以承受，你才飞回来的吧。

Appreciation

The poem is built as a question and answer: the first two lines ask, the last two answer. The answer is wholly unexpected—not climate or food, but an unbearable piece of music. Turning the goddess of the Xiang river's zither-playing into the goose's reason for flight makes a nature poem into a mythic vignette of wild imagination. Beneath the object lies the poet: Qian Qi, long a guest in Chang'an, speaks his own unplaced homesickness through the bird.

【白话串讲】 “潇湘何事等闲回，水碧沙明两岸苔”——钱起问大雁：潇湘那么美，你为什么要飞回来？“二十五弦弹夜月，不胜清怨却飞来”——他答：湘灵在月下弹二十五弦琴，琴声太哀怨，我受不了才飞回来。【意象与手法】全诗以问答体结构：前两句设问，后两句自答。妙在答案完全出人意料——不从气候、食物这些实际原因着眼，偏说是因为受不了一段音乐。以虚幻缥缈的湘灵鼓瑟为归雁作解，把咏物诗写成了神话小品，想象奇绝。【情感与主旨】表面咏雁，实则寄托。钱起是吴兴人，长期客居长安，“不胜清怨”四字，说的是雁，也是诗人自己——那份无处安放的乡愁与孤寂，正如那听不得的瑟声。以雁自况，含蓄不露。【名句点睛】 “二十五弦弹夜月，不胜清怨却飞来”——把一个自然现象归因于一段音乐，理不通而情通，是唐人绝句中最富想象力的答问之一。

Background

Qian Qi was the foremost of the 'Ten Talents of the Dali Reign,' a man of Wuxing (present-day Huzhou, Zhejiang) who wandered the capitals for years. The poem uses a northbound goose to vent his exile's longing. Xiao and Xiang (in present-day Hunan) were the geese's wintering grounds, with the old saying they stop at Hengyang; the poet reverses expectation, asking not why the goose went south but why it returns north. Legend says Qian once heard the lines 'When the song ends, none is seen; a few green peaks stand on the river' and used them to top the exam—the Xiang goddess's zither became a recurring image in his verse.

钱起，字仲文，吴兴（今浙江湖州）人，大历间诗人，「大历十才子」之首，官至考功郎中，世称钱考功。其诗清丽闲雅，尤擅省试诗与咏物小诗。此诗借北归之雁抒写羁旅之思，作年不详，当在其长期宦游京洛、远离乡关之时。潇湘（今湖南一带）为大雁南迁越冬之地，古有「雁至衡阳而止」之说，衡阳回雁峰即因此而名；诗人偏反其道设问，不问雁为何南去，而问雁为何北回，构思即已出奇。相传钱起早年赴试途中夜宿驿舍，梦闻人吟「曲终人不见，江上数峰青」，后以此二句殿《省试湘灵鼓瑟》而登第，湘灵鼓瑟遂成其诗中反复出现的意象，本诗「二十五弦弹夜月」正由此化出。以雁自况、以湘灵之怨写乡关之愁，是大历诗人「清而远、婉而深」诗风的代表，亦可见钱起将典故、神话与即景咏物融为一体的巧思——表面咏雁，实则寄托，清空之中自有沉郁。钱起以湘灵鼓瑟之典化入归雁，以雁自况写羁旅，清空之中自有沉郁，是大历诗人清而远、婉而深诗风之代表，亦见其将神话即景融于一体之巧。

Art

The core art is the 'question — strange answer' structure. The first two lines lavish the beauty of Xiao and Xiang (blue water, bright sand, bank moss), building every reason the goose 'should not leave'; the last two suddenly spring a misty, unreal reason—it could not bear the goddess's zither. The real sets off the unreal, bright scene against pure lament, a great gap bridged naturally. Turning an unexplainable natural fact into poetry is the Tang masters' high craft in object-songs.

全诗艺术核心是「设问—奇答」的结构，二十八字写成一则神话小品。前两句「潇湘何事等闲回，水碧沙明两岸苔」极写潇湘之可留：水碧、沙明、岸苔，一幅澄明清净的南国图卷，把「不该走」的理由铺足，仿佛那里正是雁（也是诗人）该安居的乐土。后两句「二十五弦弹夜月，不胜清怨却飞来」却陡然翻出一个虚幻缥缈的理由——不是气候、不是食物，而是受不了一段月夜的瑟声。以实（美景）衬虚（神话），以美景反衬清怨，落差极大而衔接自然。将不可解的自然现象（雁何以北归）诗意化、神话化，正是唐人咏物的高妙处：不据物理，而据情趣。更妙在「不胜清怨」四字是全诗诗眼，说雁亦说人，咏物而寄托自见。章法上，前实后虚、前问后答，问答之间气脉贯通，清空如话而意味深长，是大历绝句「清远」一路的典范，亦启晚唐咏物「不即不离」之先声。前实后虚、前问后答，以实衬虚、以美景反衬清怨，把不可解之自然现象诗意化，章法清空如话而意味深长，为大历绝句清远之范。

Allusions

The 'twenty-five strings' uses the tale of the Xiang goddess playing the zither. 'Far Roaming' in the Chu Ci has 'let the Xiang goddess play the zither'; the 'Records of the Grand Historian' tells how the Supreme Emperor had the maiden Su play a fifty-string zither whose sound was too sad, and broke it into twenty-five strings. Here the legend of the goddess playing by moonlight explains the goose's northward flight, used with airy precision.

诗中「二十五弦」用湘灵鼓瑟之典，最为关键。《楚辞·远游》有「使湘灵鼓瑟兮，令海若舞冯夷」，湘灵即湘水女神；又《史记·封禅书》载太帝使素女鼓五十弦瑟，其声过悲，帝乃破其瑟为二十五弦，后遂以「二十五弦」代指瑟。此处以湘水女神月夜弹瑟的传说，解释归雁北飞之因，典故用得空灵而贴切——瑟声之「清怨」与雁之「却飞来」（受不了而北归）构成因果，把一段神话当作自然现象的注脚。此外「潇湘」既实指雁之越冬地，亦暗含舜南巡、二妃啼竹的湘水悲情传统，清怨二字正遥承其脉；「等闲」为唐人口语，意轻易、随便，用于设问口吻，亲切如与雁对话。诸多典实经诗人点化，皆化作轻灵的神话氛围，不见堆垛之迹，足见钱起「用典如不用」的化境，亦见大历诗风「丽而不浮、典而能化」的特质。二十五弦用湘灵鼓瑟之典，空灵如不用，清怨二字既是瑟声也是乡愁，说雁亦说人，寄托自见，用典之化境于此可见。

Commentary

Huang Shucan's 'Tang Poetry Annotated' says 'using the Xiang goddess's zither to portray the returning goose, the conception enters the marvelous.' Shen Deqian's 'Tang Poetry: Selected' calls it 'a novel conception, with clean and gentle phrasing.'

清人黄叔灿《唐诗笺注》评「借湘灵鼓瑟为归雁写照，构想入妙」；沈德潜《唐诗别裁》称其「设想新奇，措语清婉」。此诗历来被视为钱起七绝代表作，亦为唐人咏雁诗中的奇笔。与杜甫「孤雁不饮啄」之沉郁、杜牧「仙掌月明孤雁过」之清迥相较，钱起此诗独以「设问奇答、神话作解」见长，把咏物诗写成了一则楚辞式的梦幻小品。近人论大历诗，每谓其「气骨顿衰而韵致转深」，此诗正可证之：它不写家国之痛、不写身世之悲，只以清怨二字淡淡寄意，而宦游人的乡愁、孤寂尽在其中。尤其「不胜清怨」四字，说的是雁受不得瑟声，实则是诗人受不得久客——以物之「不胜」写人之「不堪」，通感与拟人熔于一炉。要之，此篇以二十八字融神话、即景、寄托为一，清空中有沉郁，诚大历绝句「清远深婉」的标本，对理解中唐咏物诗的转型极有助益。此篇与杜甫孤雁、杜牧孤雁并观，独以设问奇答、神话作解见长，清空中有沉郁，诚大历绝句清远深婉之标本。

Prosody

Form Seven-character quatrain (oblique-tone opening, first line rhyming)七言绝句（仄起首句入韵）

Rhyme Rhymes on the hui category of the tenth rhyme group: hui, tai, lai.押上平十灰韵：回、苔、来。灰韵清哀悠远，与月夜清怨的声情相称；三韵一脉平顺，末字「来」以平声收束，余韵如瑟声袅袅，宜曼声歌之而怨意自生。

Tone pattern The first line opens with a question, the last answers, the breath flowing between; 'A twenty-five-stringed zither plucked beneath the night moon' crowds oblique tones for a choppy music that suits the zither's cool sadness.首句「潇湘何事等闲回」仄起入韵，问调轻婉；次句「水碧沙明两岸苔」承以平声，景语疏淡；三句「二十五弦弹夜月」仄声字较密（二十五弦弹夜月皆仄声居要），音节顿挫，正合瑟声之清冷；末句「不胜清怨却飞来」平收而意尽，声转悠远。四句平仄交替、由问到答，与由实入虚、由景及神的章法相合，读来如闻月下冰弦，清空而有余哀。

Reading note Of twenty-eight characters, the first two lines are real scene, the last two unreal—half and half, with the weight on the unreal, a typical Tang quatrain that 'rides the real by the empty.'钱起此篇为大历绝句「清远深婉」一派的代表，其成功全在「设问—奇答」的章法与「以虚驭实」的结构：前两句写实景（水碧沙明），把潇湘之可留铺足；后两句写虚境（湘灵鼓瑟），以一段神话解释归雁北飞之因。虚实各半而重心在虚，把不可解的自然现象诗意化、神话化，正是唐人咏物「不即不离」的高妙处。尤其「二十五弦弹夜月，不胜清怨却飞来」以湘灵鼓瑟之典（本出《楚辞·远游》《史记·封禅书》）作解，用典空灵如不用，而「清怨」二字既是瑟声也是乡愁，说雁亦说人，寄托自见。与杜甫沉郁之孤雁、杜牧清迥之孤雁相较，钱起独以神话奇答见长，清空之中自有沉郁。要之，此二十八字融神话、即景、身世为一，咫尺见万里，诚中唐咏物诗由盛唐气象转向大历韵致的标本，对理解咏物诗「寄托于不经意」的手法极有助益，亦启晚唐「咏物不粘」之先声。

Line by line

潇湘何事等闲回，水碧沙明两岸苔。

Why, from Xiaoxiang, did you so lightly come back? The waters are green, the sands bright, with moss along both banks.

潇湘之地有什么不好，你为何这样轻易就飞回来了？那里水色碧绿、沙滩明净，两岸还长着青苔。

What was wrong with Xiaoxiang, that you came back so lightly? The waters are green, the sands bright, moss growing on both banks.

起联两句，一问一景，把「不该走」的理由铺足，是「设问—奇答」结构的第一半。首句「潇湘何事等闲回」劈头一问，「等闲」含轻微嗔怪——那么好的地方，你怎么说走就走？拟人化的口吻使人与雁如友朋对话，亲切而含情；更重要的是，不问「何以南去」而问「何以北回」，构思已出常格，把读者引入一个反常的悬念。次句「水碧沙明两岸苔」紧承，以三个明净的意象（碧水、明沙、岸苔）画出潇湘的澄澈可留，仿佛那是雁与诗人共同的乐土。「水碧沙明」用《诗经》「泾以渭浊」式的清浊对照遗意，写南国风物之洁；「两岸苔」添一份幽静生机。两句一问一答（自问自设景），景愈美而问愈奇，为后文「却飞来」的荒诞理由蓄满反差——正因潇湘如此可留，雁之北归才更需一个出人意表的解释，章法之密于此可见。

The opening couplet, one question and one scene, lays out all the reasons the swan 'should not have left', the first half of a 'question — strange answer' structure. 'Why, from Xiaoxiang, did you so lightly come back?' asks at once, the word 'lightly' carrying a gentle reproach: such a good place, and you just go? The personified tone makes man and bird converse like friends. The next line, 'the waters are green, the sands bright, with moss along both banks', follows with three bright images painting the purity of Xiaoxiang, as if it were a shared paradise of bird and poet. The fairer the scene, the stranger the return, and the more need for an astonishing explanation below.

二十五弦弹夜月，不胜清怨却飞来。

At night the twenty-five strings are played on the moonlit river; unable to bear the clear grief, you flew back.

想是湘水女神在月夜下弹奏二十五弦的瑟，那清冷幽怨的乐声实在受不了，你才飞了回来。

It must be that the river goddess plays her twenty-five strings in the moonlight; unable to endure the clear, sad music, you flew back.

后联是全诗落点，也是「奇答」的揭晓，把前面蓄积的悬念化作一段神话。「二十五弦弹夜月」由实入虚，引入湘灵鼓瑟的传说：月夜、瑟声、湘水女神，意境空灵缥缈，与前联的实写碧水明沙形成虚实对照。末句「不胜清怨却飞来」以「不胜」（禁受不住）收束，把无形的乐声写出重量，也把归雁（实为诗人）敏感脆弱的心境和盘托出——雁受不得瑟声之怨，正如人受不得久客之乡愁。「清怨」二字是全诗诗眼，既写瑟声之凄清幽怨，也写诗人羁旅的孤寂，说雁亦说人，咏物而寄托自见。一个「却」字呼应起句「等闲回」，把「轻易回来」重新解释为「被迫逃回」，因果翻转而趣味横生。清怨可听、可感、可「不胜」，通感与拟人熔于一炉，二十八字遂成一则楚辞式的梦幻小品，清空中有沉郁，诚大历绝句「清远深婉」的极致。

The closing couplet is the poem's landing, the 'strange answer' revealed, turning the gathered suspense into a myth. 'At night the twenty-five strings are played on the moonlit river' moves from the real to the imagined, bringing in the legend of the Xiang goddess playing her se: moonlight, harp, the river nymph, an ethereal mood set against the green waters and bright sands. 'Unable to bear the clear grief, you flew back' closes on 'unable to bear', giving the intangible music a weight, and laying bare the sensitive heart of the returning bird — that is, the poet himself: the bird cannot endure the harp's grief, as the man cannot endure the homesickness of long exile. The words 'clear grief' are the poem's eye, of the music and of the poet's loneliness, saying both bird and man. The word 'yet' answers 'lightly' at the start, turning 'lightly returned' into 'forced to flee'.

Study

Word focus

等闲 'Lightly' means carelessly, at random. Used here with a faint tease—such a fine place, and you leave just like that? The personifying tone makes goose and man speak like friends, intimate and feeling. 「潇湘何事等闲回」的「等闲」意为轻易、随便，是唐人口语。用在此处含轻微的嗔怪与亲昵——那么好的潇湘，你怎么说走就走、如此「等闲」？诗人不直说「何故北归」，而说「何事等闲回」，把质问化作友朋间带点娇嗔的埋怨，拟人化的口吻使人与雁的距离消弭，亲切而含情。虚词「等闲」举重若轻，以最淡的语气举起了最奇的悬念：它暗示潇湘本不该舍，从而反衬后文「却飞来」的被迫与无奈。若换「忽」「径」等字，便失其絮语般的温润。炼字之妙在俗中见巧，一个口语词把一首咏物诗写成了与雁的对话，既见大历诗风「清婉」的一面，也见钱起驱遣常语以摄神的手段，是为全诗「设问」结构的情韵枢纽。

不胜 'Unable to bear' means cannot endure. Three words give the formless music a weight, and lay bare the sensitive, fragile heart of the returning goose (in truth the poet). The lament can be heard, felt, and not borne—synesthesia and personification fused in one. 「不胜清怨却飞来」的「不胜」即禁受不住、承受不了，是全诗将无形写有形的关纽。清怨本是不可捉摸的乐声与情绪，诗人偏说雁「不胜」——把听觉的哀怨写出了重量与压力，仿佛瑟声如雪压枝、令人不堪其负。这一个「不胜」同时完成了三重转化：把音乐具象化（可承重）、把雁拟人化（有感知）、把诗人自己投影进去（羁旅之人亦「不胜」乡愁）。通感与拟人熔于一炉，遂使「清怨」二字既是湘灵瑟声，也是诗人久客的孤寂。虚词「不」与动词「胜」搭配，以否定式写极致，比「极怨」「深怨」更有张力——不是怨之深，而是「禁受不住」之溃，恰合大历诗「怨而不怒、深婉含蓄」的审美。一个「不胜」，举起了全诗最沉的情感重量，亦见钱起炼虚字以写心的深厚功力。

清怨 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 「不胜清怨」的「清怨」二字，是全诗的诗眼与情感总钮，既写湘灵瑟声的质地，也写诗人羁旅的心境。「清」言瑟声之凄清、澄冷，承楚辞湘水悲情之脉（二妃啼竹、屈原行吟皆清而哀）；「怨」言其幽怨、不尽，是雁（与诗人）受不得的情绪内核。二字连下，把一段神话音乐凝练为一种可感可「不胜」的情感氛围，说雁受不得瑟声之清怨，实则是诗人受不得久客之乡愁——以物之「不胜」写人之「不堪」，物我合一。尤为精妙者，「清怨」不取「悲怨」「哀怨」而取「清怨」，保留了大历诗「怨而能雅、哀而不伤」的节制，清空如月下瑟声，不堕凄厉。两个寻常字，举起了全诗的寄托之重，亦见钱起「清远深婉」诗风的核心密码，是咏物诗「不即不离、寄托自见」的典范用词。

归雁