PoemBridge
Start learning
All poems

唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

送崔九

Seeing Off Cui Jiu

裴迪

Pei Di

归山深浅去，须尽丘壑美。
莫学武陵人，暂游桃源里。

Whether you return to the mountains deep or shallow,
you must take in all the beauty of hills and valleys.
Do not imitate the man of Wuling,
who loitered a while in the Peach Blossom Spring and left.
Listen

Meaning

Pei Di sends off his friend Cui Xingzong as he withdraws to the mountains, and his farewell takes the form of advice: go deep, not shallow, and drink your fill of the hills and valleys. Do not be like the fisherman of Wuling, who stumbled upon the Peach Blossom Spring, stayed a short while, and left — and could never find his way back. Under a friend's plainspoken urging lies Pei Di's conviction that reclusion must be a whole life, not a visit.

你此番归山，无论行至山的深处还是浅处，都应当把山丘沟壑的美景尽情饱览个够。切莫学那武陵渔人，只在桃花源里短暂游历一番便匆匆离去，辜负了山林之乐。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The poem is a farewell of twenty characters, and it spends all of them on urging. Where most parting poems dwell on sorrow, Pei Di tells his friend Cui Jiu: since you are going back to the mountains, go deep into them, whether the path runs far or near, and take in the whole beauty of hill and valley. Then he turns to a warning — do not be like the man of Wuling, who found the Peach Blossom Spring and treated it as a place for a brief stay. The farewell becomes a philosophy of reclusion: the peach grove is not an excursion; it is a place to live. [Structure] In four lines the poem completes a full arc: the first line names the occasion (returning to the mountains), the second urges him to its fullness, and the last two supply the counter-example that gives the urging its edge. Naming, urging, contrasting, awakening — the turn at 'do not imitate' is where the craft shows. [Imagery] There is almost no scenery — only 'hills and valleys,' the Wuling fisherman, and the Peach Blossom Spring — yet the argument is carried by images, so that advice never hardens into sermon. 'Deep or shallow' and 'for a brief stay' are the two poles between which the poem moves.

【白话串讲】 告别时最深的嘱咐，往往不是“别走”，而是“走远一点、看遍山河”。友人崔九归隐南山，裴迪以二十字相送，把“莫学武陵人、浅尝辄止”的劝诫藏进了这首小诗。 【意象与手法】 前两句扣“归山”点题，劝友人深入山林、遍赏丘壑；后两句借武陵人得桃源而复失之典，反衬劝其安心久居。以议论入诗而不失诗味。 【情感与主旨】 这首送别小诗以劝代别，于叮咛之中见出对归隐真意的省思，借武陵人典劝友人安心归隐，是盛唐五绝中以理趣见长的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“归山深浅去，须尽丘壑美”写劝归隐；“莫学武陵人，暂游桃源里”以武陵人典写劝诫。

Background

Pei Di (c. 716–?), a poet of the High Tang from Hedong, lived in reclusion with Wang Wei on the Wangchuan estate, and the two exchanged poems constantly — Wang Wei's famous Wangchuan Collection includes twenty poems written in tandem with Pei Di's. 'Cui Jiu' is Cui Xingzong, a cousin of Wang Wei who had also lived and written poems in the Wangchuan circle before leaving to take office. Seeing him off as he returned to the mountains, Pei Di urges him to make reclusion a dwelling rather than a visit. Only twenty-nine of Pei Di's poems survive, mostly on reclusion and landscape; this quatrain, included in the Three Hundred Tang Poems, is his most celebrated.

《送崔九》为盛唐诗人裴迪的一首五言绝句，收于《唐诗三百首》五言绝句类。裴迪（约716—？），关中河东人，早年与王维一同隐居终南山、辋川别业，二人过从甚密，唱和之作极多，王维《辋川集》二十首即多与裴迪同咏。此诗所送之「崔九」为崔兴宗，是王维的表弟，与王维、裴迪同在辋川一带有过隐居唱和的经历，后出山为官。诗中于送别之际，语重心长地叮嘱友人：既然归隐山林，便当尽情游赏丘壑之美，切莫像那位误入桃花源的武陵人一般，只作短暂的盘桓便匆匆离开。全诗以劝勉之辞出之，却暗含对归隐之真意的省思，在唐人送别诗中别具一格。裴迪存诗不多，《全唐诗》仅存二十九首，多写隐逸山水，风格清澹自然，与王维相近，此篇正是其隐逸情怀的代表作。诗人借送别之机，将一己对山林生活的理解化为对友人的嘱托，笔致轻灵而意味隽永，是唐代五绝中以议论入诗而仍具诗味的名篇。

Art

The poem's art lies in 'advising in place of grieving, dissolving principle into scene.' In only twenty characters it achieves a complete progression: naming the occasion, urging fullness, supplying a counter-example, and awakening the friend to its meaning. 'Deep or shallow' is remarkably elastic — it names the actual distances of mountain travel while quietly urging him not to stop at the foothills. 'Must take in all' is earnest, a friend's heartfelt charge. The turn to 'do not imitate the man of Wuling' borrows Tao Yuanming's fisherman as a negative mirror: he found the Peach Blossom Spring yet left it and never found the way again. Front concrete, back imagined; positive beside negative — the argument moves without a trace of sermonizing. In twenty characters the poem fuses friendship, mountain delight, and a reflection on how life should be lived.

此诗艺术上以「以劝为别、化景入理」见长。全诗仅四句二十字，却层层递进：首句「归山深浅去」扣题写别，点明友人此行是归隐山林，「深浅去」三字极有弹性，既写山行之远近高低，又暗含劝其深入山林、遍览胜境的意味；次句「须尽丘壑美」由叙事转入劝勉，「须尽」二字语气恳切，以「丘壑美」总括山林之趣，将抽象的归隐之乐落到实处；三四句「莫学武陵人，暂游桃源里」笔锋一转，以陶渊明《桃花源记》中的武陵人作反衬——武陵人入桃源却「既出，便扶向路」、匆匆离去，再寻而不得，诗人正以此警戒友人切莫只把山林当一时的游赏之地，而应真心栖隐其中。全诗前实后虚、正反相形，议论自然融化于情意之中，了无说教痕迹。二十字内完成「点题—劝勉—反衬—点醒」的完整脉络，转折处尤见匠心，体现了盛唐五绝以短驭长、意在言外的艺术功力。全篇无一闲字，而情、理、景三者浑然一体，允称五绝精品。

Allusions

The 'man of Wuling' and the 'Peach Blossom Spring' come from Tao Yuanming's Eastern Jin 'Record of the Peach Blossom Spring': a Wuling fisherman followed a stream into a hidden land of fruitful groves and happy people, stayed a few days, left marking his path — and never found it again. Tao's Peach Blossom Spring embodies the ideal of retreat from the world, and the fisherman became the emblem of the ideal gained and lost. Pei Di turns the allusion against itself: rather than longing for an unreachable paradise, he tells his friend to 'take in all the beauty of hills and valleys' and stay. The fisherman's failure — treating paradise as a stopover — becomes the warning. Behind the allusion lies Pei Di's own life: decades of reclusion with Wang Wei on the Wangchuan estate were themselves a practice of dwelling in the peach grove without entering it, which is why the urging sounds lived rather than borrowed.

诗中「武陵人」「桃源里」两处，典出东晋陶渊明《桃花源记》：武陵渔人沿溪而行，偶入桃花源，见其间阡陌交通、鸡犬相闻，黄发垂髫并怡然自乐，住了数日后辞去，沿途处处志之，及出，便扶向路，然「不复得路」，后南阳刘子骥欲往寻之亦未果。陶渊明以桃源寄寓其避世理想，武陵人遂成为「得而复失、仙源难再」的象征。裴迪此处反用其意：不学武陵人「暂游」即去，而劝友人「深浅去」「尽丘壑」，把桃源之喻从「遥不可及的幻境」转为「可以久居的现实山林」。这一化用，既借名典增强了劝勉的说服力，又以反衬手法翻出新意——归隐不是猎奇，而是长久的安顿。同时，裴迪与王维辋川唱和、终身栖隐的经历，本身即是「不入桃源而居桃源」的实践，典故背后有真切的生命体验作底，故无掉书袋之弊，而显真率恳挚之情。此典之用，妙在活用而非蹈袭，翻出新意而不失本义，足见诗人炼意之深、用典之活。

Commentary

This farewell quatrain is so enduring because it writes the commonplace occasion of parting with unusual layers. The very first line shows the parting, yet speaks no word of sorrow; instead it urges 'return to the mountains, deep or shallow; you must take in all the beauty of hills and valleys,' turning the anxiety of parting into a beautiful expectation for the friend's reclusive life — deep in feeling, free of gloom. Finer still is the warning in the last two lines: the poet does not say outright 'you should settle into reclusion,' but compares it with 'do not imitate the man of Wuling, who loitered a while in the Peach Blossom Spring,' criticizing the fisherman who gained the paradise and lightly abandoned it, warning the friend not to repeat his mistake. Here we see the poet's understanding of reclusion: it is not a whim of the moment, not a fashionable gesture, but a wholehearted settling. This layer of meaning is both advice and self-encouragement — Pei Di lived his life in proud poverty among springs and rocks, and knew well that the joy of hills lies in long dwelling, not brief visiting. Plain words, deep meaning: twenty characters like a homely charge from a friend, yet every word lands, fusing friendship, mountain delight, and reflection on life into one. It is a model of the High Tang five-syllable quatrain's small form carrying great depth; later critics praised it as 'plain yet full of flavor,' and rightly so.

这首送别小诗之所以耐读，在于它把「送别」这一寻常题材写得极有层次。起句即见别情，却不说离愁别绪，而是叮嘱「归山深浅去，须尽丘壑美」，将临别的牵挂转化为对友人归隐生活的美好期许，情深而不伤感，语重心长。更妙的是三四句的劝诫：不直言「你当安心归隐」，而以「莫学武陵人，暂游桃源里」作比，批评武陵人得桃源而轻弃，警醒友人勿蹈覆辙。此中见出诗人对「隐」的理解——隐不是一时兴起的游览，不是附庸风雅的姿态，而是全身心的投入与安住。这一层意思，既是劝人，亦是自勉：裴迪自己一生清贫自守、啸傲林泉，深知山林之乐在「久处」而不在「暂游」。全诗语浅意深，二十字如家常叮嘱，却字字有着落，将友情、山趣、人生之思熔铸于一炉，是盛唐五绝中以短章寄深意的典范，后人评其「淡而有味」，良有以也。诵读此诗，恍如见故人执手相嘱，语淡而情长，余味不尽。

Prosody

Form Five-syllable quatrain (jueju) — regulated-style verse, level-tone opening pattern五言绝句（近体绝句，平起式）
Rhyme The poem rhymes on the oblique (rising-tone) group: 'mei' and 'li,' both in the rising-tone zhi rhyme category, rhyming to the end on a single oblique rhyme. Five-syllable quatrains with oblique rhymes are uncommon; the short, inward-gathering sound of the rising-tone endings suits the earnestness of the charge, forgoing the easy flow of a level-tone rhyme and gaining the weight of genuine admonition.全诗押仄韵「美」（上声四纸韵）、「里」（上声四纸韵），一韵到底，韵脚为「美」「里」，属仄声韵。五绝押仄韵者本不多见，此诗以「美」「里」收束，声调短促内敛，恰与劝诫的郑重口吻相合，避免了平韵的悠扬流利，而添了几分叮咛的沉实之感。
Tone pattern The first line opens level and closes oblique; the second rises oblique; the last two lines both fall into the oblique rhyme. Across four short lines the tonal pattern alternates and gathers force, and the oblique endings make the cadence of a low, earnest admonition. Where most quatrains use level rhymes for flowing sweetness, this poem's oblique rhyme matches its sense: the sound of a friend's parting instruction, quiet and sincere.句式上，首句「归山深浅去」为平起仄收，次句「须尽丘壑美」仄起，三四句「莫学武陵人，暂游桃源里」均入仄韵，四句之内平仄交替、收束有力。全诗以短促的仄声韵脚配合议论的语势，读来如叮咛低语，沉静而恳切。绝句本以平韵谐畅为常，此篇独用仄韵，声情与辞情相凑，是五绝中以声韵助意境的佳例。
Reading note This five-syllable quatrain belongs to the regulated tradition yet breaks with the usual jueju manner of ending in scenery; almost every one of its twenty characters is exhortation, and only 'the beauty of hills and valleys' tints the poem with landscape. The reason it still tastes of poetry lies in three things: carefully wrought verbs and particles ('deep or shallow,' 'must take in all,' 'for a brief stay') that make abstraction concrete; the real, living allusion of the Wuling fisherman and the Peach Blossom Spring, which turns instruction into meaningful contrast; and the voice of a sincere friend throughout, so the argument never feels like preaching. High Tang quatrains usually win by scene; this one wins by philosophical charm — proof of the High Tang poets' freedom within tiny forms, a companion piece in its own mode to Wang Wei's 'Bright moon shines among the pines.'此诗为五言绝句，属近体诗范畴，却突破了一般绝句「以景结情、含蓄隽永」的常规写法，而采用「以议论为诗」的路子，全诗二十字几乎都是劝勉之辞，仅在「丘壑美」三字中点染山水之色。五绝体制短小，最忌直说，诗人却能于议论中不失诗味，其关键在于：一是以「深浅去」「须尽」「暂游」等虚词、动词的精心锤炼，使抽象的劝勉具体可感；二是借「武陵人」「桃源里」的典故，以实典衬虚理，化说教为有意味的反衬；三是通篇以恳切的朋友口吻出之，情真意挚，读之如对故人叮嘱，故虽议论而不觉枯燥。盛唐五绝多以情景取胜，此篇独以理趣见长，正可见盛唐诗人于短章之中驰骋胸臆、不拘一格的艺术追求，与王维「明月松间照」一类以境胜者各擅胜场，同为中国古典诗歌中短章艺术的瑰宝。

Line by line

归山深浅去，须尽丘壑美。

Whether you return to the mountains deep or shallow, you must take in all the beauty of hills and valleys.

你此番回到山中，无论进到山路的深浅何处，都应当把山丘沟壑的美好风光尽兴饱览个够。

Returning to the hills, go deep or shallow; you must taste to the full the beauty of valleys and ridges.

开篇两句扣住「归山」二字点题，却无一句俗套的惜别语，而以劝游出之。「深浅去」三字最堪玩味：既可指行山路途之远近高低，亦暗含劝人深入山林腹地、莫止步于山麓的意味，用字看似随意，实则将「归隐」由抽象概念落实为具体的山行体验。「须尽丘壑美」紧承而来，「须尽」是恳切的叮咛语气，「丘壑美」三字则把山林之趣凝练为可感的审美对象——丘、壑二字虚实相生，既写山形地貌，又暗含「胸有丘壑」的雅量高致。两句一叙一劝，情景交融，以朋友的关切托起山水的清趣，语淡情真，已为后文反衬武陵人埋下伏笔。

The opening two lines take up the words 'returning to the hills' for the theme, yet not one word of the cliche of reluctant parting, but the exhortation to the tour. The words 'go deep or shallow' the most to be chewed: it may mean the far or near, the high or low of the mountain road, and secretly holds the meaning of urging the friend to enter the mountain's heart and not stop at the foot; the words seem casual, and in fact land 'reclusion' from the abstract concept into the concrete mountain-walking experience. 'You must taste to the full the beauty of valleys and ridges' follows at once, 'must taste' the earnest tone of charging, and 'the beauty of valleys and ridges' condenses the mountain's charm into a sensible aesthetic object — the words 'valleys and ridges' real and unreal giving birth, both writing the mountain's form and secretly holding the graceful breadth of 'valleys and ridges in the breast'. Two lines, one narrative one exhortation, scene and feeling fused, the friend's care bearing up the clear charm of hills and waters, the words plain and the feeling true, already planting the foil for the later Wuling man.

莫学武陵人，暂游桃源里。

Do not imitate the man of Wuling, who loitered a while in the Peach Blossom Spring and left.

千万不要学那位武陵渔人，只在桃花源里短暂游历一番便匆匆离去。

Learn not from the man of Wuling, who only briefly roamed the Peach Blossom Spring.

末两句翻进一层，借典作诫，是全诗的着力之处。诗人不直说「你当长隐山中」，而以武陵人入桃源却得而复失的故事为反衬：「暂游」二字轻而有力，直指那种把归隐当作一次猎奇游览的浅薄心态；「莫学」则语气恳切，近乎兄长般的叮嘱。陶渊明笔下的桃源本是理想之境，诗人却反其意而用之，提醒友人：真正的桃源不在世外，而在人心是否安住。这一反转，使劝勉不落说教，而化为有意味的警醒。四句之中，前实后虚、正反相形，由叙事、劝勉而及于人生哲理的省思，尺幅虽小，转折却多，正可见盛唐五绝于极短篇幅内驰骋意境的功力。

The last two lines turn up one layer, using the allusion for the warning, the part where the poem puts its force. The poet says not plainly 'you should dwell in the hills long', but uses as foil the story of the Wuling man entering the Peach Blossom Spring and losing it again: the words 'briefly roamed' are light and forceful, striking directly at the shallow mind that takes reclusion for a novelty tour; 'learn not' the earnest tone, almost an elder brother's charge. The Peach Blossom Spring in Tao Yuanming's writing is originally the ideal realm, and the poet uses it against its grain, reminding the friend: the true spring is not outside the world, but in whether the heart is at peace. This reversal makes the exhortation not a lecture, but a meaningful warning. Within four lines, the first real the last unreal, the positive and the negative set off, from narrative and exhortation to the reflection on life's truth; the small frame, yet many turns, precisely showing the High Tang five-word quatrain's power of driving the realm within the shortest space.

Study

Word focus

深浅去 'Deep or shallow going' — the distances and depths of mountain travel. By writing 'shallow-deep qu' instead of a plain 'far-near xing,' the poet makes the mountain's layered depths the very measure of the reclusive life: the advice to enter deeply is hidden inside an ordinary traveling phrase. 「深浅」本写山水之远近高低，此处着一「去」字，更见动态。诗人不说「远近行」，而说「深浅去」，以山的幽深层次写归隐之行，既切归山实景，又暗喻人生际遇之起伏深浅。二字看似平易，实为全诗立骨之字，将「归隐」这一抽象命题写得具体可感，语浅而意丰。尤妙在「深浅」二字兼摄山水之幽深与行迹之从容，与后文「桃源」之喻遥相呼应，可见诗人炼字之精。
须尽 'Must take in all' — 'xu' is the tone of a heartfelt charge at parting; 'jin' shows how precious the hills and valleys are and the fear that the friend might waste them. The two words are firm and not to be argued with — the poem's emotional summit, set against 'for a brief stay' in the last line. 「须尽」即应当尽兴、务必遍览。一个「须」字，饱含恳切叮咛之情，是临别时推心置腹的嘱托；「尽」字则见出对丘壑之美的珍惜与不舍，仿佛怕友人辜负了山林。两字连用，语气笃定而不容商量，把诗人对友人归隐生活的深情期许表现得淋漓尽致。「须尽」与末句「暂游」一正一反，构成全诗劝诫的两极，语短而力厚，是全篇感情最浓处。
丘壑美 'The beauty of hills and valleys' — hills and ravines are both real terrain and a classical figure for a mind that contains landscapes within itself. The single word 'beauty' gathers the delight of reclusion into an object of contemplation, lifting mountain pleasure to the level of spirit. 「丘壑」一词，既指山丘与沟壑的实景，又暗含「胸有丘壑」的典故，指人心中自有山川丘壑、怀抱高远。诗人以「美」字总括之，将山林之趣提炼为审美对象，暗示真正的隐逸不在遁迹于无人之境，而在以山水陶养心性、涵泳胸怀。一字收束，使山水之乐上升为精神之境。以「美」字为归隐立象，使抽象的隐逸之乐有了可赏可味的具体依凭，是全诗理趣所在。
暂游 'For a brief stay' — set against 'must take in all,' this is the poem's literary hinge. 'Brief' pinpoints the Wuling fisherman's failure: he did not lack paradise, he refused to dwell in it. The word is light but its criticism is exact — regret and warning combined, the gentlest possible admonition. 「暂游」与上句「须尽」遥相对照，是全诗的文眼。诗人不说「一游」而说「暂游」，轻轻一点，即戳中武陵人「得而复失」的关键——他并非没有遇见桃源，而是不肯久居、轻易放弃。「暂」字于不经意间见出批评的分寸：不是苛责，而是惋惜中带着警醒，劝友人以此为鉴，莫让桃源之乐沦为过眼云烟。「暂游」轻轻一点，即与「须尽」形成对照，批评的分寸恰到好处，警醒之意溢于言表。

Related Reading

送元二使安西 Seeing Off Yuan Er on His Mission to Anxi 王维 · 同写送别，一为劝隐一为劝行，正反对读见盛唐送别之两面 Both are farewell quatrains read in opposition: Wang Wei urges the friend onward, Pei Di urges him to withdraw.

Wang Wei's 'Seeing Off Yuan Er' — 'I urge you to drain one more cup of wine; west out of Yang Pass there are no old friends' — dissolves the loneliness beyond the pass in a cup of wine; its flavor is long and lingering. Pei Di's 'Seeing Off Cui Jiu' — 'Do not imitate the man of Wuling, who loitered a while in the Peach Blossom Spring' — urges the friend to settle in the mountains with a single charge. One sees a traveler out to the frontier, the other a recluse home to the hills; between them they show the two postures of High Tang parting — heroic breadth and quiet detachment. Both win within four short lines, plain words carrying deep feeling.

王维《送元二使安西》与裴迪《送崔九》同属盛唐送别五绝，却取向相反：王维劝友人远行，「劝君更尽一杯酒，西出阳关无故人」，以一杯酒消解阳关之外的孤寂，情味绵长；裴迪则劝友人归隐，「莫学武陵人，暂游桃源里」，以一句叮咛期其安住山林。一送君出塞，一送友归山，恰成对照，共同展现了盛唐诗人于离别的不同姿态——或豪迈旷达，或淡泊沉静。两诗均以短章取胜，语浅而情深，可并读互参，窥见盛唐五绝的多样面貌。

 竹里馆 The Bamboo Lodge 王维 · 同写隐逸之趣，一劝一自写，可见王维裴迪交游之深 Both concern the delight of reclusion — one urging a friend, one writing his own state of mind — evidence of how deep the friendship between Wang Wei and Pei Di ran.

Wang Wei's 'The Bamboo Lodge' — 'Alone I sit in the dark bamboo, plucking the lute and singing long' — writes the recluse's self-content in his own realm, a masterpiece of High Tang reclusion that wins by scene. Pei Di's 'Seeing Off Cui Jiu' urges a friend to dwell in reclusion, a masterpiece that wins by principle. One writes the poet's own heart, the other a friend's charge — and each confirms the other: the state Wang Wei found in his bamboo lodge is exactly what Pei Di wishes for the friend he tells to 'take in all the beauty of hills and valleys.' After years of exchanging poems on the Wangchuan estate, the two men understood mountain reclusion the same way; the poem shows both Pei Di's hopes for his friend and his true faith in the joy of hills and woods.

王维《竹里馆》「独坐幽篁里，弹琴复长啸」，写的是隐者独处的自得之境，是盛唐隐逸诗以境胜的典范；裴迪《送崔九》则以朋友的身份劝友人安心归隐，是隐逸诗以理见长的代表。两诗一为自写心境，一为劝勉友人，恰可互证：王维能于竹里馆中弹琴长啸、心闲如水的境界，正是裴迪叮嘱友人「须尽丘壑美」所要追求的生命状态。裴迪与王维辋川唱和多年，二人对山水隐逸的体会相通，此诗正可见裴迪对友人归隐生活的深切期许与对山林之乐的真切信仰。