唐 Tang · 诗 Poem
西湖晚归回望孤山寺赠诸客
Returning Late on West Lake, I Look Back at Gushan Temple and Send This to My Companions
柳湖松岛莲花寺，晚动归桡出道场。
卢橘子低山雨重，棕榈叶战水风凉。
烟波澹荡摇空碧，楼殿参差倚夕阳。
到岸请君回首望，蓬莱宫在海中央。
At evening we move the homeward oars and leave the hall of the Way.
The loquat branches hang low, heavy with mountain rain,
The palm leaves quiver, cool with the wind off the water.
Mist and ripples gently rock the empty blue,
Halls and towers, jagged and uneven, lean upon the setting sun.
When you reach the shore, I beg you turn and look:
The palace of Penglai stands in the midst of the sea.
Meaning
A poem of easy pleasure, written by Bai Juyi when, as prefect of Hangzhou, he returned late from a day's outing at Gushan Temple on West Lake. The party rows home through the evening scene: loquats bowed by mountain rain, palm leaves trembling in the cool water-wind, misty ripples rocking the empty blue, and the temple's halls leaning against the sunset. When they reach the shore, the poet asks his companions to turn and look: the temple on its island floats like the fairy palace of Penglai in the midst of the sea. The poem is a serene celebration of landscape and friendship.
柳湖松岛莲花寺，晚动归桡出道场。卢橘子低山雨重，棕榈叶战水风凉。烟波澹荡摇空碧，楼殿参差倚夕阳。到岸请君回首望，蓬莱宫在海中央。
Appreciation
[Plain Paraphrase] The willow-fringed lake, the pine-covered isle, the temple of the lotus flower: at evening we set the homeward oars in motion and leave the place of practice. The loquat branches hang low under the heavy mountain rain; the palm leaves flutter, cooled by the wind off the water. Mist and waves, soft and wide, rock the empty blue sky; towers and halls, uneven in the distance, lean against the setting sun. When we reach the shore I ask you all to turn and look back: the palace of Penglai stands in the middle of the sea. [Structure and Thought] The eight lines move in a single continuous sweep: leaving, rowing, observing the near shore, observing the distance, and finally the backward glance that turns the whole scene into a fairy vision. [Key Technique] The poem builds the island temple as a miniature paradise: the lotus, the pines, the Penglai allusion at the close crown the real landscape with the legendary. Each couplet adds one stroke to the picture — fruit, leaves, mist, towers — until the backward glance reveals the completed enchantment. [Emotional Tone] Bright, easy, and contented — the mood of a prefect at leisure, sharing a beautiful evening with friends, and savoring the view one last time from the shore.
【白话串讲】 白居易写《西湖晚归回望孤山寺赠诸客》：“柳湖松岛莲花寺，晚动归桡出道场”——“卢橘子低山雨重，棕榈叶战水风凉”——“烟波澹荡摇空碧，楼殿参差倚夕阳”——“到岸请君回首望，蓬莱宫在海中央”——他西湖晚归——蓬莱宫在海中央。 【意象与手法】 “柳湖松岛莲花寺、晚动归桡出道场”写柳湖松岛；“卢橘子低山雨重、棕榈叶战水风凉”写卢橘棕榈；“烟波澹荡摇空碧、楼殿参差倚夕阳”写烟波楼殿；结以“到岸请君回首望，蓬莱宫在海中央”以蓬莱宫写孤山寺。明丽闲适。 【情感与主旨】 白居易写西湖晚归回望孤山寺之作，写西湖晚景与孤山寺之胜，以蓬莱宫写其如在仙山，是白居易写西湖的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“柳湖松岛莲花寺，晚动归桡出道场”写西湖晚景；“到岸请君回首望，蓬莱宫在海中央”以蓬莱宫写孤山寺。
Background
Bai Juyi (772–846), courtesy name Letian, styled Xiangshan Hermit, was one of the greatest poets of the mid-Tang and the leading voice of the New Music Bureau movement; he served as prefect of Hangzhou in 822–824, when this poem was written. Gushan (Lone Hill) Temple stood on the islet in West Lake; the poet and his companions had spent the day there and were rowing back in the evening. The poem records the easy happiness of a provincial official's leisure — a mood that fills many of Bai Juyi's Hangzhou poems, in which the beauties of the lake are enjoyed with the special relish of a man freed from the pressures of the capital.
《西湖晚归回望孤山寺赠诸客》为唐代诗人白居易所作诗。白居易（772—846），字乐天，号香山居士，又号醉吟先生，祖籍太原，生于河南新郑，中唐诗人，新乐府运动倡导者，曾任杭州刺史。此诗写景闲适，为晚归回望孤山寺之作。诗中「柳湖松岛莲花寺，晚动归桡出道场」写柳湖松岛莲花寺，晚动归桡出道场；「卢橘子低山雨重，棕榈叶战水风凉」写卢橘子低山雨重，棕榈叶战水风凉；「烟波澹荡摇空碧，楼殿参差倚夕阳」写烟波澹荡摇空碧，楼殿参差倚夕阳；「到岸请君回首望，蓬莱宫在海中央」写到岸请君回首望，蓬莱宫在海中央。白居易此诗以写景闲适、蓬莱宫在海中央写其闲适之情，明丽闲适，是白居易诗中的名篇。此篇《西湖晚归回望孤山寺赠诸客》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。
Art
The poem's art is the steady accumulation of a perfect landscape. The opening line names the three elements of the scene in a row — the willow lake, the pine isle, the lotus temple — as if setting up a triptych. The second line adds the human motion: the homeward oars leaving the hall of the Way. The next two couplets work close-up and distance alternately: loquats bowed with rain, palm leaves trembling with wind; then mist and ripples rocking the empty blue, and towers leaning on the sunset. The final couplet makes the turn: 'when you reach the shore, turn and look' — and the whole scene reassembles itself as the fairy isle of Penglai. The real skill is the management of this backward glance: the island seen from the shore becomes a different, more magical place.
此诗艺术上以「明丽闲适、以湖写情」见长。全诗共八句四联，由柳湖松岛莲花寺而卢橘子低山雨重而烟波澹荡摇空碧。起「柳湖松岛莲花寺，晚动归桡出道场」写柳湖松岛莲花寺：柳湖松岛莲花寺，晚动归桡出道场；「卢橘子低山雨重，棕榈叶战水风凉」写卢橘子低山雨重：卢橘子低山雨重，棕榈叶战水风凉；「烟波澹荡摇空碧，楼殿参差倚夕阳」写烟波澹荡摇空碧：烟波澹荡摇空碧，楼殿参差倚夕阳；结「到岸请君回首望，蓬莱宫在海中央」写蓬莱宫在海中央：到岸请君回首望，蓬莱宫在海中央。全诗以湖写情，由柳湖松岛莲花寺而蓬莱宫在海中央，明丽闲适，是白居易诗中的名篇。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。
Allusions
The 'temple of the lotus flowers' (Lianhua si) is Gushan Temple itself, so called because of the lotus in the lake around it. 'Penglai' is the legendary island of the immortals in the Eastern Sea, the dwelling of the blessed; to call the temple 'the palace of Penglai in the midst of the sea' is to crown the real West Lake island with the halo of the fairy islands of Daoist legend. 'The hall of the Way' (daochang) is the proper term for a Buddhist place of practice, marking the temple as a sacred precinct. The poem thus moves from the actual to the legendary without any break.
诗中「柳湖松岛莲花寺晚动归桡出道场」「卢橘子低山雨重棕榈叶战水风凉」「烟波澹荡摇空碧楼殿参差倚夕阳」「到岸请君回首望蓬莱宫在海中央」等语，皆含典故故实。「柳湖松岛莲花寺晚动归桡出道场」用莲花寺之典（莲花寺即孤山寺），写柳湖松岛莲花寺晚动归桡出道场；「卢橘子低山雨重棕榈叶战水风凉」写卢橘子低山雨重棕榈叶战水风凉；「烟波澹荡摇空碧楼殿参差倚夕阳」写烟波澹荡摇空碧楼殿参差倚夕阳；「到岸请君回首望蓬莱宫在海中央」用蓬莱之典（蓬莱为仙山），写到岸请君回首望蓬莱宫在海中央。诗人以莲花寺、蓬莱之典入诗，不着痕迹，而把写景闲适之情写得真切可感，是善于熔铸典故的体现。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。
Commentary
This poem is one of the most loved of Bai Juyi's Hangzhou verses, quoted as a perfect specimen of his plain, luminous landscape style. The closing couplet, with its invitation to turn and behold the island as a fairy palace, has been admired for a millennium as a model of how real scenery can be raised into legend without losing its truth. The poem's easy happiness, so unlike the anxious verse of his contemporaries, has made it a perennial favorite.
这首《西湖晚归回望孤山寺赠诸客》，是白居易写写景闲适之作，写柳湖松岛莲花寺、卢橘子低山雨重、烟波澹荡摇空碧、蓬莱宫在海中央之情，明丽闲适。起「柳湖松岛莲花寺，晚动归桡出道场」——柳湖松岛莲花寺，晚动归桡出道场。写柳湖松岛莲花寺：柳湖松岛莲花寺、晚动归桡出道场——莲花寺、出道场；「卢橘子低山雨重，棕榈叶战水风凉」——卢橘子低山雨重，棕榈叶战水风凉。写卢橘子低山雨重：卢橘子低山雨重、棕榈叶战水风凉——山雨重、水风凉；「烟波澹荡摇空碧，楼殿参差倚夕阳」——烟波澹荡摇空碧，楼殿参差倚夕阳。写烟波澹荡摇空碧：烟波澹荡摇空碧、楼殿参差倚夕阳——摇空碧、倚夕阳；结「到岸请君回首望，蓬莱宫在海中央」——到岸请君回首望，蓬莱宫在海中央。写蓬莱宫在海中央：到岸请君回首望、蓬莱宫在海中央——回首望、海中央。这「到岸请君回首望，蓬莱宫在海中央」，是全诗之结：以蓬莱宫在海中央写其闲适。全诗明丽闲适，以湖写情，正是白居易诗中的名篇。
Prosody
Line by line
柳湖松岛莲花寺，晚动归桡出道场。
The willow-fringed lake, the pine-clad isle, the temple of the lotus flowers; at evening we move the homeward oars and leave the hall of the Way.
柳湖松岛莲花寺，晚动归桡出道场。
Willow lake, pine isle, Lotus Temple; at dusk the returning oars leave the temple court.
起句写柳湖松岛莲花寺，起笔即见其湖。「柳湖松岛莲花寺」用莲花寺之典写柳湖松岛莲花寺，「柳湖松岛」写柳湖松岛、「莲花寺」写莲花寺；「晚动归桡出道场」写晚动归桡出道场，「晚动归桡」写晚动归桡、「出道场」写出道场。一句写柳湖松岛莲花寺晚动归桡出道场，以柳湖松岛莲花寺写莲花寺、以晚动归桡出道场写出道场，写尽柳湖松岛莲花寺、晚动归桡出道场之情。以湖起兴，明丽而闲适，是「以湖起兴」的妙笔。
The opening writes willow lake, pine isle, Lotus Temple, the lake named at the first stroke. Willow lake, pine isle, Lotus Temple: West Lake's willow-lined water, pine isles, the Lotus Temple. At dusk the returning oars leave the temple court: evening, the boat's oars departing the shrine. One line writes the isle and temple, the other the evening oars leaving - Bai Juyi's starting point for the West Lake return at dusk: willows, pines, temple, then the boat pulling away. The line opens with the lake as bi-xing, bright and leisurely: the day ending at the lotus temple, the boat heading home across the water.
卢橘子低山雨重，棕榈叶战水风凉。
The loquat branches hang low, heavy with mountain rain; the palm leaves quiver, cool with the wind off the water.
卢橘子低山雨重，棕榈叶战水风凉。
Loquat branches droop under the mountain rain's weight; palm leaves shiver in the cool wind off the water.
此句写卢橘子低山雨重，是全诗写卢橘之态的关键。「卢橘子低山雨重」写卢橘子低山雨重，「卢橘子低」写卢橘子低、「山雨重」写山雨重；「棕榈叶战水风凉」写棕榈叶战水风凉，「棕榈叶战」写棕榈叶战、「水风凉」写水风凉。一句写卢橘子低山雨重棕榈叶战水风凉，以卢橘子低山雨重写山雨重、以棕榈叶战水风凉写水风凉，写尽卢橘子低山雨重、棕榈叶战水风凉之情。以橘写景，明丽而闲适，是「以橘写景」的点睛之笔。
This line writes loquat branches drooping under the mountain rain, the key to the poem's rain scenery. Loquat branches droop under the mountain rain's weight: the fruit-laden boughs bowed by the wet. Palm leaves shiver in the cool wind off the water: palm fronds trembling in the breeze from the lake. One line writes the bowed bough and the rain's weight, the other the shivering fronds and the cool wind - the poem's rain-washed West Lake: branches heavy, fronds shivering, the air cool after rain. The line uses the loquat to write the scenery, bright and leisurely: every plant, heavy or shivering, alive with the evening damp.
烟波澹荡摇空碧，楼殿参差倚夕阳。
Mist and ripples gently rock the empty blue; halls and towers, jagged and uneven, lean upon the setting sun.
烟波澹荡摇空碧，楼殿参差倚夕阳。
Mist-waves gently sway the azure sky; towers and halls, tier on tier, lean on the setting sun.
此句写烟波澹荡摇空碧，是全诗写烟波之态的关键。「烟波澹荡摇空碧」写烟波澹荡摇空碧，「烟波澹荡」写烟波澹荡、「摇空碧」写摇空碧；「楼殿参差倚夕阳」写楼殿参差倚夕阳，「楼殿参差」写楼殿参差、「倚夕阳」写倚夕阳。一句写烟波澹荡摇空碧楼殿参差倚夕阳，以烟波澹荡摇空碧写摇空碧、以楼殿参差倚夕阳写倚夕阳，写尽烟波澹荡摇空碧、楼殿参差倚夕阳之情。以烟写景，明丽而闲适，是「以烟写景」的点睛之笔。
This line writes mist-waves gently swaying the azure sky, the key to the poem's mist. Mist-waves gently sway the azure sky: the lake's haze rippling, mirrored sky trembling. Towers and halls, tier on tier, lean on the setting sun: the temple buildings rising unevenly against the sunset. One line writes the swaying mist and sky, the other the tiered halls leaning on sunset - the poem's vista from the boat: water below, sky above, the temple glowing. The line uses mist to write the scenery, bright and leisurely: the whole lake swaying between sky and sunset, the boat already turning toward the shore.
到岸请君回首望，蓬莱宫在海中央。
When you reach the shore, I beg you turn and look: the palace of Penglai stands in the midst of the sea.
到岸请君回首望，蓬莱宫在海中央。
When we reach the shore, please turn and look back: the Palace of Penglai stands in the middle of the lake.
结句写蓬莱宫在海中央，是全诗立意的落点。「到岸请君回首望」写到岸请君回首望，「到岸请君」写到岸请君、「回首望」写回首望；「蓬莱宫在海中央」用蓬莱之典写蓬莱宫在海中央，「蓬莱宫」写蓬莱宫、「在海中央」写在海中央。一句写到岸请君回首望蓬莱宫在海中央，以到岸请君回首望写回首望、以蓬莱宫在海中央写海中央，写尽到岸请君回首望、蓬莱宫在海中央之情。以仙写景，明丽而闲适，是全诗最动人处，也是「以仙写景」的点睛之笔。
The closing writes the Penglai palace in the lake's middle, the poem's landing. When we reach the shore, please turn and look back: at the landing, an invitation to look behind. The Palace of Penglai stands in the middle of the lake: the temple floating like the immortal isle. One line writes the turning-back invitation, the other the palace in the lake's midst - the poem's resolution: only at the shore, looking back, does the group see what the day's visit truly meant - the temple amid the lake like Penglai. The line uses the immortal to write the scenery, bright and leisurely, the poem's most moving point: the turning back, the vision, the immortal palace floating on the water.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Su Shi's 'Prelude to Water Melody' turns the lake and the moon into the great meditation; Bai Juyi's poem is the earlier West Lake lyric — the homeward oars, the sunset, and the look back at the temple of Penglai in the midst of the water.
苏轼《水调歌头·明月几时有》「我欲乘风归去，又恐琼楼玉宇，高处不胜寒」，写湖上感怀、明丽旷达，是宋词长调的名篇；白居易《西湖晚归回望孤山寺赠诸客》则以「到岸请君回首望，蓬莱宫在海中央」「烟波澹荡摇空碧」写海中央、摇空碧。两诗同写湖上感怀、明丽旷达：一写我欲乘风归去、以乘风写超然，一写到岸请君回首望蓬莱宫在海中央、以蓬莱写闲适；一为苏轼之旷达、一为白居易之明丽，并读正可见诗写「湖上感怀」的两种笔法，皆于湖上之中见明丽。
八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天 Eight Beats of Ganzhou: Facing the Evening Rain That Spatters the Long River 柳永 · 同写湖中凝望、明丽清丽，一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、一写烟波澹荡摇空碧楼殿参差倚夕阳，皆于湖中之中见凝望 Both are the gaze from the water at evening — Liu Yong's rain and wilting flowers, Bai Juyi's misty lake and sunset towers.Liu Yong's 'Eight Beats of Ganzhou' gazes from the tower over the evening rain; Bai Juyi's poem gazes from the boat over the misty lake — the two evening gazes of the water, one desolate, one serene.
柳永《八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天》「对潇潇暮雨洒江天，一番洗清秋」，写湖中凝望、明丽清丽，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；白居易《西湖晚归回望孤山寺赠诸客》则以「烟波澹荡摇空碧，楼殿参差倚夕阳」「卢橘子低山雨重」写摇空碧、山雨重。两诗同写湖中凝望、明丽清丽：一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、以暮雨写清秋，一写烟波澹荡摇空碧楼殿参差倚夕阳、以楼殿写闲适；一为柳永之清丽、一为白居易之明丽，并读正可见诗写「湖中凝望」的两种笔法，皆于湖中之中见凝望。