唐 Tang · 诗 Poem
休假日访王侍御不遇
Calling on Secretary Wang on a Day of Rest and Not Finding Him In
九日驰驱一日闲，寻君不遇又空还。
怪来诗思清人骨，门对寒流雪满山。
I seek you out but fail to find you, and return empty again.
No wonder your poetry is so clear it pierces the bones —
Your gate faces the cold stream, and the snow fills the mountains.
Meaning
A small poem of a failed visit and a discovered explanation. After nine days of official busyness, the poet has one free day; he calls on his friend Secretary Wang but finds him out and returns empty-handed. Then he understands: no wonder Wang's poetry is so clear it pierces the bones — his gate faces a cold stream, with snow covering the mountains. The poem turns a missed visit into a tribute to the friend's purity, and to the landscape that shapes a poet.
九日驰驱一日闲，寻君不遇又空还。怪来诗思清人骨，门对寒流雪满山。
Appreciation
[Plain Paraphrase] For nine days I hurried and galloped, and had one day of leisure; I sought you out but did not find you, and returned empty again. No wonder your poetic thought is clear enough to pierce the bones — your gate faces the cold stream, and the snow fills the mountains. [Structure and Thought] The quatrain is a small narrative with a turn: the busy official's one free day, the failed call, the empty return — and then the sudden insight that explains everything, the cold stream and the snow-covered mountains. [Key Technique] The poem's art is the postponed explanation: the frustration of the first two lines is resolved in the last two, when the missed visit becomes the occasion for understanding the friend — and the landscape that makes his poetry what it is. [Emotional Tone] Warm, wry, and admiring: the poet's disappointment at the missed visit is transformed into a tribute to the friend's purity of heart and scene.
【白话串讲】 韦应物写《休假日访王侍御不遇》：“九日驰驱一日闲，寻君不遇又空还”——“怪来诗思清人骨，门对寒流雪满山”——他访王侍御不遇——门对寒流雪满山。 【意象与手法】 “九日驰驱一日闲、寻君不遇又空还”写寻君不遇；“怪来诗思清人骨”写诗思清人骨；结以“门对寒流雪满山”以寒流雪山写其人。清幽淡远。 【情感与主旨】 韦应物写访友不遇之作，以“门对寒流雪满山”写王侍御诗思清骨、居处清幽，是访友诗中的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“九日驰驱一日闲，寻君不遇又空还”写访友不遇；“怪来诗思清人骨，门对寒流雪满山”写其人清幽。
Background
Wei Yingwu (c. 737–c. 792) was one of the foremost poets of the mid-Tang, remembered for the pure, plain yet deeply felt style of his landscape verse; he served as prefect of Chuzhou, Jiangzhou and Suzhou. This poem records a day of rest — the single free day after nine days of official labor — spent in a failed call on a friend. The friend's gate facing the cold stream and the snow-filled mountains explains, in the poet's eyes, the 'clear to the bones' quality of his poetry: the poem is at once a record of daily life and a small theory of how landscape shapes the poet.
《休假日访王侍御不遇》为唐代诗人韦应物所作诗。韦应物（737—约792），京兆长安人，中唐山水田园诗人，官至苏州刺史。此诗写抒情访友，为休假访友不遇之作。诗中「九日驰驱一日闲，寻君不遇又空还」写九日驰驱一日闲，寻君不遇又空还；「怪来诗思清人骨，门对寒流雪满山」写怪来诗思清人骨，门对寒流雪满山。韦应物此诗以抒情访友、门对寒流雪满山写其访友之情，清幽淡远，是韦应物诗中的名篇。此篇《休假日访王侍御不遇》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。此篇《休假日访王侍御不遇》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 lies in the perfect management of the turn. The first two lines build a small frustration with deliberate flatness — the nine days of galloping, the one free day, the empty return. The third line begins the turn with the exclamation 'no wonder,' and the fourth supplies the cause: the gate facing the cold stream, the snow filling the mountains. The final image is at once a landscape and an explanation: the clarity of the friend's poetry is read directly from the clarity of his surroundings. The poem says nothing about the friend's character — it shows the scene and lets the reader draw the conclusion.
此诗艺术上以「清幽淡远、以雪写情」见长。全诗共四句两联，由九日驰驱一日闲而怪来诗思清人骨。起「九日驰驱一日闲，寻君不遇又空还」写九日驰驱一日闲：九日驰驱一日闲，寻君不遇又空还；结「怪来诗思清人骨，门对寒流雪满山」写怪来诗思清人骨：怪来诗思清人骨，门对寒流雪满山。全诗以雪写情，由九日驰驱一日闲而门对寒流雪满山，清幽淡远，是韦应物诗中的名篇。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。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 'cold stream' and 'snow-filled mountains' are the conventional properties of the recluse-poet's dwelling in Tang verse — the pure landscape that produces pure poetry. 'Clear to the bones' (qing ru gu) is the traditional description of a poet's style: clarity so intense it pierces to the marrow, the quality prized by the mid-Tang aesthetic of the plain and the cold. The missed visit itself follows the long convention of poems 'calling on a friend and not finding him in,' in which the empty house becomes the fullest revelation of its owner.
诗中「九日驰驱一日闲寻君不遇又空还」「怪来诗思清人骨门对寒流雪满山」等语，皆含典故故实。「九日驰驱一日闲寻君不遇又空还」写九日驰驱一日闲寻君不遇又空还；「怪来诗思清人骨门对寒流雪满山」写怪来诗思清人骨门对寒流雪满山。诗人以寒流、雪满山等语入诗，不着痕迹，而把抒情访友之情写得真切可感，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。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。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 quatrain is one of the most admired of Wei Yingwu's small poems, quoted for its perfect turn from failed visit to revealed truth. The closing image — the gate facing the cold stream, the snow-filled mountains — has become a classic emblem of the poet's dwelling, and the couplet 'nine days I galloped, one day at leisure' is often cited as the quintessential complaint of the overworked official who keeps his one free day for friendship.
这首《休假日访王侍御不遇》，是韦应物写抒情访友之作，写九日驰驱一日闲、寻君不遇又空还、怪来诗思清人骨、门对寒流雪满山之情，清幽淡远。起「九日驰驱一日闲，寻君不遇又空还」——九日驰驱一日闲，寻君不遇又空还。写九日驰驱一日闲：九日驰驱一日闲、寻君不遇又空还——一日闲、又空还；结「怪来诗思清人骨，门对寒流雪满山」——怪来诗思清人骨，门对寒流雪满山。写怪来诗思清人骨：怪来诗思清人骨、门对寒流雪满山——清人骨、雪满山。这「怪来诗思清人骨，门对寒流雪满山」，是全诗之结：以门对寒流雪满山写其访友。全诗清幽淡远，以雪写情，正是韦应物诗中的名篇。综观全诗，情真、景切、理深，三者浑融无迹，故能于短短数语之中寄无限深意，令人百读不厌。其含蓄蕴藉之处，正是中国古典诗歌以少总多、言有尽而意无穷的美学精神的生动体现。综观全诗，情真、景切、理深，三者浑融无迹，故能于短短数语之中寄无限深意，令人百读不厌。其含蓄蕴藉之处，正是中国古典诗歌以少总多、言有尽而意无穷的美学精神的生动体现。
Prosody
Line by line
九日驰驱一日闲，寻君不遇又空还。
Nine days I galloped in the service of the world, one day I have at leisure; I seek you out but fail to find you, and return empty again.
九日驰驱一日闲，寻君不遇又空还。
Nine days of rushing, one day of leisure; I seek you and, finding you not, return empty-handed.
起句写九日驰驱一日闲，起笔即见其闲。「九日驰驱一日闲」写九日驰驱一日闲，「九日驰驱」写九日驰驱、「一日闲」写一日闲；「寻君不遇又空还」写寻君不遇又空还，「寻君不遇」写寻君不遇、「又空还」写又空还。一句写九日驰驱一日闲寻君不遇又空还，以九日驰驱一日闲写一日闲、以寻君不遇又空还写又空还，写尽九日驰驱一日闲、寻君不遇又空还之情。以闲起兴，清幽而淡远，是「以闲起兴」的妙笔。
The opening writes nine days of rushing, one day of leisure, the leisure named at the first stroke. Nine days of rushing, one day of leisure: nine days of office drudgery, one day of holiday. I seek you and, finding you not, return empty-handed: calling on the friend, missing him, coming back for nothing. One line writes the nine-day rush and the single day of leisure, the other the missed visit and the empty return - Wei Yingwu's starting point for the holiday visit: rushed all week, one free day, and the friend absent. The line opens with leisure as bi-xing, quiet and distant: the holiday's freedom turns into the disappointment of finding the gate closed.
怪来诗思清人骨，
No wonder your poetry is so clear it pierces the bones —
怪来诗思清人骨，
No wonder your poetry is clear to the bone -
此句写怪来诗思清人骨，是全诗写诗思之态的关键。「怪来诗思」写怪来诗思，「怪来」写怪来、「诗思」写诗思；「清人骨」写清人骨，「清人」写清人、「骨」写骨。一句写怪来诗思清人骨，以怪来诗思写诗思、以清人骨写清人骨，写尽怪来诗思清人骨之情。以思写情，清幽而淡远，是「以思写情」的点睛之笔。此句以寥寥数语写尽深意，情韵兼胜，正是全诗点睛之笔。其于字句之间暗藏波澜，于平易之中寄寓曲折，尤当反复涵泳，方能得其三昧。
This line writes no wonder your poetry is clear to the bone, the key to the poem's thought of poetry. No wonder: the realization dawning. Your poetry clear to the bone: verse limpid to the marrow. One line writes the wonder at the friend's clear poetry - now he understands why Wang's verse is so pure. The line uses thought of poetry to write feeling, quiet and distant, hiding waves within plain words: the turn from the missed visit to understanding the poet's gift.
门对寒流雪满山。
Your gate faces the cold stream, and the snow fills the mountains.
门对寒流雪满山。
your door faces the cold stream, and snow covers the mountains.
结句写门对寒流雪满山，是全诗立意的落点。「门对寒流」写门对寒流，「门对」写门对、「寒流」写寒流；「雪满山」写雪满山，「雪满」写雪满、「山」写山。一句写门对寒流雪满山，以门对寒流写寒流、以雪满山写满山，写尽门对寒流雪满山之情。以雪写情，清幽而淡远，是全诗最动人处，也是「以雪写情」的点睛之笔。此句以寥寥数语写尽深意，情韵兼胜，正是全诗点睛之笔。其于字句之间暗藏波澜，于平易之中寄寓曲折，尤当反复涵泳，方能得其三昧。
The closing writes your door faces the cold stream, and snow covers the mountains, the poem's landing. Your door faces the cold stream: the gate before a chill current. Snow covers the mountains: the peaks buried in snow. One line writes the door facing the stream, the other the snow covering the hills - the poem's resolution: the missing man is away in scenery of cold stream and snow mountains, and his verse's clearness comes from exactly this. The line uses snow to write feeling, quiet and distant, the poem's most moving point: the empty return is transformed into a vision of the friend's retreat.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Su Shi's 'Prelude to Water Melody' keeps the night of the absent brother in the moon; Wei Yingwu's 'Calling on Secretary Wang' finds the absent friend in his gate and his snow-filled mountains — the world of the absent one standing for the man.
苏轼《水调歌头·明月几时有》「但愿人长久，千里共婵娟」，写访友感怀、清幽旷达，是宋词长调的名篇；韦应物《休假日访王侍御不遇》则以「门对寒流雪满山」「怪来诗思清人骨」写雪满山、清人骨。两诗同写访友感怀、清幽旷达：一写但愿人长久、以千里共婵娟写思亲，一写门对寒流雪满山、以寒流写访友；一为苏轼之旷达、一为韦应物之清幽，并读正可见诗写「访友感怀」的两种笔法，皆于访友之中见清幽。
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 · 同写门前凝望、清幽清丽，一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、一写九日驰驱一日闲寻君不遇又空还，皆于门前之中见凝望 Both are the poems of the failed meeting and the far scene — Liu Yong's rain and wilting flowers, Wei Yingwu's cold stream and snow.Liu Yong's 'Eight Beats of Ganzhou' gazes toward the beloved who cannot be reached; Wei Yingwu's poem fails to meet his friend but sees his world — the cold stream and the snow-filled mountains. Both are the distance that the scene must carry.
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」，写门前凝望、清幽清丽，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；韦应物《休假日访王侍御不遇》则以「九日驰驱一日闲，寻君不遇又空还」「怪来诗思清人骨」写又空还、清人骨。两诗同写门前凝望、清幽清丽：一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、以暮雨写清秋，一写九日驰驱一日闲寻君不遇又空还、以空还写访友；一为柳永之清丽、一为韦应物之清幽，并读正可见诗写「门前凝望」的两种笔法，皆于门前之中见凝望。