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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

渔翁

The Fisherman

柳宗元

Liu Zongyuan

山水landscape 隐逸reclusion

渔翁夜傍西岩宿，晓汲清湘燃楚竹。
烟销日出不见人，欸乃一声山水绿。
回看天际下中流，岩上无心云相逐。

The fisherman lodges by the western crag at night;
At dawn he draws clear Xiang water, burns Chu bamboo bright.
Mist melts, the sun rises, but the man is not seen;
One oar-song heard, and hills and stream turn green.
Looking back, the sky's edge where the mid-current flows;
On the crag, clouds without purpose chase as they please.

Listen

Meaning

The fisherman comes at night to rest beneath the western hill's crag; at dawn he draws the clear Xiang water and lights the bamboo faggots of Chu. Mist scatters and the sun rises, but the man is nowhere to be seen; only an oar-song (ainai) is heard, and at once hills and water turn a lucid green. Looking back to the sky's edge, the boat has already glided down the current, while on the crag the purposeless white clouds chase one another.

渔翁夜来傍着西山岩下歇宿，清晨汲取清澈的湘水、燃起楚地的竹薪。雾散日出却不见了人影，只听得欸乃摇橹一声，山水顿时一片澄绿。回望天边，船已顺流而下，岩上无心的白云正相互追逐。

Appreciation

This six-line poem paints one morning as if in a scroll. The fisherman lodges, draws water, lights bamboo, the mist clears, the oar sounds, he looks back—and as time passes the figure slowly dissolves into the scene. The line 'One oar-song heard, and hills and stream turn green' breaks silence with sound and tints the green through that sound, a stroke of rare wit. Throughout, the poet never states his feeling directly; instead a lone, lofty air breathes between the hills, the water, and the drifting clouds. Written after Liu Zongyuan's banishment, the fisherman is the poet himself—solitary, self-possessed, entrusting his heart to nature.

【白话串讲】渔翁夜宿西岩，清晨汲湘水烧楚竹。“烟销日出不见人，欸乃一声山水绿”——一声船橹响，山水都绿了。柳宗元写渔翁，写的是一种自由。【意象与手法】六句写一事而层次如画：夜宿、晓汲、燃竹、烟销、摇橹、回看，时间推移中人物渐隐于景。欸乃一声山水绿以听觉破静、以声染绿，是通感移觉的妙笔；通篇不直抒胸臆，而孤高之气自在山水云烟之间。【情感与主旨】柳宗元（773—819）参与永贞革新失败，贬永州司马，羁宦十年。永州有西山、潇湘之胜，此诗即写当地渔人，实寓诗人贬后孤寂自守、寄情山水之怀，是贬谪文学与山水清音结合的典范。【名句点睛】高频考点：赏析烟销日出不见人，欸乃一声山水绿的意境与炼字；理解渔翁形象中的诗人自我寄托；末二句回看天际下中流，岩上无心云相逐的删留之争与无心云的陶渊明渊源。

Background

Liu Zongyuan (773–819) took part in the failed Yongzhen Reform and was banished to Yongzhou as a military adviser, held there ten years. Yongzhou (today's Lingling, Hunan) had the beauty of the Western Hill and the Xiao and Xiang rivers; this poem describes a local fisherman but truly harbors the poet's loneliness and self-keeping after banishment, his heart given to hills and streams.

柳宗元（773—819），字子厚，河东（今山西永济）人，世称柳河东，唐代古文运动领袖、唐宋八大家之一，亦为中唐山水诗大家。唐顺宗永贞元年（805），他与王叔文、刘禹锡等人推行永贞革新，改革失败后被贬为永州司马，在永州（今湖南零陵）谪居十年，此诗即作于谪居永州时期。永州地处湘南，有西山、潇湘之胜，柳宗元贬居期间，寄情山水，写下了《永州八记》等山水名篇，其中《始得西山宴游记》所记西山，正与此诗西岩相合。此诗写永州湘江边的渔翁，从夜宿、晓汲、燃竹写到烟销日出、欸乃一声，再写到回看天际、无心云逐，实际上是以渔翁自况，寄寓诗人贬后孤寂自守、寄情山水之怀。中唐时代，宦官专权、藩镇割据，朝政日非，柳宗元身遭贬逐，其山水诗遂多带孤峭清冷之气，此诗正是贬谪文学与山水清音结合的典范，也是研究柳宗元永州时期精神世界与艺术追求的关键文本。

Art

Six lines tell one event yet unfold like a painting: night lodging, dawn drawing water, lighting bamboo, mist clearing, rowing, looking back—and as time moves the figure fades gradually into the scene. 'One oar-song heard, and hills and stream turn green' breaks stillness with hearing and dyes the green through sound, a uniquely fine choice of words. The whole poem never states the poet's breast directly, yet a solitary, lofty spirit lives among the hills, the water, and the misty clouds.

此诗六句写一事，而层次如画，章法极简而意境极深。首二句写夜宿晓起：渔翁夜傍西岩而宿，清晨汲湘水、燃楚竹，是静谧的夜与晓；三四句写烟销日出：晨雾消散、日出东方，却不见渔翁人影，只听得欸乃一声，山水随之一片澄绿，是全诗的奇峰；末二句写回望：渔舟已顺流而下至中流，回看天际，岩上无心的白云正相互追逐，是远去的背影与闲适的云天。全诗以时间为序，夜、晓、日出、中流，而人物渐隐于景：起笔渔翁在画中（夜傍、晓汲、燃竹），三四句人已不见（不见人，唯闻欸乃），末二句人更远去（下中流），人物由显而隐，景物由近而远，正是以我观物、物我交融的化境。手法上，欸乃一声山水绿以听觉破静、以声染绿，是通感与移觉的妙笔；全篇不直抒胸臆，而孤高之气自在山水云烟之间，含蓄蕴藉，清空奇绝，是中唐山水诗不可多得的精品。更妙者，全诗无一字写渔翁之愁苦，亦无一字写诗人自身，而夜宿之孤、晓汲之清、欸乃之闲、云逐之逸，处处皆是诗人贬后心境的投射，此即羚羊挂角、无迹可求之境。六句之中，动静、远近、声色、人我皆成对照，而浑然一体，愈读愈见其妙。

Allusions

'Chu bamboo' stands for the bamboo faggots of the Xiang region in Yongzhou. 'Clouds without purpose' reworks Tao Yuanming's 'Returning Home': 'clouds, without purpose, leave the clefts,' writing a spontaneous, unhindered ease. 'Ainai' is itself the sound of sculling, later taken as the boatman's song of the Xiang.

此诗用典不多，而处处有传统与本事可寻。西岩即永州西山，柳宗元有《始得西山宴游记》，言西山特立而不与培塿为类，正是其孤高自守的人格写照，此诗渔翁夜傍西岩而宿，暗含与西山同其孤峭之意；清湘指清澈的湘水，永州正在湘江上游，湘字既点明地域，又暗牵湘妃斑竹的传说——《博物志》载舜南巡死于苍梧，二妃泣泪洒竹成斑，是为湘竹，楚竹即此，燃楚竹而炊，于寻常渔事中带上楚地神话的幽远色彩；欸乃本为摇橹之声，唐代湘中有《欸乃曲》（元结有拟作），后人遂以欸乃为湘中棹歌之声，此处以声写景，尤见地方风调；无心云化用陶渊明《归去来兮辞》云无心以出岫，写白云舒卷自如、不滞于物，正是诗人向往的任运自然之境。至于渔翁形象，则承《楚辞·渔父》沧浪之水清兮，可以濯吾缨以来隐者渔父的传统，柳宗元另有《江雪》孤舟蓑笠翁，独钓寒江雪与此诗互为表里，皆以渔翁自况。

Commentary

Su Shi, in his note on Liu Zongyuan's 'The Fisherman,' said 'poetry takes strange delight as its root… the last two lines, though present, might as well not be,' starting the debate over cutting the ending. Yan Yu's Canglang Remarks on Poetry called its manner 'generally thus, beyond explaining.'

此诗向为论者激赏，苏轼《书柳子厚渔翁诗》一段评论尤为著名：诗以奇趣为宗，反常合道为趣。熟味此诗有奇趣。然其尾两句，虽不必亦可。——苏轼既拈出奇趣二字概括此诗之妙，又提出末二句可删的疑问，遂引发千载删末句之争：主张删者以为烟销日出不见人，欸乃一声山水绿已臻化境，末二句蛇足；反对者以为回看天际下中流，岩上无心云相逐以闲云收束，正是陶渊明式超然意境的完成，不可删。宋人严羽《沧浪诗话》评柳宗元诗深得骚学，其山水诗体格高古、清峭孤绝，此诗正是代表。就价值言，此诗以二十一字写尽渔翁一日之晨与山水之清空，将骚体之幽怨化为山水之清音，是贬谪文学从悲愤走向超越的标志；其欸乃一声山水绿一句，更为历代画师、诗人反复取资，苏轼、黄庭坚等皆受其奇趣沾溉，影响及于宋元山水诗画，历久不衰。近人论柳诗，多谓其清峭之中有孤愤，孤愤之中有超然，此诗正是集三者于一身者。其于中国山水诗史之地位，可与王维之空灵、孟浩然之清淡鼎足而三，而自具冷峭一格。

Prosody

Form Seven-character ancient poem (oblique-rhymed)七言古诗（近骚体，仄韵）

Rhyme Entering-tone xie rhyme (lodge, bamboo, green, chase), with the yu rhyme (man, current) interspersed押入声韵：宿（一屋）、竹（一屋）、绿（二沃）、逐（一屋），屋沃通押，首句即入韵，偶句皆押；间以平声句人（真）、流（尤）不收韵

Tone pattern Ancient form, no strict level-oblique bonding七言古体，不拘近体平仄粘对；仄声韵脚促急，平声句舒缓，形成顿挫的节奏

Reading note Near the 'Fisherman' song in manner; staggered rhyme feet.此诗为七言古诗，用仄声韵，属古体诗中声情峻急的一路。就押韵言，全诗六句，宿（一屋）、竹（一屋）、绿（二沃）、逐（一屋）四字押入声韵，屋沃通押，首句宿即入韵，其后第二、四、六句（竹、绿、逐）皆押，一韵到底，而第三句人（真韵）、第五句流（尤韵）为平声句，不押韵，夹于仄韵之间，形成平仄交替的节奏。入声韵短促而急促，正合晨光破晓、橹声欸乃的节奏感；平声句则舒缓悠长，写云之闲适、舟之远行，声情与辞情相谐。就平仄言，七言古体不拘近体粘对，此诗渔翁夜傍西岩宿为平平仄仄平平仄（仄收），晓汲清湘燃楚竹为仄仄平平平仄仄，两句相对而不粘，正是古体本色；烟销日出不见人为平平仄仄仄仄平，欸乃一声山水绿为仄仄仄平平仄仄，平仄参差，不避三仄（不见人三仄），古意盎然。就体式言，此诗六句三韵，句式长短参差，近于楚辞骚体与渔父歌谣，柳宗元深得骚学（严羽语），此诗正是以骚体之幽怨入山水之清音的典范，音节之顿挫与意境之清空相得益彰。

Line by line

渔翁夜傍西岩宿，晓汲清湘燃楚竹。

The old fisherman moors for the night below West Rock; at dawn he draws the clear Xiang and burns Chu bamboo.

渔翁夜来傍着西山岩下歇宿，清晨汲取清澈的湘水、燃起楚地的竹薪。

At night the fisherman rests below West Rock; at dawn he draws water from the clear Xiang and lights a fire of Chu bamboo.

起笔两句写渔翁一夜一晨的生活，静谧而古朴，为全诗立下清空基调。夜傍西岩宿点出时间（夜）、地点（西岩）、人物（渔翁）——西岩即永州西山，柳宗元《始得西山宴游记》曾记其特立之姿，渔翁傍岩而宿，人与岩俱是孤峭自守之物，暗寓诗人自我；晓汲清湘燃楚竹写清晨汲湘水而炊、燃楚竹为薪，两个动作一取水、一取薪，寻常之极，然清湘之清、楚竹之楚，皆带楚地风物与湘妃斑竹传说的幽远色彩，使平凡的渔事染上神话与诗意的光泽。两句以时间为序，夜而晓，静谧而安详，渔翁与自然浑然一体，未见其情而其高洁自守之怀已隐然可见，是全诗以渔翁自况的起点，也为后文人物渐隐于景的章法作了铺垫。

The opening two lines write the fisherman's night and morning, quiet and archaic, setting the poem's clear, empty keynote. At night the fisherman rests below West Rock fixes time (night), place (West Rock), person (the fisherman) - West Rock is Yongzhou's West Mountain, which Liu Zongyuan's Record of the First Visit to West Mountain described for its lofty stand; the fisherman lodging by the rock, both man and rock are solitary, self-keeping things, secretly holding the poet's self. At dawn he draws water from the clear Xiang and lights a fire of Chu bamboo writes the morning drawing of Xiang water and cooking, burning Chu bamboo as fuel; two actions, one drawing water, one gathering fuel, most ordinary, yet the clear Xiang's clearness and the Chu bamboo's Chu both carry the remote color of Chu-land scenery and the Xiang consort's spotted-bamboo legend, making the humble fishery take on mythic and poetic sheen. The two lines follow time's order, night to dawn, quiet and peaceful, the fisherman fused with nature; his feeling not shown, yet his pure self-keeping heart already visible - the starting point for the fisherman-as-self-comparison, also preparing the craft of the person gradually hidden in scenery below.

烟销日出不见人，欸乃一声山水绿。

Mist clears, the sun rises - no man is seen; with one oar's cry, hills and waters turn green.

雾散日出却不见了人影，只听得欸乃摇橹一声，山水顿时一片澄绿。

Mist scatters, the sun rises, yet no man is visible; with one creak of the oar, hills and waters glow green.

此二句是全诗的奇峰，也是中国山水诗中最著名的句子之一，其妙有四。一妙在不见人：晨雾消散、日出东方，渔翁却已不见人影，人隐于山水之间，物我合一，正是道家无我之境；二妙在以声写人：欸乃一声——不见其人，但闻其声，摇橹之声从雾中、从山水间传来，人虽隐而生命自在，以听觉补视觉之缺，虚实相生；三妙在以声染绿：山水绿三字，仿佛这欸乃一声使山水顿时由朦胧转为澄绿，声音化为了颜色，是通感（移觉）的极致运用，一声破静，万象更新；四妙在炼字：绿字形容词作动词（使动），写山水因一声而绿遍，既是日出雾散后的实景，又是诗人主观感受的投射。两句二十一字，把日出雾散、人隐声闻、山水转绿的过程写得如诗如画，清空奇绝，为苏轼奇趣之评作了最好的注脚。

These two lines are the poem's fantastic peak, also one of Chinese landscape poetry's most famous lines; its subtlety has four points. First, the unseen man: morning mist disperses, the sun rises in the east, yet the fisherman is already nowhere seen; the man hidden between hills and waters, thing and self as one, precisely the Daoist no-self realm. Second, writing the man through sound: one oar's cry - the man unseen, but his sound heard; the oar's creak coming from the mist, from between hills and waters; the man hidden, yet life itself present; hearing supplements sight, void and solid generating. Third, dyeing green through sound: hills and waters turn green, as if this one oar cry instantly turns the hills and waters from dim to clear green; sound converted to color, the synesthesia's extreme use; one cry breaks stillness, all things renewed. Fourth, the refining of words: green used as a causative verb, writing hills and waters turning green because of one sound; at once the real scene after sunrise and mist-clearing, and the poet's subjective projection. Within twenty-one characters, the process of sunrise, mist clearing, the man hidden, the sound heard, the hills and waters turning green is written as poetry and painting, clear, empty, extraordinary - the best footnote to Su Shi's praise of its strange charm.

回看天际下中流，岩上无心云相逐。

Looking back to the sky's edge, he descends the midstream; above the rock, unhurried clouds chase one another.

回望天边，船已顺流而下，岩上无心的白云正相互追逐。

Looking back to the skyline, the boat glides down the midstream; on the rock, unmotivated clouds chase one another.

末二句写渔舟远去与云天闲适，是全诗意境完成的收束，也是苏轼删末句之争的焦点。回看天际下中流写渔翁回望来处——船已顺流而下，行至中流，回看天际，来路的西岩已在苍茫远处，一回看写尽人去之后渔翁（亦是诗人）的从容回眸，舟行之速与山行之缓对照，空间渐远而情思不绝；岩上无心云相逐写岩上白云悠然舒卷、相互追逐，无心二字化用陶渊明云无心以出岫，既写云之自在舒卷，不假人力，又暗写人之无滞于心、任运自然，是双关妙笔。两句以白云收束，人与云俱无心，山水之清空与心境之超然浑融为一，若删去，则诗意止于山水绿的奇景而少一重超然之境，故不删者为多。此二句正是诗人贬谪十年后由悲愤转向超脱的精神写照。

The last two lines write the fisherman's boat departing and the cloud sky's leisure, the completion of the poem's realm, also the focus of Su Shi's debate over deleting the last line. Looking back to the skyline, the boat glides down the midstream writes the fisherman looking back whence he came - the boat already sailing downstream, reaching the midstream; looking back to the sky's edge, the West Rock of the source already far in the vast distance; one looking-back exhausts the calm turning of the fisherman (also the poet) after the person's going; the boat's speed set against the mountain's slowness, space receding yet feeling unbroken. On the rock, unmotivated clouds chase one another writes the rock-top white clouds leisurely unrolling and rolling up, chasing one another; unmotivated adapts Tao Yuanming's clouds unhurriedly leaving the ridge, at once writing the clouds' free unrolling, without human effort, and secretly writing the man's no-blocking heart, following nature - a double-meaning subtle stroke. The two lines close in white clouds; man and clouds both unmotivated, the hills and waters' clear emptiness fused with the mind's transcendence; if deleted, the poetic meaning would stop at the hills-and-waters-turning-green wonder, losing a layer of transcendence - hence those who do not delete are the many. These two lines are precisely the spiritual portrait of the poet, after ten years of exile, turning from grief to transcendence.

Study

Word focus

绿 Used as a causative—at one oar-song the hills and water all turn green; a word so chosen it paints like a brush. 欸乃一声山水绿之绿字，是全诗的诗眼，也是中国诗学炼字的经典案例。此字本为形容词，此处用作使动（一说意动），谓欸乃一声，山水为之变绿——绿不是山水本然之色被看见，而是被这一声唤醒的：日出雾散，山水本已转绿，诗人却偏说因一声而绿，把色彩的呈现与声音的入耳编织在一起，视觉与听觉打通，正是通感（移觉）手法的极致。其妙还在绿字的绵长感：绿非红非白，是一种弥漫、铺展的色，写山水整体之碧，正合江天开阔之境，若易为翠、碧，则失其平远。此字一出，一声便不只是声音，而是唤醒山水的契机，是诗人主体精神与自然客体的遇合点，故历来论者无不拈出此字，以为奇趣所在，也是此诗炼字最可圈点处。

欸乃 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 欸乃一词，是全诗最具风调的声音意象，亦是唐诗中著名的象声词。欸乃本为摇橹之声，唐代湘中一带以之为棹歌之声，元结有《欸乃曲》五首，柳宗元此诗之后，欸乃更成诗家习用语，苏轼、黄庭坚等屡用之。其妙有三：一是以声写静，夜宿晓起、烟销日出，天地本是一片寂静，欸乃一声破空而来，愈见山水之静，是以声衬静、动中见静；二是以声写人，前句不见人而此句欸乃一声，人虽隐于山水，其存在却由这一声得到确证，虚实相生；三是声入景中，欸乃一声山水绿，声音未歇而山水已绿，听觉感受转化为视觉色彩，声与色通感交融。一个拟声词，兼写静、写人、写色，含蕴之富，无出其右，遂成为山水诗中以声写境的标志性语汇。

无心 Puns the clouds' ease and the man's unhindered heart, hinting at the poet's own vestment. 岩上无心云相逐之无心二字，是双关妙笔，亦是全诗精神归宿之所在。就写云而言，无心写白云舒卷自如、不假人力、无意相逐而自相追逐之态，与陶渊明《归去来兮辞》云无心以出岫一脉相承，是自然界最自在的意象；就写人而言，无心暗写诗人贬谪之后无滞于物、不系于心、随遇而安的心境——云无心而自逐，人无心而自适，云与人合而为一。此二字看似寻常，实为全诗点题：前此写渔翁夜宿、晓汲、燃竹、欸乃，皆是有心的劳作，至此云之无心一出，渔翁（诗人）由劳而逸、由执而放的精神历程豁然开朗。苏轼评此诗反常合道，正谓此——无心二字，正是贬谪文人从悲愤走向超脱的道之所在，也是柳宗元山水诗在清冷孤峭之外开出的一线暖色。

渔翁