ChineseStudy

30. The Eastern Outskirts | Wei Yingwu

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English translation

Shut up in the office all year, I come out to the outskirts and the clear dawn is wide.

One word is cramped, the other open: tight indoors, released only past the city. The poem begins on that opening after closing.

The willows loosen in a mild wind; the green hills calm my cares.

One verb is the willow's movement, the other the settling of his mind. Scenery moves in the first line, the mind stills in the second.

Leaning against a thicket I rest as I please; following the ravine I go on, then turn back.

Turning back is walking with no destination. He does not say where he goes, only a stop and a movement, both taken at ease.

A light rain hazes the fragrant plain; somewhere a spring dove calls.

"Somewhere" is a call that cannot be located. The line before is visible, this one only audible, and the view starts to blur at this point.

Loving quiet, my heart stops again and again; bound to duties, my steps are still hurried.

One phrase means he has wanted to stop many times, the other that he still walks fast. Slow heart, quick feet — the couplet splits the man in two.

In the end I will give it up and build a hut here; in admiring Tao Yuanming I might truly come near him.

One phrase is the eventual resignation, the other a hope of getting close. The last line uses a word of possibility, leaving itself room and not overstating.

赏析 · Commentary

从「跼」到「旷」 · From Cramped to Wide

第一句写官署把人关了一年，第二句写出城就开阔了。两个字互为反面，是全诗的起点。韦应物不写自己什么时候出的城，也不写路上怎样，直接给了一个紧和一个松。后面四联都在这个「松」里进行：风、山、树丛、山涧、细雨、鸠声，一件一件摊开，全无安排过的痕迹。

The first line has the office holding him in for a year; the second has the countryside opening up. The two words are opposites and the poem starts on them. Wei Yingwu does not say when he left the city or how the road went, only gives a tightness and a looseness. The four couplets after all happen inside the looseness: wind, hills, thickets, ravine, light rain, a dove's call, spread out one by one with no sign of arrangement.

走两步又退回来 · Two Steps Out, Then Back

「依丛适自憩，缘涧还复去」写的都是些没结果的动作：靠一靠，歇一歇，沿涧走一段，再折回去。这种走法在别处要算浪费时间，在这里正是他要的。韦应物把「还复」两个字用得很轻，听起来像随步走，其实是这一天才第一次不用赶时间。

Leaning on a thicket and resting, following the ravine and turning back — these are actions with no outcome. Elsewhere that kind of walking would count as wasted time; here it is exactly what he wants. The words for turning back are lightly placed, so it sounds like idle strolling, and in fact this is the first day in a long while he has not had to hurry.

心慢脚快，最后要走 · Slow Heart, Quick Feet, and a Decision

「乐幽心屡止，遵事迹犹遽」是全诗写得最实的两句：心里想停，脚还在快。这一分裂不是新问题，是这一年官署生活的症结，郊游只把它显了出来。末联说最终要辞官、要在这里盖屋，还说明是学陶渊明。「可庶」两个字留了余地，等于承认自己现在还没做到。

The couplet about loving quiet and still hurrying is the most concrete in the poem: the heart wants to stop and the feet are still going fast. The split is not new; it is the trouble of a year in the office, and the outing only made it visible. The last couplet says he will finally resign and build a hut here, and names Tao Yuanming as the model. The word for possibility leaves room, admitting he has not managed it yet.

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