108. Gazing at the Han River | Wang Wei
Text
English translation
Original Chinese text
楚塞三湘接，荆门九派通。
English translation
At the Chu frontier it meets the Three Xiang; at Jingmen it joins the nine branches.
The Three Xiang and nine branches write the breadth of the water system. The opening couplet takes the geographical view, giving the Han's position and course, of wide scope.
Original Chinese text
江流天地外，山色有无中。
English translation
The river flows beyond heaven and earth; the hills' color lies between being and nothing.
These are the famous lines. Beyond heaven and earth writes the river's reach, between being and nothing the hills' faintness. Both push the scene to the limit of sight, and they are unmatched for far views.
Original Chinese text
郡邑浮前浦，波澜动远空。
English translation
The towns float on the waterside ahead; the waves shake the distant sky.
Float and shake are both illusions: towns do not float, the water moves; the sky does not shake, the waves roll. The couplet writes the breadth of the water, making even towns and sky move with it.
Original Chinese text
襄阳好风日，留醉与山翁。
English translation
Xiangyang has fine weather and wind; I would stay and drink with Master Shan.
Master Shan is Shan Jian of the Jin, who drank often while governing Xiangyang. The last couplet passes from scene to person, saying he would stay and drink here, a praise of Xiangyang.
赏析 · Commentary
「山色有无中」为什么被反复称道 · Why Hills Between Being and Nothing Is So Praised
「江流天地外，山色有无中」两句，历来被认为是写远景的极则。「江流天地外」写水，江流到看不见的地方，像是流出了天地之外；「山色有无中」写山，远山淡到几乎看不见，介于有和无之间。两句的共同点是都写到视觉的边界——超越了这个边界，景物就只剩「流着」和「似乎有」两种状态。这种写法要求诗人对远距离的视觉经验非常敏感，王维作为画家，正长于此。
The river flows beyond heaven and earth, the hills' color between being and nothing are long held to be the summit of far-view writing. The first writes water flowing where it cannot be seen, as though out past heaven and earth; the second writes hills so faint they nearly vanish, between existing and not. What they share is writing to the boundary of sight — beyond it, the scene is left as only flowing and seeming to be. The method demands acute sensitivity to long-distance seeing, and Wang Wei the painter excelled at it.
王维写水的不同层次 · The Layers of Wang Wei's Water
这首诗四联都在写汉江，但角度各不相同。首联写水系的地理联系，颔联写江山的远景，颈联写水面的波动，末联写人对这片水的态度。四联由地理到视觉、到错觉、到情感，一步步走近。王维写水善于分层：远看是「天地外」，近看是「浮前浦」，再近是「波澜动远空」。同一片水，在不同距离上呈现不同的样子。
All four couplets write the Han River, each from a different angle. The opening gives the water system's geographical links, the second the far view of river and hills, the third the motion of the surface, the last a person's attitude toward it. The four move from geography to sight to illusion to feeling, drawing nearer at each step. Wang Wei layers water well: from afar it is beyond heaven and earth, nearer it is towns floating on the bank, nearer still the waves shake the distant sky. One body of water takes different looks at different distances.
末联的「山翁」是谁 · Who Is Master Shan
「山翁」指晋代的山简，他曾镇守襄阳，性好饮酒，常到习家池宴饮，醉后骑马而归。襄阳人为此作歌。王维用这个典故，是把襄阳的风物和一个熟悉这片土地的历史人物联系起来，等于说：这里的风光好，好到连古人都愿意在此长醉。末联看似随口一句留醉，背后是这个典故在撑。
Master Shan is Shan Jian of the Jin, who governed Xiangyang, loved drink, often feasted at the Xi family pool, and rode home drunk. The people of Xiangyang made a song of it. Wang Wei uses the allusion to tie Xiangyang's scenery to a man who knew the place, in effect saying its beauty is such that even the ancients would drink here long. The last couplet looks like a throwaway wish to stay and drink, and the allusion holds it up.