210. Deer Enclosure | Wang Wei
Text
English translation
Original Chinese text
空山不见人，但闻人语响。
English translation
In the empty mountains no one can be seen; only the echo of human voices is heard.
Empty does not mean wholly uninhabited: voices reach the listener, though their speakers remain out of sight. The sound makes the surrounding stillness more palpable.
Original Chinese text
返景入深林，复照青苔上。
English translation
The returning light enters the deep forest and shines once more upon the green moss.
Returning light is the slanting glow of the setting sun. The first couplet lets a person be known through sound; this one reveals moss through light. No figure appears, only voice and light briefly crossing the woods.
赏析 · Commentary
先听见，再看见 · First Hearing, Then Seeing
这首诗的顺序很清楚：先写听觉，再写视觉。山里看不见人，却传来几句人声；树林很深，落日只照亮一小片青苔。王维没有铺陈山势，也没有交代人物，只选了两个短暂的变化。声音响过，光线移走，山林仍归于安静。
The poem moves in a precise order: hearing first, sight second. No person can be seen, yet a few voices arrive; the forest is deep, and the setting sun lights only a small patch of moss. Wang Wei gives neither a broad landscape nor a human story, only two brief changes. The voices pass, the light moves on, and the mountain returns to stillness.
“柴”为什么读 zhài · Why Zhai Is Pronounced Zhài
题目中的“柴”读 zhài，通“寨”，指用木栅围成的地方，不是柴火的 chái。鹿柴是王维辋川别业中的一处地名。知道这一点即可，不必把诗理解成写鹿：正文没有鹿，重点是山林中声音、夕光与青苔的变化。
In the title, the character 柴 is read zhài, an old form related to 寨, meaning a fenced enclosure, not chái, firewood. Deer Enclosure was a named site on Wang Wei's Wang River estate. The title does not require an actual deer in the poem; the verse is concerned with voices, evening light, and moss in a secluded landscape.