渔翁
Yú Wēng
The Fisherman
柳宗元 (Liu Zongyuan) · Tang Dynasty · 773–819
Original Text
渔翁夜傍西岩宿，
yú wēng yè bàng xī yán sù,
晓汲清湘燃楚竹。
xiǎo jí qīng xiāng rán chǔ zhú.
烟销日出不见人，
yān xiāo rì chū bù jiàn rén,
欸乃一声山水绿。
ǎi nǎi yī shēng shān shuǐ lǜ.
回看天际下中流，
huí kàn tiān jì xià zhōng liú,
岩上无心云相逐。
yán shàng wú xīn yún xiāng zhú.
English Translation
The old fisherman sleeps by the western cliff at night; at dawn he draws clear Xiang River water and burns Chu bamboo. When the mist clears and the sun rises, he's nowhere to be seen — the creak of his oar, and the mountains and water turn green. Looking back at the sky's edge, he drifts mid-stream; above the cliff, carefree clouds chase one another.
Historical Background
Written during Liu Zongyuan's exile in Yongzhou (modern Hunan) around 810 AD. After being banished from the capital for his role in a failed political reform, Liu Zongyuan spent a decade in the remote south. This poem reflects his spiritual state — the fisherman is both a real figure and a projection of the poet's desire for freedom from worldly concerns.
Literary Analysis
The fourth line is one of the most celebrated in Chinese poetry: "欸乃一声山水绿" — a single sound of an oar, and suddenly the whole landscape turns green. It's a synesthetic masterpiece: sound transforms into color. The fisherman appears and vanishes like a spirit of the landscape. The final image of "mindless clouds" (无心云) chasing each other symbolizes the ideal Daoist state of acting without intention. Su Shi later suggested the final couplet was unnecessary, but most readers treasure its contemplative closure.
Details
Form
Seven-character Ancient Verse (七言古诗)
Theme
Seasons & Time
About Liu Zongyuan (柳宗元)
Liu Zongyuan was a leading prose stylist and poet of the Tang Dynasty, one of the 'Eight Great Prose Masters.' After a failed political reform, he was exiled to the remote south, where he wrote some of the most celebrated nature poetry and philosophical prose in Chinese literature.
2 poems by Liu Zongyuan in our collection
Traditional Chinese
漁翁夜傍西巖宿，曉汲清湘燃楚竹。煙銷日出不見人，欸乃一聲山水綠。回看天際下中流，巖上無心雲相逐。