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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

访戴天山道士不遇

Calling at Mount Daishan to See the Taoist Priest — and Not Finding Him

李白

Li Bai

寻访Seeking a Recluse 山水Landscape

犬吠水声中，桃花带露浓。
树深时见鹿，溪午不闻钟。
野竹分青霭，飞泉挂碧峰。
无人知所去，愁倚两三松。

A dog barks in the sound of water;
Peach blossoms wear the heavy dew.
Deep in the trees one constantly sees deer;
At noon by the stream the bell is not heard.
Wild bamboo divides the blue haze;
A flying spring hangs from the green peak.
No one knows where he has gone;
I lean, sorrowful, beneath two or three pines.

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Meaning

Li Bai goes up to Mount Daishan to visit a Taoist priest who lives there and cannot be found. The poem is entirely about the place he finds instead: water loud with a barking dog, dew-heavy peach blossom, deer moving in the deep trees, no bell at midday, wild bamboo splitting the mist, a waterfall hanging off a green peak. Then the last couplet admits the reason for the visit — no one can say where the priest has gone — and the poet, disappointed, rests against two or three pines. The priest is present only as absence, and the absence is what makes the mountain worth describing.

犬吠水声中，桃花带露浓。树深时见鹿，溪午不闻钟。野竹分青霭，飞泉挂碧峰。无人知所去，愁倚两三松。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The first six lines are the mountain; the last two are the visit that failed. Critically, the failed visit produces no complaint: the mountain is so beautiful that the absence of its master hardly registers as a loss.[Structure] The poem is a strict five-character regulated verse, and its middle couplet is the famous one — 'deep in the trees one sees deer, at noon by the stream the bell is not heard' — which gives the two kinds of silence at once, the silence of animals and the silence of a temple with no bell.[Imagery] Li Bai works with pairings and negative spaces: sound against silence (a barking dog, an unheard bell), closeness against height (wild bamboo dividing the mist, a spring hanging from a peak). The last word, 'sorrowful', is attached to a pine, so the poet's emotion and the mountain's stillness become one.[Diction] 'Divides', 'hangs', 'not heard' are the whole poem's verbs; nothing is asserted, everything is observed.

【白话串讲】李白写《访戴天山道士不遇》：“犬吠水声中，桃花带露浓”——“树深时见鹿，溪午不闻钟”——“野竹分青霭，飞泉挂碧峰”——“无人知所去，愁倚两三松”——他访道士不遇——树深时见鹿。【意象与手法】此诗写访隐，以山水写访隐，是李白的名篇。前六句写寻访：「犬吠水声中，桃花带露浓。树深时见鹿，溪午不闻钟。野竹分青霭，飞泉挂碧峰」写犬吠水声中、桃花带露浓、树深时见鹿、溪午不闻钟——写尽寻访的山水；后二句写不遇：「无人知所去，愁倚两三松」写无人知所去、愁倚两三松——写尽不遇的惆怅。全诗以山水写访隐，写尽寻访的山水与不遇的惆怅，是李白的代表作。【情感与主旨】此诗写访隐，以山水写访隐，是李白的名篇。此诗写李白青年时访戴天山道士不遇的经历。戴天山在绵州（今四川江油），李白少年时曾隐居大匡山读书，戴天山即其地附近。李白入山访道士而不遇，沿途所见山水清幽，归途倚松怅望，遂作此诗，是中国山水访隐诗的名篇。此诗写寻访：犬吠水声中，桃花带露浓——写犬吠水声中、桃花带露浓，写尽清晨的寻访；树深时见鹿，溪午不闻钟——写树深时见鹿、溪午不闻钟，写尽山中的清幽；野竹分青霭，飞泉挂碧峰——写野竹分青霭、飞泉挂碧峰，写尽山水的幽深；无人知所去，愁倚两三松——写无人知所去、愁倚两三松，写尽不遇的惆怅。全诗以山水写访隐——那「树深时见鹿」写尽山中的清幽，「愁倚两三松」写尽不遇的惆怅，写尽寻访的山水与不遇的惆怅，是理解李白访隐诗的重要篇章。【名句点睛】常考「犬吠水声中，桃花带露浓」写清晨的寻访；「树深时见鹿，溪午不闻钟」写山中的清幽；以及全诗以山水写访隐、以白描写出林的手法。

Background

Mount Daishan lies north of Chengdu and was one of the Taoist centres of the Shu region, with a clifftop temple reached by a long climb. Li Bai was born in the west of the empire and spent his youth in Sichuan, living at Chengdu and in the mountains near it in his early twenties before leaving for the east. He was from the beginning drawn to Taoism and to the idea of the hermit priest, and this is one of the earliest surviving poems of that period. It is dated to his twenties, before he ever sought office at the capital.

此诗写访隐，以山水写访隐，是李白的名篇。李白（701—762），字太白，号青莲居士，祖籍陇西成纪（今甘肃秦安），生于碎叶，唐代诗人，与杜甫并称「李杜」，为浪漫主义诗人。此诗写李白青年时访戴天山道士不遇的经历。戴天山在绵州（今四川江油），李白少年时曾隐居大匡山读书，戴天山即其地附近。李白入山访道士而不遇，沿途所见山水清幽，归途倚松怅望，遂作此诗，是中国山水访隐诗的名篇。此诗写寻访：「犬吠水声中，桃花带露浓」写犬吠水声中、桃花带露浓——写尽清晨的寻访（犬吠水声中，桃花带露浓）；「树深时见鹿，溪午不闻钟」写树深时见鹿、溪午不闻钟——写尽山中的清幽（树深时见鹿，溪午不闻钟）；「野竹分青霭，飞泉挂碧峰」写野竹分青霭、飞泉挂碧峰——写尽山水的幽深（野竹分青霭，飞泉挂碧峰）；「无人知所去，愁倚两三松」写无人知所去、愁倚两三松——写尽不遇的惆怅（无人知所去，愁倚两三松）。全诗以山水写访隐，写尽寻访的山水与不遇的惆怅，是理解李白访隐诗的重要篇章。

Art

The poem's whole craft is in what it refuses to say. A visitor who fails to find a man could write a poem about the man; Li Bai writes a poem about the forest, the deer, the water and the pines, and lets the missing priest be inferred from the one thing that is missing in the scene — a temple bell at noon. The two central couplets are built on deliberate contradiction: bustling silence and serene noise, so that the reader is left with a landscape that is alive and empty at the same time. The closing line performs exactly the gesture its subject requires — the poet leans against something because there is nothing left to do.

此诗的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以白写出林景。「犬吠水声中」以白写出林景——那「犬吠」「水声」写尽山中清晨的声响，以白描写尽寻访的山水。其二，以动静写清幽。「树深时见鹿，溪午不闻钟」以动静写清幽——那「见鹿」「不闻钟」写尽鹿见钟不闻的动静，以动静写尽山中的清幽。其三，以色彩写幽深。「野竹分青霭，飞泉挂碧峰」以色彩写幽深——那「青霭」「碧峰」写尽竹泉的青碧，以色彩写尽山水的幽深。其四，以直抒写惆怅。「愁倚两三松」以直抒写惆怅——那「愁倚」写尽倚松的惆怅，以直抒写尽不遇的惆怅。此外，此诗前六句写寻访的山水，后二句写不遇的惆怅，由寻及不遇，正是访隐诗「以景写情」的写法。四重手法，使此诗以山水写访隐，写尽寻访的山水与不遇的惆怅，是李白的代表作。此诗还善于以「犬吠水声中，桃花带露浓」的声响与色彩写清晨的山景——那「犬吠」与「水声」相和，写听觉中的山居气息，「桃花带露浓」以「浓」写露重花艳，正是晨光初露时的山行所见。又善以「不闻钟」的细节暗示道士不在——道观钟声本应午时即鸣，而「不闻钟」正是无人居住的暗示，为末句「无人知所去」伏笔。

Allusions

The deer and the pine are the standard emblems of the Taoist hermitage: deer appear in the Zhuangzi as the animals that belong to the mountain, and pines are the tree of long life that a recluse is identified with. The unheard bell implies the temple of Mount Daishan without naming it, so the poem's sacred architecture is present only as a sound that does not come. The whole piece belongs to the search-poem tradition in which the failure to find the hermit is what certifies his worth.

此诗的用语深植于访隐与山水传统。「犬吠」令人想到「犬吠」写犬吠的意象——也令人想到「犬吠水声中」的意象；「桃花」令人想到「桃花」写桃花的意象——也令人想到「桃花流水窅然去」（李白）的意象；「见鹿」令人想到「见鹿」写见鹿的意象——也令人想到「林深时见鹿」的意象；「钟」令人想到「钟」写钟声的意象——山中道观之钟，也令人想到「夜半钟声到客船」（张继）的意象；「青霭」令人想到「青霭」写青烟的意象——也令人想到「白云回望合，青霭入看无」（王维）的意象；「飞泉」令人想到「飞泉」写飞瀑的意象——也令人想到「飞流直下三千尺」（李白）的意象。全诗化用犬吠、桃花、见鹿、钟、青霭、飞泉的意象，以山水写访隐，正是李白「清新」而善白描、承访隐传统写出林之本领。「溪午不闻钟」令人想到「姑苏城外寒山寺，夜半钟声到客船」（张继）以钟声写寺庙的意象，此处反以「不闻钟」写道观之空寂；「飞泉挂碧峰」令人想到「遥看瀑布挂前川」（李白）以「挂」写瀑布之高的意象，正见李白善以「挂」字写飞泉的笔法。

Commentary

This is among the most-quoted of Li Bai's early poems and has been praised since the Song for the exactness of its landscape observation, unusual in a poet usually credited with pure imagination. Commentators single out the fourth line for containing both the deer and the missing bell in one couplet, and the final couplet for making a stylist's poem out of a simple disappointment. The poem is often placed beside Jia Dao's 'Searching for the Recluse and Not Finding Him' as the two great tang versions of the same errand.

此诗历来被推为李白访隐诗的名篇，也是唐人写出林访隐的典型。历代论者对此诗评价极高：清人评此诗「以山水写访隐，清新超逸」；近人更指出「树深时见鹿，溪午不闻钟」写山中的清幽，是此诗的名句。在诗歌史上，此诗的特殊价值在于：它以八句的五律写尽寻访的山水与不遇的惆怅——那犬吠，那水声，那桃花，那带露浓，那树深，那见鹿，那溪午，那不闻钟，那野竹，那青霭，那飞泉，那碧峰，那无人，那两三松，都写尽了李白笔下的戴天山；那「愁倚两三松」更以直抒写尽不遇的惆怅。此诗与李白《访戴天山道士不遇》诸访隐诗同为名篇，与贾岛《寻隐者不遇》（「松下问童子」）同为访隐名篇，一写「云深不知处」的寻隐者（寻隐者不遇），一写「树深时见鹿」的访道士（访戴天山道士不遇）；又与王维「空山不见人」的山林传统一脉相承，可见中国诗写访隐的传统。对于今日读者，此诗是理解李白访隐诗的窗口，也是中国诗写出林的经典——那倚松的惆怅，穿越千年，仍在诉说着访隐的清幽。此诗为李白早年的作品，写于其少年读书大匡山、访戴天山道士之时，是李白现存诗中较早的一篇律诗。全诗以白描写出林清幽之景，末以「无人知所去，愁倚两三松」作结，访而不遇的惆怅尽在不言之中。后世论者多以此诗见李白早年即具「清水出芙蓉，天然去雕饰」的清新风格，与晚年《望庐山瀑布》等豪放之作合观，可见其风格的发展轨迹。

Prosody

Form Five-character regulated verse诗·五言律诗

Rhyme Rhymes on the Dong category — 'heavy', 'bell', 'peak', 'pine' — level tone, one rhyme throughout, its clear, ringing sound suiting the mountain.五律，押「浓」「钟」「峰」「松」韵（上平二冬），一韵到底，音节清越

Tone pattern Level tone carried steadily through all eight lines; the even cadence of the regulated verse keeps the scene calm.此诗为五言律诗，押平声韵，一韵到底，音节清越，正合山林的清越。

Reading note Eight lines of five characters. The first four give the approach, the second couplet turns, the last four the failure; the rhyme on 'pine' closes on a single tree.此诗为五言律诗，八句——「犬吠水声中，桃花带露浓。树深时见鹿，溪午不闻钟。野竹分青霭，飞泉挂碧峰。无人知所去，愁倚两三松」，押「冬」韵（浓、钟、峰、松），一韵到底，音节清越。全诗以山水写访隐：前六句写寻访的山水（犬吠水声中、野竹分青霭），后二句写不遇的惆怅（无人知所去、愁倚两三松）。八句短章，前写寻访，后写不遇，以「愁倚两三松」写尽不遇的惆怅，正见李白「清新」的本色。诵读此诗，宜以清越的语调读「树深时见鹿」的清幽，以低回的语调读「愁倚两三松」的惆怅，结句要读得清越而有余韵，方能传达出李白的清新超逸。李白律诗以「清新」著称，此诗正是其访隐律诗的典范。

Line by line

树深时见鹿，溪午不闻钟

Deep in the trees one constantly sees deer; at noon by the stream the bell is not heard.

树深时见鹿，溪午不闻钟。

In the deep woods, deer are seen from time to time; by the noon stream, no temple bell is heard.

此二句是全诗写清幽的核心，以树深时见鹿写见鹿，以溪午不闻钟写不闻钟，写尽山中的清幽，是千古名句。「树深时见鹿」写树深时见鹿——那「树深」写树深，「时见鹿」写时见鹿，写尽树深的见鹿；「溪午不闻钟」写溪午不闻钟——那「溪午」写溪午，「不闻钟」写不闻钟，写尽溪午的钟不闻。这句的深意在于：它以「树深时见鹿」的见鹿与「溪午不闻钟」的不闻钟，写尽山中的清幽——树深时见鹿，那「树深时见鹿」写尽树深的见鹿——树深见鹿，正是深林幽境的写照，那「时见鹿」写尽山中的清幽；溪午不闻钟，那「溪午不闻钟」写尽溪午的钟不闻——溪午不闻钟，正是道观无声的写照，那「不闻钟」写尽山中的清幽；那「树深时见鹿」写尽树深的见鹿，那「溪午不闻钟」写尽溪午的钟不闻，一写见鹿，一写不闻钟，写尽山中的清幽——树深见鹿而溪午无钟，正是访隐不遇的写照；此二句以见鹿、不闻钟写尽山中的清幽，也为下文的野竹飞泉作铺垫，也让此二句成为全诗写清幽的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「山里很安静，还有鹿」，则失其禅意；唯以「树深时见鹿」写见鹿、「溪午不闻钟」写不闻钟，写尽山中的清幽，也让此二句成为全诗写清幽的核心。

The quiet. In the deep woods, deer are seen from time to time; by the noon stream, no temple bell is heard. The deer glimpsed in the deep wood and the noon stream with no bell are the Taoist's silence. To have described a quiet mountain wood would be scenery; the deep-woods-deer-seen-now-and-again against the noon-stream-no-bell-heard is the scenery.

无人知所去，愁倚两三松

No one knows where he has gone; I lean, sorrowful, beneath two or three pines.

无人知所去，愁倚两三松。

No one knows where he has gone; grieving, I lean on two or three pines.

此二句是全诗写惆怅的核心，以无人知所去写知所去，以愁倚两三松写愁倚，写尽不遇的惆怅，是千古名句。「无人知所去」写无人知所去——那「无人」写无人，「知所去」写知所去，写尽无人的不知；「愁倚两三松」写愁倚两三松——那「愁倚」写愁倚，「两三松」写两三松，写尽倚松的惆怅。这句的深意在于：它以「无人知所去」的无人与「愁倚两三松」的愁倚，写尽不遇的惆怅——无人知所去，那「无人知所去」写尽无人的不知——无人知去，正是道士难寻的写照，那「无人」写尽不遇的惆怅；愁倚两三松，那「愁倚两三松」写尽倚松的惆怅——愁倚两三松，正是倚松怅望的写照，那「愁倚」写尽不遇的惆怅；那「无人知所去」写尽无人的不知，那「愁倚两三松」写尽倚松的惆怅，一写无人，一写愁倚，写尽不遇的惆怅——无人知去而愁倚松间，正是访隐不遇的写照；此二句以无人、愁倚写尽不遇的惆怅，也让此二句成为全诗写惆怅的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「没找到道士，很失望地走了」，则失其诗意；唯以「无人知所去」写知所去、「愁倚两三松」写愁倚，写尽不遇的惆怅，也让此二句成为全诗写惆怅的核心。

The pines. No one knows where he has gone; grieving, I lean on two or three pines. The no-one-knows-where and the leaning on the two-or-three pines are the failed visit. To have described leaning on the pines in disappointment would be a mood; the no-one-knows-where-he-has-gone against the grieving-leaning-on-two-or-three-pines is the mood.

Study

Word focus

深 Deep, and both literal and relational — the depth of the trees that hides the deer and so makes their sight an occasional surprise. 「树深时见鹿」之「深」字是写清幽的关键词，一个「深」字写尽树深的幽静。深者，深邃、幽深也。李白以「树深时见鹿」写清幽，这个「深」字至少有双重意味：其一，写林之深——那「树深时见鹿」写树深时见鹿，那「深」字写尽树林的深邃——树深见鹿，正是深林幽境的写照，那「深」字写尽山中的清幽；其二，写境之幽——那「深」字更是写幽——深，正见山林之幽，那「深」字写尽寻访的清幽。以「深」字写清幽，正是李白写访隐的枢纽——若换作「高」「密」等字，则或失其与「树」「时见鹿」的配合，或失其写深的意味；唯「深」字，以树深时见鹿写尽树林的深邃与山林之幽，与「溪午不闻钟」的不闻钟相合，写尽山中的清幽，也让「树深时见鹿」成为全诗写清幽的名句。

愁 Sorrow. Here it is attached to the poet leaning against the pines, so the mood is quiet enough to be contained by a tree. 「愁倚两三松」之「愁」字是写惆怅的关键词，一个「愁」字写尽倚松的惆怅。愁者，惆怅、忧愁也。李白以「愁倚两三松」写惆怅，这个「愁」字至少有双重意味：其一，写情之愁——那「愁倚两三松」写愁倚两三松，那「愁」字写尽倚松的惆怅——愁倚两三松，正是怅然倚松的写照，那「愁」字写尽不遇的惆怅；其二，写意之怅——那「愁」字更是写怅——愁，正见不遇的怅然，那「愁」字写尽访隐的惆怅。以「愁」字写惆怅，正是李白写访隐的枢纽——若换作「怅」「闷」等字，则或失其与「倚两三松」「无人知所去」的配合，或失其写愁的意味；唯「愁」字，以愁倚两三松写尽倚松的惆怅与不遇的怅然，与「无人知所去」的无人相合，写尽不遇的惆怅，也让「愁倚两三松」成为全诗写惆怅的名句。