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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

庐山谣寄卢侍御虚舟

Song of Mount Lu, Sent to Lu Xuzhou, the Censor

李白

Li Bai

山水Landscape 游仙The quest for immortals

我本楚狂人，凤歌笑孔丘。
手持绿玉杖，朝别黄鹤楼。
五岳寻仙不辞远，一生好入名山游。
庐山秀出南斗傍，屏风九叠云锦张。
影落明湖青黛光，金阙前开二峰长。
银河倒挂三石梁，香炉瀑布遥相望。
回崖沓嶂凌苍苍，翠影红霞映朝日。
鸟飞不到吴天长。
登高壮观天地间，大江茫茫去不还。
黄云万里动风色，白波九道流雪山。
好为庐山谣，兴因庐山发。
闲窥石镜清我心，谢公行处苍苔没。
早服还丹无世情，琴心三叠道初成。
遥见仙人彩云里，手把芙蓉朝玉京。
先期汗漫九垓上，愿接卢敖游太清。

I was born a madman of Chu, singing of the phoenix and laughing at Confucius.
Holding a green jade staff, at dawn I left the Yellow Crane Tower.
Through the Five Sacred Peaks I sought the immortals, never counting the distance; all my life I have loved wandering in famous mountains.
Mount Lu rises superb beside the Southern Dipper; nine folded screens spread like cloud-embroidery.
Her shadow falls on the bright lake, a blue-black light; before the Golden Gate two peaks stand long.
The Silver River hangs upside down on the three stone beams; the Incense Burner waterfall faces it from afar.
Curling bluffs and piled ridges tower into the blue; green shapes and red sunrises meet the morning sun.
Birds cannot fly up to where Wu's sky stretches long. Climbing high, I gaze on the wonder between heaven and earth; the great river goes, boundless, and does not return.
Ten thousand li of yellow cloud stir the wind's colour; nine channels of white foam run like a snow mountain.
I like to make this song of Mount Lu, and it is because of Lu that my spirit arises.
At leisure I look into the stone mirror and my heart is cleansed; where the Master Xie walked, the green moss has buried the traces.
Though I took the returning elixir early and am free of worldly feeling, the threefold harmony of the instrument is made and the Way is but now completed.
Far off I see immortals in coloured cloud, holding the lotus and facing the Jade Capital.
I have made my appointment beforehand with the boundless one above the ninefold realm; I would have Lu Ao take me and wander in the great clarity.

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Meaning

Written after Li Bai was pardoned from exile at Baidicheng, the poem records a trip to Mount Lu and sends it to his friend Lu Xuzhou, a censor. The poet opens by declaring himself the madman of Chu, the hermit who mocked Confucius, and then describes years of seeking immortals in the famous peaks. The long middle gives Mount Lu itself — its folded screens, its waterfalls likened to the silver river, its yellow cloud and white foam. The close turns from sight to transcendence: he has taken the elixir, the Way is nearly achieved, and he invites his friend to meet him above the ninefold realm and roam the great clarity.

我本是楚地的狂人，高唱着凤歌嘲笑孔丘。手持绿玉杖，清晨辞别黄鹤楼。走遍五岳寻仙不辞遥远，一生最喜欢到名山遨游。庐山秀出南斗星旁，屏风九叠像云锦张开。山影落入明湖，泛着青黛的光，金阙前开，两座山峰高耸。银河似的瀑布倒挂在三石梁上，香炉峰的瀑布与它遥遥相望。回崖叠嶂高入苍天，翠影红霞映着朝日。鸟飞不到的高处，吴天辽阔。登高壮观天地之间，大江茫茫东去不复回还。黄云万里风色翻动，白波九道如雪山奔流。喜爱作这首庐山谣，兴致因庐山而发。闲来窥看石镜，涤清我的心，谢灵运走过的地方，苍苔已没。早服还丹，了却尘世之情，琴心三叠，道法初成。远远望见仙人站在彩云里，手拿芙蓉飞向玉京。我先约在汗漫九垓之上，愿接卢敖同游太清。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The poem runs in three movements. The opening names the speaker: a madman of Chu who sang the phoenix song against Confucius. The middle is the mountain, described in intensity after intensity of colour and height. The close leaves the mountain for the realm of the immortals. [Structure] A ballad of irregular length, lines of seven characters mostly, but broken by five- and nine-character lines; the form itself mimics a wandering route rather than a fixed measure. [Imagery] The images are unusually dense: a green jade staff, a phoenix song, nine folded screens like cloud embroidery, the silver river inverted on stone beams, ten thousand li of yellow cloud, nine channels of white foam running like a snow mountain. Each is drawn at the largest possible scale, so that the mountain is never small. [Emotion] Under the wildness there is a real sequence of feeling. The madman is a defence, the search for immortals is a discipline, and the closing invitation to Lu Xuzhou is a genuinely tender gesture addressed to one living friend. The poem is therefore not only spectacle: it is a self-portrait painted at full size.

【白话串讲】李白写《庐山谣寄卢侍御虚舟》：“我本楚狂人，凤歌笑孔丘”——“手持绿玉杖，朝别黄鹤楼”——“五岳寻仙不辞远，一生好入名山游”——“登高壮观天地间，大江茫茫去不还”——他写庐山与寻仙。【意象与手法】此诗写庐山之游与游仙之志，是李白山水游仙诗的名篇。起句「我本楚狂人，凤歌笑孔丘」以楚狂接舆自比，点出狂放不羁的自我形象；「五岳寻仙不辞远，一生好入名山游」写其好游名山、寻仙访道的志趣，是千古名句；中段「庐山秀出南斗傍」以下，以浓墨重彩写庐山之胜——屏风九叠、银河瀑布、翠影红霞、大江茫茫，写尽庐山的奇伟壮丽；「登高壮观天地间，大江茫茫去不还」写登高远眺的壮观，是千古名句；后段「早服还丹无世情，琴心三叠道初成」写学道求仙，「遥见仙人彩云里，手把芙蓉朝玉京」写想象中仙人的形象，结句「先期汗漫九垓上，愿接卢敖游太清」以邀仙游太清收束，仙气飘飘。全诗以游仙写山水，以狂放写志趣，正是李白浪漫主义诗风的巅峰。【情感与主旨】此诗约作于唐肃宗上元元年（760），时李白流放夜郎遇赦后，自江夏往游庐山。李白于安史之乱中因永王李璘之案被流放夜郎，乾元二年（759）行至白帝城遇赦，遂东归，往来于江夏、洞庭、庐山之间。此诗即遇赦后游庐山时寄给友人卢虚舟（卢侍御）之作。李白一生好道求仙，「十五好神仙，仙游未曾歇」，其游庐山既是赏其山水之奇，也是寻仙访道。诗中的「早服还丹无世情，琴心三叠道初成」写其学道之志，「遥见仙人彩云里，手把芙蓉朝玉京」写其游仙之想，皆寄寓了诗人经历流放后的出世之思。全诗以狂放之笔写山水游仙，是李白晚年诗风的代表。【名句点睛】常考「我本楚狂人，凤歌笑孔丘」的自我形象与用典；「五岳寻仙不辞远，一生好入名山游」「登高壮观天地间，大江茫茫去不还」的千古名句；庐山景色的浓墨重彩描写（屏风九叠、银河瀑布、黄云白波）；以及「早服还丹」「愿接卢敖游太清」的游仙之志；全诗狂放浪漫、山水与游仙交融的风格。

Background

Li Bai (701-762) was exiled to Yelang after his association with Prince Yong in the An-Shi rebellion, and in 759, at Baidicheng, he was pardoned — the moment that produced 'Wang Baidi City at dawn.' This poem belongs to the following year, about 760, when he travelled to Mount Lu from Jiangxia and wrote to his friend Lu Xu (courtesy name Xuzhou), who served as censor. Li Bai was steeped in Daoism from youth — 'since fifteen I have loved the immortals, and my immortal journeys have never ceased.' Mount Lu, on the edge of the Yangtze at Jiujiang, was both a famous Daoist landscape and a customary poet's goal.

此诗约作于唐肃宗上元元年（760），时李白流放夜郎遇赦后，自江夏往游庐山，寄赠友人卢虚舟（时任侍御史）。李白（701—762），字太白，号青莲居士，唐代伟大的浪漫主义诗人，被后人誉为「诗仙」。安史之乱（755）爆发后，李白入永王李璘幕府，永王兵败，李白受牵连被流放夜郎（今贵州一带）。乾元二年（759）春，李白行至白帝城时遇赦，惊喜之余写下《早发白帝城》「朝辞白帝彩云间」，随即东归，往来于江夏（今武汉）、洞庭、庐山之间。上元元年（760），李白游庐山，写下此诗寄给友人卢虚舟。卢虚舟字幼真，时任侍御史，李白另有《与卢侍御虚舟书》，可见二人交谊。李白一生「十五好神仙，仙游未曾歇」，深受道教影响，其游庐山既是赏其山水之奇，也是寻仙访道。庐山位于今江西九江，襟江带湖，奇峰秀出，香炉峰、五老峰、三叠泉等名胜天下闻名，是道教名山与文人游赏胜地。此诗写于诗人经历流放、晚年漂泊之际，「我本楚狂人」的狂放、「五岳寻仙不辞远」的求道、「早服还丹无世情」的出世之思，皆寄寓了诗人在政治失意后转向山水神仙的复杂心绪，是理解李白晚年思想与诗风的重要篇章。

Art

The opening is a self-portrait in one breath: to call himself the madman of Chu is to claim a whole persona, and the phoenix song mocks the Confucian world he had already abandoned. From there the poem piles relief upon relief — 'nine folded screens,' 'the silver river hanging upside down,' 'ten thousand li of yellow cloud' — until the mountain is measured in the same units as the cosmos. Two devices hold it together. One is the shift of scale within a single line, from a single peak to a whole river. The other is the turn at the close, where the solid mountain dissolves into coloured cloud and the real friend is addressed as a companion of immortals. The irregular line lengths are not carelessness; they keep the verse breathing like a journey.

此诗的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以自我形象开篇。起句「我本楚狂人，凤歌笑孔丘」以楚狂接舆自比——接舆是楚国的狂人，曾歌「凤兮凤兮」讥刺孔子，李白以之自况，点出狂放不羁、蔑视权贵的自我形象，为全诗定下狂放的基调；「手持绿玉杖，朝别黄鹤楼」更以绿玉杖、黄鹤楼写仙人之姿。其二，浓墨重彩的山水描写。中段写庐山之胜——「庐山秀出南斗傍，屏风九叠云锦张」以屏风九叠写山形之奇，「银河倒挂三石梁，香炉瀑布遥相望」以银河喻瀑布，「翠影红霞映朝日」以色写山，「黄云万里动风色，白波九道流雪山」以云波写大江，层层铺写，色彩瑰丽，气象万千。其三，以壮阔写胸襟。「登高壮观天地间，大江茫茫去不还」写登高远眺的壮观——「天地间」「大江茫茫」写尽视野的辽阔，以壮景写诗人的博大胸襟，是千古名句。其四，以游仙收束的想象。后段「早服还丹无世情，琴心三叠道初成」写学道，「遥见仙人彩云里，手把芙蓉朝玉京」写想象中的仙人，「先期汗漫九垓上，愿接卢敖游太清」以邀仙游太清收束，由实景转入仙境的想象，虚实相生。四重手法，使此诗以狂放写山水、以游仙写志趣，正是李白浪漫主义诗风的巅峰。

Allusions

The first line is the crux. Jie Yu was a madman of Chu who, when Confucius passed his gate, sang of the phoenix, 'O phoenix, O phoenix, how fallen is your virtue' — a song of reproach recorded in the Lun Yu. Li Bai takes the madman as his alter ego. The green jade staff and the Yellow Crane Tower carry the Daoist legend of the immortal Fei Yi who rode a crane away; the Five Sacred Peaks are the Daoist sacred mountains. 'The ninefold elixir' and 'the threefold harmony of the instrument' draw on the Daoist idea of the returning elixir and on the Huangting scripture. Lu Ao is from the Huainanzi, where he wanders north to the sea and meets the transcendent Ru Shih; Li Bai uses him as a stand-in for Lu Xuzhou, so that the friend is drawn into the same story. Xie is Xie Lingyun, the mountain poet whose traces the moss has taken.

此诗的用语深植于狂放、山水与游仙的传统。「我本楚狂人，凤歌笑孔丘」用楚狂接舆歌「凤兮凤兮，何德之衰」讥刺孔子之典，见《论语·微子》，以狂人自比，写狂放不羁；「绿玉杖」令人想到仙人拄杖的意象，也令人想到「仙人之杖」的道教传说；「黄鹤楼」令人想到「昔人已乘黄鹤去」（崔颢《黄鹤楼》）的仙话，也令人想到费祎登仙乘黄鹤之传说；「五岳寻仙」令人想到「五岳」为道教名山，也令人想到「寻仙访道」的游仙传统；「庐山秀出南斗傍」令人想到「南斗」为二十八宿之一，也令人想到庐山「一山飞峙大江边」的形胜；「谢公行处苍苔没」用谢灵运游庐山的旧事——谢灵运曾游庐山，有《登庐山绝顶望诸峤》诗，「谢公」令人想到「脚著谢公屐」（李白《梦游天姥吟留别》）的谢灵运意象；「早服还丹」令人想到道教「九转还丹」的炼丹传统；「琴心三叠」用《黄庭内景经》「琴心三叠舞胎仙」之语，写道法修成；「玉京」令人想到道教三十二天之最高者，仙人居所；「卢敖」用《淮南子》中卢敖游北海遇仙人若士之典，以卢敖指卢虚舟，写邀友同游太清。全诗化用楚狂、游仙、道教、谢灵运的传统意象，以狂放写山水，正是李白「仙而能狂」的本领。

Commentary

This is counted among Li Bai's greatest landscape-and-immortal ballads and a key example of his late manner. Song critics praised its wild surge and its bone; Qing readers singled out the climbing couplet for having caught the full size of the river. Its particular achievement is that it does not choose between the real mountain and the imagined heaven — it lets the second grow out of the first, so that 'holding the lotus and facing the Jade Capital' is reached by the same road as 'the silver river hangs upside down.' Later readers have often read the poem as a statement about Li Bai's political defeat: the mockery of Confucius is a reply to the court that ruined him, and the invitation to roam the great clarity is a way of ending in freedom rather than in ruin.

此诗历来被推为李白山水游仙诗的名篇，也是其晚年诗风的代表。历代论者对此诗评价极高：宋人评此诗「壮浪纵恣，全在风骨」；清人更指出「登高壮观天地间，大江茫茫去不还」写尽江山之壮，是李白诗中的名句。在诗歌史上，此诗的特殊价值在于：它以狂放之笔写尽庐山的奇伟与游仙的志趣——那楚狂的自比，那五岳寻仙的执着，那屏风九叠的奇景，那大江茫茫的壮观，那手把芙蓉的仙人，都写尽了这位「诗仙」经历流放后的狂放与出世；那「一生好入名山游」更成为李白山水情怀的自我写照。此诗与李白的《望庐山瀑布》（「飞流直下三千尺」）同为写庐山的名篇，一写瀑布的壮美，一写庐山的全景与游仙；又与《梦游天姥吟留别》（「我欲因之梦吴越」）的游仙之作一脉相承，可见李白晚年山水游仙诗的风采。对于今日读者，此诗是理解李白晚年思想与诗风的窗口，也是中国诗写山水游仙的经典——那茫茫的大江、彩云里的仙人，穿越千年，仍在诉说着一位诗仙的狂放与超脱。

Prosody

Form Poem — seven-character ballad in the ancient style (ge xing)诗·七言歌行（古体）

Rhyme Ballad verse with free change of rhyme (qiu, lou, you; zhang, guang, chang; jiang; hai, cheng, jing, qing), ignoring the level-oblique alternation of regulated verse此诗为歌行体，转韵自然（丘、楼、游；张、光、长；江、阳；海、成、京、清），不拘平仄，音韵流转

Tone pattern Level tone throughout with quickly shifting rhymes; the rhythm is loose and forward-driven because the ballad form admits five-, seven-, and nine-character lines in succession.此诗为七言歌行，句式长短错落（间以九言、十一言），节奏奔放，正合狂放的风格。

Reading note The dominant line is seven characters, but the poem breaks it constantly — the five-character lines 'holding a green jade staff' and 'birds cannot fly up,' and the long run of the eleventh couplet — so that the verse never settles into a iron measure. The rhyme moves four times: the first passage rhymes qiu, lou, you; the middle passage zhang, guang, chang; then jiang; then the closing hai, cheng, jing, qing. Each change of rhyme comes at a change of subject, which is the ballad's natural logic. For reading, the opening should be said fast and loud, the mountain passage slower and heavier, and the closing lines lighter, almost floating. This is Li Bai's late ballad style at its most unrestrained.此诗为七言歌行体，是李白「以文为诗」的典型。全诗以七言为主，间以「手持绿玉杖，朝别黄鹤楼」「鸟飞不到吴天长」等五言、七言错落句，又间以「我本楚狂人，凤歌笑孔丘」的对句，句式长短自由，节奏奔放。用韵上，此诗转韵自然：首段押「丘、楼、游」（平声尤韵），中段「张、光、长」（平声阳韵）转「江」（平声江韵），后段「海、成、京、清」（平声庚青韵），随内容转换韵部，音韵流转。全诗以歌行的自由体式，写庐山的奇伟与游仙的志趣——首段写自我形象与寻仙之志，中段浓墨重彩写庐山之胜，后段写学道游仙，一气呵成，奔放恣肆。诵读此诗，宜以狂放的语调读「我本楚狂人」的开篇，以壮阔的语调读「登高壮观天地间」的写景，以飘逸的语调读「遥见仙人彩云里」的游仙，方能传达出李白的狂放与超脱。李白歌行以「奔放纵恣」著称，此诗正是其晚年歌行的代表作。

Line by line

我本楚狂人，凤歌笑孔丘

I was born a madman of Chu, singing of the phoenix and laughing at Confucius

我本是楚地的狂人，高唱着凤歌嘲笑孔丘。

I am by nature the madman of Chu; I sing the Phoenix song and laugh at Confucius.

此句是全诗的开篇，也是千古名句，以楚狂自比，点出狂放不羁的自我形象。「我本楚狂人」写我本是楚地的狂人——那「楚狂人」即楚国的狂人接舆，以狂人自比，写自己的狂放不羁；「凤歌笑孔丘」写高唱凤歌嘲笑孔丘——那「凤歌」即接舆所歌「凤兮凤兮，何德之衰」，那「笑孔丘」写嘲笑孔子（孔丘），写对儒家入世之道的轻蔑。这句的深意在于：它以楚狂接舆自比，写尽李白对自我的定位——他自认是狂人，高唱凤歌，嘲笑孔丘，不慕荣利，不求闻达，只愿做一名狂放的楚狂；那「我本」写这狂放是天性使然，那「笑孔丘」更写对传统入世价值的不屑，正为全诗「寻仙访道」的基调张本。若换作直说「我很狂放」，则失其用典与文化内涵；唯以楚狂接舆自比，写尽狂放不羁的自我形象，也让此句成为李白自我写照的千古名句。接舆乃楚国狂士，尝歌而过孔子之门；李白以楚狂自比，更以「凤歌笑孔丘」写尽对礼法束缚的蔑视，正是李白蔑视权贵、狂放不羁的自我写照。

The opening. I am by nature the madman of Chu; I sing the Phoenix song and laugh at Confucius. The Jieyu allusion (the Chu madman who sang the Phoenix song past Confucius) is Li Bai's self-portrait. To have called himself the Chu madman would be an allusion; the I-am-by-nature-the-madman-of-Chu against the I-sing-the-Phoenix-song-and-laugh-at-Confucius is the allusion.

登高壮观天地间，大江茫茫去不还

Climbing high, I gaze on the wonder between heaven and earth; the great river goes, boundless, and does not return

登高远望，天地之间壮观辽阔，大江茫茫东去不复回还。

Climbing high, the sight is grand between heaven and earth; the great river flows away, vast, and does not return.

此句是全诗写庐山壮观的点睛之笔，也是千古名句，以壮景写胸襟。「登高壮观天地间」写登高远眺的壮观——那「登高」写登庐山之巅，「壮观天地间」写天地之间的壮阔气象，写尽视野的辽阔；「大江茫茫去不还」写大江茫茫东去——那「大江」即长江，「茫茫去不还」写江水茫茫东流、一去不还，写尽江流的壮阔与时光的流逝。这句的深意在于：它以「天地间」的壮阔与「大江茫茫」的奔流，写尽庐山登高的壮观——站在庐山之巅，只见天地辽阔，长江如带，茫茫东去；那「壮观天地间」写尽江山之壮，那「大江茫茫去不还」写尽时光之逝，壮景之中，既见诗人的博大胸襟，也暗含对时光流逝的感慨。若换作直说「站在山顶看长江」，则失其壮观；唯以「天地间」「茫茫去不还」写尽江山之壮与时光之逝，写尽登高的豪情与苍茫，也让此句成为李白写壮景的千古名句。「天地间」写尽视野的开阔，「茫茫去不还」写尽长江的奔流与时光的流逝，一写空间之壮，一写时间之逝，豪情与苍茫兼而有之。

The river. Climbing high, the sight is grand between heaven and earth; the great river flows away, vast, and does not return. The grand sight between heaven and earth and the vast river that does not return are Mount Lu's prospect. To have described the river from the mountain would be scenery; the climbing-high-grand-sight-between-heaven-and-earth against the great-river-flowing-vast-and-not-returning is the scenery.

早服还丹无世情，琴心三叠道初成

Though I took the returning elixir early and am free of worldly feeling, the threefold harmony of the instrument is made and the Way is but now completed

早服还丹，了却尘世之情，琴心三叠，道法初成。

Having early taken the elixir and put aside the world, with the triple-fold lute heart, the Way is just achieved.

此句写学道求仙的志趣，是理解全诗游仙主旨的关键。「早服还丹无世情」写早服还丹、了却世情——那「还丹」是道教炼制的仙丹，「早服还丹」写早有服丹求仙之志，那「无世情」写了却尘世之情，写出世之心；「琴心三叠道初成」写道法初成——那「琴心三叠」用《黄庭内景经》「琴心三叠舞胎仙」之语，写内丹修炼的境界，那「道初成」写道法刚刚修成。这句的深意在于：它以道教的修炼写诗人的出世之志——经历流放之后，诗人看破世情，早服还丹，修炼道法，「无世情」写尽对尘世的厌弃，「道初成」写尽求道的信心；那「早服还丹」与「道初成」，写出诗人求仙的虔诚与境界。若换作直说「我想隐居修道」，则失其道教的内涵；唯以「还丹」「琴心三叠」写道教修炼，写尽游仙之志，也让此句成为全诗游仙主旨的枢机。「还丹」是道家修炼的仙丹，「琴心三叠」是道家修炼的境界，二者连用，正见李白对道教修炼的熟悉与虔诚；而「无世情」「道初成」更写尽离弃尘世、初得道境的超脱，是诗人游仙之志的自信表达。

The elixir. Having early taken the elixir and put aside the world, with the triple-fold lute heart, the Way is just achieved. The Daoist elixir and the Huangting internal-alchemy phrase are Li Bai's retirement. To have described his Daoist practice would be a statement; the early-taking-of-the-elixir-and-putting-aside-the-world against the triple-fold-lute-heart-the-Way-just-achieved is the statement.

Study

Word focus

狂 In 'I was born a madman of Chu,' kuang means mad, but here it is a posture rather than an illness: it names the hermit who mocks the world and refuses office. The word carries the poet's whole self-image, so that the lunatic is at the same time the Free and Unrestrained. 「我本楚狂人」之「狂」字是写自我形象的关键字，一个「狂」字写尽李白的狂放不羁。狂者，狂放、狂傲也。李白以「楚狂人」自比，这个「狂」字至少有双重意味：其一，写性情之狂——那「狂」写李白天性狂放不羁，笑傲王侯，蔑视礼法，写尽诗人的个性；其二，写境界之狂——那「狂」字更是写诗人的狂放境界——以楚狂接舆自比，高唱凤歌笑孔丘，那「狂」写尽超越世俗的狂放。以「狂」字写自我，正是李白自我定位的枢纽——若换作「傲」「逸」等字，则或失其狂放的力度，或失其与楚狂的用典；唯「狂」字，以一字写尽李白的狂放不羁与超越世俗，为全诗「寻仙访道」的基调定下狂放的底色，也让「我本楚狂人」成为李白自我写照的千古名句。

茫茫 In 'the great river goes, boundless,' mang mang describes water stretching out of sight. It does more than measure distance: it opens the line onto time, since a river that 'does not return' is also time that does not return, and the poet's vast view carries his feeling of loss as well as his grandeur. 「大江茫茫去不还」之「茫茫」是写大江壮阔的关键字，一个「茫茫」写尽江流之浩渺。茫茫者，辽阔无边、苍茫浩渺也。李白以「大江茫茫」写长江，这个「茫茫」至少有双重意味：其一，写江之辽阔——那「茫茫」写长江水势浩渺、一望无际，写尽大江的壮阔；其二，写情之苍茫——那「茫茫」更是写心境——面对茫茫大江，诗人感时光之流逝、世事之苍茫，那「茫茫」写尽登高远眺的苍茫之感。以「茫茫」写江，正是李白写壮景的妙笔——若换作「滚滚」「浩浩」等词，则或失其苍茫，或失其浩渺；唯「茫茫」二字，以一字写尽大江的辽阔与心境的苍茫，与「去不还」的流逝相合，写尽登高的壮观与时光的感慨，也让「大江茫茫去不还」成为写大江的千古名句。