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明 Ming · 诗 Poem

寻胡隐君

Calling on the Recluse Hu

高启

Gao Qi

渡水复渡水，看花还看花。
春风江上路，不觉到君家。

Crossing water, and crossing water again;
seeing flowers, and seeing flowers again.
The road along the river in the spring breeze —
before I knew it, I was at your door.
Listen

Meaning

The poet is walking to visit a hermit named Hu. He crosses water twice over and passes flower after flower; carried by the spring wind along the river road, he finds that he has already arrived at the man's house without having noticed the distance. The poem says nothing about the visit, and about the hermit, and about why he was going; the only event it offers is the absence of one.

渡水复渡水，看花还看花。春风江上路，不觉到君家。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] Four lines: the speaker recounts the road he has walked and then the fact of his arrival. The two repetitions of the first couplet measure the distance, and the last two lines measure the mind's failure to notice it.
[Structure] The poem is a single action told in two halves — the journey, then the arrival — and the halves are joined by the adverb 'before I knew it', which is the whole poetry of the piece. Nothing else happens, and nothing needs to.
[Imagery] Water and flowers are the two things repeated, and they are also the only content of the journey: the road is made of crossings and blossom. The spring wind on the river road names the season that makes the flowers worth stopping for, and the same wind is what carries him the rest of the way. The word 'again' is the smallest device in the poem and the largest in effect, because it converts ordinary scenery into a measure of time spent.

【白话串讲】 高启写《寻胡隐君》：“渡水复渡水，看花还看花”——“春风江上路，不觉到君家”——他寻访胡隐君——渡水复渡水，看花还看花。 【意象与手法】 “渡水复渡水，看花还看花”以复沓写沿途之景；“春风江上路，不觉到君家”以“不觉”写访友之乐。语言清新明快，以“复”“还”的复沓写行程之悠然。 【情感与主旨】 寻访隐士之作，写沿江而行、一路看花的闲适与访友的喜悦，体现高启诗清新俊逸的风格，是一首轻快的小诗。 【名句点睛】 常考“渡水复渡水，看花还看花”以复沓写悠然行程；“春风江上路，不觉到君家”以不觉写访友之乐。

Background

Gao Qi (1336–1374), styled Jidi, of Changzhou, was the leading poet of the early Ming and one of the 'Four Masters of Wu'; he took part in the editing of the vast Anthology of Tang verse as a young man, and was eventually put to death in 1374 in a case concerning a official's building. His work is noted for a clean, unforced direct use of the old forms. This twenty-character quatrain belongs to the line of Chinese poems about paying a visit to a hermit, and it is among the most anthologised of his short pieces.

《寻胡隐君》为明代诗人高启所作诗。高启（1336—1374），字季迪，号槎轩，长洲（今江苏苏州）人，明代诗人，为「吴中四杰」之一。此诗写景访友，为寻胡隐君之作。诗中「渡水复渡水，看花还看花」写渡水复渡水，看花还看花；「春风江上路，不觉到君家」写春风江上路，不觉到君家。高启此诗以写景访友、不觉到君家写其访友之情，清新明快，是高启诗中的名篇。此篇《寻胡隐君》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。此篇《寻胡隐君》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。此篇《寻胡隐君》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。

Art

The poem's whole art is the arrangement of two particles. The first couplet gives two pairs, each with a repeated verb: crossing water and crossing it again, seeing flowers and seeing them again. Repetition here does not mean stasis — it measures distance, the way a counting-out does. The second couplet then supplies the counter-movement: the road is one road, the wind is one wind, and the speaker is somewhere other than he was. 'Before I knew it' (bujue) is the pivot, and it converts a description into an experience, because it tells the reader that during those crossings and those flowers the traveller was not aware of travelling. The language throughout is as plain as the road, with no imagery of the conventional kind; the poem's pleasure is entirely in the shape it has given to a morning's walk.

此诗艺术上以「清新明快、以景写情」见长。全诗共四句，由渡水复渡水而看花还看花而春风江上路。起「渡水复渡水，看花还看花」写渡水复渡水：渡水复渡水，看花还看花；「春风江上路，不觉到君家」写不觉到君家：春风江上路，不觉到君家。全诗以景写情，由渡水复渡水而不觉到君家，清新明快，是高启诗中的名篇。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。

Allusions

The occasion belongs to the long tradition of visiting a recluse — the poet who goes to see the man who has withdrawn and reports what he found, which is often nothing. The language is plain enough that no single word is borrowed, but the setting is the standard one of the hermit's house by water amid spring blossom, and the poem's silence about the conversation is a gesture of that tradition: the meeting with a recluse is not reported because it cannot be. The river road in the spring wind is at the same time the boat journey and the walk, since in this geography one simply crosses from one bank to the other. Nothing is named that is not also visible from the road.

诗中「渡水复渡水看花还看花」「春风江上路不觉到君家」等语，皆含典故故实。「渡水复渡水看花还看花」写渡水复渡水看花还看花；「春风江上路不觉到君家」写春风江上路不觉到君家。诗人以渡水、看花等语入诗，不着痕迹，而把写景访友之情写得真切可感，是善于熔铸典故的体现。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。

Commentary

The quatrain is among the most frequently printed of the Ming quatrains, and its fame rests on its economy. It has been praised for exactly the quality that makes it hard to improve on: a journey and an arrival, in four lines, with no emotion expressed and no scenery that is not on the path. Critics have noted too that the poem withholds its subject — the reader never learns who Hu was or whether the visit went well — and that this withholding is the poem's courtesy, since it leaves the hermit's isolation intact. Modern anthologies keep it because it can be read as a poem about friendship, about wandering, or simply about the way one's feet carry one.

这首《寻胡隐君》，是高启写景访友之作，写渡水复渡水、看花还看花、不觉到君家之情，清新明快。起「渡水复渡水，看花还看花」——渡水复渡水，看花还看花。写渡水复渡水：渡水复渡水、看花还看花——渡水复渡水、看花还看花；「春风江上路，不觉到君家」——春风江上路，不觉到君家。写不觉到君家：春风江上路、不觉到君家——江上路、不觉到君家。这「春风江上路，不觉到君家」，是全诗之结：以不觉到君家写其访友。全诗清新明快，以景写情，正是高启诗中的名篇。综观全诗，情真、景切、理深，三者浑融无迹，故能于短短数语之中寄无限深意，令人百读不厌。其含蓄蕴藉之处，正是中国古典诗歌以少总多、言有尽而意无穷的美学精神的生动体现。综观全诗，情真、景切、理深，三者浑融无迹，故能于短短数语之中寄无限深意，令人百读不厌。其含蓄蕴藉之处，正是中国古典诗歌以少总多、言有尽而意无穷的美学精神的生动体现。全诗以「渡水复渡水，看花还看花」起笔，写一水复一水、一花复一花，行路之乐自在其中；以「春风江上路，不觉到君家」作结，写春风江上、不觉已到君家。两句由行及到，以景写情，写尽寻访隐君、一路看花的快意。全诗清新明快，以景写情，寥寥二十字而访友之情如在目前，为历代选本所常收。

Prosody

Form Five-character quatrain诗（五言绝句）
Rhyme A regular five-character jueju rhymed in the level tone of the wooden (mu) rhyme: flowers and home, held to a single rhyme in two lines, with the first line left unrhymed as the rule requires.此诗为五言绝句，共四句，两句一联。押平声韵：「花」「家」押麻部韵。诗体依绝句而定，句式整齐，音节随情起伏，正与写写景访友的清新明快相称，也见其以绝句写访友的自然。
Tone pattern The voice is even and unhurried; the two repeated verbs are delivered in the same even measure, and only the last line's 'without noticing' disturb it, falling at the end of the poem like a small surprise.句式上，「渡水复渡水，看花还看花」写渡水复渡水，音节明快；「春风江上路，不觉到君家」写不觉到君家，音节轻快。全诗音节随情起伏，由明快而轻快，正合绝句「含蓄」之妙，读来如写景访友、不觉到君家之音，清新而动人。
Reading note The poem is a model of the short form: five characters to the line, one rhyme, one event, no ornament. Its sound is deliberately flat — nothing in the rhyme words, the cadence or the vowel colours marks the arrival, which is exactly the point, since the poet wants the reader to reach the door in the same unawareness as the speaker. Recite it steadily and without emphasis on the words; the harm done by reading it aloud with feeling is that the ending sounds like a revelation, when its whole meaning is that there isn't one.此诗为五言绝句，是高启写景访友之作，也是其诗中的名篇。全诗的艺术特色在于「清新明快、以景写情」：「渡水复渡水，看花还看花」写渡水复渡水、「春风江上路，不觉到君家」写不觉到君家。全诗清新明快，以景写情。尤为精妙者，是「渡水复渡水，看花还看花」写尽行路之趣；而「春风江上路，不觉到君家」以景写情，正是高启诗「清新明快」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《寻胡隐君》一诗之所以读来声情并茂，正在于诗人以声韵配合情思、以节奏烘托意境，音节之长短、平仄之起伏，皆与诗意相为表里，此亦可见中国古典诗歌声律之美与匠心之工。

Line by line

渡水复渡水，看花还看花。

Crossing water, and crossing water again; seeing flowers, and seeing flowers again.

渡水复渡水，看花还看花。

Crossing stream after stream, looking at flower after flower.

首二句写渡水复渡水，起笔即见其行。「渡水复渡水」写渡水复渡水，「渡水」写渡水、「复渡水」写又渡水；「看花还看花」写看花还看花，「看花」写看花、「还看花」写又看花。两句一写渡水复渡水、一写看花还看花，以渡水复渡水写渡水又渡水、以看花还看花写看花又看花，写尽渡水复渡水、看花还看花之情。以行起兴，清新而明快，是「以行起兴」的妙笔。

The crossing. Crossing stream after stream, looking at flower after flower. The repeated crossing and the repeated flower-looking are the bright opening. To have crossed stream after stream would be a crossing; the crossing-stream-after-stream-looking-at-flower-after-flower is the crossing.

春风江上路，不觉到君家。

The road along the river in the spring breeze — before I knew it, I was at your door.

春风江上路，不觉到君家。

On the spring-wind riverside road, before I knew it, I had reached your house.

尾二句写不觉到君家，是全诗立意的落点。「春风江上路」写春风江上路，「春风」写春风、「江上路」写江上路；「不觉到君家」写不觉到君家，「不觉」写不知不觉、「到君家」写到你家。两句一写春风江上路、一写不觉到君家，以春风江上路写江上路、以不觉到君家写不觉到君家，写尽春风江上路、不觉到君家之情。以景写情，清新而明快，是全诗最动人处，也是「以景写情」的点睛之笔。

The arrival. On the spring-wind riverside road, before I knew it, I had reached your house. The spring-wind road and the unnoticed arrival are the close. To have arrived unawares would be an arrival; the on-the-spring-wind-riverside-road-before-I-knew-it-I-had-reached-your-house is the arrival.

Study

Word focus

复 Fu, again, is the adverb that turns the first line into a distance. Crossing once would be a fact of geography; crossing again makes the reader feel the length of the road, because repetition is how a traveller counts what he has not been watching. In a five-character line it also steadies the rhythm, so that the whole couplet can be read at one pace. 「复」字写渡水复渡水，是写又渡之态的关键。「渡水复渡水」着一「复」，写又——着一「复」字，写渡水复渡水，见其渡之复。一字写尽复渡之态，是「以一字写复」的妙笔。「复」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
还 Huan, again, mirrors fu exactly and keeps the second line at the same pace as the first. Standing beside it, the word brings the flowers into the same series as the crossings, so that road and blossom become one experience rather than two, and the arrival at the door is prepared for without having been mentioned. 「还」字写看花还看花，是写又看之态的关键。「看花还看花」着一「还」，写还——着一「还」字，写看花还看花，见其看之复。一字写尽还看之态，是「以一字写复」的点睛之词。「还」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
春风 Chun feng, the spring breeze, is the only seasonal word in the poem, and it is what makes the flowers worth stopping for and the road worth walking. It is also the moving force of the last line: the same wind that carries the blossom along the bank carries the traveller past it, so that the wind and the road together produce the arrival. 「春风」写春风江上路，是写春风之态的关键。「春风江上路」着一「春风」，写春风——着一「春风」，写春风江上路，见其路之春。两字写尽春风之态，是「以词写春」的点睛之词。「春风」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
不觉 Bu jue, without noticing, is the pivot of the whole poem. It is the only word that reports a state of mind, and it converts the preceding scenery from a description into a period of inattention. Because it falls at the end, the reader meets the poet's mind only once the journey has already been completed. 「不觉」写不觉到君家，是写不觉之态的关键。「不觉到君家」着一「不觉」，写不知不觉——着一「不觉」，写不觉到君家，见其到之不觉。两字写尽不觉之态，是「以词写忘」的点睛之词。「不觉」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。

Related Reading

浣溪沙·一曲新词酒一杯 Xixisha: A Cup of New Wine and an Old Song 晏殊 · 同写春景感怀、无可奈何，一写无可奈何花落去、一写渡水复渡水看花还看花，皆于春景之中见感怀 Both write of spring and of how the season refuses to be held: the Song one regrets the falling flower, the Ming one is carried past it without noticing

Yan Shu's famous line, 'the falling flowers cannot be called back, the swallows that I half recognise return', makes spring the evidence of time passing and spends the poem on a regret that cannot be repaired; his tone is temperate and his imagery already contains its own complaint. Gao Qi's quatrain passes the same season on a river road and arrives at his friend's door before he has observed anything at all. Both poems make spring the measure of something, but the one grieves and the other wanders; the difference is the whole distance between a courtier's elegy and a hermit's morning walk.

晏殊《浣溪沙·一曲新词酒一杯》「无可奈何花落去，似曾相识燕归来」，写春景感怀，是宋词小令的名篇；高启《寻胡隐君》则以「渡水复渡水，看花还看花」「春风江上路，不觉到君家」写渡水复渡水、不觉到君家。两诗同写春景感怀、无可奈何：一写无可奈何花落去、以花落燕归写惜时，一写渡水复渡水看花还看花、以看花写春景；一为晏殊之温润、一为高启之明快，并读正可见诗写「春景感怀」的两种笔法，皆于春景之中见感怀。

 山园小梅 Small Plum Garden 林逋 · 同写田园清雅、以景寄情，一写疏影横斜水清浅暗香浮动月黄昏、一写春风江上路不觉到君家，皆于田园之中见清雅 Both keep to a quiet scene and a small botany: one watches plum blossom descend into still water, the other walks past flower after flower on the way to a recluse

Lin Bu's celebrated couplet, 'its shadow spread slanting in the clear shallow water, its faint scent floating in the dim moon', turns the plum into the emblem of a solitary beauty and refuses to say a word about the self that sees it. Gao Qi's quatrain also keeps to what can be seen from a path — water, blossom, a wind, a road — and also declines to explain the observer. The difference is that Lin Bu's poem is a still image and a station, while Gao Qi's is a journey with a destination; the plum is experienced at the moment of perceiving, while the flowers of the road are experienced as a distance travelled. Read together, the two show how much of the Chinese lyric is made from exactly this refusal to name the self.

林逋《山园小梅》「疏影横斜水清浅，暗香浮动月黄昏」，写梅之清雅、田园之趣，是宋诗咏物的绝唱；高启《寻胡隐君》则以「春风江上路，不觉到君家」「渡水复渡水，看花还看花」写春风江上路、渡水复渡水。两诗同写田园清雅、以景寄情：一写疏影横斜水清浅暗香浮动月黄昏、以梅写清雅，一写春风江上路不觉到君家、以江路写访友；一为林逋之清逸、一为高启之明快，并读正可见诗写「田园清雅」的两种笔法，皆于田园之中见清雅。