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宋 Song · 诗 Poem

叶绍翁·嘉兴界

At the Border of Jiaxing

叶绍翁

Ye Shaoweng

山水landscape 羁旅journey

嘉兴界平野无山见尽天，九分芦苇一分烟。
悠悠绿水分枝港，撑出南邻放鸭船。

Boundless plains without hills, the sky stretches to the end;
Nine parts reeds, one part mist, blend.
The long green waters split into branching ports;
Out from the southern neighbor a duck-herding boat comes forth.

Listen

Meaning

The flat plain has no hills, allowing one to see the horizon. Nine parts are reeds, one part is hazy mist. The long green water branches into many channels. From the southern neighbor, a duck-herding boat is poled out.

平坦的原野没有山峦，望见天地的尽头。九分是芦苇，一分是朦胧的烟霭。悠长的绿水分岔成许多港汊。从南边邻家撑出一只放鸭的小船。

Appreciation

This poem captures a wide yet lively scene of the Jiangnan watery region. Using quantitative description ('nine parts reeds, one part mist') and a sudden shift to a human activity (the duck boat), it achieves a dynamic stillness. It exemplifies the Jianghu school's aesthetic of plainness and naturalness.

【白话串讲】 “平野无山见尽天，九分芦苇一分烟”——叶绍翁写嘉兴：平原无山，天尽收眼底。“悠悠绿水分枝港，撑出南邻放鸭船”——绿水悠悠，一只放鸭船撑出来。【意象与手法】全诗如电影镜头由远及近：首句“平野无山见尽天”展天地辽阔，次句“九分芦苇一分烟”以数量词写烟水迷蒙、以少胜多【情感与主旨】叶绍翁（生卒年不详），字嗣宗，号靖逸，南宋中后期江湖派诗人，龙泉（今浙江）人，长期隐居钱塘西湖之滨【名句点睛】中高考常考：一、炼字与数量词，“九分”“一分”的以少胜多之妙；二、写景层次，由远及近、由阔至细的镜头推移

Background

Ye Shaoweng (dates unknown), courtesy name Sizong, pseudonym Jingyi, was a poet of the Jianghu school in the mid-to-late Southern Song. He was a native of Longquan (modern Zhejiang) and lived in seclusion by the West Lake in Qiantang. Jiaxing (northern Zhejiang) is a flat watery region. The poet passed through and wrote this seven-character quatrain about what he saw. The Jianghu school often depicted small scenes with plain descriptions. Ye was especially skilled at capturing the scenery of Jiangnan with quatrains. 'Visiting a Garden in Vain' and 'What I Saw by Night' are also his famous works. This poem does not use melancholy language but captures a moment of openness and vitality in the watery region. Ending with a 'duck-herding boat', it adds human liveliness to the vast scene, embodying his aesthetic of 'people within the scenery' and reflecting the fresh and plain orientation of Southern Song Jianghu poets.

《嘉兴界》为南宋诗人叶绍翁所作。叶绍翁（生卒年不详），字嗣宗，号靖逸，处州龙泉人，南宋诗人。此诗写嘉兴水乡之景：平野无山见尽天，九分芦苇一分烟；悠悠绿水分枝港，撑出南邻放鸭船。全诗以白描写水乡的平阔与恬静，是叶绍翁写景的名篇。叶绍翁诗以清新明快著称，此诗正是其代表作。

Art

The entire poem progresses like a film zooming from far to near: the first line 'On flat plains without hills, I see the endless sky' shows vastness; the second line 'Nine parts reeds, one part mist' uses quantifiers to depict misty waters with economy; the third line 'The long green waters branch into many ports' narrows the view to the water network; the last line 'Out from the southern neighbor a duck-herding boat comes forth' suddenly introduces human activity, a small boat emerging, bringing movement and sound to the stillness. The structure goes from sparse to dense, from broad to detailed. Color (green, white ducks) and movement interplay. Without expressing emotion directly, the life of the watery region and the poet's calm appreciation are apparent. It is a refined example of the Song dynasty 'small-scene poem'.

《嘉兴界》艺术上以白描的简洁与画面的明净见长。全诗四句，层层写来：首句写平野之阔——“平野无山见尽天”写平野无山、天尽可见；次句写芦苇烟水——“九分芦苇一分烟”写芦苇与烟之分布；三句写水港之幽——“悠悠绿水分枝港”写绿水悠悠、枝港分岔；末句写放鸭之船——“撑出南邻放鸭船”写放鸭船撑出。全诗以白描写水乡之景，画面明净，正是叶绍翁“清新明快”的风格。

Allusions

This poem contains no allusions or historical references; it purely describes the scene through plain depiction. It inherits the ink-wash interest of Wang Wei's 'The river flows beyond the world, mountains are present in their absence' but leans more toward the vitality of everyday life. The quantitative expression 'nine parts reeds, one part mist' subtly aligns with the Song practice of 'using numbers in poetry' (e.g., 'three parts spring, two parts sorrow'). 'Branching ports' describes the Jiangnan water network from direct observation, not an allusive image. Overall, it belongs to the Jianghu school's aesthetic of 'abandoning books for poetry' and avoiding artifice, distinct from the ornate style of late-Tang poets like Xu Hun. It embodies the Southern Song small-scene quatrain's quality of 'light words but deep meaning'.

《嘉兴界》用典少而意象自明。“平野无山”写江南水乡之平阔；“九分芦苇一分烟”写芦苇与烟水；“枝港”写分岔的水港；“放鸭船”写放鸭之小船。全诗以这些意象写水乡之景，不用深典而意境自远。叶绍翁诗以清新明快著称，此诗正是其代表——以白描写水乡，正是其淡远明净的风格。

Commentary

Modern critic Jin Xingyao commented: 'The second line's "one part mist" achieves more with less; with this one part, the whole scene immediately has a curling charm.' Wang Xuetai said Ye Shaoweng 'excelled at writing small scenes... zooming the camera from far to near, still a very exquisite small scene of Jiangnan.' Anthologists often pair it with 'Visiting a Garden in Vain' as a model of Jianghu school quatrains with 'light words but deep, thought-provoking meaning', though small in scale, rich in genuine charm.

《嘉兴界》是叶绍翁写景的名篇，也是南宋山水田园诗中写水乡的代表作。此诗写嘉兴水乡之景，白描简洁，向为论者称道。论者多赏其“九分芦苇一分烟”的写法——以“九分”“一分”写芦苇与烟之分布，数字入诗而画面分明；“悠悠绿水分枝港，撑出南邻放鸭船”写水港与放鸭船，更见恬静。叶绍翁诗以清新明快著称，此诗正是其代表——以白描写水乡，正是其淡远明净的风格。

Prosody

Form seven-character quatrain七言绝句

Rhyme Pingshui rhyme category Xian (tian, yan, chuan)《嘉兴界》为七言绝句，四句，押平声韵。此诗用韵：天、烟、船（先部），一韵到底，音节明快。

Tone pattern First line enters rhyme with level tone, tonal pattern matches standard seven-character quatrain七言绝句讲究音节明快、意境悠远。此诗首句写平野之阔，音节开阔；次句写芦苇烟水，音节疏朗；三四句写水港放鸭船，音节闲适。全诗一韵到底，声调与水乡恬静的内容相合，是七绝中清新明快的一路。

Reading note Southern Song Jianghu school small-scene quatrain, strict meter but plain language《嘉兴界》为七言绝句，是叶绍翁写景的名篇。此诗写嘉兴水乡之景：平野无山、见尽天，九分芦苇一分烟，绿水悠悠分枝港，撑出南邻放鸭船。白描简洁、画面明净，以“九分芦苇一分烟”写芦苇烟水之分布，以“撑出南邻放鸭船”写水乡之恬静，正是叶绍翁清新明快的风格，也是南宋山水田园诗中写水乡的代表作。

Line by line

平野无山见尽天，九分芦苇一分烟。

The flat plain has no hills, the sky's whole expanse in view; nine parts reed marsh, one part misty water.

平野无山，天尽可见；九分芦苇，一分烟水。

The level plain has no hills; the whole sky is visible. Nine parts reeds, one part misty water.

前两句写平野之阔与芦苇烟水。“平野无山见尽天”写平野之阔——“平野无山”写平野无山，“见尽天”写天尽可见——平野开阔，无山遮挡，天尽入眼；“九分芦苇一分烟”写芦苇烟水——“九分芦苇”写十分中有九分是芦苇，“一分烟”写一分是烟水——芦苇苍茫，烟水迷离。两句写嘉兴之景：平野无山、天尽可见；九分芦苇、一分烟水。以“无山见尽天”写平野之阔，以“九分芦苇一分烟”写芦苇烟水之分布，正是叶绍翁以白描写水乡的笔法——数字入诗，画面分明。

The first two lines write the plain's breadth and the reed-mist water. The flat-plain-has-no-hills-the-sky's-whole-expanse-in-view writing the plain's breadth; the nine-parts-reeds-one-part-misty-water writing the reed-and-mist water. Two lines writing the Jiaxing scene: the flat plain's no hills, the sky's whole view; nine parts reeds, one part mist. Using the no-hills-sky's-whole-view for the plain's breadth, and the nine-parts-one-part's numbering for the reed-and-mist distribution, precisely Ye Shaoweng's plain-description-writes-the-water-town brush — the numbers enter the poem, the picture's clear.

悠悠绿水分枝港，撑出南邻放鸭船。

The green water flows gently, branching into creeks; from the south neighbor's bank, a duck-herding boat is poled out.

悠悠绿水，分作枝港；撑着船出来的，是南邻的放鸭船。

The green waters drift gently, branching into creeks; the south neighbor's duck-herding boat is poled out.

后两句写水港与放鸭船，是全诗的归结。“悠悠绿水分枝港”写水港之幽——“悠悠绿水”写绿水悠悠，“分枝港”写水分作枝港——绿水悠悠，分作纵横的枝港；“撑出南邻放鸭船”写放鸭船——“撑出”写撑船而出，“南邻放鸭船”写南邻的放鸭船——芦苇深处，南邻的放鸭船撑了出来。两句写水乡之幽：悠悠绿水，分作枝港；芦苇深处，撑出放鸭船。以“悠悠绿水”写水之清幽，以“撑出南邻放鸭船”写人烟之恬静，正是叶绍翁写水乡的归结——绿水悠悠，放鸭船出，正是江南水乡的日常图景。

The last two lines write the creek and the duck boat, the whole poem's close. The green-waters-drift-gently-branching-into-creeks writing the creek's seclusion; the from-the-south-neighbor's-bank-a-duck-herding-boat-is-poled-out writing the duck boat. Two lines writing the water-town's seclusion: the green waters drift, branching into creeks; deep in the reeds, the duck boat is poled out. Using the gentle-green-waters for the water's quietness, and the south-neighbor's-duck-boat for the human quiet, precisely Ye Shaoweng's water-town close — the green waters drift, the duck boat comes out, precisely the Jiangnan water-town's daily picture.

Study

Word focus

见尽天 Describes the unobstructed view of the horizon due to flat terrain; conveys spaciousness. “平野无山见尽天”之“见尽天”，写天尽可见，是全诗写平野之阔的关键词。“见尽”写尽收眼底，“天”写天空——平野无山，天尽可见。这一词写平野之开阔：不是见天之边，而是见尽天；不是有山遮挡，而是无山尽见。以“见尽天”写平野之阔，正是叶绍翁写景的笔法——一个“尽”字，写尽平野之阔。

九分芦苇一分烟 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “九分芦苇一分烟”之“九分芦苇一分烟”，写芦苇与烟水之分布，是全诗写水乡景致的名句。“九分”“一分”以数字写分布——十分之中，九分是芦苇，一分是烟。这一句写芦苇烟水之景：不是芦苇与烟并置，而是以“九分”“一分”写其分布；不是泛写水乡，而是数字分明。以“九分”“一分”写景，正是叶绍翁以数字入诗写景的笔法——画面分明，如水墨画。

悠悠 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “悠悠绿水分枝港”之“悠悠”，写绿水悠悠，是全诗写水之清幽的关键词。“悠悠”写水流悠长——悠悠绿水，分作枝港。这一词写水之形态：不是湍急之水，而是悠悠；不是浑浊之水，而是绿水悠悠。以“悠悠”写水，正是叶绍翁写水乡恬静之境的笔法——绿水悠悠，正见水乡之静。

撑出 Verb meaning 'to pole out'; it breaks the stillness of the scene, suddenly introducing movement and life. “撑出南邻放鸭船”之“撑出”，写撑船而出，是全诗写水乡人烟的关键词。“撑”写以篙撑船，“出”写出——芦苇深处，撑出放鸭船。这一词写水乡之动态：不是无人的静景，而是撑出放鸭船；不是喧闹，而是恬静中的人烟。以“撑出”写放鸭船之出，正是叶绍翁写水乡日常的笔法——绿水悠悠中，放鸭船悄然撑出。