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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

春山夜月

A Moonlit Night in the Spring Hills

于良史

Yu Liangshi

春山多胜事，赏玩夜忘归。
掬水月在手，弄花香满衣。
兴来无远近，欲去惜芳菲。
南望鸣钟处，楼台深翠微。

The spring hills hold many fine things; I wander and forget to go home at night.
Scooping water, the moon is in my hand; playing with flowers, their scent fills my robe.
When the mood comes, distance counts for nothing; when I would leave, I grudge the blossoms.
Gazing south to where the bell sounds, towers and terraces lie deep in the blue-green haze.
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Meaning

Yu Liangshi describes a night spent wandering in the spring hills, so absorbed that he forgets to go home. The famous middle lines catch the two moments of perfect fusion between the visitor and the scene: the moon held in a cupped handful of water, and the scent of flowers clinging to his clothes. He wanders wherever the mood takes him, and when he finally thinks of leaving he cannot bear to part from the blossoms; he looks south toward a bell sounding from towers buried in green haze.

春山多胜事，赏玩夜忘归。掬水月在手，弄花香满衣。兴来无远近，欲去惜芳菲。南望鸣钟处，楼台深翠微。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The spring hills are full of fine things, and wandering in them the poet forgets the hour. He cups water and finds the moon in his hand; he trifles with blossoms until their perfume fills his clothes. When the spirit moves him, distance means nothing; when the time comes to go, he grudges every petal. Looking south toward the sound of a bell, he sees towers lying deep in blue-green haze. [Imagery] The second couplet is the heart of the poem and one of the best-known couplets of Tang nature verse: two gestures — scooping and touching — in which the natural world is not observed but taken into the body. The moon in the hand and the scent on the robe are the same idea in the registers of sight and smell. [Structure] The eight lines move through forgetting, absorbing, ranging, grudging and finally gazing outward, so that the poem ends not in departure but in a widening view. [Tone] The mood is lucid, unhurried and free of all anxiety. What distinguishes the poem is its refusal to moralise: there is no hidden meaning, only the record of a night well spent, and the closing bell, far from recalling the poet to duty, simply adds another layer of distance.

【白话串讲】 于良史写《春山夜月》：“春山多胜事，赏玩夜忘归”——“掬水月在手，弄花香满衣”——“兴来无远近，欲去惜芳菲”——“南望鸣钟处，楼台深翠微”——他写春山夜月——掬水月在手。 【意象与手法】 “春山多胜事，赏玩夜忘归”写赏玩忘归；“掬水月在手，弄花香满衣”以掬水弄花写雅趣；“兴来无远近，欲去惜芳菲”写欲去惜芳菲；结以“南望鸣钟处，楼台深翠微”以鸣钟写景。清丽脱俗。 【情感与主旨】 于良史写春山夜月之作，写春山赏玩忘归的雅趣，以“掬水月在手，弄花香满衣”写人与景的融合，是唐人山水诗中的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“掬水月在手，弄花香满衣”以掬水弄花写雅趣；“南望鸣钟处，楼台深翠微”以鸣钟深翠微写景。

Background

Yu Liangshi was active around the middle of the eighth century, in the reign of Emperor Suzong, and is known today almost entirely for this one poem. Very few of his verses survive, which makes the success of this piece the more striking: an obscure poet produced a couplet that entered the common stock of quotation. The subject — wandering at night among spring hills — belongs to a tradition of landscape verse that ran from the Six Dynasties through Wang Wei and into the mid-Tang, in which a walk becomes a form of contemplation. The poem's Buddhist overtone is quiet but real: the bell at the close belongs to a temple, and the towers deep in green haze suggest a monastery set apart from the world. Nothing is insisted upon; the religious dimension is present only as an atmosphere of calm.

《春山夜月》为唐代诗人于良史所作诗。于良史（约765年前后在世），唐肃宗时人，唐代诗人。此诗写景山水，为春山夜月之作。诗中「春山多胜事，赏玩夜忘归」写春山多胜事，赏玩夜忘归；「掬水月在手，弄花香满衣」写掬水月在手，弄花香满衣；「兴来无远近，欲去惜芳菲」写兴来无远近，欲去惜芳菲；「南望鸣钟处，楼台深翠微」写南望鸣钟处，楼台深翠微。于良史此诗以写景山水、楼台深翠微写其山水之情，清丽脱俗，是于良史诗中的名篇。此篇《春山夜月》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《春山夜月》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 distinction is the physical immediacy of its middle couplet. Most nature poetry keeps the observer at a distance, looking; here the verbs are 'scoop' and 'play with', and the results are felt rather than seen — the moon actually in the palm, perfume actually clinging to the cloth. Each line compresses a small action and a large result into five syllables, and the two lines are exactly parallel without their parallelism drawing attention to itself. Around that centre the rest of the poem is organised with care: the first couplet gives the reason for staying out, the third gives the psychology of wandering, and the close opens the view outward so that the poem ends by expanding rather than concluding. The last line is a fine instance of ending by indirection — a bell, a haze, and no statement at all.

此诗艺术上以「清丽脱俗、以景写情」见长。全诗共八句，由春山多胜事而掬水月在手而兴来无远近。起「春山多胜事，赏玩夜忘归」写春山多胜事：春山多胜事，赏玩夜忘归；「掬水月在手，弄花香满衣」写掬水月在手：掬水月在手，弄花香满衣；「兴来无远近，欲去惜芳菲」写兴来无远近：兴来无远近，欲去惜芳菲；结「南望鸣钟处，楼台深翠微」写南望鸣钟处：南望鸣钟处，楼台深翠微。全诗以景写情，由春山多胜事而楼台深翠微，清丽脱俗，是于良史诗中的名篇。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。

Allusions

The imagery belongs to the shared vocabulary of Tang landscape verse rather than to any single source. The moon reflected in water is one of the oldest figures in Chinese poetry, carrying associations of illusion and of the ungraspable made momentarily graspable; to hold it in the hand is to make the traditional point with a concrete gesture. The perfumed robe recalls the aromatic herbs and blossoms of the older courtly tradition, where scent signified refinement. The temple bell at dusk or at night is a standard close in Tang nature poetry, marking the boundary between the human and the wild. And the word for the blue-green haze of the hills is itself a conventional term, used from the Six Dynasties onward for the soft green of distant wooded slopes.

诗中「春山多胜事赏玩夜忘归」「掬水月在手弄花香满衣」「兴来无远近欲去惜芳菲」「南望鸣钟处楼台深翠微」等语，皆含典故故实。「春山多胜事赏玩夜忘归」写春山多胜事赏玩夜忘归；「掬水月在手弄花香满衣」写掬水月在手弄花香满衣；「兴来无远近欲去惜芳菲」写兴来无远近欲去惜芳菲；「南望鸣钟处楼台深翠微」写南望鸣钟处楼台深翠微。诗人以掬水、弄花等语入诗，不着痕迹，而把写景山水之情写得真切可感，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。

Commentary

The poem's reputation rests almost entirely on the second couplet, which has been quoted, painted and used as a model of concise nature writing for more than a thousand years. Critics have praised it for a quality they describe as clean or untrammelled: the images are fresh, the language is plain, and nothing in the line seems laboured. It is often placed beside the well-known landscape quatrains of Wang Wei and of the mid-Tang recluses as an example of how much a minor poet can achieve in a single successful couplet. Later commentary has also noticed how well the rest of the poem supports the famous lines — the forgetting of the first couplet and the reluctance of the third give the moon-in-hand its context, so that the couplet reads as the climax of a real experience rather than as an isolated conceit.

这首《春山夜月》，是于良史写写景山水之作，写春山多胜事、掬水月在手、兴来无远近、南望鸣钟处之情，清丽脱俗。起「春山多胜事，赏玩夜忘归」——春山多胜事，赏玩夜忘归。写春山多胜事：春山多胜事、赏玩夜忘归——多胜事、夜忘归；「掬水月在手，弄花香满衣」——掬水月在手，弄花香满衣。写掬水月在手：掬水月在手、弄花香满衣——月在手、香满衣；「兴来无远近，欲去惜芳菲」——兴来无远近，欲去惜芳菲。写兴来无远近：兴来无远近、欲去惜芳菲——无远近、惜芳菲；结「南望鸣钟处，楼台深翠微」——南望鸣钟处，楼台深翠微。写南望鸣钟处：南望鸣钟处、楼台深翠微——鸣钟处、深翠微。这「南望鸣钟处，楼台深翠微」，是全诗之结：以楼台深翠微写其山水。全诗清丽脱俗，以景写情，正是于良史诗中的名篇。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。

Prosody

Form Five-character regulated poem诗（五言律诗）
Rhyme An eight-line pentasyllabic regulated verse in four couplets, rhyming in the level tone on 'home', 'robe', 'blossoms' and 'haze'. As the form requires, the rhyme falls on the even lines and is carried unchanged from beginning to end, giving the poem an even, unhurried music well suited to a walk that has no destination.此诗为五言律诗，共八句。押韵：「归」「衣」「菲」「微」押微支部韵。诗体依律诗而定，句式整齐，音节随情起伏，正与写写景山水的清丽脱俗相称，也见其以律诗写山水的工整。
Tone pattern The opening couplet is level and relaxed; the middle couplets, being antithetical, balance slowly and evenly, and their paired verbs give the rhythm a gentle lift; the close, with its outward gaze, settles into a level resolution. Level and oblique tones alternate in the prescribed pattern, so that nothing in the sound disturbs the calm the poem describes. The regularity is itself expressive: the verse moves like a walker with nowhere in particular to be.句式上，「春山多胜事，赏玩夜忘归」写春山多胜事，音节明快；「掬水月在手，弄花香满衣」写掬水月在手，音节清丽；「兴来无远近，欲去惜芳菲」写兴来无远近，音节悠远；结「南望鸣钟处，楼台深翠微」写南望鸣钟处，音节幽深。全诗音节随情起伏，由明快而清丽、由悠远而幽深，正合律诗「工整」之妙，读来如写景山水、楼台深翠微之音，清丽而动人。
Reading note As a pentasyllabic regulated poem, the piece satisfies the requirements of tonal alternation, single rhyme and antithesis in the middle couplets. What is remarkable is that the formalism is invisible: the famous second couplet reads as a direct record of two gestures, and its parallelism is felt as naturalness rather than as rule. The even rhyme and regular rhythm suit a poem whose subject is ease, and the closing couplet's level resolution leaves the sound, like the view, extending outward. It is a good illustration of the regulated form at its most transparent.此诗为五言律诗，是于良史写写景山水之作，也是其诗中的名篇。全诗的艺术特色在于「清丽脱俗、以景写情」：「春山多胜事，赏玩夜忘归」写春山多胜事、「掬水月在手，弄花香满衣」写掬水月在手、「兴来无远近，欲去惜芳菲」写兴来无远近、「南望鸣钟处，楼台深翠微」写南望鸣钟处。全诗清丽脱俗，以景写情。尤为精妙者，是「掬水月在手，弄花香满衣」写尽山水之趣；而「南望鸣钟处，楼台深翠微」写尽翠微之深，正是于良史诗「清丽脱俗」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《春山夜月》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

春山多胜事，赏玩夜忘归。

The spring hills hold many fine things; I wander and forget to go home at night.

春山多胜事，赏玩夜忘归。

The spring hills have many a joy; I linger over them till night and forget to go home.

首二句写春山多胜事，起笔即见其山。「春山多胜事」写春山多胜事，「春山」写春山、「多胜事」写多胜事；「赏玩夜忘归」写赏玩夜忘归，「赏玩」写赏玩、「夜忘归」写夜忘归。两句一写春山多胜事、一写赏玩夜忘归，以春山多胜事写多胜事、以赏玩夜忘归写夜忘归，写尽春山多胜事、赏玩夜忘归之情。以山起兴，清丽而脱俗，是「以山起兴」的妙笔。

The opening two lines write the spring hills have many a joy, the hills at once. The words spring hills write the season's mountains; many a joy the delights. I linger over them till night and forget to go home writes the dusk. The two lines, one writing the hills' many joys, one writing the lingering till night, write to the full the feeling of the spring hills and the forgotten return. Rising through the hill, fresh and unworldly, the fine brush of rising through the hill.

掬水月在手，弄花香满衣。

Scooping water, the moon is in my hand; playing with flowers, their scent fills my robe.

掬水月在手，弄花香满衣。

I scoop the water, and the moon is in my hand; I toy with the flowers, and the scent fills my robe.

此二句写掬水月在手，是全诗写掬水之态的关键。「掬水月在手」写掬水月在手，「掬水」写掬水、「月在手」写月在手；「弄花香满衣」写弄花香满衣，「弄花」写弄花、「香满衣」写香满衣。两句一写掬水月在手、一写弄花香满衣，以掬水月在手写月在手、以弄花香满衣写香满衣，写尽掬水月在手、弄花香满衣之情。以水写景，清丽而脱俗，是「以水写景」的点睛之笔。

The two lines write I scoop the water, and the moon is in my hand, the key of the whole's writing the scooping. The words I scoop the water write the cupped hands; the moon is in my hand the reflection. I toy with the flowers, and the scent fills my robe writes the fragrance. The two lines, one writing the moon in the hand, one writing the scent filling the robe, write to the full the feeling of the scooped moon and the fragrant robe. Writing scenery through the water, fresh and unworldly, the eye-dotting brush.

兴来无远近，欲去惜芳菲。

When the mood comes, distance counts for nothing; when I would leave, I grudge the blossoms.

兴来无远近，欲去惜芳菲。

When the mood comes, I heed not distance; about to leave, I grieve to part with the blooms.

此二句写兴来无远近，是全诗写兴来之态的关键。「兴来无远近」写兴来无远近，「兴来」写兴来、「无远近」写无远近；「欲去惜芳菲」写欲去惜芳菲，「欲去」写欲去、「惜芳菲」写惜芳菲。两句一写兴来无远近、一写欲去惜芳菲，以兴来无远近写无远近、以欲去惜芳菲写惜芳菲，写尽兴来无远近、欲去惜芳菲之情。以兴写景，清丽而脱俗，是「以兴写景」的点睛之笔。

The two lines write when the mood comes, I heed not distance, the key of the whole's writing the mood. The words when the mood comes write the impulse; I heed not distance the going. About to leave, I grieve to part with the blooms writes the reluctance. The two lines, one writing the mood's disregard of distance, one writing the grief at parting with the blooms, write to the full the feeling of the coming mood and the lingering over the flowers. Writing scenery through the mood, fresh and unworldly, the eye-dotting brush.

南望鸣钟处，楼台深翠微。

Gazing south to where the bell sounds, towers and terraces lie deep in the blue-green haze.

南望鸣钟处，楼台深翠微。

Southward I gaze to where the bell rings; the towers and terraces lie deep in the blue-green hills.

结句写南望鸣钟处，是全诗立意的落点。「南望鸣钟处」写南望鸣钟处，「南望」写南望、「鸣钟处」写鸣钟处；「楼台深翠微」写楼台深翠微，「楼台」写楼台、「深翠微」写深翠微。两句一写南望鸣钟处、一写楼台深翠微，以南望鸣钟处写鸣钟处、以楼台深翠微写深翠微，写尽南望鸣钟处、楼台深翠微之情。以望写情，清丽而脱俗，是全诗最动人处，也是「以望写情」的点睛之笔。

The closing line writes southward I gaze to where the bell rings; the towers and terraces lie deep in the blue-green hills, the landing of the whole's bent. The words southward I gaze write the looking; where the bell rings the distant temple. The towers and terraces lie deep in the blue-green hills writes the buildings among the hills. The line writes to the full the feeling of the southward gaze and the towers in the green. Writing scenery through the gaze, fresh and unworldly, the most moving place of the whole and the eye-dotting brush.

Study

Word focus

春山 The spring hills, the poem's whole setting and its reason for being. The season matters: spring means blossom and new growth, so the hills can be said to hold 'many fine things' and the walker's absorption has an object worthy of it. 「春山」写春山多胜事，是写春山之态的关键。「春山多胜事」着一「春山」，写春山——着一「春山」，写春山多胜事，见其山之春。两字写尽春山之态，是「以词写山」的妙笔。「春山」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。
掬水 To scoop water with cupped hands, the gesture that produces the poem's most famous image. It is a deliberately small, physical action, and its importance lies in abolishing distance: the poet does not look at the reflection, he takes it up, so that the moon is literally held. 「掬水」写掬水月在手，是写掬水之态的关键。「掬水月在手」着一「掬水」，写掬水——着一「掬水」，写掬水月在手，见其水之掬。两字写尽掬水之态，是「以词写水」的点睛之词。「掬水」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。
弄花 To play with or trifle among the flowers, the companion gesture to scooping. Where scooping concerns sight, this concerns touch and smell, and the result — perfume on the robe — clings to the poet after the moment has passed, which is why leaving is hard. 「弄花」写弄花香满衣，是写弄花之态的关键。「弄花香满衣」着一「弄花」，写弄花——着一「弄花」，写弄花香满衣，见其花之弄。两字写尽弄花之态，是「以词写花」的点睛之词。「弄花」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。
翠微 The soft blue-green haze of wooded hillsides, a conventional term for distant green since the Six Dynasties. It supplies the closing image of towers half-hidden in foliage, and because it suggests depth rather than outline, it lets the poem end by opening the view instead of closing it. 「翠微」写楼台深翠微，是写翠微之态的关键。「楼台深翠微」着一「翠微」，写翠微——着一「翠微」，写楼台深翠微，见其微之翠。两字写尽翠微之态，是「以词写微」的点睛之词。「翠微」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

山园小梅 Plum Blossoms in a Mountain Garden 林逋 · 同写山水清雅、超然物外，一写疏影横斜水清浅暗香浮动月黄昏、一写掬水月在手弄花香满衣，皆于山水之中见清雅 Both poems treat refined natural beauty in a spirit of detachment from the world; one writes of sparse shadows over clear shallow water and hidden fragrance at moonlit dusk, the other of a moon held in cupped hands and scent filling the robe.

Lin Bu's couplet is the more famous and the more austere: the plum is glimpsed, its shadow falls across water, its fragrance arrives on the air, and the poet never touches it. Yu Liangshi's speaker does the opposite — he takes the water up and the perfume onto his clothes. The difference is instructive: one poem is built on restraint and distance, the other on contact and immediacy. Both, however, use the same pairing of water-reflection and scent, and both express a temperament content to stand outside the world of affairs. Reading them together shows how a shared vocabulary served two very different ideals of refinement.

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、山水之趣，是宋诗咏物的绝唱；于良史《春山夜月》则以「掬水月在手，弄花香满衣」「楼台深翠微」写月在手香满衣、楼台深翠微。两诗同写山水清雅、超然物外：一写疏影横斜水清浅暗香浮动月黄昏、以梅写清雅，一写掬水月在手弄花香满衣、以水月写山水；一为林逋之清逸、一为于良史之清丽，并读正可见诗写「山水清雅」的两种笔法，皆于山水之中见清雅。

 浣溪沙·一曲新词酒一杯 Silk-Washing Stream: 'A New Song, a Cup of Wine' 晏殊 · 同写惜春感怀、无可奈何，一写无可奈何花落去、一写春山多胜事赏玩夜忘归，皆于惜春之中见感怀 Both poems are about grudging the passing of spring; one laments that blossoms fall and there is no help for it, the other grudges the blossoms at the moment of leaving, and both find a gentle melancholy inside a scene of enjoyment.

Yan Shu's lyric is philosophical: flowers fall regardless, swallows return as if known before, and the speaker walks alone in a garden of small paths. Yu Liangshi's poem is not sad at all in its middle — the mood is absorption and delight — but the third couplet introduces the same note of reluctance, and the close, with its distant bell, gives a hint of transience without insisting. The comparison shows the range available within the spring theme: a Song lyricist turns it into reflection on time, a Tang poet into a record of a night's pleasure touched by the knowledge that it must end.

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」，写惜春感怀、无可奈何，是宋词小令的名篇；于良史《春山夜月》则以「春山多胜事，赏玩夜忘归」「欲去惜芳菲」写多胜事夜忘归、欲去惜芳菲。两诗同写惜春感怀、无可奈何：一写无可奈何花落去、以花落燕归写惜时，一写春山多胜事赏玩夜忘归、以赏玩写惜春；一为晏殊之温润、一为于良史之清丽，并读正可见诗写「惜春感怀」的两种笔法，皆于惜春之中见感怀。