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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

东郊

The Eastern Suburb

韦应物

Wei Yingwu

吏舍跼终年出郊旷清曙杨柳散和风青山澹吾虑依丛适自憩缘涧还复去微雨霭芳原春鸠鸣何处乐幽心屡止遵事迹犹遽终罢斯结庐慕陶真可庶

Shut in the clerks' quarters all the year,
I go out to the suburb and open my heart to the clear dawn.
Willows scatter a gentle breeze, green hills thin out my cares;
by a thicket I rest as I please, and follow the ravine back and forth.
Fine rain mists the fragrant plain - where does the spring cuckoo call?
I delight in seclusion, yet my heart so often stops short:
duties still press me and my steps are hurried.
But I shall give it all up at last and build a hut here,
and in admiring Tao may truly come near him.
Listen

Meaning

The poem describes a morning walk in the eastern suburb outside Chang'an. Released for a moment from a year of cramped office routine, the speaker finds the willows, the hills, the drizzle and the cuckoo gradually dissolving his worries. Yet the pull of official duty keeps breaking in, and he ends by promising himself that he will one day abandon office and live as Tao Yuanming did. Its theme is the tug between public obligation and the private longing for a quiet, self-directed life.

吏舍跼终年出郊旷清曙杨柳散和风青山澹吾虑依丛适自憩缘涧还复去微雨霭芳原春鸠鸣何处乐幽心屡止遵事迹犹遽终罢斯结庐慕陶真可庶

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] Cooped up in the clerks' quarters the whole year round, I walk out into the suburb and open myself to the clear early light. Willows loosen a mild wind; the green hills make my worries thin and dilute. I rest by a clump of trees as the mood takes me, follow the stream bed back and forth. A fine rain hazes the fragrant meadow; somewhere a spring cuckoo is calling. I love this quiet, and yet my heart repeatedly checks itself, because official business still harries me and my steps stay hurried. In the end I will resign it all and put up a hut, and in taking Tao for my model I may truly come close to him.
[Structure] The poem falls into three movements. The opening couplet sets up the contrast between confinement and release. The long middle section gives the walk itself, a slow accumulation of mild sensations. The closing lines bring duty back as an interruption and then resolve the tension with a vow.
[Imagery] Every image is quiet and unemphatic: a breeze scattered by willows, hills that dilute rather than remove care, rain that only mists the meadow, a bird heard but not located. The vagueness is deliberate - these are the perceptions of a man half-relaxed, not of a sightseer.
[Mood] The prevailing temper is calm and slightly wistful. The speaker never protests; he simply notes, with honest regret, that he must go back.

【白话串讲】 韦应物写《东郊》：“吏舍跼终年，出郊旷清曙”——“杨柳散和风，青山澹吾虑”——“微雨霭芳原，春鸠鸣何处”——“终罢斯结庐，慕陶真可庶”——他出郊散心——青山澹吾虑。 【意象与手法】 “吏舍跼终年，出郊旷清曙”写出郊之乐；“杨柳散和风，青山澹吾虑”以杨柳青山写散虑；“微雨霭芳原，春鸠鸣何处”写微雨春鸠；“依丛适自憩缘涧还复去”写自憩；结以“终罢斯结庐，慕陶真可庶”以慕陶写归隐之志。闲淡郊游。 【情感与主旨】 韦应物写出郊散心之作，写官舍拘束与出郊旷达之对比，以“青山澹吾虑”写郊游之乐、慕陶写归隐之志，是韦应物山水田园诗的代表。 【名句点睛】 常考“杨柳散和风，青山澹吾虑”以杨柳青山写散虑；“终罢斯结庐，慕陶真可庶”以慕陶写归隐之志。

Background

Wei Yingwu (737-792) came of an old Chang'an family and served in a long series of modest posts, including a term as governor of Suzhou, from which his collected works take their usual name. Mid-Tang readers already paired him with Wang Wei, Meng Haoran and Liu Zongyuan as a master of landscape and farmstead verse. What distinguishes him is the moral texture of his quietness: his retreat into nature is never free of a sense of obligation left behind. This piece belongs to his years in the capital, when a minor official's day began early and belonged entirely to his office. The eastern suburb was the natural place to breathe, and Tao Yuanming - the fourth-century poet who resigned his post rather than bow to a superior - was the natural model for anyone who wanted to walk out of that office for good.

《东郊》为唐代诗人韦应物所作诗。韦应物（737—792），京兆长安人，唐代诗人。此诗写郊游写景，为游东郊之作。诗中「吏舍跼终年出郊旷清曙」写吏舍跼终年出郊旷清曙；「杨柳散和风青山澹吾虑」写杨柳散和风青山澹吾虑；「依丛适自憩缘涧还复去」写依丛适自憩缘涧还复去；「微雨霭芳原春鸠鸣何处乐幽心屡止遵事迹犹遽终罢斯结庐慕陶真可庶」写微雨霭芳原春鸠鸣何处乐幽心屡止遵事迹犹遽终罢斯结庐慕陶真可庶。韦应物此诗以郊游写景、慕陶真可庶写其写景之情，闲淡郊游，是韦应物诗中的名篇。此篇《东郊》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《东郊》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 is written in the old-style five-syllable line, and its art is an art of understatement. Nothing is intensified: the wind is only scattered by the willows, the hills only thin the speaker's cares, the rain only mists the plain. The verb choices are all verbs of loosening rather than of breaking, which is exactly right for a man who cannot yet free himself. Structurally, the poem keeps returning to the body - resting by a thicket, following the ravine back and forth, hurrying on - so that the landscape is experienced as walking rather than as viewing. The interruption in the closing movement is the key stroke: just as the reader settles into serenity, duty reappears, and the serenity is revealed as borrowed. The final vow therefore reads less as a resolution than as a wish, and that honesty is what gives the poem its durable appeal.

此诗艺术上以「闲淡郊游、以郊写情」见长。全诗共十四句，由吏舍跼终年而杨柳散和风而依丛适自憩。起「吏舍跼终年出郊旷清曙」写吏舍跼终年：吏舍跼终年出郊旷清曙；「杨柳散和风青山澹吾虑」写杨柳散和风：杨柳散和风青山澹吾虑；「依丛适自憩缘涧还复去」写依丛适自憩：依丛适自憩缘涧还复去；结「微雨霭芳原春鸠鸣何处乐幽心屡止遵事迹犹遽终罢斯结庐慕陶真可庶」写慕陶真可庶：微雨霭芳原春鸠鸣何处乐幽心屡止遵事迹犹遽终罢斯结庐慕陶真可庶。全诗以郊写情，由吏舍跼终年而慕陶真可庶，闲淡郊游，是韦应物诗中的名篇。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 single explicit reference is to Tao Yuanming. The closing line, in admiring Tao may truly come near him, invokes the poet who gave up his magistracy after eighty days rather than bow to an inspector, and who wrote the famous account of returning to his garden and fields. To name Tao at the end of a poem about a suburban walk is to declare that the walk is not a pleasure outing but a rehearsal for renunciation. The cuckoo calling somewhere on the fragrant plain also carries faint associations with spring's passing and with the call to return home, a motif common in Six Dynasties verse, though the poet lets it remain simply a bird whose location he cannot fix.

诗中「吏舍跼终年出郊旷清曙」「杨柳散和风青山澹吾虑」「依丛适自憩缘涧还复去」「微雨霭芳原春鸠鸣何处乐幽心屡止遵事迹犹遽终罢斯结庐慕陶真可庶」等语，皆含典故故实。「吏舍跼终年出郊旷清曙」写吏舍跼终年出郊旷清曙；「杨柳散和风青山澹吾虑」写杨柳散和风青山澹吾虑；「依丛适自憩缘涧还复去」写依丛适自憩缘涧还复去；「微雨霭芳原春鸠鸣何处乐幽心屡止遵事迹犹遽终罢斯结庐慕陶真可庶」用慕陶之典（慕陶写慕陶渊明），写微雨霭芳原春鸠鸣何处乐幽心屡止遵事迹犹遽终罢斯结庐慕陶真可庶。诗人用慕陶之典入诗，不着痕迹，而把郊游写景之情写得真切可感，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。

Commentary

Critics have long admired Wei Yingwu for a plainness that conceals great care, and this poem is a stock illustration. Later readers singled out the couplet on willows and green hills as the epitome of his manner: two quiet natural actions that perform a psychological one. Song and Ming commentators praised the piece for its sincerity, noting that the confession of a divided will - delighting in seclusion yet still hurrying after business - is more convincing than any declaration of contentment. Modern readers tend to value the same quality: the poem refuses to pretend that a morning off is a life, and the strength of the closing wish depends precisely on its being unfulfilled.

这首《东郊》，是韦应物写郊游写景之作，写吏舍跼终年、杨柳散和风、依丛适自憩、慕陶真可庶之情，闲淡郊游。起「吏舍跼终年出郊旷清曙」——吏舍跼终年出郊旷清曙。写吏舍跼终年：吏舍跼终年、出郊旷清曙——跼终年、旷清曙；「杨柳散和风青山澹吾虑」——杨柳散和风青山澹吾虑。写杨柳散和风：杨柳散和风、青山澹吾虑——散和风、澹吾虑；「依丛适自憩缘涧还复去」——依丛适自憩缘涧还复去。写依丛适自憩：依丛适自憩、缘涧还复去——适自憩、还复去；结「微雨霭芳原春鸠鸣何处乐幽心屡止遵事迹犹遽终罢斯结庐慕陶真可庶」——微雨霭芳原春鸠鸣何处乐幽心屡止遵事迹犹遽终罢斯结庐慕陶真可庶。写慕陶真可庶：微雨霭芳原、春鸠鸣何处、乐幽心屡止、遵事迹犹遽、终罢斯结庐、慕陶真可庶——霭芳原、鸣何处、心屡止、迹犹遽、斯结庐、真可庶。这「微雨霭芳原春鸠鸣何处乐幽心屡止遵事迹犹遽终罢斯结庐慕陶真可庶」，是全诗之结：以慕陶真可庶写其写景。全诗闲淡郊游，以郊写情，正是韦应物诗中的名篇。

Prosody

Form Old-style five-syllable verse (wu yan gu shi), unregulated, running to a single continuous movement rather than to regulated couplets.诗（五言古体）
Rhyme The line-ending words form a loose level-tone rhyme sequence, with several successive lines rhyming rather than the strict alternate pattern of regulated verse. The effect is an unbroken, forward-flowing music suited to a walk that keeps going rather than to a series of set-piece observations.此诗为五言古体。押韵：「曙」「虑」「去」「庶」等部。句句自然流转，声情闲淡，正与写郊游写景的闲淡郊游相称，也见其以古体写郊游的流转。
Tone pattern Because the piece ignores the level-oblique regulations of the modern style, its cadence stays conversational and unhurried. Phrases fall in short, breath-length units, and the repeated placing of a quiet adjective before a quiet noun produces a steady, low-pitched rhythm that matches the subdued emotion.句式上，「吏舍跼终年出郊旷清曙」写吏舍跼终年，音节闲淡；「杨柳散和风青山澹吾虑」写杨柳散和风，音节悠长；「依丛适自憩缘涧还复去」写依丛适自憩，音节低回；结「微雨霭芳原春鸠鸣何处乐幽心屡止遵事迹犹遽终罢斯结庐慕陶真可庶」写慕陶真可庶，音节沉郁。全诗音节随情起伏，由闲淡而悠长、由低回而沉郁，正合古体「流转」之妙，读来如郊游写景、慕陶真可庶之音，闲淡而动人。
Reading note The choice of old-style form is itself meaningful. A regulated poem would have imposed balance, antithesis and closure; this piece wants the laxness of a man walking without a plan, whose attention drifts from willows to hills to a thicket to a bird he cannot locate. The prosody therefore carries the theme: freedom from rules on the page mirrors the freedom the speaker is tasting in the suburb.此诗为五言古体，是韦应物写郊游写景之作，也是其诗中的名篇。全诗的艺术特色在于「闲淡郊游、以郊写情」：「吏舍跼终年出郊旷清曙」写吏舍跼终年、「杨柳散和风青山澹吾虑」写杨柳散和风、「依丛适自憩缘涧还复去」写依丛适自憩、「微雨霭芳原春鸠鸣何处乐幽心屡止遵事迹犹遽终罢斯结庐慕陶真可庶」写慕陶真可庶。全诗闲淡郊游，以郊写情。尤为精妙者，是「杨柳散和风」写尽散和风；而「慕陶真可庶」用慕陶之典，正是韦应物诗「闲淡郊游」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《东郊》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

吏舍跼终年出郊旷清曙

Shut in the clerks' quarters all the year, I go out to the suburb and open my heart to the clear dawn.

吏舍跼终年出郊旷清曙

Cooped all the year in the office, I go out to the wilds at a clear dawn, and my heart is light.

起句写吏舍跼终年，起笔即见其吏舍。「吏舍跼终年」写吏舍跼终年，「吏舍」写吏舍、「跼终年」写跼终年；「出郊旷清曙」写出郊旷清曙，「出郊」写出郊、「旷清曙」写旷清曙。一句写吏舍跼终年出郊旷清曙，以吏舍跼终年写跼终年、以出郊旷清曙写旷清曙，写尽吏舍跼终年、出郊旷清曙之情。以舍起兴，闲淡而郊游，是「以舍起兴」的妙笔。

The opening line writes cooped all the year in the office, I go out to the wilds at a clear dawn, and my heart is light, the office at once. The words the office write the yamen; cooped all the year the confinement. I go out to the wilds at a clear dawn, and my heart is light writes the open dawn. The line writes to the full the feeling of the year's confinement and the dawn's release. Rising through the office, leisurely and rambling, the fine brush of rising through the dwelling.

杨柳散和风青山澹吾虑

Willows scatter a gentle breeze, and the green hills thin out my cares.

杨柳散和风青山澹吾虑

The willows scatter in the soft wind; the green hills calm my cares.

此句写杨柳散和风，是全诗写杨柳之态的关键。「杨柳散和风」写杨柳散和风，「杨柳」写杨柳、「散和风」写散和风；「青山澹吾虑」写青山澹吾虑，「青山」写青山、「澹吾虑」写澹吾虑。一句写杨柳散和风青山澹吾虑，以杨柳散和风写散和风、以青山澹吾虑写澹吾虑，写尽杨柳散和风、青山澹吾虑之情。以柳写景，闲淡而郊游，是「以柳写景」的点睛之笔。

This line writes the willows scatter in the soft wind, the key of the whole's writing the willows. The words the willows write the trees; scatter in the soft wind the breeze. The green hills calm my cares writes the calming hills. The line writes to the full the feeling of the willows in the breeze and the hills calming the mind. Writing scenery through the willow, leisurely and rambling, the eye-dotting brush.

依丛适自憩缘涧还复去

By a thicket I rest as it pleases me, and along the ravine I go back and forth.

依丛适自憩缘涧还复去

I lean on the bushes and rest awhile; I follow the ravine, then wander on.

此句写依丛适自憩，是全诗写自憩之态的关键。「依丛适自憩」写依丛适自憩，「依丛」写依丛、「适自憩」写适自憩；「缘涧还复去」写缘涧还复去，「缘涧」写缘涧、「还复去」写还复去。一句写依丛适自憩缘涧还复去，以依丛适自憩写适自憩、以缘涧还复去写还复去，写尽依丛适自憩、缘涧还复去之情。以憩写情，闲淡而郊游，是「以憩写情」的点睛之笔。

This line writes I lean on the bushes and rest awhile, the key of the whole's writing the resting. The words lean on the bushes write the shelter; rest awhile the pause. I follow the ravine, then wander on writes the following stream. The line writes to the full the feeling of the rest and the wandering on. Writing feeling through the rest, leisurely and rambling, the eye-dotting brush.

微雨霭芳原春鸠鸣何处乐幽心屡止遵事迹犹遽终罢斯结庐慕陶真可庶

Fine rain mists the fragrant plain - where is the spring cuckoo calling? I delight in this seclusion, yet my heart so often halts: the duties I must follow still keep me hurried. In the end I will give it up and build a hut here, and in admiring Tao I may truly come near him.

微雨霭芳原春鸠鸣何处乐幽心屡止遵事迹犹遽终罢斯结庐慕陶真可庶

A fine mist veils the fragrant plain; where calls the spring turtledove? I love the still way, often pausing; tied to affairs, my steps are still hurried. When at last I leave office, here I will build my hut; to emulate Tao, indeed I may not fall far short.

结句写慕陶真可庶，是全诗立意的落点。「微雨霭芳原春鸠鸣何处」写微雨霭芳原春鸠鸣何处，「微雨霭芳原」写微雨霭芳原、「春鸠鸣何处」写春鸠鸣何处；「乐幽心屡止遵事迹犹遽」写乐幽心屡止遵事迹犹遽，「乐幽心屡止」写乐幽心屡止、「遵事迹犹遽」写遵事迹犹遽；「终罢斯结庐慕陶真可庶」用慕陶之典写终罢斯结庐慕陶真可庶，「终罢斯结庐」写终罢斯结庐、「慕陶真可庶」写慕陶真可庶。一句写微雨霭芳原春鸠鸣何处乐幽心屡止遵事迹犹遽终罢斯结庐慕陶真可庶，以微雨霭芳原写霭芳原、以乐幽心屡止写屡止、以终罢斯结庐写结庐、以慕陶真可庶写真可庶，写尽微雨霭芳原、慕陶真可庶之情。以陶写情，闲淡而郊游，是全诗最动人处，也是「以陶写情」的点睛之笔。

The closing line writes to emulate Tao, indeed I may not fall far short, the landing of the whole's bent. A fine mist veils the fragrant plain; where calls the spring turtledove? writes the misty plain and the dove's call. I love the still way, often pausing; tied to affairs, my steps are still hurried writes the loving of quiet and the hurry of affairs. When at last I leave office, here I will build my hut; to emulate Tao, indeed I may not fall far short uses the Tao emulation allusion. The line writes to the full the feeling of the misty plain and the emulation of Tao. Writing feeling through Tao, leisurely and rambling, the most moving place of the whole and the eye-dotting brush.

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Word focus

吏舍 The clerks' lodgings, the cramped official quarters where a minor functionary both worked and slept. The word carries the whole weight of institutional life in the poem: it is the opposite of the open suburb and the reason the speaker needs one. 「吏舍」写吏舍跼终年，是写吏舍之态的关键。「吏舍跼终年」着一「吏舍」，写吏舍——着一「吏舍」，写吏舍跼终年，见其舍之吏。两字写尽吏舍之态，是「以词写舍」的妙笔。「吏舍」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。
杨柳 Willow, the classic tree of spring along northern waterways. Here the willow is not decorative but active: it is the agent that loosens and scatters the breeze, and through the breeze the speaker's tension. 「杨柳」写杨柳散和风，是写杨柳之态的关键。「杨柳散和风」着一「杨柳」，写杨柳——着一「杨柳」，写杨柳散和风，见其柳之杨。两字写尽杨柳之态，是「以词写杨」的点睛之词。「杨柳」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。
青山 The green hills on the horizon. Their role is psychological rather than scenic: they are said to dilute or thin the speaker's cares, acting as a solvent rather than a spectacle. 「青山」写青山澹吾虑，是写青山之态的关键。「青山澹吾虑」着一「青山」，写青山——着一「青山」，写青山澹吾虑，见其山之青。两字写尽青山之态，是「以词写山」的点睛之词。「青山」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。
芳原 The fragrant plain or meadow, hazed by fine rain. The adjective matters: the spring field is presented through smell and through a veil of drizzle, which makes it an impression rather than a surveyed view. 「芳原」写微雨霭芳原，是写芳原之态的关键。「微雨霭芳原」着一「芳原」，写芳原——着一「芳原」，写微雨霭芳原，见其原之芳。两字写尽芳原之态，是「以词写原」的点睛之词。「芳原」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

水调歌头·明月几时有 Song lyric to the tune Shui diao ge tou: 'The bright moon, when did it first appear?' 苏轼 · 同写郊游感怀、闲淡旷达，一写人有悲欢离合、一写吏舍跼终年出郊旷清曙，皆于郊游之中见闲淡 Both works turn a natural scene into a reflection on how to live, though one reaches acceptance and the other only a wish.

Su Shi's lyric works through the sorrow of separation and arrives at a hard-won equanimity - the acceptance that parting and reunion belong to the order of things. Wei Yingwu's poem never reaches that acceptance. He sees clearly what would make him whole, names it, and then walks back to his office. Placed side by side, the two show the difference between consolation achieved in thought and consolation merely glimpsed in a landscape.

苏轼《水调歌头·明月几时有》「人有悲欢离合，月有阴晴圆缺，此事古难全」，写郊游感怀、闲淡旷达，是宋词长调的名篇；韦应物《东郊》则以「吏舍跼终年出郊旷清曙」「慕陶真可庶」写旷清曙、真可庶。两诗同写郊游感怀、闲淡旷达：一写人有悲欢离合、以悲欢写离合，一写吏舍跼终年出郊旷清曙、以吏舍写郊游；一为苏轼之旷达、一为韦应物之闲淡，并读正可见诗写「郊游感怀」的两种笔法，皆于郊游之中见闲淡。

 八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天 Song lyric to the tune Ba sheng gan zhou: 'Against the whispering evening rain that sweeps the river sky' 柳永 · 同写东郊凝望、闲淡清丽，一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、一写吏舍跼终年出郊旷清曙，皆于东郊之中见凝望 Both use rain, open ground and a distant gaze to figure a divided self, but in opposite social registers.

Liu Yong's speaker is a man far from home, watching rain wash the autumn clean and imagining the woman who waits for him at her dressing-room window; the landscape intensifies his exile. Wei Yingwu's speaker is barely a mile from his desk, and the same kind of mild rain calms him instead of wounding him. The comparison shows how thoroughly a Tang official's suburban walk differs from a Song traveller's longing: one is a respite, the other a condition.

柳永《八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天》「对潇潇暮雨洒江天，一番洗清秋」，写东郊凝望、闲淡清丽，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；韦应物《东郊》则以「吏舍跼终年出郊旷清曙」「杨柳散和风」写旷清曙、散和风。两诗同写东郊凝望、闲淡清丽：一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、以暮雨写清秋，一写吏舍跼终年出郊旷清曙、以吏舍写郊游；一为柳永之清丽、一为韦应物之闲淡，并读正可见诗写「东郊凝望」的两种笔法，皆于东郊之中见凝望。