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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

渡荆门送别

Crossing Beyond Jingmen: A Farewell

李白

Li Bai

山水landscape 离别parting

渡远荆门外，来从楚国游。
山随平野尽，江入大荒流。
月下飞天镜，云生结海楼。
仍怜故乡水，万里送行舟。

I have crossed far, out beyond Jingmen,
Come to wander in the land of Chu.
The mountains run out with the level plain;
The river enters the great waste and flows on.
Under the moon a mirror flies down from heaven;
Where clouds rise, a tower of the sea takes shape.
Still I love the water of my homeland,
That sees my travelling boat off ten thousand li.

Listen

Meaning

By boat I have travelled far, out past the mountains of Jingmen, and have come to roam in the old land of Chu. The hills fall away as the level plain opens and at last are gone; the great river pours into a vast wilderness and rolls eastward. The moon on the water is like a bright mirror fallen from the sky, and the rising clouds build the towers of a mirage above the sea. Still I love this water that comes from my own country, which has escorted my travelling boat ten thousand li.

乘船远渡到荆门山之外，来到楚国故地纵情漫游。山峦随着平阔的原野延伸而渐渐消失，大江奔入广袤荒远的原野滔滔东流。明月映照江面仿佛飞落天边的明镜，云霞升起幻化出大海楼台般的奇景。我依然怜爱这故乡流来的江水，不远万里陪伴着我的行舟。

Appreciation

The strength of this poem is the way it opens out space. The first couplet states the far crossing and the journey into Chu; the second, with mountains that run out into the plain and a river that enters the great waste, uses a moving viewpoint to write hills retreating, fields widening and water rushing away, and has long been admired as one of the grandest couplets in Chinese poetry. The third couplet answers it with fantasy, the moon a mirror flying down from heaven and the clouds building sea-towers in the air. The close turns to tenderness, the water of home personified as an escort for the traveller's boat, so that strength and affection set each other off.

【白话串讲】 “渡远荆门外，来从楚国游”——李白第一次离开蜀地，出荆门。“山随平野尽，江入大荒流”——山到平野尽头，江水流入大荒。“仍怜故乡水，万里送行舟”——故乡的水，送了他万里。【意象与手法】此诗为唐李白之作，精要赏析详见下方深度赏析。【情感与主旨】《渡荆门送别》约作于唐玄宗开元十三年（725），李白二十五岁，初出蜀地、辞亲远游，乘舟自长江而下，经荆门（今湖北宜都【名句点睛】中高考常取颔联‘山随平野尽，江入大荒流’与颈联‘月下飞天镜，云生结海楼’设题。考点一

Background

'Crossing Beyond Jingmen: A Farewell' was written about the thirteenth year of the Kaiyuan era (725), when Li Bai was twenty-five. He had just left Shu, taken leave of his family and set out on distant travels, going down the Yangzi by boat and passing Jingmen, northwest of present-day Yidu in Hubei, into the land of Chu. The journey marks the turning point of his life, when, as he put it, he took up his sword and left his country. The farewell of the title is not a parting from a friend but a leave-taking of the hills and rivers of home, which is why the last couplet has the water of his homeland see him off for ten thousand li. Recording what he saw from the boat and the spirit in which he left, the poem is a representative piece of Li Bai's early travel poetry, already romantic within its clear and vigorous manner.

李白《渡荆门送别》约作于唐玄宗开元十三年（725），时李白二十五岁，初出蜀地、辞亲远游，乘舟自长江顺流而下，经荆门山进入楚地。荆门山在今湖北宜都西北、长江南岸，与北岸虎牙山隔江对峙，形势险要，古称「荆楚门户」；舟出荆门，江面豁然开阔，山势渐平，正是「山随平野尽」的地理实景。此期李白正值「仗剑去国，辞亲远游」的青年阶段，怀济世之志、抱出川之豪，一路上山川壮丽，触目成诗。诗题「送别」二字与内容似不相称——全诗写的是「行」，而非「送」，故历来有学者疑此诗「送别」乃衍文，或以为所送者为同舟友人，或以为「别」即「别故乡」「别蜀地」之意。诸说并陈，今人校注多从「别蜀」说，谓此诗是李白告别故乡四川、初入楚地时所作。版本方面，此诗见《李太白文集》卷十五，文字诸本大体一致，未见重大异文。「月下飞天镜」之「下」一作「落」，义同而字异。此诗与《峨眉山月歌》《早发白帝城》等，同属李白出蜀纪行之作，然其纪行的壮阔与思乡的细腻交织，尤见青年李白胸襟。开元十三年李白出蜀，先经渝州，再下三峡，舟出荆门入江汉平原，一路山水雄奇，触目成诗。其《峨眉山月歌》「夜发清溪向三峡，思君不见下渝州」写于出峡之前，《渡荆门送别》则写于入楚之后，两诗一前一后，正可勾画出李白出蜀纪行的完整路线，也见出其青年时期由蜀中山水转入楚地风物的眼界之变。

Art

The poem's chief art is the unfolding of space. The first couplet marks the far crossing and the journey to roam in Chu; the second, with the mountains running out as the plain levels and the river entering the great waste, uses a moving point of view to write the hills falling back, the fields opening and the water rushing into the distance, a couplet of such force that critics have called it unmatched through the ages. The third couplet turns to strange beauty, writing the river moon as a mirror flown down from heaven and the rising cloud as a tower above the sea. The description moves from the high, far hills and fields to the drifting cloud and moon and comes to rest at last on the personified love for the water of home, so that vigour and tenderness reflect one another and the breadth, brightness and romance of Li Bai's early manner are all present.

此诗的艺术核心在于「以壮阔写离情」的章法反衬。首联「渡远荆门外，来从楚国游」平实交代行踪，点出舟出荆门、身入楚地，为全诗张本。颔联「山随平野尽，江入大荒流」是千古名句，写舟行所见：连绵山势至此随平野而尽，浩荡江流奔入广袤荒原，一「随」一「入」，一「尽」一「流」，把空间的推移与动感写得极为传神，视野由高山的逼仄转入平野的开阔，境界豁然。颈联「月下飞天镜，云生结海楼」转写夜间与空中的奇景：明月倒映江中，如天镜飞落；云霞升腾，幻作海市蜃楼，一写水之明净，一写云之奇幻，虚实相生。尾联「仍怜故乡水，万里送行舟」收束全篇，笔锋由壮景转入柔情——江水自故乡流来，不远万里送行，是故乡水「送」诗人远行。前人评此诗多赞其颔联之开阔、颈联之奇丽，而尾联以「怜」字轻轻一转，把通篇的壮阔收拢到一缕乡思上，举重若轻，正是李白以雄笔写柔情的典型手法。全诗四联，前六句极写景之雄奇，末二句以情作结，景愈壮则情愈深，反衬之妙，为后世所重。此诗之「送别」，或非送人，而是送己、别乡——末联「仍怜故乡水，万里送行舟」，明是故乡之水「送」行舟，则「送别」之主体遂由人转为水，构思极新。清人论李白五律，多谓其「以古入律、以气运诗」，此诗首联散行、中二联工对、尾联以情结，正是「古律相生」的典型。

Allusions

The poem uses no evident allusion and wins by real scenery and direct feeling. The great waste comes from the geographical imagination of the Classic of Mountains and Seas but is used here simply for the boundless plain, common vocabulary rather than a specific reference; the tower of the sea is the mirage, which the ancients explained as the transformation of vapours, and is the description of a real sight. The whole poem depends on what the eye meets and the heart grasps, writing feeling through scene without leaning on stacked allusions, and in this one sees the natural grace of the young Li Bai of the High Tang, like a lotus rising from clear water; there is no need to read it as a puzzle of sources.

此诗不用显性典故，然其意象皆有源流可寻。「荆门」一地，古来即为入楚要冲，郦道元《水经注·江水》记荆门、虎牙二山「楚之西塞也」，李白「渡远荆门外」正坐实了这一地理意象。「大荒」一词，语本《山海经》之「大荒」诸经，指极远之地，李白用以状江流奔入的荒远原野，取其浩渺无际之意，暗含《庄子》逍遥游的广远之思。「月下飞天镜」的「天镜」，或以月喻镜，或以镜喻江面之明净，实承谢灵运、鲍照以来以「镜」喻水之传统，如谢朓「澄江静如练」、鲍照「乱流趋正绝」之属；李白翻新之，着一「飞」字，使静态的倒影顿生动态，是化静为动的典型。「海楼」即海市蜃楼，《史记·天官书》已有「海旁蜃气象楼台」之说，李白借以状云霞幻景，虚实相生。「故乡水」之意象，可溯至《诗经·邶风·泉水》「毖彼泉水，亦流于淇」，以流水起思乡之兴；李白更进一层，把流水人格化为「送行」的故乡使者，是传统「水与乡思」意象的妙用。荆门之地理意象，自郦道元《水经注》之后，历为诗人入楚之标志，李白之前，梁元帝、庾信诸人皆有咏及；李白之后，苏轼「荆门西」之句亦承此脉。「大荒」一词，语出《山海经》，李白《古风》「大荒无垠」亦尝用之，皆取其渺远无极之意。「天镜」之喻，或近取谢朓「余霞散成绮，澄江静如练」之澄明，李白更以「飞」字振起，遂成奇观。

Commentary

Wang Anshi of the Song said that in recent ages no one had equalled Li Bai's songs and poems, and Hu Yinglin of the Ming singled out the couplet on the mountains and the river as one of Li Bai's grand utterances. Modern critics often set it beside Du Fu's lines on the stars hanging over the wide plain and the moon surging in the great river, saying that each displays the spirit of the High Tang in its own way. The tenderness of the closing love for the water of home is especially admired, showing that for all his boldness he never forgot his roots, and the couplet has long been treasured in the tradition of travel and farewell poetry.

此诗自问世以来，历来被视为李白出蜀纪行的代表与五律的佳构。明胡应麟《诗薮》论盛唐五律，极赏其「山随平野尽，江入大荒流」一联，以为气象雄浑，与杜甫「星垂平野阔，月涌大江流」并为写景之双璧。清沈德潜《唐诗别裁》选此诗，评其颔联「写得大」，颈联「写得奇」，尾联「写得亲切」。王夫之《唐诗评选》亦注意此诗「以景起、以情结」的章法。此诗传播之广，在于颔联「山随平野尽，江入大荒流」与颈联「月下飞天镜，云生结海楼」久为写景名句，常与杜甫《旅夜书怀》「星垂平野阔，月涌大江流」对举，成为后世衡量盛唐五律气象的标尺之一。诗题「送别」的存疑，也构成了一段学术公案，历代注家或疑衍文、或主「别蜀」说，争论至今未息，恰见此诗文本研究的价值。近世《唐诗鉴赏辞典》等普及读本，多将此诗与《峨眉山月歌》并置，见出李白出蜀初期诗风由清新向雄浑的过渡。宋人论李白五律，严羽《沧浪诗话》谓「太白发句，谓之开门见山」，此诗首联「渡远荆门外，来从楚国游」正可当之。明王世贞《艺苑卮言》论李杜五律之别，谓「李以气胜，杜以意胜」，移评「山随平野尽，江入大荒流」与「星垂平野阔，月涌大江流」二联，最见分晓。此诗颔联、颈联既为写景之极则，尾联又以「怜」字轻轻一转，遂使壮景中见柔情，历为选家所不弃。

Prosody

Form Five-character regulated verse五言律诗

Rhyme Ping-shui rhyme, lower level eleventh you group (roam, flow, tower, boat)平水韵下平十一尤韵，押「游」「流」「楼」「舟」四韵，首句入韵

Tone pattern First line does not enter the rhyme; oblique onset with oblique close首句「渡远荆门外」仄仄平平仄，次句「来从楚国游」平平仄仄平，三四句「山随平野尽」平平平仄仄、「江入大荒流」平仄仄平平，为律诗正格之平起式（首句仄起不入韵式之变体，首句入韵）。中二联对仗工稳，平仄相协，音律谐美。

Reading note Eight lines in four couplets, the middle two couplets neatly parallel; a travel poem written just after leaving Shu.此诗为五言律诗，首句入韵，押下平十一尤韵，韵脚「游、流、楼、舟」同属尤韵，开口圆润，声气悠长，恰与舟行江上、顺流而下的行旅情致相合。十一尤韵部字音柔和绵远，读来如江流之缓，正宜于表现「远游」的从容与「思乡」的绵长。颔联「山随平野尽，江入大荒流」以「平平平仄仄」对「平仄仄平平」，平仄精严，「尽」字去声收束，「流」字平声舒展，一收一放，声律上正对应「山尽」之陡止与「江流」之浩荡，声情与景情高度契合。颈联「月下飞天镜，云生结海楼」继续工对，「天镜」「海楼」皆平起仄收、仄起平收相协，音调浏亮。尾联「仍怜故乡水，万里送行舟」则渐趋舒缓，以平声「舟」字收束全篇，余韵悠长。全诗四联，中二联对仗精工，首尾联自然流转，音律之严整与情感之跌宕相得益彰，是李白五律中格律纯熟而又不掩其飘逸天性的代表之作也。

Line by line

渡远荆门外

Sailing far, beyond the Jingmen Hills,

乘船远渡到荆门山之外

I sail far beyond the Jingmen Hills.

首句五字，交代了地点与动作：诗人乘舟，远渡至荆门山之外。「渡远」二字倒装，突出「远」字——此行是离家远行，非近游可比，一「远」字已暗藏离乡之思。「荆门」是入楚门户，舟出荆门，意味着诗人彻底告别蜀地、进入陌生的楚境，这是全诗情感的地理分界点。句末「外」字尤有意味：既指荆门山之外，也暗示诗人已跨出故乡的怀抱，进入一个全新的、开阔的天地。此句平平起笔，不事雕琢，却为后文的壮景与乡思都设下了坐标，是全诗空间的起点。

The opening five characters tell the place and the act: the poet sailing, far beyond the Jingmen Hills. The two words sailing far are inverted, highlighting the far - this journey is a far leaving of home, not a near ramble, the single word far already secretly holding the thought of home. Jingmen is the gate into Chu, the boat issuing from Jingmen meaning the poet's thorough farewell to Shu and entering the strange land of Chu, the geographic divide of the whole's feeling. The closing word beyond is especially suggestive: at once beyond the Jingmen Hills, and hinting the poet has stepped out of his home's embrace into a wholly new and open world. The line opens plain, unadorned, yet fixes the coordinates for the later grand scenery and homesickness, the starting point of the whole's space.

山随平野尽

the mountains end where the broad plain begins;

山峦随着平阔的原野延伸而渐渐消失

The mountains fade away as the level plain spreads out.

此句写舟行时最真切的视觉经验：两岸连绵的群山，随着地势渐平，终于消失在一片平野之中。「随」字写出山势与地势的相依变化，仿佛群山是「跟着」平野一起走到尽头的，化静为动，极为传神；「尽」字则一笔收束了蜀地千里的险峻山势，宣告了「入楚」的完成。这句的地理实感极强——荆门以西是三峡连山，以东是江汉平原，山尽而野平，正是舟出荆门的瞬间景象。李白以五个字写尽这万里山河的转折，笔力雄健，为下句「江入大荒流」的浩荡之势蓄足张力。

This line writes the truest visual experience of the boat's going: the hills ranged along both banks, as the ground levels, at last vanishing into a plain. The word follows writes the dependent change of the hills and the ground, as if the hills walked with the plain to its end, turning stillness to motion, most lifelike. The word end closes at one stroke the perilous thousand-li hills of Shu, announcing the completion of entering Chu. The line's geographic reality is very strong - west of Jingmen the Three Gorges' linked ranges, east the Jianghan plain, the hills ending and the plain level, exactly the instant of the boat issuing from Jingmen. Li Bai writes to the full this turn of ten thousand li of hills and rivers in five characters, the brush forceful, gathering tension for the next line's the river flows into the vast waste.

月下飞天镜

Beneath the moon, a sky-mirror flies;

明月映照江面仿佛飞落天边的明镜

Beneath the moon, a mirror of the sky seems to fly down.

此句由日间之景转入夜间之景，写月映江面之奇观。「天镜」之喻，既以镜喻江面的明净，又以「天」字点出镜之高远，一镜而兼写天与水。「飞」字是句眼——本是月亮倒映在平静的江水中，李白却说是天镜「飞」下，把静态的倒影化为动态的飞落，使月色与江光交融成一幅流动的奇景。这个「飞」字也暗合了舟行的动感：船在行进，倒影随波晃动，视觉上确如飞镜坠江。李白以超现实的想象写实有的江景，虚实相生，正是其「想落天外」的诗才之体现。

This line turns from the daytime scenery to the night, writing the wonder of moonlight on the river. The sky-mirror simile at once uses the mirror for the river's bright clearness, and the word sky to point the mirror's height, one mirror writing both sky and water. The word flies is the line's eye - originally the moon reflected in the still river, yet Li Bai says the sky-mirror flies down, turning the static reflection into the flying descent, fusing the moonlight and the river-glow into a flowing wonder. The word flies also secretly fits the boat's motion: the boat moving, the reflection rippling, visually indeed like a flying mirror falling into the river. Li Bai using the surreal imagination to write the real river scene, the real and the void breeding each other, exactly the showing of his imagination beyond the sky.

仍怜故乡水

Still I love the water of my home.

我依然怜爱这故乡流来的江水

Still I cherish the waters that flowed from my home.

尾联首句是全诗情感的转折点。「仍怜」二字，谓纵使前路壮景万千，诗人心中眷恋的仍是这从故乡流来的江水。「怜」是怜爱、眷恋，含情极深——江水自蜀地流来，载着诗人出峡，是唯一陪伴他、又系连着故乡的事物。「故乡水」三字，把抽象的乡愁凝为一个具体的、可感可亲的形象，江水由此被赋予了情感。此句之前，诗境一味雄奇开阔；此句一出，一缕乡思轻轻落下，如千钧之笔化为一羽之轻。景愈壮而情愈切，正是李白以雄笔写柔情的妙处，也是全诗由「游」转「别」的枢纽。

The first line of the tail couplet is the turn of the whole's feeling. The two words still I love mean that though the road ahead holds a thousand grand scenes, what the poet's heart clings to is still the river water flowing from home. The word love is tender attachment, the feeling very deep - the river flowing from Shu, bearing the poet out of the gorges, the only thing accompanying him and yet tied to home. The three words home water condense the abstract homesickness into a concrete, palpable and dear image, the river thus endowed with feeling. Before this line, the poetic realm is wholly grand and open; once this line appears, a thread of homesickness lightly falls, like a thousand-catty brush turned to a feather's light. The grander the scenery, the deeper the feeling, exactly Li Bai's beauty of writing tender feeling with the grand brush, and the hinge of the whole's turning from the tour to the parting.

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Word focus

随 The verb makes the hills seem to retreat along with the boat's motion, turning still mountains into movement and giving the whole couplet its sweep. 「随」字见于「山随平野尽」，是这一名联的句眼。一个「随」字，把「山」与「平野」两个静态的物象连成一个动态的过程——仿佛连绵的群山并非自行消失，而是「跟随」着平野的展开而逐渐隐没。这既写出了山势随地势渐趋平缓的地理实态，又暗含舟行时视野推移的动感，化静为动，一笔而兼写时空。若换作「至」「到」「入」，皆失其流转之意；唯「随」字能写出那种「群山依依、随野而尽」的绵延感，与下句「入」字一柔一刚，相映成趣。李白炼字之妙，正在这种看似平淡而不可更易的一字。

尽 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 「尽」字见于「山随平野尽」，是蜀山与楚野的交接点。「尽」是终结、消失，一笔收束了蜀地千里的险峻山势——三峡连山至此而止，天地豁然开朗。这个「尽」字分量极重，它不仅写地理的实景，更暗含一种人生阶段的了结：出蜀入楚，告别了熟悉的故乡山水，进入陌生的广阔天地，故乡的「山」到此而尽，故乡的怀抱亦到此而止。一「尽」字，景语中已藏情语，为尾联的「故乡水」与乡思埋下伏笔。此字与「入」字对举，一收一放，章法上收束前境、开启后境，是颔联「尽—流」张力的关键一环。

怜 Here it means to love and cherish. Applied to the river, it makes the water a living companion, and through it the traveller's tenderness for the country he has left comes quietly through. 「怜」字见于「仍怜故乡水」，是全诗的情感之眼。李白不用「爱」「念」「忆」，而用「怜」——「爱」是泛泛的喜好，「念」是淡淡的牵挂，「忆」是事后的追怀，都不及「怜」字之深婉。怜者，怜爱而兼怜惜，既是对故乡水的深情，也暗含对自己孤身远行的自怜；既怜水之「万里送行」的殷勤，又怜己之去国怀乡的怅惘。一个「怜」字，把通篇的雄奇壮景轻轻收拢到一缕柔情上，使前六句的「壮」反衬出末二句的「深」，举重若轻。此字看似平易，实是李白在雄笔与柔情之间找到的平衡点，是全诗「以壮写悲」手法的关键。