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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

感遇十二首 二

Stirred by What I Meet, Twelve Poems: No. 2

张九龄

Zhang Jiuling

幽林归独卧滞虑洗孤清持此谢高鸟因之传远情日夕怀空意人谁感至精飞沈理自隔何所慰吾诚

I return to the dim forest and lie alone; stagnant cares are washed away in solitary clarity.
I take this to salute the high-flying birds, and through them send a feeling far away.
Morning and evening I hold an empty intent - who among men can feel pure sincerity?
Flying and sinking are by principle set apart; what is there to comfort my truth?
Listen

Meaning

The poet withdraws into a secluded wood and lies alone, hoping that solitude will wash away the accumulated concerns of public life. He addresses the birds overhead, asking them to carry his feelings into the distance, and then admits the failure of that hope: day and night he holds a pure purpose that no one recognises, and since those who rise and those who fall belong to different orders, nothing remains to assure him that his sincerity matters.

幽林归独卧滞虑洗孤清持此谢高鸟因之传远情日夕怀空意人谁感至精飞沈理自隔何所慰吾诚

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] Back in the dark wood I lie alone and the clogged cares are cleansed in lonely clarity. I offer this to the high birds, and by them send my feeling far off. All day I keep an intent that comes to nothing; who can respond to perfect sincerity? The soaring and the sinking are set apart by principle; what will comfort my truth? [Structure] The poem unfolds in four paired movements: withdrawal, attempted communication, recognition of failure, and a closing question. Each pair turns the previous one. [Imagery] The dim forest and the washing of cares give purity a physical setting; the high-flying birds are the only possible messengers because they move between the secluded valley and the world. The final antithesis of flying and sinking states the whole situation abstractly. [Effect] The tone is lofty, quiet and unhurried, resignation without bitterness.

【白话串讲】 张九龄写《感遇十二首其二》：“幽林归独卧，滞虑洗孤清”——“持此谢高鸟，因之传远情”——“日夕怀空意，人谁感至精”——“飞沈理自隔，何所慰吾诚”——他写感遇——滞虑洗孤清。 【意象与手法】 “幽林归独卧，滞虑洗孤清”写幽林独卧；“持此谢高鸟，因之传远情”以高鸟写传情；“日夕怀空意，人谁感至精”写怀空意；结以“飞沈理自隔，何所慰吾诚”写慰吾诚。高洁咏怀。 【情感与主旨】 张九龄写感遇咏怀之作，写幽林独卧、孤高清洁与无人知音的感慨，体现张九龄诗雅正冲淡的风格。 【名句点睛】 常考“幽林归独卧，滞虑洗孤清”写幽林独卧；“日夕怀空意，人谁感至精”写无人感精诚。

Background

Zhang Jiuling (678 - 740), courtesy name Zishou, was a native of Qujiang in Shaozhou, in present-day Guangdong, and the last great minister of the Kaiyuan reign before the dominance of Li Linfu. He rose to the highest offices, was admired for honesty and plain speaking, and was eventually demoted and sent out of the capital. His series of twelve poems called Stirred by What I Meet belongs to the tradition of reflective verse in which a poet records the thoughts provoked by circumstances, and it is usually read against his political fall. Written in the old five-syllable style rather than in the strict recent style, these poems revived the manner of the Han and Wei and set a model for later Tang poets who wanted a plainer, more serious diction. Zhang Jiuling is remembered as the poet who carried the southern, scholarly tradition of the early Tang into its high period.

《感遇十二首 二》为唐代诗人张九龄所作诗。张九龄（678—740），字子寿，韶州曲江人，唐代诗人。此诗写感遇咏怀，为感遇之作。诗中「幽林归独卧滞虑洗孤清」写幽林归独卧滞虑洗孤清；「持此谢高鸟因之传远情」写持此谢高鸟因之传远情；「日夕怀空意人谁感至精」写日夕怀空意人谁感至精；「飞沈理自隔何所慰吾诚」写飞沈理自隔何所慰吾诚。张九龄此诗以感遇咏怀、何所慰吾诚写其咏怀之情，高洁咏怀，是张九龄诗中的名篇。此篇《感遇十二首 二》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《感遇十二首 二》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 built as a sequence of disappointed hopes, and its art lies in how quietly each disappointment is registered. The first couplet seems to succeed: the wood is dark, the man is alone, and the stagnant cares are washed clean - the verb of washing gives the reader a physical sense of relief. The second couplet tries to convert that purity into communication, but the messengers are birds, which is to say there are none; the phrase for sending far away already concedes that the feeling must travel a great distance. The third couplet admits the failure directly: the intent is empty, meaning unfulfilled and unrecognised, and the question about who can feel sincerity is rhetorical. The last couplet generalises the failure into a law of nature - soaring and sinking belong to different orders - and closes with a question that receives no answer. The diction throughout is deliberately plain and the syntax unhurried, so the moral earnestness is never dressed up.

此诗艺术上以「高洁咏怀、以鸟写情」见长。全诗共八句四联，由幽林归独卧而持此谢高鸟而日夕怀空意。起「幽林归独卧滞虑洗孤清」写幽林归独卧：幽林归独卧滞虑洗孤清；「持此谢高鸟因之传远情」写持此谢高鸟：持此谢高鸟因之传远情；「日夕怀空意人谁感至精」写日夕怀空意：日夕怀空意人谁感至精；结「飞沈理自隔何所慰吾诚」写何所慰吾诚：飞沈理自隔何所慰吾诚。全诗以鸟写情，由幽林归独卧而何所慰吾诚，高洁咏怀，是张九龄诗中的名篇。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 title itself declares a lineage: poems written because something was met or undergone descend from the old reflective cycles in which a poet answers the turns of fortune with self-examination. The high-flying birds as messengers between the recluse and the world recall the convention of sending news by wild geese, here generalised to any bird that rises above the trees. The antithesis of soaring and sinking derives from the older vocabulary of promotion and dismissal, in which a career is imagined as flight. The closing question about what can comfort sincerity echoes the classical concern of the gentleman who is not understood, a theme that runs from the ancient songs through the Han poets and that Zhang Jiuning reanimates here in a deliberately archaic idiom.

诗中「幽林归独卧滞虑洗孤清」「持此谢高鸟因之传远情」「日夕怀空意人谁感至精」「飞沈理自隔何所慰吾诚」等语，皆含典故故实。「幽林归独卧滞虑洗孤清」写幽林归独卧滞虑洗孤清；「持此谢高鸟因之传远情」用高鸟之典（高鸟写高飞之鸟），写持此谢高鸟因之传远情；「日夕怀空意人谁感至精」写日夕怀空意人谁感至精；「飞沈理自隔何所慰吾诚」写飞沈理自隔何所慰吾诚。诗人用高鸟之典入诗，不着痕迹，而把感遇咏怀之情写得真切可感，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

Critics have always read the series in the light of Zhang Jiuling's fall from office, and they have valued this poem particularly for the way it keeps personal grievance at a distance: no enemy is named, no injury described, and the complaint is generalised into a statement about how the world is ordered. Its style was as influential as its sentiment. By choosing the old five-syllable line over the polished recent style, Zhang Jiuling gave later poets - Li Bai, Du Fu and the mid-Tang revivalists among them - a precedent for plain, weighty, allusion-free verse on moral themes. Commentators often single out the closing question as the moment where the poem admits what it has been circling: that integrity offers no guarantee of being understood.

这首《感遇十二首 二》，是张九龄写感遇咏怀之作，写幽林归独卧、持此谢高鸟、日夕怀空意、何所慰吾诚之情，高洁咏怀。起「幽林归独卧滞虑洗孤清」——幽林归独卧滞虑洗孤清。写幽林归独卧：幽林归独卧、滞虑洗孤清——归独卧、洗孤清；「持此谢高鸟因之传远情」——持此谢高鸟因之传远情。写持此谢高鸟：持此谢高鸟、因之传远情——谢高鸟、传远情；「日夕怀空意人谁感至精」——日夕怀空意人谁感至精。写日夕怀空意：日夕怀空意、人谁感至精——怀空意、感至精；结「飞沈理自隔何所慰吾诚」——飞沈理自隔何所慰吾诚。写何所慰吾诚：飞沈理自隔、何所慰吾诚——理自隔、慰吾诚。这「飞沈理自隔何所慰吾诚」，是全诗之结：以何所慰吾诚写其咏怀。全诗高洁咏怀，以鸟写情，正是张九龄诗中的名篇。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 Poem in the old five-character style (wuyan gushi), unregulated, eight lines of five syllables falling into four loose couplets.诗（五言古体）
Rhyme The even lines rhyme in the level tone, with the rhyme words drawn from a clear, sustained final shared by clarity, feeling, sincerity and truth. The rhyme changes nothing in the argument but gives the meditation a steady returning pulse.此诗为五言古体。押韵：「清」「情」「精」「诚」等部。句句自然流转，声情高洁，正与写感遇咏怀的高洁咏怀相称，也见其以古体写咏怀的流转。
Tone pattern Because the form is the old style rather than the regulated one, there is no fixed pattern of level and oblique tones. The lines run evenly and without internal decoration, and the sentence rhythm often continues across the couplet, which produces the unhurried, speaking manner typical of the archaic mode.句式上，「幽林归独卧滞虑洗孤清」写幽林归独卧，音节高洁；「持此谢高鸟因之传远情」写持此谢高鸟，音节悠长；「日夕怀空意人谁感至精」写日夕怀空意，音节低回；结「飞沈理自隔何所慰吾诚」写何所慰吾诚，音节沉郁。全诗音节随情起伏，由高洁而悠长、由低回而沉郁，正合古体「流转」之妙，读来如感遇咏怀、何所慰吾诚之音，高洁而动人。
Reading note The choice of the old style is itself meaningful. Where the regulated octave displays craft, this form suppresses it, so that the reader attends to the thought rather than to the arrangement. The even five-syllable measure and the recurring rhyme give just enough shape to keep the poem from becoming prose, and the closing line's question is left hanging on a level rhyme that offers no resolution.此诗为五言古体，是张九龄写感遇咏怀之作，也是其诗中的名篇。全诗的艺术特色在于「高洁咏怀、以鸟写情」：「幽林归独卧滞虑洗孤清」写幽林归独卧、「持此谢高鸟因之传远情」写持此谢高鸟、「日夕怀空意人谁感至精」写日夕怀空意、「飞沈理自隔何所慰吾诚」写何所慰吾诚。全诗高洁咏怀，以鸟写情。尤为精妙者，是「持此谢高鸟」用高鸟之典；而「何所慰吾诚」写尽慰吾诚，正是张九龄诗「高洁咏怀」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《感遇十二首 二》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

幽林归独卧滞虑洗孤清

I return to the dim forest and lie alone; stagnant cares are washed away in solitary clarity.

幽林归独卧滞虑洗孤清

I returned to the still woods and lay alone, washing away tangled cares in lonely purity.

起句写幽林归独卧，起笔即见其幽林。「幽林归独卧」写幽林归独卧，「幽林」写幽林、「归独卧」写归独卧；「滞虑洗孤清」写滞虑洗孤清，「滞虑」写滞虑、「洗孤清」写洗孤清。一句写幽林归独卧滞虑洗孤清，以幽林归独卧写归独卧、以滞虑洗孤清写洗孤清，写尽幽林归独卧、滞虑洗孤清之情。以林起兴，高洁而咏怀，是「以林起兴」的妙笔。

The opening line writes the poet's return to a quiet wood and lonely lying, secluding himself to wash out worldly care. Rising through the forest, it is pure and elevated, a meditation on solitude.

持此谢高鸟因之传远情

I take this to salute the high-flying birds, and through them send a feeling far away.

持此谢高鸟因之传远情

With this I thank the high-flying birds; through them I send my far-off feeling.

此句写持此谢高鸟，是全诗写高鸟之态的关键。「持此谢高鸟」用高鸟之典写持此谢高鸟，「持此谢」写持此谢、「高鸟」写高鸟；「因之传远情」写因之传远情，「因之」写因之、「传远情」写传远情。一句写持此谢高鸟因之传远情，以持此谢高鸟写谢高鸟、以因之传远情写传远情，写尽持此谢高鸟、因之传远情之情。以鸟写情，高洁而咏怀，是「以鸟写情」的点睛之笔。

This line sends thanks to the high birds and asks them to carry a far-off feeling; using the bird as messenger, it turns lofty imagery into longing, a subtle stroke.

日夕怀空意人谁感至精

Morning and evening I hold an empty intent; who among men can feel pure sincerity?

日夕怀空意人谁感至精

Day and night I harbor an empty longing; who can grasp my utmost sincerity?

此句写日夕怀空意，是全诗写空意之态的关键。「日夕怀空意」写日夕怀空意，「日夕」写日夕、「怀空意」写怀空意；「人谁感至精」写人谁感至精，「人谁」写人谁、「感至精」写感至精。一句写日夕怀空意人谁感至精，以日夕怀空意写怀空意、以人谁感至精写感至精，写尽日夕怀空意、人谁感至精之情。以意写情，高洁而咏怀，是「以意写情」的点睛之笔。

It writes day and night cherishing an empty longing, and asks who can feel the utmost sincerity within; through feeling it voices the recluse's unrecognized purity.

飞沈理自隔何所慰吾诚

Flying and sinking are by principle set apart; what is there to comfort my truth?

飞沈理自隔何所慰吾诚

The flying and the sunken are by nature sundered; what can comfort my true heart?

结句写何所慰吾诚，是全诗立意的落点。「飞沈理自隔」写飞沈理自隔，「飞沈」写飞沈、「理自隔」写理自隔；「何所慰吾诚」写何所慰吾诚，「何所慰」写何所慰、「吾诚」写吾诚。一句写飞沈理自隔何所慰吾诚，以飞沈理自隔写理自隔、以何所慰吾诚写慰吾诚，写尽飞沈理自隔、何所慰吾诚之情。以诚写情，高洁而咏怀，是全诗最动人处，也是「以诚写情」的点睛之笔。

The closing line notes that the flying and the sunken are by nature divided, and asks what can comfort his true heart; ending on sincerity, it is the poem's most moving point, a restrained elegy for unshared integrity.

Study

Word focus

幽林 The dim forest, a wood deep and shaded enough to exclude the world. It is the physical condition of the poem's moral state: only somewhere dark and uninhabited can the stagnant cares of office be washed off. 「幽林」写幽林归独卧，是写幽林之态的关键。「幽林归独卧」着一「幽林」，写幽林——着一「幽林」，写幽林归独卧，见其林之幽。两字写尽幽林之态，是「以词写林」的妙笔。「幽林」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。
孤清 Solitary clarity. Two abstract nouns joined, and the key term of the poem: the purity the poet gains by being alone. Its very loneliness is what makes it useless to others, which is the problem the following lines develop. 「孤清」写滞虑洗孤清，是写孤清之态的关键。「滞虑洗孤清」着一「孤清」，写孤清——着一「孤清」，写滞虑洗孤清，见其清之孤。两字写尽孤清之态，是「以词写清」的点睛之词。「孤清」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。
高鸟 The high-flying birds. They are addressed because they can cross the barrier the poet cannot: they rise above the trees and travel, so they are the only conceivable messengers for a feeling that must go far. 「高鸟」写持此谢高鸟，是写高鸟之态的关键。「持此谢高鸟」着一「高鸟」，写高鸟——着一「高鸟」，写持此谢高鸟，见其鸟之高。两字写尽高鸟之态，是「以词写鸟」的点睛之词。「高鸟」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。
至精 Perfect sincerity, the utmost purity of intent. The word names exactly what the poem claims for itself and what, the rhetorical question implies, no one in the world is able to perceive. 「至精」写人谁感至精，是写至精之态的关键。「人谁感至精」着一「至精」，写至精——着一「至精」，写人谁感至精，见其精之至。两字写尽至精之态，是「以词写精」的点睛之词。「至精」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 Shuidiao Getou: How Long Has the Bright Moon Been 苏轼 · 同写咏怀感怀、高洁旷达，一写人有悲欢离合、一写幽林归独卧滞虑洗孤清，皆于咏怀之中见高洁 Both reflect on a life and on not being understood. One concludes that sorrow and parting have always been and rests in that acceptance; the other asks what can comfort sincerity. Consolation and unanswered questioning meet across the reflective theme.

Su Shi's lyric moves outward to the moon, to family and finally to a general human condition, and it ends in reconciliation. Zhang Jiuling's poem moves inward and ends with a question that is never answered. The difference is one of genre and temperament: the song lyric consoles, the old-style poem interrogates.

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」，写咏怀感怀、高洁旷达，是宋词长调的名篇；张九龄《感遇十二首 二》则以「幽林归独卧滞虑洗孤清」「何所慰吾诚」写洗孤清、慰吾诚。两诗同写咏怀感怀、高洁旷达：一写人有悲欢离合、以悲欢写离合，一写幽林归独卧滞虑洗孤清、以幽林写咏怀；一为苏轼之旷达、一为张九龄之高洁，并读正可见诗写「咏怀感怀」的两种笔法，皆于咏怀之中见高洁。

 八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天 Basheng Ganzhou: Down the Evening Rain that Sweeps the River Sky 柳永 · 同写幽林凝望、高洁清丽，一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、一写幽林归独卧滞虑洗孤清，皆于幽林之中见凝望 Both are poems of solitude and unrecognised feeling. One gazes over a rainy river and laments a life of wandering; the other lies in a dim wood and asks who can feel sincerity. Isolation in landscape reflects between the two.

Liu Yong's loneliness is social and romantic, tied to a particular absence and expressed through a wide, wet prospect. Zhang Jiuling's is moral and political, tied to a career and expressed through a closed, shaded one. Both use landscape as the exact measure of the speaker's 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」，写幽林凝望、高洁清丽，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；张九龄《感遇十二首 二》则以「幽林归独卧滞虑洗孤清」「持此谢高鸟」写洗孤清、谢高鸟。两诗同写幽林凝望、高洁清丽：一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、以暮雨写清秋，一写幽林归独卧滞虑洗孤清、以幽林写咏怀；一为柳永之清丽、一为张九龄之高洁，并读正可见诗写「幽林凝望」的两种笔法，皆于幽林之中见凝望。