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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

过分水岭

Crossing the Watershed

温庭筠

Wen Tingyun

溪水无情似有情，入山三日得同行。
岭头更是分头处，惜别潺湲一夜声。

The mountain stream, heartless, seems to have a heart — three days in the hills it journeyed with me.
At the ridge crest lies the place where we part; all night it grieves its farewell in murmurs.
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Meaning

Crossing a mountain watershed, the poet imagines the stream that accompanied him for three days as a friend forced to leave him at the ridge. Its night-long murmur becomes the sound of reluctant farewell — a tiny journey transformed, through personification, into a parting between companions.

溪水无情似有情，入山三日得同行。岭头更是分头处，惜别潺湲一夜声。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The stream seems heartless yet has feeling; for three days in the mountains it traveled with the poet. At the ridge crest the waters divide and part; all night its gurgling voice grieves the farewell. [Personification] The stream is treated as a traveling companion: it journeys with the poet and grieves at parting, so a landscape crossing becomes a human separation. [The Turn] The first couplet establishes companionship, the second the parting; 'the place where we part' is the poem's hinge, where the watershed — a mere geographical fact — turns into an emotional moment.

【白话串讲】 温庭筠写《过分水岭》：“溪水无情似有情，入山三日得同行”——“岭头更是分头处，惜别潺湲一夜声”——他过分水岭——溪水无情似有情。 【意象与手法】 “溪水无情似有情，入山三日得同行”写溪水同行；“岭头更是分头处”写分头处；结以“惜别潺湲一夜声”写惜别潺湲声。清婉动人。 【情感与主旨】 温庭筠写过分水岭之作，写溪水无情似有情、同行三日后于岭头惜别的情景，是唐人写景抒情的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“溪水无情似有情，入山三日得同行”以溪水有情写同行；“岭头更是分头处，惜别潺湲一夜声”写惜别潺湲声。

Background

Wen Tingyun wrote this quatrain while journeying through the mountains. A watershed (fensuiling) is the ridge where streams divide to flow north or south; for a traveler it marks the boundary between two river systems, and for the poet, the point where his silent companion must leave him. The poem belongs to the tradition of small landscape quatrains in which a momentary scene becomes a quiet emotional event.

《过分水岭》为唐代诗人温庭筠所作诗。温庭筠（约812—约866），本名岐，字飞卿，太原祁人，晚唐诗人、词人，花间词派代表。此诗写景羁旅，为过分水岭之作。诗中「溪水无情似有情，入山三日得同行」写溪水无情似有情，入山三日得同行；「岭头更是分头处，惜别潺湲一夜声」写岭头更是分头处，惜别潺湲一夜声。温庭筠此诗以写景羁旅、惜别潺湲一夜声写其羁旅之情，清婉动人，是温庭筠诗中的名篇。此篇《过分水岭》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《过分水岭》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 artistry is concentrated in personification and sound. 'Heartless, it seems to have a heart' opens with a paradox that licenses the whole fiction of friendship. 'Journeyed with me for three days' measures companionship in travel-time, and the watershed becomes the parting place. The closing 'it grieves its farewell all night' turns the stream's murmur into a voice — the poet does not sleep for sorrow, but the water seems to weep for him, so the grief is delicately shared between man and stream.

此诗艺术上以「清婉动人、以水写情」见长。全诗共四句两联，由溪水无情似有情而岭头更是分头处。起「溪水无情似有情，入山三日得同行」写溪水无情似有情：溪水无情似有情，入山三日得同行；结「岭头更是分头处，惜别潺湲一夜声」写岭头更是分头处：岭头更是分头处，惜别潺湲一夜声。全诗以水写情，由溪水无情似有情而惜别潺湲一夜声，清婉动人，是温庭筠诗中的名篇。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。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 word chanyuan (murmuring flow) comes from classical usage in Qu Yuan's Nine Songs ('Watching the flowing water, chanyuan'), where it describes the sound of water; here it is reimagined as the stream's voice of farewell. 'The dividing place' refers literally to the watershed's split of the stream's course. The 'three days in the mountains' echoes the mountain-crossing poems of the Tang in which the road itself becomes a companion.

诗中「溪水无情似有情入山三日得同行」「岭头更是分头处惜别潺湲一夜声」等语，皆含典故故实。「溪水无情似有情入山三日得同行」写溪水无情似有情入山三日得同行；「岭头更是分头处惜别潺湲一夜声」用潺湲之典（潺湲写水声），写岭头更是分头处惜别潺湲一夜声。诗人以潺湲等语入诗，不着痕迹，而把写景羁旅之情写得真切可感，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。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

This quatrain is one of the most beloved of Wen Tingyun's short poems, admired for turning a geographical feature into an act of friendship and parting. Commentators note how the twenty-eight characters achieve a complete small drama — meeting, journeying, parting, mourning — and later critics quote it as a model of writing scenery as feeling. Its warmth is unusual among Wen's generally cooler poems and explains its lasting popularity.

这首《过分水岭》，是温庭筠写写景羁旅之作，写溪水无情似有情、岭头更是分头处、惜别潺湲一夜声之情，清婉动人。起「溪水无情似有情，入山三日得同行」——溪水无情似有情，入山三日得同行。写溪水无情似有情：溪水无情似有情、入山三日得同行——似有情、得同行；结「岭头更是分头处，惜别潺湲一夜声」——岭头更是分头处，惜别潺湲一夜声。写岭头更是分头处：岭头更是分头处、惜别潺湲一夜声——分头处、一夜声。这「岭头更是分头处，惜别潺湲一夜声」，是全诗之结：以惜别潺湲一夜声写其羁旅。全诗清婉动人，以水写情，正是温庭筠诗中的名篇。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。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 Seven-character quatrain (qijue)诗（七言绝句）
Rhyme Four lines rhyming on xing (journey) and sheng (sound) of the level-tone geng-qing group. The single rhyme, bright and prolonged, suits the stream's murmur.此诗为七言绝句，共四句两联。押韵：「行」「声」押庚青部韵。前两句起、后两句转合，平仄相间，正与写写景羁旅的清婉动人相称，也见其以七绝写羁旅的凝练。
Tone pattern The oblique-to-level tonal alternation of the quatrain gives the poem a gentle, rocking movement that imitates flowing water; the pause before the closing line lets the final image — the night-long murmur — linger like an echo.句式上，「溪水无情似有情，入山三日得同行」写溪水无情似有情，音节清婉；结「岭头更是分头处，惜别潺湲一夜声」写岭头更是分头处，音节悠长。全诗音节随情起伏，由清婉而悠长，正合七绝「凝练」之妙，读来如写景羁旅、惜别潺湲一夜声之音，清婉而动人。
Reading note The seven-character quatrain's compactness suits the poem's small drama: two lines for companionship, two for parting. The even flow of the meter and the bright rhyme keep the mood tender rather than sad.此诗为七言绝句，是温庭筠写写景羁旅之作，也是其诗中的名篇。全诗的艺术特色在于「清婉动人、以水写情」：「溪水无情似有情，入山三日得同行」写溪水无情似有情、「岭头更是分头处，惜别潺湲一夜声」写岭头更是分头处。全诗清婉动人，以水写情。尤为精妙者，是「溪水无情似有情」写尽似有情；而「惜别潺湲一夜声」用潺湲之典，正是温庭筠诗「清婉动人」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《过分水岭》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

溪水无情似有情，入山三日得同行。

The mountain stream, heartless, seems to have a heart — three days in the hills it journeyed with me.

溪水无情似有情，入山三日得同行。

The stream is heartless, yet seems to have feeling; entering the hills three days, I have had its company.

起句写溪水无情似有情，起笔即见其溪水。「溪水无情似有情」写溪水无情似有情，「溪水无情」写溪水无情、「似有情」写似有情；「入山三日得同行」写入山三日得同行，「入山三日」写入山三日、「得同行」写得同行。一句写溪水无情似有情入山三日得同行，以溪水无情似有情写似有情、以入山三日得同行写得同行，写尽溪水无情似有情、入山三日得同行之情。以水起兴，清婉而动人，是「以水起兴」的妙笔。

The opening line writes the heartless stream that yet seems to have feeling, entering the hills for three days in its company; rising through the water, it is clear, tender, and moving.

岭头更是分头处，

At the ridge crest lies the place where we part;

岭头更是分头处，

At the hilltop, it is the place where our ways part.

此句写岭头更是分头处，是全诗写分头之态的关键。「岭头更是」写岭头更是，「岭头」写岭头、「更是」写更是；「分头处」写分头处，「分头」写分头、「处」写处。一句写岭头更是分头处，以岭头更是写更是、以分头处写分头处，写尽岭头更是分头处之情。以岭写情，清婉而动人，是「以岭写情」的点睛之笔。此句以寥寥数语写尽深意，情韵兼胜，正是全诗点睛之笔。其于字句之间暗藏波澜，于平易之中寄寓曲折，尤当反复涵泳，方能得其三昧。

This line writes the hilltop as the place where their ways part; through the hill it writes the parting, the tender crux of the poem.

惜别潺湲一夜声。

all night it grieves its farewell in murmurs.

惜别潺湲一夜声。

Reluctant to part, it murmurs all night long.

结句写惜别潺湲一夜声，是全诗立意的落点。「惜别潺湲」用潺湲之典写惜别潺湲，「惜别」写惜别、「潺湲」写潺湲；「一夜声」写一夜声，「一夜」写一夜、「声」写声。一句写惜别潺湲一夜声，以惜别潺湲写潺湲、以一夜声写一夜声，写尽惜别潺湲一夜声之情。以声写情，清婉而动人，是全诗最动人处，也是「以声写情」的点睛之笔。

The closing line writes reluctance at parting in the stream's murmur through the night; through sound it writes the feeling, the poem's most moving point — the stream, that seemed heartless, grieves to leave him.

Study

Word focus

溪水 The mountain stream; throughout the poem it is the poet's silent companion, its constant murmur the voice of the journey. 「溪水」写溪水无情似有情，是写溪水之态的关键。「溪水无情似有情」着一「溪水」，写溪水——着一「溪水」，写溪水无情似有情，见其水之溪。两字写尽溪水之态，是「以词写水」的妙笔。「溪水」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。
同行 Traveling together; the stream is credited with accompanying the poet for three days, the fiction on which the whole poem rests. 「同行」写入山三日得同行，是写同行之态的关键。「入山三日得同行」着一「同行」，写同行——着一「同行」，写入山三日得同行，见其行之同。两字写尽同行之态，是「以词写行」的点睛之词。「同行」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。
岭头 The ridge crest; the watershed's summit, where the streams divide — and where, in the poet's fiction, the companions must part. 「岭头」写岭头更是分头处，是写岭头之态的关键。「岭头更是分头处」着一「岭头」，写岭头——着一「岭头」，写岭头更是分头处，见其头之岭。两字写尽岭头之态，是「以词写岭」的点睛之词。「岭头」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。
潺湲 The murmuring sound of flowing water, a classical word from the Nine Songs; here reimagined as the stream's voice grieving the farewell. 「潺湲」写惜别潺湲一夜声，是写潺湲之态的关键。「惜别潺湲一夜声」着一「潺湲」，写潺湲——着一「潺湲」，写惜别潺湲一夜声，见其湲之潺。两字写尽潺湲之态，是「以词写水声」的点睛之词。「潺湲」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 Prelude to Water Melody: When Will the Moon Be Clear? 苏轼 · 同写羁旅感怀、清婉旷达，一写我欲乘风归去、一写溪水无情似有情入山三日得同行，皆于羁旅之中见清婉 Both turn a natural phenomenon into emotional companionship, one cosmic, one intimate.

Su Shi questions and finally embraces the moon as a companion; Wen Tingyun treats the stream as a traveling friend who must leave. The comparison shows how small landscape moments can carry large feeling.

苏轼《水调歌头·明月几时有》「我欲乘风归去，又恐琼楼玉宇，高处不胜寒」，写羁旅感怀、清婉旷达，是宋词长调的名篇；温庭筠《过分水岭》则以「溪水无情似有情，入山三日得同行」「惜别潺湲一夜声」写似有情、一夜声。两诗同写羁旅感怀、清婉旷达：一写我欲乘风归去、以乘风写超然，一写溪水无情似有情入山三日得同行、以溪水写羁旅；一为苏轼之旷达、一为温庭筠之清婉，并读正可见诗写「羁旅感怀」的两种笔法，皆于羁旅之中见清婉。

 八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天 Eight Beats of Ganzhou Song 柳永 · 同写溪水凝望、清婉清丽，一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、一写岭头更是分头处惜别潺湲一夜声，皆于溪水之中见凝望 Both gaze at watery scenery with feeling, one in long lyrical elaboration, one in quatrain compression.

Liu Yong's autumn river and frosty wind accumulate layer upon layer of sorrow; Wen's stream parts in four short lines. The pair contrasts the ci lyric's expansiveness with the quatrain's distilled tenderness.

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」，写溪水凝望、清婉清丽，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；温庭筠《过分水岭》则以「岭头更是分头处，惜别潺湲一夜声」「入山三日得同行」写一夜声、得同行。两诗同写溪水凝望、清婉清丽：一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、以暮雨写清秋，一写岭头更是分头处惜别潺湲一夜声、以潺湲写羁旅；一为柳永之清丽、一为温庭筠之清婉，并读正可见诗写「溪水凝望」的两种笔法，皆于溪水之中见凝望。