All poems

唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

秋夜寄邱员外

To Official Qiu on an Autumn Night

韦应物

Wei Yingwu

友情friendship 秋autumn

怀君属秋夜，散步咏凉天。
空山松子落，幽人应未眠。

On an autumn night I think of you;
I stroll and chant through the cooling skies.
In the empty mountain a pinecone drops—
The recluse, surely, is not yet asleep.

Listen

Meaning

On this autumn night I hold you in remembrance; strolling and intoning, I pass the slightly cool weather. At this moment in the empty, silent mountain the pinecones are quietly dropping; you who dwell in seclusion, surely are not yet asleep either.

在这秋天的夜晚，我怀着对你的思念；散步吟咏，度过这微凉的天气。此刻空寂的山中，松子正悄然掉落；那幽居的你，想必也还没有安眠吧。

Appreciation

This poem by Wei Yingwu of the Tang opens with 'On an autumn night I think of you; I stroll and chant through the cool sky', directly voicing the thought of the friend, with 'autumn night' and 'cool sky' marking the season, finding feeling within plain narration. The last two lines turn to imagining: from his own wakefulness he imagines his friend in the mountain also wakeful; the faint sound of 'a pinecone falling in the empty mountain' sets off the stillness of the place—movement setting off stillness, with lingering tone. The whole moves from the real to the empty, from self to other, clear as speech yet with long affection, gaining the Wangchuan school's wonder of 'a painting in the poem, plain yet flavourful'.

【白话串讲】 “怀君属秋夜，散步咏凉天”——韦应物秋夜散步，想念朋友邱员外。“空山松子落，幽人应未眠”——此刻空山松子正落，你这个幽人，应该也没睡吧。二十个字，写尽知己的默契。【意象与手法】前两句“怀君属秋夜，散步咏凉天”直抒怀人之思，以“秋夜”“凉天”点时节，于平淡叙写中见情致【情感与主旨】此诗全题或作《秋夜寄丘二十二员外》，邱员外即丘丹，二人交谊深厚【名句点睛】中高考多赏其“平淡中见深情”“以动衬静”之法。常考

Background

This poem's full title is also 'To Official Qiu the Twenty-Second on an Autumn Night'; Official Qiu is Qiu Dan, with whom the poet had deep friendship. When Wei Yingwu was prefect of Suzhou, Qiu Dan lived in retirement on Leping Mountain, and the two exchanged poems. Qiu Dan was a hermit, whom Wei calls 'the recluse'. The poem was likely written on an autumn night, as the poet thought of his friend in seclusion and lodged a far, plain thought in the clear autumn scene. Not one word says 'sorrow', yet the truth of friendship and the farness of mood flow gently from the empty mountain and falling pines—one of the representatives of Wei Yingwu's 'lofty, leisurely, and plain' style.

《秋夜寄邱员外》为中唐诗人韦应物所作。韦应物（737—792），京兆长安人，中唐山水田园诗的代表，诗风清淡，有“韦苏州”之称。此诗写秋夜怀念友人邱丹：怀君属秋夜，散步咏凉天；空山松子落，幽人应未眠。全诗以秋夜散步怀人起，以空山松子落、幽人应未眠结，写怀念之情与遥想之景，是怀人诗的名篇。邱丹（邱员外）为诗人好友，时为临平山修道之人，故诗中称其为“幽人”。全诗以空山松子之落写秋夜之静，以幽人应未眠写怀人之深，含蓄而隽永。

Art

The first two lines 'On an autumn night I think of you; I stroll and chant through the cool sky' directly voice the thought of the friend, with 'autumn night' and 'cool sky' marking the season, finding feeling within plain narration. The last two 'In the empty mountain a pinecone falls; the recluse, surely, is not yet asleep' turn to imagining: from his own wakefulness he infers his friend in the mountain also wakeful; the faint sound of 'a pinecone falling' sets off the mountain's stillness—movement against stillness, with lingering tone. The whole moves from the real to the empty, from self to other, clear as words yet with long affection, gaining the Wangchuan wonder of 'a painting in the poem, plain yet flavourful'.

《秋夜寄邱员外》艺术上以空间的跳跃与含蓄的深情见长。全诗四句，层层写来：“怀君属秋夜，散步咏凉天”写己之怀人——秋夜怀君，散步咏秋；“空山松子落，幽人应未眠”写彼之遥想——空山松子坠落，幽人应亦未眠。全诗由己及彼：己在散步咏秋，彼在空山修道；己因怀君而散步，彼应亦因怀我而未眠。以“空山松子落”写山居之静，以“应未眠”写遥想之深，把怀念之情写得含蓄而隽永。韦应物诗风清淡，此诗正是其代表——以淡笔写深情，正是“韦苏州”的风格。

Allusions

'The recluse' comes from the Book of Changes, the Lü hexagram, 'the recluse is fortunate in his constancy', and from the Chu Ci use of 'recluse' for the lofty hermit; since Wei and Jin it names one who dwells in seclusion. Wei uses 'the recluse' for Qiu Dan, fitting his hermit identity—a verbal allusion, not a narrative one. 'A pinecone falls' takes the reclusive image of the evergreen pine and its edible fruit, quietly following Tao Yuanming and Ji Kang's joy of gathering ferns and drinking dew in the hills, writing the purity of seclusion—not a specific tale either.

《秋夜寄邱员外》用典在“幽人”。“幽人”指隐士，出《周易·履卦》“幽人贞吉”，此处指在临平山修道的邱丹；“空山”写山之空旷，承王维“空山新雨后”之象；“松子落”写山间之静，以松子坠落之声写秋夜之寂。全诗以这些传统的意象写怀人之情，不用深典而意境自远。韦应物诗风清淡，此诗正是其代表——以空山、松子、幽人等意象，写秋夜怀人的深挚之情，正是“以淡写深”的笔法。

Commentary

Later critics often grant Wei Yingwu's poetry 'lofty, leisurely, plain, a school of his own' (Bai Juyi and Su Shi said similar). This poem especially shows his strength of 'bringing richness out of simplicity, lodging the utmost flavour in plainness'. The Qing critic Shen Deqian called it 'clear and wondrous beyond compare', in one line with the Wang and Meng pastoral-and-landscape vein. Moderns often read it beside Wang Wei's 'Longing' and Pei Di's exchanged poems, as a gem among Middle-Tang reply-poems.

《秋夜寄邱员外》是韦应物怀人诗的名篇，也是中唐山水田园诗的代表作。此诗以秋夜散步怀人写起，以空山松子落、幽人应未眠收束，含蓄隽永，向为论者称道。论者多赏其“空山松子落，幽人应未眠”的遥想——由己之怀君写到彼之未眠，两地相思，一笔写尽；“散步咏凉天”写怀人之态，闲雅而有味。韦应物与王维、孟浩然一脉相承，其诗以清淡著称，此诗正是“韦苏州”风格的代表——以淡笔写深情，正是含蓄的极致。

Prosody

Form Five-character quatrain五言绝句

Rhyme Ping-shui rhyme, lower-level one xian group (sky, asleep), first line not entering rhyme《秋夜寄邱员外》为五言绝句，押平声韵。此诗用韵：天、眠（先部），一韵到底，音节清淡。五绝句式短小，宜于写含蓄之情。

Tone pattern First line not entering rhyme, level-onset五言绝句以音节短促、含蓄隽永见长。此诗以“怀君属秋夜”起，音节清淡；“散步咏凉天”以“咏”承，声情闲雅；“空山松子落”写彼处之静，音节清寂；“幽人应未眠”以“眠”收，声情悠远。全诗以平韵贯底，声调与秋夜怀人的清淡含蓄相合，是五绝中含蓄隽永的一路。

Reading note 'night' is an entering-tone non-rhyme; latter two lines sky, asleep rhyme in xian—near a five-character quatrain yet loose and plain.《秋夜寄邱员外》为五言绝句，是韦应物怀人诗的名篇。此诗以秋夜散步怀人写起，以空山松子落、幽人应未眠收束，由己及彼、两地相思，含蓄隽永。诗中“空山松子落，幽人应未眠”以空山写彼处之静，以应未眠写两地同心，正是怀人诗的绝唱。韦应物与王维、孟浩然一脉相承，其诗以清淡著称，此诗正是“韦苏州”风格的代表——以淡笔写深情，含蓄而不尽。

Line by line

怀君属秋夜，散步咏凉天。

I think of you, this autumn night; I walk abroad and chant the cool weather.

怀念你，正当这秋夜；我散步吟咏着清凉的天气。

I miss you, just now on this autumn night; I walk and chant of the cool air.

首二句写己之怀人。“怀君属秋夜”写怀人之时——“怀君”点出思念，“属秋夜”写其正当秋夜，秋夜最易怀人；“散步咏凉天”写怀人之态——“散步”写其徘徊，“咏凉天”写其吟咏秋凉。二句写诗人秋夜散步、因怀人而吟咏：秋夜怀君，不禁散步；散步咏秋，更念远人。以“怀君”点题，以“散步咏凉天”写其怀人之态，含蓄而传神。这一起笔，把秋夜怀人的情景写得闲雅有致——不是强说愁，而是散步咏凉时的自然思念，正是韦应物“清淡”的风格。

The first two lines write the poet's own missing of the friend. 'I think of you, this autumn night' the time of missing — 'think of you' names the longing, 'this autumn night' fixes the season, the autumn night the time when missing comes easiest; 'I walk abroad and chant the cool weather' the state of missing — 'walk abroad' his wandering, 'chant the cool weather' his chanting of the autumn cool. Two lines: the poet on the autumn night walking, chanting because he misses — the autumn night thinking of you, he cannot help walking; walking and chanting the autumn, the far-off one the more missed. Naming the theme through 'think of you', writing the state through 'walk abroad and chant the cool weather', restrained and vivid. This opening writes the autumn-night missing with an elegant ease — not forcing grief, but the natural longing of walking and chanting in the cool, the very style of Wei Yingwu's 'plain and clear'.

空山松子落，幽人应未眠。

In the empty hills, pine nuts fall; the recluse, I think, is not yet asleep.

空寂的山中，松子坠落；那幽居的你，应当也还未入眠吧。

In the empty mountain, pine-nuts are falling; you, the secluded man, should not yet be asleep.

后二句写遥想彼之未眠，是全诗的点睛之笔。“空山松子落”写山居之静——空山寂寂，松子坠落，以声写静，更见秋夜之清；“幽人应未眠”写遥想之深——“幽人”指在临平山修道的邱丹，“应未眠”写其应亦未眠。二句由己及彼：己在散步怀人，彼在空山修道；己因怀君而未眠，彼应亦因怀我而未眠。以“空山松子落”写彼处之静，以“应未眠”写两地相思，把怀念之情写得含蓄而隽永。这一收束，正是韦应物怀人诗的绝技——不言思念之深，而“应未眠”三字，已见两地同心。

The last two lines write the far thought that the friend is not asleep, the eye of the poem. 'In the empty hills, pine-nuts are falling' the stillness of the mountain dwelling — the empty hills silent, a pine-nut falling, writing stillness through sound, the autumn night's clarity the deeper. 'The recluse, I think, is not yet asleep' the depth of the far thought — 'the recluse' refers to Qiu Dan, who cultivated the Way on Linping Mountain; 'I think, is not yet asleep' — he too should not yet be asleep. Two lines turn from self to other: I walk abroad missing, he cultivates the Way in the empty hills; I, because I think of you, am not asleep, and he, I think, because he thinks of me, is not asleep. Writing the other's stillness through 'pine-nuts falling in the empty hills', writing the mutual longing through 'I think, is not yet asleep', the longing restrained and lasting. This close is Wei Yingwu's masterstroke of missing-verse: not speaking the depth of longing, yet the three words 'I think, not yet asleep' already show the two hearts as one.

Study

Word focus

属 The word 'on' (here 'in') means 'just at, exactly when'—marking that the thought of you comes just as the autumn night falls, one word binding season and feeling. “怀君属秋夜”之“属”，写正当、恰值，是全诗点出时令的关键字。“属”即正当，着一字，怀君便与秋夜相连——“怀君属秋夜”，正是秋夜怀人的时候。这一词写怀人之时之巧：不是随意怀人，而是正当秋夜；秋夜易怀人，怀人偏秋夜。以“属”写时，把怀人之情与秋夜之景融为一体，正是韦应物“以景写情”的笔法。

散步 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “散步咏凉天”之“散步”，写缓步徘徊之态，是全诗写怀人之态的关键词。“散”写闲散，“步”写行走——秋夜怀人，不禁散步徘徊。这一词写诗人怀人之态：不是静坐冥想，而是散步吟咏；不是愁眉不展，而是闲雅徘徊。以“散步”写怀人，正是韦应物“清淡”风格的体现——怀人不失闲雅，思念不显愁苦。

空山 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “空山松子落”之“空山”，写山之空旷寂寥，是全诗写彼处之静的关键词。“空”写空旷无人，与“幽人”相合——山空，故幽人独居；山空，故松子之声可闻。这一词写邱丹修道之处的环境：空山寂寂，正是幽人修道之所。以“空山”写彼处，既写环境之静，亦写幽人之独，正是韦应物以景写人、含蓄深远的笔法。

应未眠 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “幽人应未眠”之“应未眠”，写遥想幽人应亦未眠，是全诗怀人深情的归结。“应”写推测、料想，“未眠”写未入眠——空山幽人，应亦未眠。这一词以推测之辞写两地相思：不是确知彼未眠，而是推想彼应未眠——己因怀人未眠，料想彼亦因念己未眠。以“应未眠”收束，把怀人之情写到两地同心、心照不宣的境地，含蓄而隽永。