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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

石鱼湖上醉歌

A Drinking Song over Stone Fish Lake

元结

Yuan Jie

石鱼湖，似洞庭，夏水欲满君山青。
山为樽，水为沼，酒徒历历坐洲岛。
长风连日作大浪，不能废人运酒舫。
我持长瓢坐巴丘，酌饮四坐以散愁。

Stone Fish Lake is like Dongting: summer waters nearly brimming, the isle of Jun green.
The mountain for a wine-cup, the water for a wine-pool, the drinkers, every one of them, seated on the islets.
A long wind for days on end raises great waves — yet it cannot stop the ferrying of the wine-boat.
I hold a long gourd and sit on Baqiu, pouring drink for all the company to scatter our cares.

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Meaning

Written while Yuan Jie governed Daozhou, this song turns a summer boating party into a declaration of freedom. The lake is magnified into the legendary Dongting, mountains and waters themselves become drinking vessels, and even storms cannot interrupt the wine-boat. Beneath the exuberance runs a quiet undertone: the poet drinks to scatter our cares, so the toast to freedom is also a remedy for care.

石鱼湖啊，好似洞庭，夏日水满，君山青青。以山为酒樽，以水为酒池，酒徒们一个个坐在洲岛之上。长风连日掀起大浪，也不能阻人运送酒船。我手持长瓢坐在巴丘，酌酒遍饮四座，以散心中之愁。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] Stone Fish Lake resembles the great Dongting; in summer the water brims and the isle stands green. The mountain serves as the wine-cup, the lake as the wine-pool, and the drinkers sit scattered on the islets. Day-long winds raise heavy waves, yet the wine-boat keeps crossing. Holding a long gourd, seated on Baqiu hill, the poet pours for the whole company to drown their cares. [Structure] The song moves from landscape to banquet to storm to toast: each step widens the freedom until wind and wave become witnesses of it. [Imagery] The miracle-image is the mountain as cup and the water as pool — nature itself becomes tableware. The close, to scatter our cares, lets a thread of melancholy into the revelry, giving the exuberance its human depth.

【白话串讲】元结写《石鱼湖上醉歌》：“石鱼湖，似洞庭，夏水欲满君山青”——“山为樽，水为沼，酒徒历历坐洲岛”——“长风连日作大浪，不能废人运酒舫”——“我持长瓢坐巴丘，酌饮四坐以散愁”——他醉歌石鱼湖——酌饮四坐以散愁。【意象与手法】石鱼湖似洞庭、夏水欲满君山青，写湖山之景；山为樽、水为沼、酒徒坐洲岛，写饮酒之豪；长风作大浪、不能废酒舫，写饮酒之兴；结以“我持长瓢坐巴丘，酌饮四坐以散愁”写醉饮散愁之放达。豪放天真。【情感与主旨】元结任道州刺史时于石鱼湖上饮酒醉歌之作，写湖上饮酒之乐与放达之怀，是唐人饮酒诗中的名篇。【名句点睛】常考“山为樽，水为沼，酒徒历历坐洲岛”写饮酒之豪；“我持长瓢坐巴丘，酌饮四坐以散愁”写醉饮散愁。

Background

Yuan Jie (719–772), courtesy name Cishan, was a Mid-Tang poet and upright official who rose to be prefect of Daozhou, in present-day Hunan, and was known for plain, sturdy verse. Stone Fish Lake lay near Daozhou. After a troubled term marked by military unrest, Yuan retired to the lake and wrote this drinking song with friends. Its bold, unbuttoned tone — the mountain for a wine-cup, the water for a wine-pool — expresses the spontaneous, true-to-self side of his temperament that contemporaries admired.

《石鱼湖上醉歌》为唐代诗人元结所作杂言古诗。元结（719—772），字次山，号漫叟、聱叟，河南鲁山人，中唐诗人，官至道州刺史，为政清廉，诗风古拙质直。石鱼湖在今湖南道县附近。此诗作于元结任道州刺史时，题下有序，言其罢舂陵等事，退居湖上，与友人泛舟饮酒而作。诗中「石鱼湖，似洞庭，夏水欲满君山青」写湖山之景；「山为樽，水为沼，酒徒历历坐洲岛」写饮酒之豪；「长风连日作大浪，不能废人运酒舫」写饮酒之兴；「我持长瓢坐巴丘，酌饮四坐以散愁」写醉饮散愁之放达。元结为官清廉，亦有放达任真的一面，此诗以石鱼湖上醉歌写饮酒之乐与放达之怀，豪放天真，是唐人饮酒诗中的名篇，也是元结「古拙质直而任真放达」诗风的体现。此篇《石鱼湖上醉歌》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 song's art is improvisational exuberance cast in mixed meters. It opens with a simile — the lake is like Dongting — that instantly enlarges the scene, then swaps the expected landscape cliches for a hyperbolic conceit: mountain as cup, water as pool. The storm couplet works by inversion: instead of waves stopping the party, the party refuses to be stopped, and the negation cannot stop carries all the energy. The final couplet draws the eye from the wide lake to one man with a gourd pouring for his friends — from cosmic scale to human warmth — and the phrase to scatter our cares gives the revelry its emotional reason.

此诗艺术上以「即景即兴、豪放天真」见长。全诗七句，前六句写湖山与饮酒之景，后一句写醉饮散愁之怀。首三句「石鱼湖，似洞庭，夏水欲满君山青」写湖山之景：石鱼湖啊，好似洞庭，夏日水满，君山青青，「似洞庭」写湖之浩瀚，「君山青」写山之青翠。中三句「山为樽，水为沼，酒徒历历坐洲岛。长风连日作大浪，不能废人运酒舫」写饮酒之豪：以山为酒樽，以水为酒池，酒徒们一个个坐在洲岛之上；长风连日掀起大浪，也不能阻人运送酒船，「山为樽，水为沼」写饮酒之豪放，「不能废人运酒舫」写饮酒之兴不可阻。末一句「我持长瓢坐巴丘，酌饮四坐以散愁」写醉饮散愁：我手持长瓢坐在巴丘，酌酒遍饮四座，以散心中之愁，「持长瓢」「酌饮四坐」写其放达之态，「散愁」写其借酒散愁之意。全诗即景即兴，以山水为酒樽池沼，豪放天真，是唐人饮酒诗中的名篇。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。

Allusions

Dongting, one of China's most storied lakes, sets the scale by association. Jun is Junshan, the fairy isle in Dongting, borrowed to green the smaller lake. The long gourd is the ladle of the drinking party. Baqiu is a hill by Dongting's shore, again borrowed geography. Drinking to scatter cares belongs to the long banquet tradition running from Cao Cao's sorrows dissolved in wine to Li Bai's cups; the song consciously stands in that lineage while stripping away its ornament.

诗中「山为樽，水为沼」「长瓢」「巴丘」等语，皆含典故与故实。「山为樽，水为沼」，以山为酒樽、以水为酒池，化用古人「凿池而饮」的豪放之习，亦暗含以天地为席、以山水为器的放达之怀，与李白「醉后各分散」的豪放相类；「长瓢」指长柄的酒瓢，为舀酒之器，「持长瓢」写其以瓢舀酒、遍饮四座之态；「巴丘」即巴丘山，在今湖南岳阳一带，此处写其坐于高处饮酒。此外，「散愁」以酒散愁，是饮酒诗常见之意，李白「举杯消愁愁更愁」即写此。「似洞庭」以洞庭湖喻石鱼湖之浩瀚，洞庭为天下名湖，以之相喻，见石鱼湖之浩渺。诗人以山樽水沼、长瓢巴丘等意象入诗，不着痕迹，而把湖上醉饮的豪放之态写得真切可感，是善于熔铸饮酒文化传统的体现。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

Yuan Jie's drinking songs are prized for their plain force and untrammeled spirit, and this one is the most loved. Critics note that where Li Bai's drinking songs are celestial and Du Fu's anguished, Yuan Jie's are earthy and fraternal — men on an island sharing a gourd. It is often set beside Li Bai's Bring in the Wine as the two poles of Tang bacchanalia: Li Bai dissolves the self in cosmic time, Yuan Jie roots joy in a particular lake with particular friends. Anthologies keep it for its sheer high spirits.

这首《石鱼湖上醉歌》，是元结于石鱼湖上饮酒醉歌之作，写湖上饮酒之乐与放达之怀，豪放天真，读之令人神往。开篇「石鱼湖，似洞庭，夏水欲满君山青」，写湖山之景：石鱼湖啊，好似洞庭，夏日水满，君山青青。以洞庭喻石鱼湖，见其湖之浩瀚；夏水满湖、君山青翠，写尽夏日湖山之景，起笔便是开阔之境。接着「山为樽，水为沼，酒徒历历坐洲岛」，写饮酒之豪：以山为酒樽，以水为酒池，酒徒们一个个坐在洲岛之上。以山为樽、以水为沼，这是何等豪放的想象——天地山水，皆为酒器，酒徒们便在这山水之间，坐于洲岛之上，畅饮高歌。这「山为樽，水为沼」六字，写尽饮酒之豪放与心胸之开阔。「长风连日作大浪，不能废人运酒舫」，写饮酒之兴：长风连日掀起大浪，也不能阻人运送酒船。风浪虽大，酒兴不减，这「不能废人运酒舫」，写尽饮酒之兴之不可阻挡。末句「我持长瓢坐巴丘，酌饮四坐以散愁」，写醉饮散愁：我手持长瓢坐在巴丘，酌酒遍饮四座，以散心中之愁。持长瓢酌饮四座，是诗人的放达之态；「以散愁」，则透出这豪放背后的一丝愁绪——借酒散愁，放达之中亦有其忧。全诗即景即兴，以山水为酒器，豪放天真，正是元结「任真放达」诗风的体现，也是唐人饮酒诗中别具一格的名篇。

Prosody

Form Mixed-meter ancient-style poem (zayan gushi), free of tonal regulation, closer to a folk drinking song than to a regulated verse杂言古诗（古体，非近体律诗）

Rhyme The poem rhymes on level tones and changes rhymes as the scenes change: first the -ing group (ting, qing), then the -ao group (zhao, dao), then the -ang group (fang), closing on the -ou group (chou). Such free shifting is the norm of ancient-style drinking songs, letting each stage of the party have its own key.全诗为杂言古诗，句式参差错落，押平声韵，韵脚「庭」「青」（青部）、「沼」「岛」（篠部）、「舫」（养部）、「愁」（尤部）转韵，用韵自由。古体诗不拘平仄对仗与句式长短，而以意运笔，此诗以三言、七言错落，音节长短相间，正与醉歌的豪放不羁之态相称，也见其作杂言以写醉歌的任真自然。

Tone pattern Line lengths run three, three, seven, seven, seven, seven, seven, seven — short opening beats like a song's refrain, then flowing seven-character lines like the lake itself. The cadence is easy and swaying, oral rather than literary: this is a tune to be sung over wine, its rhythm buoyant as the boat.句式上，首句「石鱼湖，似洞庭，夏水欲满君山青」以三言、七言错落，音节开合有致；「山为樽，水为沼，酒徒历历坐洲岛」以三言起、七言收，音节顿挫豪放；「长风连日作大浪，不能废人运酒舫」以七言对句，音节高昂；末句「我持长瓢坐巴丘，酌饮四坐以散愁」以七言长句，音节放达。全诗音节长短相间、随情起伏，由开合而顿挫、由高昂而放达，正合杂言古体「以意运笔」之体，读来如湖上醉歌、放声长吟之音，豪放而自然。

Reading note The prosody enacts drunkenness and freedom. The staccato three-character opening calls the scene like a ballad-singer; the longer lines that follow let the imagery spread like water. Because the form abandons tonal regulation and even the discipline of a single rhyme, the poem sounds improvised — as if sung on the spot, gourd in hand. This union of loose form and high spirit is Yuan Jie's signature: plain and sturdy in words, unbuttoned in feeling.此诗为杂言古诗，是唐人饮酒诗中的名篇，也是元结「古拙质直而任真放达」诗风的体现。全诗的艺术特色在于「即景即兴、豪放天真」：开篇「石鱼湖，似洞庭，夏水欲满君山青」写湖山之景，以洞庭喻之，开阔清丽；「山为樽，水为沼，酒徒历历坐洲岛」写饮酒之豪，以山水为酒器，是全诗最放达处；「长风连日作大浪，不能废人运酒舫」写酒兴之不可阻挡；末句「我持长瓢坐巴丘，酌饮四坐以散愁」写醉饮散愁之放达。全诗即景即兴，以山水为酒器，豪放天真。尤为精妙者，是「山为樽，水为沼」以天地山水为酒器的豪放想象，与李白「人生得意须尽欢」的豪放一脉相通；而「酌饮四坐以散愁」一结，于豪放中透出真性情，正是元结「任真放达」的典范，为历代选本所常收。

Line by line

石鱼湖，似洞庭，夏水欲满君山青。

Stone Fish Lake is like Dongting: summer waters nearly brimming, the isle of Jun green.

石鱼湖啊，好似洞庭，夏日水满，君山青青。

Stone Fish Lake, like Lake Dongting; in summer the water near full, and Mount Junshan green.

开篇三句写湖山之景，起笔即见开阔之境。「石鱼湖，似洞庭」写石鱼湖好似洞庭，「似洞庭」以天下名湖喻之，见石鱼湖之浩瀚，也暗含诗人以湖山为乐之怀；「夏水欲满君山青」写夏日水满、君山青青，「夏水欲满」写夏水高涨、将满未满，「君山青」写湖中君山之青翠。三句一写湖之浩瀚、一写水之满、一写山之青，以石鱼湖比洞庭、以君山写其景，写尽夏日湖山的开阔清丽之景，为全诗湖上醉饮作了环境的铺垫，起笔便定下了豪放开阔的基调。

The opening three lines write the lake and hill scene, the open realm at once. 'Stone Fish Lake, like Lake Dongting' — comparing Stone Fish Lake to Dongting, the world-famous lake, showing its vastness, and secretly the poet's delight in lake and hill; 'in summer the water near full, and Mount Junshan green' — 'near full' the summer water high, not yet at the full; 'Junshan green' the green of the islet in the lake. Three lines, one the lake's vastness, one the water's fullness, one the hill's green, comparing Stone Fish Lake to Dongting, writing Junshan through its green, to the full the open, clear summer lake-and-hill scene, the environmental groundwork for the poem's lake drinking, tuning at once the bold, open keynote.

山为樽，水为沼，酒徒历历坐洲岛。

The mountain for a wine-cup, the water for a wine-pool, the drinkers, every one of them, seated on the islets.

以山为酒樽，以水为酒池，酒徒们一个个坐在洲岛之上。

The hills for cups, the water for the pool; the wine companions, rank on rank, sit on the islets.

此句写饮酒之豪，是全诗最见放达处。「山为樽，水为沼」写以山为酒樽、以水为酒池，把天地山水当作酒器，这是何等豪放的想象——樽是酒樽，沼是酒池，山可为樽、水可为沼，见其心胸之开阔、饮酒之豪纵；「酒徒历历坐洲岛」写酒徒们一个个坐在洲岛之上，「历历」写其分明可数、依次而坐，「坐洲岛」写其坐于湖中洲岛之上，临水饮酒。三句一写山樽水沼之想象、一写酒徒洲岛之坐，把湖上饮酒的豪放之景写得如在目前，正是元结「任真放达」的体现，也是全诗最豪放的句子。

This line writes the boldness of the drinking, the most free part of the poem. 'The hills for cups, the water for the pool' — taking the hills as wine cups, the water as the wine pool, turning heaven and earth and hills and rivers into wine vessels, what a bold imagination — the cup the wine cup, the pool the wine pool, the hill a cup, the water a pool, showing the breadth of breast and the wildness of the drinking; 'the wine companions, rank on rank, sit on the islets' — 'rank on rank' the clearly counted, seated in order, 'sit on the islets' their sitting on the lake islets, drinking by the water. Three lines, one the imagination of hills-as-cups and water-as-pool, one the companions' sitting on the islets, writing the lake drinking's bold scene as before the eyes, precisely Yuan Jie's 'true and free', and the poem's boldest line.

长风连日作大浪，不能废人运酒舫。

A long wind for days on end raises great waves — yet it cannot stop the ferrying of the wine-boat.

长风连日掀起大浪，也不能阻人运送酒船。

The long wind raises great waves for days on end, yet cannot stop the men's wine boats.

此二句写饮酒之兴不可阻挡，是写酒兴的关键。「长风连日作大浪」写长风连日掀起大浪，「长风」「大浪」写风浪之猛烈，连日不息；「不能废人运酒舫」写也不能阻人运送酒船，「不能废」以否定写其不可阻挡，「运酒舫」写运送酒水的船只。两句一写风浪之猛、一写酒兴之盛，以长风大浪反衬酒兴之不可阻——风浪虽大，酒舫仍行，酒兴之高，无物可阻。诗人不直写饮酒之兴如何高，而以此风浪运酒写之，含蓄而有力，是「以反衬写酒兴」的妙笔。

These two lines write the drinking's ardor that cannot be stopped, the key of the poem's writing of the wine mood. 'The long wind raises great waves for days on end' — 'the long wind' and 'great waves' the wind and waves' fierceness, unceasing for days; 'yet cannot stop the men's wine boats' — 'cannot stop' the negation writing the impossibility of hindrance, 'wine boats' the boats carrying the wine. Two lines, one the wind and waves' fierceness, one the wine ardor's height, setting off the wine ardor against the wind and waves: fierce as the waves, the wine boats still go, the wine ardor high, nothing to hinder. The poet writes not directly how high the wine ardor, but through the wind-and-waves wine-boat, restrained and forceful, the 'writing wine ardor through contrast' stroke.

我持长瓢坐巴丘，酌饮四坐以散愁。

I hold a long gourd and sit on Baqiu, pouring drink for all the company to scatter our cares.

我手持长瓢坐在巴丘，酌酒遍饮四座，以散心中之愁。

I hold the long ladle, seated on Baqiu, pouring for all around to scatter grief.

末句写醉饮散愁之放达，是全诗立意的落点。「我持长瓢坐巴丘」写我手持长瓢坐在巴丘，「持长瓢」写以瓢舀酒之态，「坐巴丘」写坐于高处，豪迈之态宛然；「酌饮四坐以散愁」写酌酒遍饮四座，以散心中之愁，「酌饮四坐」写遍饮座中之人，见其慷慨豪迈，「以散愁」点出饮酒之由。两句一写持瓢坐饮之态、一写酌饮散愁之怀，把诗人的放达之态与借酒散愁之意一并写出——持长瓢酌饮四座，何等豪迈，而「散愁」二字，又透出这豪放背后的一丝愁绪。以「散愁」收束，豪放中见真性情，是全诗境界最高的收束之笔。

The last line writes the freedom of drunken drinking to scatter grief, the landing of the poem's theme. 'I hold the long ladle, seated on Baqiu' — 'hold the long ladle' the posture of scooping wine with the ladle, 'seated on Baqiu' the sitting on the height, the heroic posture as before the eyes; 'pouring for all around to scatter grief' — 'pouring for all around' the drinking of all at the table, showing the generosity, 'to scatter grief' naming the cause of the drinking. Two lines, one the posture of holding the ladle and sitting to drink, one the heart of pouring to scatter grief, writing at once the poet's freedom and the meaning of drinking to scatter grief — holding the long ladle and pouring for all around, what heroism; and the words 'to scatter grief' show, behind the boldness, a thread of grief. Closing in 'scatter grief', the true nature within the boldness, the highest-realm close of the poem.

Study

Word focus

似 Si: to resemble. The single word of comparison swells the little lake into Dongting, one of China's legendary waters; it establishes the song's scale and the poet's expansive mood from the first line. 「似」字写石鱼湖好似洞庭，是写湖之浩瀚的关键。「石鱼湖，似洞庭」着一「似」，以天下名湖洞庭喻石鱼湖，见其湖之浩瀚辽阔——着一「似」字，把石鱼湖与洞庭相连，也暗含诗人以湖山为乐、胸襟开阔之意。一字写尽湖之气象，为全诗湖上醉饮的开阔之境作了铺垫，是开篇的点睛之词。「似」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。

樽 Zun: a wine vessel. To make a mountain the zun is to drink from the landscape itself; the word fuses scenery and banquet, the poem's boldest image of untrammeled freedom. 「樽」字是「山为樽」的核心，写以山为酒樽之豪放想象。樽为酒器，「山为樽」把巍峨之山当作酒樽，见其心胸之开阔、饮酒之豪纵——天地山水皆可为酒器，这是何等的放达。着一「樽」字，使山与酒相连，写尽诗人以天地为席、以山水为器的豪放之怀，是全诗最见放达处。「樽」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。

历历 Lili: distinct, one by one, plainly visible. The reduplication gives the drinkers on their islets a lucid, almost painted presence — the party seen spread out across the water, each figure clear. 「历历」写酒徒一个个分明可数、依次而坐，是写饮酒场面之关键。「酒徒历历坐洲岛」着一「历历」，写酒徒们坐在洲岛之上，清清楚楚、历历可数——着一「历历」，使饮酒的场面有了画面感，众酒徒坐于洲岛、历历在目的场景宛然在目，也见其场面之盛、兴致之高，是「以叠字写景」的妙笔。「历历」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。

散愁 San chou: to disperse cares. It names the purpose of the drinking: the exuberance is not mere high spirits but an effort to dissolve sorrow, the human note under the revelry. 「散愁」写以酒散愁，是末句的点睛之词。「酌饮四坐以散愁」着一「散愁」，点出饮酒之由——借酒散愁。以「散」写愁之消散，见其欲借酒遣怀；「散愁」二字，于豪放之中透出一丝愁绪，使全诗的醉饮不只是一味放达，而有其内心的忧思。以「散愁」收束，豪放中见真性情，是全诗境界提升的关键词。「散愁」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。