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唐 Tang · 词 Ci lyric

渔歌子

Song of the Fisherman

张志和

Zhang Zhihe

山水田园Landscape and Pastoral 隐逸Seclusion and Retirement 闲适Leisure and Contentment 江南Jiangnan (South of the Yangtze)

西塞山前白鹭飞，桃花流水鳜鱼肥。
\n青箬笠，绿蓑衣，斜风细雨不须归。

Before Mount Xisai white egrets fly,
Peach blossoms, flowing water—mandarin fish grow fat.
In blue bamboo-leaf hat,
In green straw rain-cloak,
In slanting wind and fine rain, no need to go home.

Listen

Meaning

The poet paints a spring scene by a Jiangnan river: egrets circle above Mount Xisai, peach blossoms drift on rising water, and mandarin fish are plump. In the midst of slanting wind and fine rain, a fisherman in a blue bamboo hat and green straw cloak stays on, unwilling to return home—a vivid emblem of carefree seclusion.

西塞山前，白鹭自在飞翔；江岸桃花盛开，春水初涨，肥美的鳜鱼在水中游动。渔翁头戴青色箬笠，身披绿色蓑衣，冒着斜风细雨悠然垂钓，乐而忘归。

Appreciation

In just twenty-seven characters, Zhang Zhihe creates a complete world of tranquil abundance. The opening lines array bright images—white egrets, red peach blossoms, green water, fat fish—while the closing lines focus on the dressed fisherman. The final 'no need to return' turns landscape into attitude, expressing Daoist contentment and the quiet freedom of one who has withdrawn from official life.

【白话串讲】 “西塞山前白鹭飞，桃花流水鳜鱼肥”——张志和写渔歌子：白鹭飞，鳜鱼肥。“青箬笠，绿蓑衣，斜风细雨不须归”——他戴着青斗笠、绿蓑衣，在斜风细雨里不回去。唐代最悠闲的一首词。【意象与手法】仅二十七字而境界全出。上片写白鹭、桃花、流水、鳜鱼，勾勒明丽温润的江南春江图；下片写青箬笠、绿蓑衣的渔翁于斜风细雨中不肯归去。全词不假雕饰、色彩清鲜、节奏舒缓如波，于平易中见悠远，开文人词借渔父以写隐逸之先声。【情感与主旨】张志和弃官隐居、自号烟波钓徒，此词以其亲身所历之水乡风光写乐天知命、与造物和游的襟怀。表面写渔钓之乐，内里含弃世之志，于极淡处见出人格之独立。后世苏轼、黄庭坚皆有继作。【名句点睛】常考“西塞山前白鹭飞，桃花流水鳜鱼肥”以明丽色彩写春江图；“青箬笠，绿蓑衣，斜风细雨不须归”以渔翁形象写乐天知命。

Background

Zhang Zhihe, courtesy name Zitong, was a native of Jinhua, Wuzhou (modern Zhejiang). A brilliant young scholar and Daoist, he once served at court, was banished, and after receiving a pardon never took office again. He styled himself 'Fisherman-hermit of Mist and Waves' and 'Master Mysterious Truth,' and lived on rivers and lakes, delighting in angling. Mount Xisai, in the Wuxing area of Zhejiang, is associated with his reclusive life. After the An Lushan Rebellion, many Tang literati questioned the value of official service; Zhang chose a boat and a fishing rod instead. This lyric, likely written during his retirement, reflects both his calm spirit and a subtle mid-Tang ambivalence about public life.

张志和，字子同，婺州金华（今属浙江）人，唐代著名道士、诗人、词人。他少年擢第，曾为翰林待诏，后坐事贬官，遇赦后不复出仕，自号烟波钓徒，又号玄真子，长期隐居江湖，以垂钓为乐。西塞山在今浙江吴兴一带，相传即志和隐居垂钓之所。《渔歌子》约作于他弃官归隐、放浪山水之时。安史之乱后，唐帝国由极盛转衰，士人出处进退之间多有忧疑，志和却选择远离朝市，以一叶扁舟、一竿风月终老江湖。词中所写白鹭翻飞、桃花映水、鳜鱼正肥，皆是江南暮春真实景物，亦是其冲淡心境之外化。此词上承盛唐山水田园之绪，下开五代两宋渔父词之先声，在词史上地位重要。全篇不著一字议论，而江湖散人之乐、与自然相忘之趣已悠然自见。后世苏轼见而爱之，曾以鹧鸪天隐括其意，足见其感人至今，烟波钓徒之名遂与西塞山共传千古。烟波钓徒之名与此词相得益彰，后世渔父词多祖述其意；张志和以弃官归隐写江湖之乐，不惟个人之抉选，亦折射中唐士人对出处进退的深层彷徨，故其闲适之中隐约有时代之影，非徒写景而已。安史乱后士风转易，志和独能以扁舟一竿终老烟波，其潇洒实含对世路之冷眼，词中淡远正其人格之投影。

Art

The poem is a model of fused scene and feeling. It uses bright colors—white, red, green—and dynamic contrasts: egrets flying, water flowing, fish plump. The irregular line lengths of the final section, with two three-character vignettes and a seven-character conclusion, create a rocking rhythm like a boat on waves. The plain word 'fat' and the refusal 'no need to return' are deliberately unadorned yet powerful. The whole composition resembles a horizontal scroll painting: distant mountain, middle-distance river, and near focus on the fisherman's hat and cloak in slanting rain.

此词通篇写景而情寓景中，是情景交融的典范。起二句大笔勾勒：西塞山前，白鹭掠空，桃花夹岸，春水初生，鳜鱼肥美，设色清丽，动静相生，于明秀中见开阔。后三句由远及近，聚焦渔翁：青箬笠、绿蓑衣，色彩对举鲜明；斜风细雨之中，人竟不须归，以否定语收束，余味悠长。全词仅二十七字，却有色有声、有动有静、有远有近，构图如一幅江南春钓图。句式上打破诗律，参差错落，三三、六七句式自由，已具词体特质。炼字尤工，一肥字写出水暖鱼欢，一不须二字写尽留连忘返。设色以青、绿、白、红相映，淡而有致，毫无秾艳。结句以天气衬人情，于不经意处见匠心，令人想见烟波钓徒之萧散。其疏淡之笔，直可入画，东坡所谓诗中有画，于词亦未尝不然。设色如画而运笔如行云，二十七字具千里之势；不须归三字尤为词眼，以退笔收束满天风物，余味邈然，足证长短句写景气韵犹胜近体。白鹭桃花鳜鱼，色声动静俱全，青笠绿蓑衬以斜风细雨，疏淡中自有浓润。温厚疏淡之处正是词体初兴之可贵本色，不雕不琢而意境自远，开渔父词一派清空之境。

Allusions

The fisherman is an ancient Chinese symbol of reclusion, traceable to Qu Yuan's 'The Fisherman' and the Zhuangzi chapter of the same name. In the former, the fisherman sings, 'When the Canglang waters are clear, I wash my cap-strings; when they are muddy, I wash my feet,' embodying the Daoist wisdom of harmonious adaptation. Zhang Zhihe inherits this archetype: his 'no need to return' is the same spontaneous acceptance of circumstances. Later poets such as Su Shi and Huang Tingjian adapted the poem, confirming its place in the long tradition of the fisherman as a symbol of spiritual freedom.

渔父一题，其源甚古，可上溯至屈原《渔父》与《庄子》渔父篇。屈原行吟泽畔，遇渔父叩以圣人不凝滞于物，劝其与世推移；渔父鼓枻而去，歌曰沧浪之水清兮，可以濯吾缨。其后严子陵钓于富春，陶渊明赋归去来兮，皆以渔钓隐逸为精神象征。张志和取渔歌子为调，正承此一隐逸传统，以渔翁自况，写其不慕荣利、忘情江湖之志。西塞山、青箬笠、绿蓑衣，皆为吴地江湖实景，亦暗合上古樵渔高蹈之象。不须归一语，与屈原渔父所唱之随遇而安一脉相通。词虽无直接使事，而文化血脉隐隐贯穿，读者于疏淡之景中，自可味出千载渔父精神之回响，知此词非徒写钓，实写一种人格之自由。自屈子渔父至此词，隐逸渔钓之象一脉相承；张志和加以吴地真景与道家闲适，使渔父由象征化为活人，江南山水遂成中国隐逸文化之重要符号。严子陵、陶渊明皆以渔钓自高，志和承之而更见萧散。后世苏轼隐括其意亦足证其感人之深；不须归一语，与沧浪之水之随遇而安一脉相通，文化血脉隐隐贯穿其中。

Commentary

The poem's genius lies in its lightness. It never argues or moralizes; the fisherman's refusal to leave is presented as an obvious, natural fact. This unforced quality is the Daoist ideal of effortless action. Unlike poems that strain for effect, Zhang's verses seem improvised from the elements themselves. Yet behind the leisure lies a firm choice: the retired official regards officialdom as a storm, and the rain-swept river as true shelter. The poem, in its gentle way, is a declaration of personal independence.

此词之妙，在极淡极自然中见极深之情怀。表面写春江垂钓，实写一位弃官士人对自由生活的抉选。白鹭、桃花、流水、鳜鱼，本是寻常风物，一经词人点染，便成不容尘嚣侵染之境；而斜风细雨不须归，尤见其于困蹇中安之若素、于清苦中得其真趣。与那些刻意模山范水之作不同，此词无一字用力，却字字从容，仿佛信手拈来，这正是道家任运、禅家随缘之化境。后世苏轼、徐俯尝以他调隐括其意，足见其动人。读此词，不惟赏其画境，更当想见那位披蓑戴笠、笑傲烟波之人——功名富贵于他，真如浮云过眼，不值一顾。江湖之乐，至此乃成一种人格，一种对官场羁绊的温柔叛离，千载之下犹堪想见其风神。读此词当想见那人笠影蓑衣、笑傲烟波之态，功名富贵视如浮云；其所以动人千载，正在把一种自由人格写得如此平淡自然，平淡处方见真风流。斜风细雨不须归，写尽困蹇中安之若素、清苦中得其真趣之境。不惟赏其画境，更当想见那位披蓑戴笠之人——隐逸之乐至此乃成一种人格之写照，傲睨王侯。

Prosody

Reading note This 27-character monostich mixes two-, three-, and seven-character lines. The calm level-tone rhymes match the leisurely mood, while the shifting line lengths create a gently rocking rhythm like a boat on the waves.渔歌子单调二十七字，五句四平韵（依《词林纪事》所录张氏原调）。此词平仄合谱：首句西塞山前白鹭飞，仄仄平平仄仄平；次句桃花流水鳜鱼肥，平平平仄仄平平，韵脚肥字平收。第三句青箬笠，平仄仄；第四句绿蓑衣，仄平平；末句斜风细雨不须归，平平仄仄仄平平，归字押韵。全词以平声韵贯穿，声情从容和缓，与闲适之旨相谐。短句二言三言相错，读来如舟行波上，节奏轻快而余韵悠长，最宜表现悠然自得之情怀。更值得注意的是，单调小令以平韵一气贯下，声与情相生，是词体初创期以声写心之范例，亦可见民间渔歌转入文人词后声律渐趋圆熟、于短促中见悠远之轨迹。

Line by line

西塞山前白鹭飞，桃花流水鳜鱼肥。

Sets the distant scene: before Mount Xisai, white egrets are flying—an image of freedom and early spring.

Before Xisai Mountain, white egrets fly; peach blossoms on the flowing water, the mandarin fish are fat.

此二句为全词之景语枢纽。西塞山前点明地点，白鹭飞以飞动之姿破静，顿成活景；桃花流水鳜鱼肥七字，写尽江南春汛之丰美，桃红水绿、鱼肥人乐，色彩与生机并出。更妙在景中已含垂钓之趣——鳜鱼正肥，自引渔翁，为下文不须归埋下伏笔，景语即情语，是盛唐以来山水小诗笔法入词之证。此二句不着一情字而情已暗生，于不多字中写足水乡风物与人情，既为下片之人作境，又自成一派明秀，是词人观察之细与措辞之活的双重体现。

These two lines are the ci's scenery pivot. Before Xisai Mountain names the place; white egrets fly breaks stillness with motion, instantly making a live scene. Peach blossoms on the flowing water, the mandarin fish are fat exhausts the Jiangnan spring flood's richness in seven characters - peach pink, water green, fish fat, men glad; color and vitality both pour forth. Subtler still: the scenery already holds the fishing delight - the mandarin fish fat, of itself drawing the old fisherman, planting the伏笔 for no need to go home below; scenery words are feeling words, the proof that the High-Tang landscape short poem's brush entered the ci form. These two lines not one word of feeling, yet feeling secretly born; in few characters the water-village's scenery and human warmth are fulfilled - at once setting the stage for the person below, and forming a bright style of its own, the double expression of the writer's observation's fineness and phrasing's liveliness.

斜风细雨不须归。

Brings the view closer: peach blossoms and rising river water, with plump mandarin fish, evoke the spring flood and the bounty of the river.

Slanting wind, fine rain - no need to go home.

此句为一篇之眼。斜风细雨本是催归之景，词人却反用其意，言不须归，将渔翁耽于山水的痴情和盘托出。不须二字极轻极淡，却力重千钧，写出弃官隐居者忘怀得失、与造物和游的襟怀。风雨不足畏，尘网不足恋，一语而烟波钓徒之精神毕现，亦暗含对宦海风波的疏离与超越。这是退隐文人最直白亦最潇洒的心声，于寻常风雨中见出人格之独立与自由，全词之潇洒、之超然，皆系于此五字，是点睛亦是骨力所在。

This line is the whole piece's eye. Slanting wind, fine rain is originally scenery that urges return; the poet instead turns its meaning, saying no need to go home, laying bare the old fisherman's obsession with mountains and waters. No need is extremely light and faint, yet carries a thousand pounds, writing the retired official's bosom of forgetting gain and loss, roaming with the Creator. Wind and rain need not be feared; the dust net need not be clung to; in one phrase the smoke-wave angler's spirit is fully revealed, also secretly holding the detachment and transcendence from official-sea storms. This is the retired scholar's most direct and most free voice; in ordinary wind and rain one sees the person's independence and freedom. The whole ci's freedom and transcendence all hinge on these five characters; it is at once the finishing stroke and the bone's strength.

青箬笠，绿蓑衣，

A blue bamboo-leaf hat covers the fisherman's head.

A blue bamboo hat, a green straw cloak,

此二句写人而只见装束，不见面目，却以青、绿二冷色与上文桃花之暖红相映成趣。箬笠、蓑衣本为渔樵劳人之服，此处却因烟雨垂钓之境而显出高洁脱俗之气。二言短句蝉联，节奏轻快，如舟行波上，于极省净中见极丰盈，足见词人剪裁之妙。这一笠一蓑，既是写实之渔具，更是精神之符号，与陶渊明之巾、林逋之鹤同属隐者标识，遂为后世孤舟蓑笠翁一类意象之先声，可见服饰描写在古典诗词中亦能承载精神象征而不坠于形迹。

These two lines write the person yet show only the dress, not the face; yet the two cold colors blue and green set off the previous peach's warm red. Bamboo hat and straw cloak are originally the fisherman's and woodcutter's laborer's garb; here, through the misty-rain fishing setting, they show a pure, unworldly air. Two-word short lines linked, the rhythm light and brisk, like a boat moving on the waves; in extreme spareness, extreme richness - showing the writer's cutting skill. This hat and this cloak are at once real fishing gear and a spiritual symbol; like Tao Yuanming's cap and Lin Bu's crane, they belong to the recluse's markers, becoming the forerunner of the later lone boat, straw cloak old man imagery - showing that dress description in classical poetry can carry spiritual symbolism without falling into the merely bodily.

Study

Word focus

不须 no need / not willing to—a calm, voluntary refusal that is the key phrase of the poem. 不须二字，是全词文眼。须者，必要也；不须归，谓非不能归，乃不愿归。相较于「不归」「未归」，不须更见主动与从容，透出渔翁乐在江湖、不以风雨为意的闲适心性。张志和以退隐之身写此，不须实为己志之宣示：世路风涛虽急，吾心自有安处，故风雨之中反得逍遥。二字而境界全出，是与陶渊明「久在樊笼里，复得返自然」同一归趣，亦将全词的隐逸主题凝于最淡之处，于无声处听惊雷，是炼字之极境。

肥 plump, fat—a homely word that makes the spring scene concrete and suggests abundance and the timely season. 鳜鱼肥之肥字，看似俚俗，实极精当。春水既生，桃花汛至，鳜鱼得水而肥，此一字既点时令物产，又暗写江乡丰乐，更以物之肥衬人之闲——鱼肥正堪垂钓，渔翁之乐由此而生。以肥状鱼，承《诗经·齐风》写鱼之民间鲜活笔意，于文人词中别饶生活气息，去雕饰而近天然。正是早期词体未为格律所缚时最可贵的天真，亦见词人即物写心、落于可感人间烟火的本领，使全词不流于虚泛的方外之想。

鳜 mandarin fish, a prized freshwater fish of southern China, linked here to the spring flood season. 鳜鱼之鳜，点出江南特有之鲜美食材，非泛言鱼也。鳜鱼嘴大鳞细、肉质鲜美，春汛逆流而上，正合桃花流水之时。词人于青山白鹭之间独拈此鱼，既见水乡风物之真切，亦暗藏自奉俭朴、随遇而安的隐者趣味。一字之择，见其不作空泛山水，而能即物写心，使全词落于可感可居的人间烟火之中，而非虚无缥缈的仙乡幻境，最见早期词贴近生活、由实入虚的长处与本色。

渔歌子