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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

鸣臯歌奉饯从翁清归五厓山居

Song of Minggao: A Farewell Banquet for My Granduncle Qing Returning to His Mountain Home at Wuya

李白

Li Bai

唐诗Tang poetry 送别farewell 隐逸reclusion 李白Li Bai 歌行song-style ballad (gexing)

忆昨鸣臯梦里还，手弄素月清潭间。
觉时枕席非碧山，侧身西望阻秦关。
麒膦阁上春还早，著书却忆伊阳好。
青松来风吹古道，绿萝飞花覆烟草。
我家仙翁爱清真，才雄草圣凌古人，欲卧鸣臯绝世尘。
鸣臯微茫在何处？
五厓峡水横樵路。
身披翠云裘，袖拂紫烟去。
去时应过嵩少间，相思为折三花树。

I remember returning in dream to Minggao, toying with the pale moon upon the clear pool.
Waking, my pillow and mat were not the green mountains; turning on my side to gaze west, the passes of Qin barred the way.
On the Qilin Pavilion spring still comes early, yet bent over my books I recall how fair is Yiyang.
Green pines send wind down the ancient road; ivy's flying blossoms blanket the misted grass.
My immortal elder loves the pure and true; mighty in genius, a sage of the cursive brush outsoaring the ancients, he longs to lie down on Minggao beyond the world's dust.
Dim and faint — where lies Minggao? The gorge waters of Wuya lie across the woodcutters' path.
His body draped in a kingfisher-cloud robe, with one sleeve-sweep of the purple mist he departs.
Departing, he will pass between Mount Song and Mount Shao; in longing for him, I shall pluck a spray of the three-blossomed tree.

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Meaning

The poem sees off Li Bai's granduncle Qing, who is retiring to a mountain dwelling at Wuya near Minggao. It opens with a dream of returning to Minggao to toy with the moon in a clear pool, then the shock of waking to find no green mountains about the pillow, the western passes barring the way. Between these the poet praises the elder's purity and genius and paints the mountain's pines, wind, ivy and mist. The elder finally departs draped in a cloud robe, sleeve brushing purple mist, passing the Song and Shao peaks while the poet plucks a flowering branch in longing. Farewell is thus transfigured into an immortal's departure, grief diluted into admiration of transcendence.

醒来时发现枕席之间并非碧绿青山，侧身向西眺望，又被秦地关山阻隔。他身披翠云为饰的仙裘，袖口拂开紫色烟霭，飘然离去。

Appreciation

The poem is strung on a 'dream — waking — immortal departure' structure, the virtual and real engendering one another. The dream opening toys with moon and pool to establish an otherworldly tone; the waking couplet falls back into reality, using the loss of dream to set off how longed-for the mountain is. The middle passage lays out the mountain scene in limpid color — green, kingfisher, purple — with wind and flying blossoms in motion, building a realm floating free of dust. The ending drapes the parting guest in cloud robes and purple mist, converting parting sorrow into the elegant gesture of plucking a flowering branch, sad but never wounded. The language, half-ancient, carries the cadence of the Chu Ci within seven-character lines of varied length, the whole becoming an excursion between mortal and immortal worlds — Li Bai's signature romantic transfiguration of farewell.

【白话串讲】李白写鸣皋歌送别从翁：“忆昨鸣臯梦里还，手弄素月清潭间”——他梦回鸣皋山。“觉时枕席非碧山，侧身西望阻秦关”——“我家仙翁爱清真，才雄草圣凌古人”——他写从翁归山。【意象与手法】以「梦—觉—仙去」结构贯通，翠云紫烟染仙气，「弄」「拂」二字轻灵如惊鸿。【情感与主旨】送族翁归隐而少哀婉，多赞清真与林泉之想，亦悄然自抒出处两难的矛盾。【名句点睛】「袖拂紫烟去」最飘逸——一拂之间烟散人远，将离愁稀释为对超脱的欣羡，哀而不伤。

Background

The poem is Li Bai's farewell to his clan elder Li Qing, who was retiring to a mountain home at Wuya. 'Granduncle Qing' is an elder of Li Bai's grand-uncle generation named Qing; 'Minggao' is Mount Minggao in Songxian, Henan, near the Yi River, a famous haven of reclusion, and 'Wuya' the adjoining peak. Li Bai's 'Song of Minggao, Seeing Off Master Cen' celebrates the same place, proof of his attachment to its landscape. Following An Qi's chronological annotations, the poem dates from around Tianbao times, when Li Bai was seeking advancement at Chang'an or lodging his family in eastern Lu — the poet pressing toward office while the elder chose reclusion, one emerging, one withdrawing, and this tension of career versus retirement structures the poem. Notably, though titled a farewell banquet, the poem has little parting pathos and much praise of the elder's purity and the mountain's seclusion, showing Li Bai's own longing for reclusion: sending another to the hills he voices his own woodland aspiration. Tang society honored clan ties, so the song fulfills family duty even as it projects his own conflict. That the farewell closes not in tears but in an immortal's departure makes the poem a spiritual document of a High Tang scholar torn between office and withdrawal.

此诗为李白送别族翁李清归隐五厓山居之作。题中「从翁清」即李白从祖辈之翁，名清；「鸣臯」指鸣皋山，在河南嵩县东北，地近伊水，唐时属河南府，为隐逸胜地。「五厓」即五厓山，与鸣皋相接。李白《鸣皋歌送岑徵君》亦咏此地，可证其对鸣皋山水情有独钟。据安旗《李白全集编年笺注》系年，此诗约作于天宝初年李白初入长安前后或寓家东鲁时期，时诗人方求进于朝，而族翁则决意归隐，一出一处，构成诗中仕隐对照。值得注意的是，诗以「奉饯」为名，却少离别哀婉，多赞仙翁清真与鸣皋幽绝，可见李白对隐逸本有向往，送人归山实亦自抒林泉之志。唐人重门第与宗族，从翁归隐，李白作歌饯行，既尽族谊，亦借题发挥，投射自身出处之矛盾。诗中「麒膑阁」「伊阳」「嵩少」等地名，皆在中州，足见鸣皋一带为盛唐士人退隐之重要选项，可与《新唐书·隐逸传》所载中州隐风相参证。《新唐书·文艺传》称李白「喜纵横术，击剑为任侠」，其送族翁归隐，实借题自道林泉之想。鸣皋近嵩岳，为道教名山，司马承祯曾隐此，可与其《鸣皋歌送岑徵君》互证。安旗《李白全集编年笺注》定此诗于其初入长安求仕之际，出处矛盾正炽，故「觉时枕席非碧山」之失落尤耐寻味。要之，此非寻常饯送，而是盛唐士人仕与隐撕扯的一份心灵档案。又此诗之「奉饯」措辞亦堪玩味：唐人送别而云「奉」，含敬长尊亲之意，与李白集中《江夏送友人》《送王屋山人魏万还王屋》等并观，可见其于族长辈前之谦抑。且诗题标明「五厓山居」，五厓为鸣皋旁支，山居二字直揭归隐主旨，与诗中「绝世尘」「卧烟霞」呼应成篇。今传《李太白文集》宋本系统（如缪曰芑刊本）皆收此诗，足证其自来为太白集之稳定篇目，非后世羼入，文献身份可信，宜据以入录各类选本。

Art

Artistically the poem runs on a double structure of dream and waking, emptiness and substance giving birth to each other. The opening 'I remember returning in dream to Minggao, toying with the pale moon in the clear pool' enters through dream, fixing the otherworldly keynote; then 'waking, pillow and mat are not the green mountains; turning west, the Qin passes bar the way' drops abruptly into reality, the loss after waking setting off how unforgettable the mountain is — the first flip of virtual and real. The middle passage 'green pines send wind down the ancient road; ivy's flying blossoms blanket the misted grass' paints the mountain in clear color, hues (green, ivy, purple, kingfisher) interlaced with motion (coming wind, flying flowers, sweeping sleeve) to build a realm drifting beyond the dust. The close — 'draped in a kingfisher-cloud robe, sleeve brushing purple mist he departs... passing between Song and Shao; in longing I pluck the three-blossomed tree' — gathers the farewell into the elegance of a plucked branch, sad but unwounded. The language is half-prose, half-sao, inheriting the Chu Ci's Nine Songs within loose seven-character lines of varied length. Best of all, 'returning in dream' and 'departing with sleeve-sweep' echo head and tail, both falling on the word 'return,' while 'writing books I recall how fair is Yiyang' and 'he longs to lie on Minggao beyond the dust' mark the theme twice over in circling repetition. The color scale — from the cool pale moon and green pines through kingfisher and purple to the fading haze — traces the mind's rise and fall, a mastery of structuring a poem by visual rhythm unique to Li Bai's ballads.

此诗艺术上以「梦—觉」双层结构贯通全篇，虚实相生。起首「忆昨鸣臯梦里还，手弄素月清潭间」以梦境切入，写昔日魂牵鸣皋、弄月清潭之仙姿，已立幽绝基调；继而「觉时枕席非碧山，侧身西望阻秦关」陡然跌回现实，以梦醒之失落反衬鸣皋之可念，是为第一次虚实翻转。中段「青松来风吹古道，绿萝飞花覆烟草」以清丽画笔铺写山中实景，色彩（青、绿、紫、翠）与动感（来风、飞花、拂袖）交织，营造出缥缈出尘之境。末段「身披翠云裘，袖拂紫烟去」「去时应过嵩少间，相思为折三花树」以送别收束，化离情为折梅相寄之雅，哀而不伤。全诗语言半文半骚，夹用「兮」字遗意而化为七言，句式长短错落，承楚辞《九歌》之神理。尤妙在以「梦里还」与「袖拂去」首尾呼应，使送别升华为一场仙凡之间的逍遥游，典型体现李白送别诗「哀而不伤、超然物外」的浪漫品格。再论其章法呼应，起以「忆昨鸣皋梦里还」领起梦境，结以「袖拂紫烟去」收束仙去，首尾皆落于「归」字，中间「著书却忆伊阳好」「欲卧鸣皋绝世尘」两度点题，回环往复，颇得《楚辞·招魂》「魂兮归来」的复沓之妙。且诗中色彩由「素月」「青松」之清，转「翠云裘」「紫烟」之丽，终归于烟霞之淡，色阶即心境之起伏，此种以视觉节奏结构全篇的本领，最见太白歌行之独擅。

Allusions

The allusions belong mostly to the Daoist and reclusion traditions. First, 'pale moon and clear pool' absorbs the Zhuangzi's 'water still is bright' doctrine of emptiness and stillness, the toying with the moon's reflection figuring a limpid mind. Second, the Qilin Pavilion, where Emperor Xuan of Han portraits of eleven meritorious ministers, serves by contrast: 'on the Qilin Pavilion spring comes early' sets the seat of fame against the delights of writing in reclusion at Yiyang, a quiet weighing of choice. Third, Yiyang (modern Songxian) was a land of recluses, and 'writing books, I recall how fair is Yiyang' inherits the Six Dynasties line of eremitic literature. Fourth, the 'sage of cursive' names masters of running script like Zhang Zhi, praising the elder's genius outsoaring the ancients. Fifth, the 'three-blossomed tree' is a Daoist term — the 'three flowers gathered at the crown' of essence, breath, and spirit in the Zhong-Lü tradition — plucking its spray to carry longing into immortal coloring. Sixth, the 'kingfisher-cloud robe' and 'purple mist' are the vestments of transcendents, descended from the Nine Songs' 'clouds for garments, white rainbow for skirt.' 'Minggao' itself carries the Shijing's 'the crane cries on the nine marshes, its voice heard in the wild' — the crane-cry height, an emblem of lofty purity. These layered immortals' terms wrap the short poem in a faint robe of transcendence, kin to 'Dreaming of Roaming to Tianmu Mountain.'

诗中用典多本道家神仙与隐逸传统。其一，「素月清潭」化用《庄子·天道》「水静犹明」之虚静观，亦暗合禅宗「镜花水月」之喻，写弄月潭间，喻心境澄明。其二，「麒麟阁」典出《汉书·苏武传》，汉宣帝图画十一功臣于麒麟阁，此处「麒膑阁上春还早」以功名之地反衬著书隐居之适，言朝堂春早而己独爱伊阳，含去就之辨。其三，「伊阳」即今河南嵩县，唐为隐逸之邦，谢灵运、陶弘景之流多隐于此，诗人「著书却忆伊阳好」直承六朝隐逸文脉。其四，「草圣」指张芝、怀素一流的草书绝艺，《晋书·王羲之传》称张芝为草圣，此处美仙翁才雄凌古。其五，「三花树」用道教术语，三花聚顶谓精气神升华，《钟吕传道集》载「三花聚顶，五气朝元」，折三花以寄相思，将离情染上仙家色彩。其六，「翠云裘」「紫烟」皆神仙服御意象，本《楚辞·九歌》「青云衣兮白霓裳」之遗。诸典融化无痕，共同织成一幅道家隐逸画卷。又「鸣皋」本《诗经·小雅》「鹤鸣于九皋，声闻于野」之遗意，皋为水边高地，鸣皋即仙鹤鸣皋，自带隐逸象征；李白两赋鸣皋，正取此高洁意象。「三花树」除道教「三花聚顶」外，亦暗合《山海经》不死之树与《楚辞》「餐秋菊之落英」的服食延年金丹思想。凡此仙道语汇层叠，使短章若隐若现地披着一层游仙外衣，与其《梦游天姥吟留别》同一神仙谱系。

Commentary

Though not among Li Bai's most famous works, critics have affirmed its transcendent purity. Ge Lifang of Song, in Yuyu Yangqiu, noted that Li Bai's farewell poems 'hold much open-hearted language and little tender-parting manner,' a verdict this piece bears out. Hu Zhenheng of Ming, in Tangyin Guiqian, observed that Li Bai's ballads are often 'brimming with immortal air,' citing the Minggao poems. Wang Qi of Qing, in his annotated edition, said of the Minggao poems that 'reading them gives one the thought of standing apart from the world.' Zhan Ying of modern times dated this poem with the 'Song of Minggao, Seeing Off Master Cen' as celebrating the same place, writing that 'when Qing returned to Wuya, Li Bai sang him a farewell — the feeling shows in the words.' Yu Xianhao's Li Bai Xuanji remarks that 'opening in dream and closing in immortal departure, the farewell is written like ascension on wings — pure Li Bai.' An Qi's Li Bai Shi Miyao puts it best: 'writing truth through dream, writing reclusion through transcendence, sad but unwounded.' Ye Jiaying, lecturing on Li Bai, stresses his detachment that 'neither clings nor severs': Li Bai never weeps over reclusion but always writes it in flight, and the sleeve that brushes the purple mist is her very example. In sum, a small but essential piece for studying Li Bai's view of the reclusive life.

此诗虽非李白最显赫之作，论者亦多肯定其清逸出尘之格。宋人葛立方《韵语阳秋》论李白送别诗「多旷达语，少儿女态」，此篇正合其评。明人胡震亨《唐音癸签》卷九论太白歌行「往往仙气盎然」，以此类鸣皋诸作为例。清人王琦《李太白文集辑注》虽未逐句笺释，然于鸣皋诸诗总评谓「读之令人有遗世独立之想」，点出其隐逸情调。近人詹锳《李白诗文系年》考定此诗与《鸣皋歌送岑徵君》同咏一地，互为参证，并云「清归五厓，太白作歌饯之，情见乎辞」。郁贤皓《李白选集》赏析此诗，谓其「以梦境起，以仙去结，将送别写得如羽化登仙，是太白本色」。今人《李白大辞典》「鸣皋」条亦载其与李白隐居思想之关联。综之，诸家虽详略不一，而于其「梦境—现实—仙去」的结构与清真脱俗的意趣，评价则大致相契，视其为研究李白隐逸观的重要小品。今人安旗《李白诗秘要》论此诗「以梦写真，以仙写隐，哀而不伤」，最得肯綮。郁贤皓《李白选集》亦谓其「将送别写得如羽化登仙」，视作出处矛盾的诗化解决。叶嘉莹讲李诗则强调其「不黏不脱」的超越性，以为李白写隐逸从不作穷途之哭，而多以飞扬出之，此篇「袖拂紫烟去」正其范例。综合而论，此诗虽非太白巨制，却以其精约与仙气，成为研究李白隐逸观不可忽视的小品。

Prosody

Form Mixed-meter old-style ballad (gexing), mainly seven-character with varied line lengths杂言歌行体（七言为主，间以长短句）

Rhyme Shifting rhymes between sections: level-tone groups (han, shan, xian and adjacent) alternating with others间韵转押，寒、删、先、麻等平声韵交替

Tone pattern Old-style ballad free of regulated-tone constraints; rhyme shifts unhindered, line lengths irregular古体歌行，平仄自由，转韵不拘，句式长短错落

Reading note The poem is one of Li Bai's seven-character ballads, an old-style verse unbound by recent-style rules, eschewing strict tonal glue and parallelism and driven instead by breath, with rhymes shifted freely — fitting the surging emotion of a farewell. The frame is seven-character, but 'his body draped in kingfisher-cloud robes, his sleeve brushing the purple mist' and other passages mix five- and nine-character lines, their lengths falling and rising in the cadence of the Chu Ci's Nine Songs, reading like a long chant. In rhyme, the opening rhymes huan, jian, shan, guan in the shan-han-xian level groups; the middle shifts to zao, hao, dao, cao; the latter part rhymes chu, qu, shu; broadly the rhyme turns with each movement of sense, sound and meaning mirroring each other: dream passages take long, distant level rhymes, the departure passages short crisp ones, and the farewell close returns to ease. The ballad form descends from Han yuefu to its flowering in Li Bai and Cen Shen, its untrammeled music matching the poet's untrammeled heart. Shen Deqing said the ballad 'values lucid, ringing rhythm'; this poem, if not the most tempestuous, rings like clear jade, with its own pure, otherworldly beat.此诗属李白七言歌行，乃不受近体束缚的古诗，故不尚严格平仄粘对，而以气脉驱动，转韵自由，正宜其送别时的跌宕抒情。全篇句式以七言为主干，而「身披翠云裘，袖拂紫烟去」「去时应过嵩少间」等处参以五言、九言，长短句错落，遥承楚辞《九歌》「□□兮□□」的节奏遗意，读来有曼声长吟之致。用韵方面，起首「还、间、山、关」押删、寒先邻韵，中段「早、好、道、草」转豪、皓、筱等，后幅「处、去、树」押御、遇、麌，大致随诗意段落转韵，声情与辞情相表里：写梦境用悠远平韵，写归去用清峭短韵，送别收束复归于舒缓。歌行体源于汉乐府《长歌行》，至唐李白、岑参臻于极盛，其不羁之韵正对应诗人不羁之怀。清人沈德潜论歌行「贵在音节浏亮」，此诗虽非最宏肆，而清音玉振，自具一种清真脱俗的律动。

Line by line

觉时枕席非碧山，侧身西望阻秦关。

Waking, I find my pillow and mat are not the green mountains; turning on my side to gaze west, the passes of Qin bar the way.

醒来时发现枕席之间并非碧绿青山，侧身向西眺望，又被秦地关山阻隔。

Waking, my pillow is no green hill; turning sideways I gaze west, blocked by the Qin pass.

此联为全诗第一次现实翻转，承上「梦里还」而来，由梦中之碧山跌回枕席之实景。「非碧山」三字以否定句式道尽梦醒后的失落，碧山在梦中可弄月，醒后却唯余枕席，反差强烈，暗喻理想栖居之不可即。「侧身西望阻秦关」则由个人居处推及家国地理：秦关既指函谷、潼关一类西陲要隘，亦象征功名仕进之途；「阻」字既是地理阻隔，亦是诗人求仕受阻的隐喻。一己之梦醒与天下之路阻叠合，使私人情感获得历史纵深。艺术上，此联以「觉」字振起，与起句「忆」字遥相呼应，形成「梦—觉」的闭合结构，并为后文赞美仙翁归隐、自愧尘羁埋下伏笔。侧身二字尤妙，既写望关之姿态，更传出处两难、身不由己之窘，寥寥十四字，情景理俱到。

This couplet is the whole poem's first reality reversal, carrying on the dream's return, falling from the dream's green hill back to the pillow's real scene. No green hill three characters use negation to exhaust the waking-after-loss: the green hill in the dream can play the moon, yet waking only leaves the pillow; contrast strong, secretly metaphorizing the ideal dwelling's unattainability. Turning sideways I gaze west, blocked by the Qin pass then extends from personal dwelling to country-and-home geography: Qin pass refers at once to Hangu, Tongguan western key passes, and symbolizes official-advancement road; blocked is at once geographic barrier, and the poet's seeking-office obstructed metaphor. One person's dream-waking and the天下 road-blocked叠 together, giving personal emotion historical depth. Artistically, this couplet uses waking to rise, echoing the opening's remembering from afar, forming a dream-waking closed structure, also planting伏笔 for the later praising the immortal uncle's seclusion and self-shame at worldly bondage. Turning sideways two characters especially subtle: at once writes gazing-at-the-pass posture, and transmits the going-or-staying dilemma, body-not-own embarrassment; within a mere fourteen characters, scenery, feeling, reason all arrived.

身披翠云裘，袖拂紫烟去。

His body draped in a kingfisher-cloud robe, with one sweep of his sleeve through the purple mist he departs.

他身披翠云为饰的仙裘，袖口拂开紫色烟霭，飘然离去。

Clad in a green cloud robe, his sleeve brushes the purple mist away.

此联写送别高潮，将族翁李清化作一位御风而去的仙人，是全诗由实入虚、由人升仙的关捩。「翠云裘」「紫烟」皆神仙意象，本于《楚辞·九歌》「青云衣兮白霓裳」与曹植《仙人篇》「披我丹霞衣」，李白化用以写仙翁行装，使其人未离尘世而已带仙风。「袖拂」二字极轻灵，一拂之间紫烟散开，动作优雅而富画意，与「驱山走海」式的雄健不同，此处转为飘逸纤柔，正合饯别依依之调。「去」字收束上段归隐叙事，开启下段「去时应过嵩少间」的悬想，使送别不止于眼前一揖，而延展为对友人归途的遥望与相思。两句虽短，却以色彩（翠、紫）与动作（披、拂）完成人物仙化，将离愁稀释为对超脱的欣羡，典型体现李白「送别如送仙」的浪漫处理。

This couplet writes the farewell climax, transforming the clan-uncle Li Qing into an immortal riding the wind away; the whole poem's pivot from solid to void, from person to immortal. Green cloud robe and purple mist are both immortal images, based on Songs of Chu, Nine Songs's azure-azure-robe-white-raiment and Cao Zhi's Immortal Verse's donning my red-cloud robe; Li Bai transforms them to write the immortal uncle's travel dress, making the person not yet leave the mortal world yet already carry immortal wind. Sleeve brushes two characters most light and graceful: within one brush the purple mist parts; the action elegant and picture-rich; unlike drive-mountains-run-sea-style grandeur, here turns to floating fineness, precisely fitting the lingering farewell tune. Away closes the upper section's seclusion narrative, opening the lower section's when-going-should-pass-Song-and-Shao imagination; making the farewell not stop at the眼前 bow, but extend to the friend's road-home distant gaze and longing. The two lines though short, yet using color (green, purple) and action (clad, brush) to complete the person's immortalization, diluting sorrow into admiration of transcendence; typical of Li Bai's saying-farewell-as-seeing-off-an-immortal romantic handling.

Study

Word focus

弄 The verb 'to toy with' in 'hand toying with the pale moon in the clear pool' plays the moon's reflection as a thing in the palm, pulling the high moon down to the water's edge and turning awe into play — the signature gesture of Li Bai's speaker as master-companion of nature. 「手弄素月清潭间」之「弄」字，是全诗最具灵动的炼字。弄本义为把玩、戏耍，此处写仙翁（或诗人化身）以手掬弄潭中素月倒影，化静水为戏具，化明月为掌中玩物，极写人与月、人与自然的亲狎无间。自审美观之，「弄」字承《楚辞·湘君》「捐余玦兮江中，遗余佩兮醴浦」的渍浪之趣，又开后世苏轼「起舞弄清影」之先声，皆以「弄」写人与天机相得之态。其妙在将高高在上的明月拉至清潭、置于指尖，空间由辽阔收束为咫尺，情感由敬畏转为嬉戏，正合道家「万物与我为一」之境。较之「望月」「赏月」之被动旁观，「弄」字主动而亲昵，一字见出李白诗中人常有的「自然主宰者」姿态。且「弄」与「清潭间」搭配，光影晃动，如在目前，足证盛唐诗人炼字不尚奇险而贵传神。

拂 'To brush' in 'his sleeve brushing the purple mist' writes the departing immortal: one light sleeve-sweep opens the whole sky of mist, its lightness against the finality of departure carrying the buried sense of 'shaking one's sleeve and leaving the world' — farewell raised into a clean break from the dusty world. 「袖拂紫烟去」之「拂」字，与「弄」字异曲同工，皆以轻灵动作写仙姿。「拂」本为掸去、轻掠，此处写仙翁举袖轻掠紫烟，烟随袖散，人随烟远，动作之轻微与离去之决绝形成微妙张力。炼字之妙有三：一在「以小而写大」，袖口一拂便拨开漫天紫烟，显出仙家法力与潇洒；二在「以动写静」，紫烟本静谧弥漫，经「拂」字点活，画面顿生流动；三在「以物写情」，拂袖而去暗含「拂衣归隐」之典（谢灵运「拂衣五湖里」），将送别之「去」升格为对污浊尘世的决绝告别。与杜甫送别诗「落日故人情」「孤蓬万里征」的沉实不同，李白此「拂」字飘若惊鸿，使离情化作一道紫烟、一袭云裘，读来但觉仙气袭人，正是其送别诗「哀而不伤、超然物外」风格的核心字眼。