先秦 Pre-Qin · 楚辞 Chu Ci
山鬼
The Mountain Spirit
若有人兮山之阿，被薜荔兮带女萝。
既含睇兮又宜笑，子慕予兮善窈窕。
乘赤豹兮从文狸，辛夷车兮结桂旗。
被石兰兮带杜衡，折芳馨兮遗所思。
余处幽篁兮终不见天，路险难兮独后来。
表独立兮山之上，云容容兮而在下。
杳冥冥兮羌昼晦，东风飘兮神灵雨。
留灵修兮憺忘归，岁既晏兮孰华予？
采三秀兮于山间，石磊磊兮葛蔓蔓。
怨公子兮怅忘归，君思我兮不得闲。
山中人兮芳杜若，饮石泉兮荫松柏。
君思我兮然疑作。
雷填填兮雨冥冥，猿啾啾兮狖夜鸣。
风飒飒兮木萧萧，思公子兮徒离忧。
Clad in staghorn moss, girt with clinging vines.
With a longing glance and a smile so sweet—
“You admire me for my graceful form.”
Riding a red leopard, with striped foxes in train,
Chariot of magnolia, banner of cassia twined.
Robed in stone orchids, girdled with asarum,
I break fragrant blossoms to give to my beloved.
Dwelling in deep bamboo, never seeing the sky,
The road is dangerous; alone I come late.
Standing alone on the mountain’s crest,
Clouds drift and roll beneath my feet.
Dark and dim, the daylight turns to gloom,
East wind whirls, the spirit sends down rain.
I wait for my Love, forgetting to return;
The year grows late—who can make me bloom again?
Gathering larkspur on the mountain side,
Rocks pile in heaps, kudzu tangles wild.
I resent my prince, in sorrow I forget to return;
You think of me, yet have no leisure.
The mountain dweller is fragrant as the angelica,
Drinking from rock springs, shaded by cypress and pine.
You think of me—but doubt arises.
Thunder rumbles, rain darkens the sky,
Monkeys wail and gibbons cry through the night.
Wind sighs and soughs, the trees murmur and fall,
Thinking of my prince, I suffer vain sorrow alone.
Meaning
The poem is a shamanic song in which a mountain goddess waits for her mortal lover. It traces her radiant approach, the agony of waiting, her loneliness on the peak, her doubts, and her final sorrow as wind and rain close in. The voice merges myth, love, and political allegory—Qu Yuan’s longing for his king.
仿佛有人在那山坳经过，身披薜荔啊腰束女萝。含情微盼又巧笑嫣然，你爱我啊姿态多婀娜。驾着赤豹啊后随花狸，辛夷为车啊桂枝为旗。身披石兰啊腰系杜衡，折下香花啊赠给所思。我居幽深竹林终不见天日，路险难行啊独自来迟。孤身独立啊在山巅，云气溶溶啊在脚下翻卷。昏暗冥冥啊白昼如夜，东风飘旋啊神灵降雨。留候爱人啊乐而忘归，年岁已暮啊谁使我如花美？采那灵芝啊在山中，怪石累累啊葛藤蔓蔓。怨那公子啊怅然忘归，你思念我啊却不得闲。山中人儿啊芬芳如杜若，饮石泉啊荫松柏。你思念我啊半信半疑。雷声填填啊雨色冥冥，猿声啾啾啊狖夜啼鸣。风声飒飒啊木叶萧萧，思念公子啊空自离忧。
Appreciation
This is one of the most moving and mysterious love songs in Chinese literature. Written from the point of view of a goddess of the mountains, it captures the full arc of a lover’s emotions: joy at being loved, eagerness in going to meet, the torment of waiting, the bitterness of being forgotten, and the desolate cry of abandonment. The landscape mirrors the heart—clouds, storms, dense bamboo, and wailing monkeys all become the external music of an inner sorrow. The poem’s strength lies in its fusion of mythological splendor and all-too-human longing, making it a masterpiece of romantic imagination that has influenced countless later works.
【白话串讲】 “若有人兮山之阿，被薜荔兮带女萝”——屈原写《九歌·山鬼》：山中的女神，披着薜荔。“既含睇兮又宜笑”——她含情脉脉。“余处幽篁兮终不见天”——她住在竹林深处。“风飒飒兮木萧萧，思公子兮徒离忧”——她等着心上人，独自忧愁。 【意象与手法】 以神女的口吻自述，通篇以景写哀、以态写心。开篇“若有人兮山之阿，被薜荔兮带女萝”“既含睇兮又宜笑”以外形、神态写神女之倩丽；“余处幽篁兮终不见天”以幽深环境写其孤寂；末段“雷填填兮雨冥冥”“风飒飒兮木萧萧”以风雨雷电的萧瑟景象烘托失约的凄清。想象瑰丽奇诡，物我交融，是楚辞浪漫主义最具魅力的篇章之一。 【情感与主旨】 以山林神女（或即巫山神女）的口吻，写其与所爱幽会、失约、思念的缠绵心曲。从乘赤豹赴约的期待，到候人不至的怅惘、独立风雨的孤清，再到“思公子兮徒离忧”的凄绝，在瑰丽奇诡的楚地神话中见出最深的人间情味。其以景写哀之法下启《洛神赋》与无数怀人篇章。 【名句点睛】 常考“若有人兮山之阿，被薜荔兮带女萝”以草木饰身写神女的高洁神秘；“风飒飒兮木萧萧，思公子兮徒离忧”以萧瑟秋景烘托思念的凄清。
Background
“The Mountain Spirit” is one of the eleven songs in Qu Yuan’s Nine Songs, a reworking of ancient Chu shamanic hymns. Qu Yuan (c. 340–278 BCE), a noble of the royal house, served as a high official but was slandered and exiled. In the south, he reshaped these folk ritual songs, pouring into them his personal grief. The Mountain Spirit is the goddess of the mountains, often identified with the legendary shaman goddess Yaoji of Mount Wu. In the ritual, a female shaman impersonates the goddess and sings her waiting for a lover. On a deeper level, the ‘spirit’ and ‘prince’ are allegories for Qu Yuan himself and his king: the goddess’s sorrow at being neglected parallels the minister’s grief at being abandoned by his sovereign.
《山鬼》为屈原《九歌》十一篇之一。屈原（约前三四〇—前二七八），芈姓屈氏，名平字原，楚之宗亲，官左徒、三闾大夫，主张变法联齐抗秦，遭贵族谗毁，先后流放汉北与沅湘。《九歌》本是楚地民间祭神乐歌，屈原放逐江南时，据以改编创作，注入个人情怀。山鬼即山中女神，学者多以为即巫山神女瑶姬（郭沫若据采三秀兮于山间，谓于山即巫山）。古人祭法，非正神不称君称鬼，山鬼之鬼正见其非正统神祇，或为山间精怪、局部地祇。全诗当由女巫扮神而歌，于祭祀中摹写神女候人之态。须注意者，屈原借神女之思写己之忠不见察、君之不来：灵修、公子皆喻楚王，山鬼的失约之怨，实是屈原对顷襄王不能再召的幽怨。故《山鬼》既是情歌，亦是屈子的政治托寓，神人之恋下伏着君臣之契。此篇列九歌，本祭山神之乐歌，屈子借以抒孤忠见弃之悲；神人相恋，实君臣遇合之喻。孤忠之悲，寄于此篇。
Art
The poem is celebrated for blending myth, love, scenery, and feeling into a seamless whole. It opens with an elusive figure in the mountain hollow—the word ‘if someone’ gives her a ghostly presence—then builds a dazzling procession of red leopards, striped foxes, and fragrant plants. After the missed meeting, the goddess stands alone above the clouds; the drifting mist makes her isolation the more vivid. Storms, darkness, and macabre mountain sounds close the poem, projecting her dread and grief onto nature. The use of xi (the exclamatory particle) creates a swaying, musical rhythm, while the luxurious plants and exotic beasts establish the symbolic vocabulary that later became the hallmark of Qu Yuan’s style.
《山鬼》艺术上最动人是把神话、爱情、写景、抒情打成一片。起笔若有人兮山之阿，以若字写神女山隈间忽隐忽现的缥缈，镜头由远及近，既见楚地传说中山鬼的倩丽，又开笔即带神奇。通篇以女神第一人称抒情，情感曲线分明：出场之喜、赴约之切、候人之怨、失约之疑、风雨之愁，层层递转，真实如常人恋爱心理。写景与写情交融无间：表独立山之上，云容容而在下，以云之浮动反衬人之孤耸；杳冥冥昼晦、东风神灵雨，以冥冥风雨写心境之暗淡；结以雷填雨冥、风飒木萧，以凄厉物候收束离忧，是以景写哀的极致。语言上楚辞体兮字节奏回环，色彩鲜丽（赤豹、文狸、辛夷、桂、石兰、杜衡），想象奇诡，奠定了后世神女诗的美学范型。语言鲜丽而情致幽渺，香草神兽皆成情语，想象瑰奇而哀婉；以等待写相思，以风雨写阻隔，层层渲染，楚辞抒情之法于此尽备。楚辞之妙，尽备于此。
Allusions
The image of the Mountain Spirit stems from the ancient Chu legend of the goddess of Mount Wu. Her garment of sī-leaves and dangling vines initiates the ‘fragrant grass–beautiful lady’ tradition in Chinese poetry, where adornment with rare herbs signifies inner virtue. Her entourage—red leopards, striped foxes, a chariot of magnolia, and a standard of cassia—evokes the divine realm while hinting at the noble purity of the speaker. The many fragrant plants (orchid, asarum, larkspur, angelica) are symbols of chastity and longing. The terms ‘spirit’ and ‘prince’ are indirect names for the beloved, understood to point to the king. The cry of the gibbon, later famous from the Three Gorges, foreshadows the melancholy sound that colors countless parting scenes.
山鬼形象承楚地巫山神女传说，被薜荔带女萝写其香草为衣，是楚辞香草美人传统的起点——以香花异草饰身，喻品德之高洁。赤豹文狸、辛夷车桂旗，以珍奇异兽神木为车从旗帜，见神界之华美，亦暗喻高洁不俗。石兰、杜衡、芳馨、三秀（灵芝）、杜若皆香草，折芳馨遗所思、山中人芳杜若，以赠香草表相思、以香草自况，是屈子一贯的象喻。灵修本指神明，此处与公子皆喻所爱（亦即楚王）；留灵修憺忘归写盼君不来。然疑作写半信半疑，把恋爱中患得患失写得入骨。岁既晏孰华予以花容易逝喻青春空负，怨而不怒。猿啾啾狖夜鸣本《楚辞》啼猿传统（后郦道元三峡猿鸣引其绪），以哀音衬愁。全篇香草、神兽、风雨、啼猿，皆非实写，而是屈原以楚地神话材料构筑的抒情符号系统。采三秀于山间、饮石泉荫松柏，皆以物象喻贞洁与煎熬；香草美人，屈子一贯之寄托。香草之喻，一贯如此。
Commentary
The opening lines introduce the goddess with a touch of mystery: she appears in the mountain fold, half-seen, dressed in vines and moss, smiling and confident. The magnificent procession and the gift of flowers show her joy and hope. Then the tone turns: hidden in dense bamboo and hindered by difficult roads, she arrives late. She stands on the summit, clouds below; darkness and rain close in. Her pleading becomes grief. She gathers herbs, resents the prince, and doubts whether he thinks of her at all. The final thunder, rain, wind, and falling leaves match her despair. Yet beneath the sorrow there is a quiet dignity, as if the solitary figure refuses to surrender to bitterness. The poem is both a woman’s love song and a minister’s lament, and this double voice gives it its enduring power.
开篇若有人兮山之阿，被薜荔兮带女萝，以若字写神女在山隈忽隐忽现，披荔带萝见其清新鲜翠；既含睇兮又宜笑，子慕予兮善窈窕，写其含情巧笑、自信被爱，是赴约前的欣喜。乘赤豹兮从文狸，辛夷车兮结桂旗，被石兰兮带杜衡，折芳馨兮遗所思，铺排车从之盛与折花赠远，赴约之态如见。余处幽篁兮终不见天，路险难兮独后来，笔锋陡转：竹林幽暗、路险来迟，已是候人不见的伏笔。表独立兮山之上，云容容兮而在下，写失约后独登山顶、云在脚下的孤清；杳冥冥羌昼晦，东风飘兮神灵雨，以昼晦风 two写心境暗淡。留灵修兮憺忘归，岁既晏兮孰华予，由盼转怨，叹年暮无人赏。采三秀兮于山间以下，怨公子、疑君心、风雨猿啼、风木萧萧，终以思公子兮徒离忧收，把一腔相思写到凄清绝望。全篇情随景转，景以情变，章法如怨如慕。终篇于失望中见执着，孤芳自赏，最是逐臣心事。
Prosody
Line by line
若有人兮山之阿，被薜荔兮带女萝。
A mysterious figure appears in the mountain bend, dressed in ivy and wisteria—already ghostly and fragrant.
As though a being, oh, in the curve of the hill; clad in fig-roots, oh, girdled with dodder.
这两句是《山鬼》的起手，也是中国文学写神女最美的开篇之一。若有人兮山之阿，若字最妙：它不直说有人，而说仿佛有人，写神女在山之曲隅忽隐忽现、似真似幻的身影，开笔即带楚地神话的缥缈神奇。山之阿指山坳、山弯，点明其出没于深山幽僻之处，愈增神秘。被薜荔兮带女萝写其衣饰：披着薜荔、系着女萝，皆山中香草，不写容貌先写衣香，已见清逸高洁，也开楚辞香草美人以香花喻德之先声。这两句由远镜头（山之阿）推近到衣饰（薜荔女萝），未见其人先见其清，把一个山林神女的清新鲜翠写得跃然纸上，而若字的虚写，更为后文候人不至的怅惘埋下若即若离的伏笔。
These lines are the opening of the 'Mountain Spirit' and one of the most beautiful openings on a goddess in Chinese literature. The word 'as though' is most exquisite: it does not plainly say there is someone, but 'as though' there is, writing the spirit's figure now hidden, now glimpsed in the hill's bend, real and illusory, the opening already carrying the ethereal magic of Chu myth. 'The curve of the hill' means the valley, the mountain's bend, fixing her haunts in the deep, secluded hills, the mystery the greater. 'Clad in fig-roots, oh, girdled with dodder' writes her dress: draped in fig-roots, girdled with dodder, both fragrant mountain plants; writing the fragrance of dress before the face, already showing purity and loftiness, and opening Chuci's tradition of fragrant plants and beauties that image virtue. The two lines move from a far shot (the hill's bend) to the dress (fig-root and dodder), the person unseen, her purity first seen, writing the fresh, vivid nymph of the forest on the page; and the virtual 'as though' lays the wavering foreshadowing for the later grief of waiting for one who does not come.
表独立兮山之上，云容容兮而在下。
She stands alone on the ridge, while the clouds roll beneath her—a striking image of isolation and elevation.
Alone and tall, oh, on the mountain's top; the clouds billow, oh, below her feet.
这两句写神女失约后独登山顶的孤清，是全诗情绪的转折点，也是楚辞写孤绝之境的绝唱。表独立兮山之上，表为突出、特出之意，写神女孑然一身耸立山巅，与前述车从之盛形成强烈反差——赴约时赤豹文狸相从，失约后只剩独自一人。云容容兮而在下，容容形容云气纷涌流动，写脚下云海茫茫、人在云上，既状高山实景，更以云之浮动反衬人之定立与孤寂。这两句以极大的空间（山之上、云之下）衬托极小的个体（独立一人），把失恋后的空落与高洁写得分外动人。它后来直接影响李白侠客行的气象与无数登高怀人之作，是屈原以景写孤的典范，孤而不怨、高而不傲，最见《山鬼》的仙气。
These lines write the spirit's solitary ascent to the peak after the tryst fails, the emotional turning of the poem and a masterpiece of Chuci's writing of isolation. 'Alone and tall, oh, on the mountain's top'—'tall' means standing out, apart, writing the spirit lone on the summit, a sharp contrast with the pageantry of attendants when she went to the tryst; now that the tryst has failed, she is alone. 'The clouds billow, oh, below her feet'—'billow' describes the surging, flowing cloud, writing the sea of clouds beneath, the person above the clouds, at once the reality of the high mountain and the stillness and solitude set off by the drifting cloud. These two lines set the smallest individual (alone, one person) against the vastest space (on the mountain top, below the clouds), writing the emptiness and loftiness after the disappointment of love with peculiar poignancy. It later directly influenced the grandeur of Li Bai's 'Song of the Daring Young Man' and countless climbing verses, the model of Qu Yuan's writing solitude through scenery—solitary yet not resentful, high yet not proud, the very fairy-air of the 'Mountain Spirit.'
风飒飒兮木萧萧，思公子兮徒离忧。
Wind whistles and trees rustle; thinking of her prince brings only vain sorrow.
The wind soughs, oh, the trees rustle; I long for the lord, oh, only to suffer grief in vain.
这两句是全篇的收煞，也是楚辞以景结情的最高境。风飒飒兮木萧萧，以风声与落叶声并写秋山风雨的凄厉，飒飒、萧萧皆摹声叠字，读来如闻其声、如临其境，把前面种种怨、疑、愁都收束进这肃杀的自然之音里。思公子兮徒离忧，以直抒收束：思念公子，却只是徒然遭受离忧（离通罹，遭受）。徒字是全诗最沉的字眼——所有的赴约、等候、怨疑，到最后都归为一个徒字，把希望彻底抹去，哀而不伤、怨而不怒。这两句景语作结，不另加议论，让风木之声替神女说话，余韵凄清悠长，正是楚辞特有的以景代情、言有尽而意无穷。它也为后世秋风词、木叶下等意象开了先河。
These lines are the close of the whole and the highest realm of Chuci's ending feeling in scenery. 'The wind soughs, oh, the trees rustle' writes the bleak autumn gale through the wind's sound and the falling leaves, 'soughs' and 'rustle' both sound-imitating reduplications, read as if hearing the sound, present at the scene, gathering all the foregoing resentment, doubt, and grief into this killing natural note. 'I long for the lord, oh, only to suffer grief in vain' closes with direct speech: longing for the lord, yet only vainly bearing parting-sorrows ('suffer' shares the sense of 'undergo'). The word 'vain' is the heaviest in the poem—all the trysting, the waiting, the resentment and doubt, at last resolve into this single 'vain,' wiping out hope entirely, grievous yet not broken, resentful yet not angry. These lines close in scenery, adding no argument, letting the sound of wind and trees speak for the spirit, the afterecho bleak and long, precisely Chuci's characteristic substitution of scenery for feeling, words exhausted while meaning endures. They also open the way for later autumn-wind and falling-leaf images.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
The Mountain Spirit is set in dark forests and craggy peaks, with a lonely, unearthly mood; The Lady of the Xiang moves by the broad Xiang River, its sorrow more lingering and remote. Together they show the two poles of Qu Yuan’s imagination—mountain isolation and river vastness.
《山鬼》与《湘夫人》同属屈原《九歌》，皆为神女候人之歌，写法神似：都以女神第一人称抒情，都有赴约、失约、怨疑、风雨收束的结构，都善用香草与景物写情。差异在神格与气韵：山鬼居深山幽篁，气象奇诡清冷，孤绝如仙；湘夫人临洞庭秋水，气象开阔婉转，哀婉如人。山鬼之思是徒离忧的绝望，湘夫人之思是聊逍遥的暂遣。二诗并读，可见屈原写神恋的一体两面——同一份对君王的忠爱不见答的幽怨，分托于山中与水际两位女神，山则孤高、水则绵邈，恰成楚辞抒情的两极。
离骚 Li Sao (Encountering Sorrow) 屈原 · 同用香草美人象喻，一为长篇政治抒情、一为短章神女恋歌 Both use the fragrant-grass and beautiful-woman symbolism, and both encode the poet’s loyalty and rejection.Li Sao is a grand political epic, while The Mountain Spirit is a compact ritual song; yet both work through the same allegorical system. The goddess’s waiting is a delicate miniature of the minister’s quest for his king, and her final despair echoes the sorrow of Li Sao’s prolonged pilgrimage.
《山鬼》的香草美人系统（薜荔女萝、石兰杜衡、折芳遗所思、山中人芳杜若）正是《离骚》香草美人传统的雏形与浓缩。离骚以香草喻己之修能、以美人喻君，写上下求索而遭讥不遇；《山鬼》则以神女之思写同样的忠爱不见答——灵修、公子皆喻楚王，候人不至即君门九重。不同在体裁：离骚是鸿篇政治抒情，香草美人是宏大象征体系；山鬼是短章祭歌，香草美人融于神女恋曲，更显轻柔绮丽。二作一宏一约，而托寓同源，皆见屈原把政治失意化为缠绵情诗的独特本领，也奠定了中国文学香草美人、以男女喻君臣的永恒范式。