王维
五言绝句
Character Explanations
Click on a character in the poem to display its explanation here.
空
"empty, deserted". 空山 "the deserted mountain," silent.
山
"mountain". The solitary setting of the poem.
不
"not…". Negation: no one is seen.
见
"to see, perceive". 不见人 "no one is seen".
人
"person". Here, the visible absence of human beings.
但
"only, but". Marks the contrast: nothing seen, but something heard.
闻
"to hear". Here, perceiving voices.
人
"person". 人语 "human speech," an audible but invisible presence.
语
"speech, voice, language". 人语 "human voices".
响
"to resound, echo". The echo of voices in the mountain.
返
"to return". 返景 "the returning light".
景
"light, clarity (of the sun)". 返景 = the oblique rays of the setting sun.
入
"to enter, penetrate". Light penetrates the forest.
深
"deep". 深林 "the deep, dense forest".
林
"forest, woods". 深林 "the deep forest".
复
"again, once more". Light illuminates "once again".
照
"to illuminate, shine". 照…上 "shines upon…".
青
"green (blue-green)". 青苔 "the green moss".
苔
"moss". 青苔 on the shaded ground.
上
"on, above". 青苔上 "on the moss".
Literal Translation
Deserted mountain, no one is seen,
On entend seulement l'écho de voix humaines.
La lumière du couchant pénètre la forêt profonde,
Et de nouveau éclaire la mousse verte.
Historical and Biographical Context
Ce poème, 鹿柴 (), "Deer Enclosure," belongs to the cycle of his Wangchuan retreat. It captures a fleeting moment of light and silence in the mountains.
Literary Analysis
Structure and Form
A five-character quatrain built on two contrasts: silence and sound (the echo), emptiness and a ray of light. The two couplets echo each other, from hearing to sight.
Imagery and Symbolism
Bodiless voices, then a ray of sunset gliding on the moss: an aesthetic of near-nothingness, inherited from ink painting, where the essential is suggested.
Movement and Gesture
No character acts; the only movement is that of the light entering the forest and settling on the moss, like a gaze.
Language and Tone
Clear and sensory language; serene and contemplative tone. Silence is paradoxically conveyed by a sound, the distant echo of a voice.
Main Themes
Emptiness and Quietude
Emptiness (空) is not nothingness but peaceful fullness, close to the Chan Buddhist ideal dear to Wang Wei.
Nature as Revelation
An ordinary moment — a ray on the moss — becomes a silent epiphany.
Serene Solitude
The absence of men is not a lack but a harmony with the mountain.
